A Horsey Birthday

Claire's good friend, MB, had her 5th birthday party last weekend at a riding academy in the area. They have a full sized indoor riding ring and tons of horses. The 20+ kids at this party had a chance to paint a craft, get their faces painted, learn to groom a horse, and of course, had several chances to take a ride on a horse.

Craft Time

I was really pretty impressed that Claire was so willing, eager even, to ride a horse. A daredevil she is not. Though, I'm not sure it took a lot of courage to ride these horses. They looked like they already had one hoof in the glue factory.

Learning to lead a horse - or, rather, a really little pony that acted more like a stubborn dog.

Grooming

Ride #2

Ride #3 - on "Buttons" this time

Yes, they are spray-painting the horse's butt. Poor guy. He really earned his oats tonight.

The whole gang. You don't notice him at first, but right in the middle of the picture is the poor horse with whom the kids played dress-up. He must have been drugged or something.