Giving rides to little ones

[Marsha Cassada]

This is the second year my sister and I have given rides to the local Headstart classes. I clipped Dapper Dan yesterday so he would look more presentable and not get so hot working. 3year olds this morning and the 5's in the afternoon. Besides riding in the cart, they got to pet a foal and a bottle calf. Lovely weather for their outdoor outing, too!

They wanted to know about whips and fly masks. If the horses wore shoes. Did they have a barn. They always want to know which are boy horses and which are girl horses. Many of them notice the clipclop rhythm of the trot.

We're doing it tomorrow also and I'll try to get photos of the calf. He is so friendly the children can all crowd around him. He slimed a few. Some liked it and some wanted to change their clothes right away!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

We went back for more today. Wind got up and it wasn't as enjoyable for us, though doubt the children noticed. The calf, Milo, is so funny. As soon as he saw the group of children coming toward his pen, he galloped across the pen to be waiting at the gate for them. He is a bottle baby, so when children stuck their hands by his mouth he started sucking right away. It was funny to watch the children let him suck on their hands. I'm sure the teachers marched everyone off for de-germing as soon as they got back to school! Quite a few parents and grandparents came, so there was plenty of supervision.

The farmer who owns the calf just had a cow lose a calf yesterday and is hoping to take Milo back home to see if the cow will accept him. It would be better for him to grow up in a herd of his own kind!

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Marsha its really cool to see kids enjoying themselves outdoors with animals than glued to a Tv or computer game

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Marsha its really cool to see kids enjoying themselves outdoors with animals than glued to a Tv or computer game

The moms were worst. One mom rode with me as her little one was scared to ride without her. The whole time she was scrolling on her phone. No interaction with the child at all. Then, toward the end of the ride she had him pose for a selfie with her. sheesh. Much better to have encouraged him look around at his surroundings than texting what a good mom she is for going on an outing with her child... I wanted to push her out of the cart. It would have been easy as she was not paying attention! But, any interaction is going to bring a few negatives; the positives were so much greater.

One of my favorite things to do is ask the children to get their noses right up on the horse and give a big sniff. mmmmm! Doesn't the horse smell good! Their faces are so funny! Not sure...eeuuu....big smile....