A few weeks ago, a friend of mine invited Elaina and I to go horseback riding with her and her daughter. I was excited to go but I have a healthy fear of horses. You know, animals are instinctive so you just don't know what they may decide to do. Plus, I have been riding where I have seen horses take off running for no reason with a rider on them which can be scary. So, I was afraid for Elaina to get on one (just being transparent). I was not so sure about having Elaina ride a horse by herself. She has ridden one before but with my mom and my mom was on the horse with her. This place doesn't let you do that. So.....I conquered my fear. I had anxiety about it for days. I was nervous but didn't want Elaina to be scared so I had to be a big girl :). The trip turned out to be awesome. The fact that Elaina's friend, Laurel, is way into horses and not scared at all to ride one helped Elaina get on with less fear.
She cried when she realized that I was not going to be able to ride with her. But, she got on anyways. Then, when her horse started walking by itself...she cried. But, after a minute she realized it was cool and the rest of the ride was fine. I rode my horse a few horses behind her. Her horse ended up being a stubborn one so they tied hers off to the lead/guide horse so that made me feel at ease about her horse taking off.
So, my point is... letting go of my fear turned out to be good for me and good for Elaina. She was super happy and proud of herself for doing it. I was proud of her too :)
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| Elaina is the 3rd horse (in front of the black horse) |
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| Elaina's friend, Laurel... |
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| Laurel's brother, Dylan tagged along |
