Just Horsin' Around

So, in an attempt to a more effective homeschool mom (ha, ha) I decided to take extra steps to learn a little bit more about the most recent book club book we were reading, Black Beauty.  So I decided that we would go ahead and explore a little bit more about horses.

We have a lady in our Sunday School class who just happens to own a couple of horses (and at one time was our babysitter.)  I emailed her to see if she would mind getting together with a few of us and telling us all about horses.  From their upkeep to body parts.  And she was thrilled.  She use to give lessons and ride all the time.  But, she has since gotten married, gone back to school and has two young children.  So any horse time she can get, she loves!

She showed all the kids the tools needed to groom a horse and then let them go to work.

All the kids got a chance to clean the "frog" of a horses hoof.

Surprise number one:  all the kids got to ride.

Surprise number two:  all the kids got to paint the pony!!

Washing off the washable paint.

Bestest buddies!

The finished product.

Ms. L showing the kids how to measure a horse with a special "hands" ruler.  Then there is a tape you wrap around where the saddle girth goes and it estimates the weight of the horse.  Even though this horse looks kind of short, it is still a considered a horse.  If he had been one inch smaller he would be classified as a pony.

The kids (and I) had a blast.  I love horses myself and marvel at what amazing creatures they are.

The kids are going to take what they remember from the book, our field trip, do a little research and then hopefully give a pretty good report at our next book club meeting.

Hopefully we can do something fun like this for a few of this year's book club books . . .