Peer Pressure Can Sometimes Be A Good Thing

I have tried to suggest volunteer work to A and I’ve been met with outrage at the thought. Lessons or physical activity, I get the same response. A and her friends though are starting the Duke of Edinburgh Award program and it requires that she do all of the above as well as hike! I guess as long as it’s not my idea it’s a good idea. The program is made up of four parts: Volunteering, New Skill, Physical Activity, and Expedition. It looks like she will actually end up with two volunteering jobs: one with an organization that offers dog walking services to the elderly so that they can keep their pets, and the other at the farm that we visit for eggs and meat. And yesterday I took her for her first riding lesson as she has been asking to start these since she got back from the Cornwall riding camp in October and wanted to use that as her physical activity. She absolutely loves it and even after falling off of a horse when practicing jumping at camp she’s ready to go!

As we waited for her lesson to start we walked around to visit the horses and A petted most of them. At that moment, as a horse looked to me for some attention I realized I am petrified of horses. I’ve only ridden once and didn’t like the idea of the animal I was sitting on having a mind of its own. As A told me stories of girls being bitten or kicked by the animals she then suggested that I take lessons just like her friend J and her mom do. I was thinking hell to the no! Why do we even ride horses in the modern age? This is crazy! They are beautiful animals and I will admire them from afar. I’ll leave the up close and personal to her and the other horse girls.