Christian is HOOKED

Since getting back from Easter holidays when I took Christian horse riding for the first time, he has done nothing but bug me about riding again.  So I asked around for a good riding instructor in the area.  I was referred onto a FANTASTIC intructor so I booked him in for a 2 hour lesson. 

His lesson was booked for 3 in the afternoon and all day he kept asking me what time it was.  He was obviously looking forward to it.  The lady that referred me is Christian's old best friend from school who he hasn't seen for ages.  He asked me if Huey was going to be there, and I said no bub this lesson is for you.

His lesson would consist of learning how to catch a pony, take the rug off, brush, clean the hooves and tack up, followed by an hour's lesson.

We arrived at the most beautiful property and we were both excited.  Him because he would be riding and me because I would be around horses.

Bec his instructor was lovely, very kind, gentle and welcoming and fantastic with kids.  She had organised a special surprise for Christian - she has organised for Huey to take part in the first part of the lesson.  Huey was on his way with his own pony.

Christian mounting Tilly, who is such a gorgeous pony :)

Christian listening carefully to instructions

 

 

Christian trotting over poles.  So very proud of him :)

Christian did so well and I am so proud of him and his teacher Bec is AMAZING.  After the lesson Christian had to take the tack of Tilly and put her halter and rug back on ready to turn out into the paddock.  Tilly also go a special treat from Christian.

Christian leading Tilly to her paddock

After it had all finished, the first thing Christian said is "can we please come back tomorrow Mum?"  I think he is hooked!.. I have booked him in again for Saturday morning.

Christian and sweet little Bluebell

 

Christian's friend Huey on Bluebell

 

I am now on the hunt for a horse for myself and if Christian keeps up with lesson's I have told him we will start looking for a pony for him in about 6 months time.

 

Childhood passion revisited

As a young girl I was obsessed with horses.  I started riding at the age of 4 years old and rode every weekend and school holidays for about 15 years.

Now that we have moved onto acreage, it is finally time to think about getting back into the saddle.

I would love it soooooo much if Christian shared my love and passion of horses.

Over the Easter school holidays whilst we were away at Swan Bay, I asked Christian if he would like to learn to ride and he replied with an excited yes and said that he would like to own a pony.  So I booked him into a learn to ride program, in which he would learn about caring for a horse and a lesson.

I knew I would not be able to watch him with horses and not join in, so I booked myself in to join their trail ride.

Christian learnt how to brush a horse, tack up and most importantly pick up poo

 

Christian leading out cloud

 Me and Molly

 

 

Christian riding Cloud

 

 

The trail ride was very boring for me as it was all beginners and I had to hang behind on my own to be able to trot and canter.  It was so lovely to see Christian on a horse. 

 

We were all a bit sore the next day but it was well worth it.

 



I am a bad Santa

As we have moved to 19 acres, I thought it would be nice to get Christian a trampoline for Christmas as we now have the room to have one.

The look on Christian's face was priceless when he saw it, and it was near impossible to get him off it.  Christmas night my two nieces (Tess & Hannah) came back for a sleep over and the 3 of them had lots of fun on the trampoline.  Hannah was teaching Christian how to do basic front flips landing onto his bottom.

2 days after Christmas we were heading to go to our holiday cabin in Swan Bay.  Joseph left earlier in the morning and took the dogs with him. A friend of mine (Sue) from Perth was going to pop in and check out our new house and have a coffee, so I suggested to Christian to go with his Dad, but he refused as he wanted to make the most of jumping on the trampoline.

Sue and I were sitting peacefully outside soaking up the view when I heard Christian calling for me.  I went out and he started crying, saying "Mum I think I have broken my arm".  I took him inside and put an ice pack on where he said it was sore.  I was pretty sure he had just jarred or sprained it. I gave him some painstop and after 15 minutes he finally stopped crying.  He then said I am tired and need to lie down Mum, so I carried him to the couch.  That was when I saw the huge swelling (that looked like a kneecap) popping out from under his elbow.  I started the car and off we went to the local hospital. 

He didn't want to go to the hospital and he didn't want it to be broken.  We were lucky that it was very quiet and went straight in.  Shortly after he had xrays done and while I was waiting for the doctor to come and talk to us I looked at his xrays and couldn't see a break.  The nurse shook her head at me and called me away from Christian and told me that the doctor was on the phone to a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon.  My heart dropped.  I felt like the worst Santa ever.

Christian was very upset when the doctor told him his arm was fractured and also dislocated, which meant boring summer holidays. No swimming, bike riding, football, cricket or fishing :(

The doctor told me we had to have more xrays in 6 days time and then see a specialist the following day.

Once the plaster had set, we set off on our holiday.

Christian was such a trooper, he did not complain about any pain and we had a relaxing holiday of board games and DVDs and lots of family bonding.

We headed back for xrays and then to the paediatric orthopaedics section at Sunshine Hospital. It was 39 degrees that day, so I didn't really mind sitting in the cool airconditioning of the hospital. The doctor that looked at the xrays said that they don't really see this type of injury very often and that they really needed to operate and admitted him in for surgery that evening.  He explained that there was a chance of nerve damage during the operation as they needed to put pins and screws in.  But he wanted the head of surgery to also have a look at the xrays.

I went to the hospital completely unprepared as I was not expecting them to recommend surgery.  I called Joseph and asked him to pack a bag for Christian and myself.  Whilst we were waiting for a bed we dashed off to the supermarket to pick up some toys for Christian and some magazines for me.

When we got back a bed was ready, so Christian was admitted.  I paid and had the TV connected to get me through the night.  We had been waiting for about 5 hours for the second opinion and I was starving so I went to get some food, and when I came back up to the ward the surgeon informed me that the operation was way to risky to do as his elbow joint was currently sitting millimetres away from the major nerve in his arm.  Christian was very relieved that he wasn't going to have the surgery.

He had the plaster changed again yesterday and then we go back for more xrays on January 24th, and hopefully the elbow will move back on it's own.

I am going to hand over the Santa position to Joseph this year, as I have proved to be a bad Santa.