Jasmine's First Riding Lesson
After dropping Houston off at Jackie's parent's house, Nick, Jackie, and Jasmine were driving to Jasmine's first riding lesson. Jasmine looked adorable in her new cowboy hat that Nick had given her for Christmas. She also had on a brand new pair of pink cowboy boots Jackie had bought for her just yesterday afternoon. Jasmine was not only adorable but she was also so excited.
"Horsey, horsey, horsey." She kept saying over and over while driving in the car.
"Maybe we shouldn't have told her where we are going, she's starting to drive me nuts." Nick said with a laugh.
"I agree" Jackie said with a grin.
When they finally pulled into the riding arena Jasmine practically jumped out of the car.
"Lot a horseys." She exclaimed excitedly when she saw all the horses.
Jackie laughed "Yeah, that's a lot of horses isn't it?"
Nick and Jackie got Jasmine signed in and then a very nice woman from the arena walked the family over to where all the horses were. She showed them the horse that Jasmine was going to ride, a very pretty black horse named Cookie.
"We like to have the riders get to know the horses for a little bit before we begin." She explained and then she looked at Jasmine and laughed "And it looks like your little one would be more then happy to do that." She said as she observed Jasmine impatiently yanking on Nick's arm so he would take her close enough to the horse so she could pet her.
"Alright, alright, you can pet the horse now, don't rip my arm out of its socket." He said with a chuckle as he took Jasmine closer.
She petted the horse nicely on the nose, and Cookie very sweetly nudged her hand.
Jasmine giggled "Nice horsey" she said happily.
The horse neighed and Jasmine's giggle got louder "Horsey funny" she said.
"I'll be right back." The nice woman said as she walked towards the barn.
She came back a few minutes later with some hay.
"Here Jasmine, you can feed the horsey if you want."
Jasmine's eyes lit up as she took the hay.
Nick helped her stick some of the hay next to the horse's mouth but to Jasmine's dismay Cookie apparently wasn't hungry because she didn't eat the hay.
"Eat it horsey." Jasmine demanded, sounding somewhat offended but Cookie still didn't take the hay.
"Bad horsey." Jasmine scolded.
"Oh no Sweetheart, the horsey isn't bad, she's just not hungry." Nick said as he tried to not laugh.
Nick petted the horse's nose, hoping Jasmine would follow suit, she did, and once again the horse nudged her hand gently. Jasmine once again giggled, and she immediately forgot about being angry with Cookie for not eating the hay.
A few minutes later a bunch of people came out of the barn and a woman named Tammy walked over to Nick, Jackie and Jasmine. She explained to Nick and Jackie that when the lesson began she would lead the horse around and that if they wanted either Nick or Jackie could hold onto Jasmine to make sure she didn't fall off. Nick immediately said he would so Jackie could stand on the sideline and take pictures.
Pretty soon all the riders got on their horse and the leaders took the reigns. Parents of the small children held onto their kids so they wouldn't take a header.
"Ok Jasmine, hold on tight to this." Tammy explained as she showed Jasmine how to old onto the handle of the saddle.
"Hold on tight" Jasmine said with a giggle as she grabbed the handle.
"That's right, good job." Tammy said with a chuckle.
Most of the children loved being on the horse, except for one little girl who cried so hard her dad finally took her off. Once she was back on the ground she ran as fast as she could away from the horses and back towards the parking lot, leaving her dad standing there completely surprised.
"Megan, come back, this is suppose to be fun." Her dad said as he took off after his daughter.
Jasmine was a little freaked out by this. "Horsey bad?" she asked Nick with a slightly frightened expression on her face.
"No Sweetie, the horsey wasn't bad, the little girl is just scared."
That was all the reassurance Jasmine needed, as her scared facial expression turned into a smile once again.
"Go Horsey" she said loudly as she bounced up and down excitedly.
The father of the little boy that was on the horse in front of Nick and Jasmine turned around and laughed "Boy she's sure ready to go." He said.
Nick just smiled and shook his head, there was never any telling what Jasmine was going to do or say.
Finally the lesson started and the moment Jasmine had been waiting for, not so patiently, had begun, the horses started walking around in a circle slowly as the leaders of each horse coaxed them forward.
"Yay horsey go." Jasmine said as she let go of the saddle and clapped her hands. Luckily Nick had a firm grip on her so she didn't fall off.
"You gotta hold on Jasmine, you can't get so excited that you let go." Nick said with a chuckle.
Jasmine obediently grabbed the handle of the saddle and then looked at Nick with a grin.
"Good girl." He said as he once again shook his head at his little girl.
The person that was in charge of the lesson tried to teach the riders the correct way to make the horses began to walk but all Jasmine would say is "Go horsey."
Nick looked over at Jackie and shrugged. His wife had a big smile on her face as she was snapping pictures like crazy.
Then the riders were taught how to get the horse to stop walking, a lesson Jasmine didn't like at all.
"No stop horsey, GO" Jasmine said sounding very much displeased when the horse came to a stop with Tammy's instruction.
"Shhh Jazz, the horse will go again in a minute, you're going to confuse the poor thing." Nick said.
A parent of another child laughed "What a good little rider you've got there, a true cowgirl never wants to stop riding." He said to Nick.
Nick laughed.
The time seemed to fly by and pretty soon the lesson was over.
"Did you have fun riding the horsey?" Nick asked Jasmine as he, Jackie, and Jasmine walked back to the car.
"Nice horsey" Jasmine said as she shook her head up and down.
"Yeah, that's good, do you want to come back next week and ride the horsey again?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah horsey gin." Jasmine said happily.
Jackie looked over at Nick and said "I'm glad she liked it because there are 5 lessons, and had she not had fun it would have been about two hundred bucks down the drain."
Nick chuckled.
He got Jasmine strapped in her car seat and then climbed into the driver's seat.
"Want to go for i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m?" he asked Jackie as he drove away from the riding arena.
"Sure" Jackie said.
Nick drove back to the Vegas city limits and on the way home he stopped at the family's favorite ice cream parlor. As he watched Jasmine happily eat her ice cream he smiled, it had been a great day.
The End! I hope you liked it!