So Sunday morning we got up and went to church. We only stayed for Sacrament meeting because Daniel had more "Best Man" duties to take care of and then we were heading out to Uncle Genes to see the horses. All morning Kathryn was asking if it was time to go see the horses. She was so excited. She's recently been developing a love of horses because one day she asked me what my favorite animal was and I had told her that when I was a kid I loved horses, I still think they are beautiful. She now notices nearly every horse that we pass anywhere. She oohs and awes over how pretty they are. So getting a chance to see a horse up close was really exciting for her. Finally it was time to go and she wanted to know how long it was going to take. But I couldn't giver her an answer because I didn't know and that made her a little cranky. She often needs to know exactly why, how, when, where and what, precisely to the very detail(it drives me a little crazy sometimes).
As we drove into the farm yard I was breathless, it was beautiful as the trees opened up to the corals and horses. It was slightly up on a hill so it overlooked everything and you could see for a long ways. The thick forest of trees surrounding the farmstead were gorgeous, and the horses breathtaking. It was a sight right out of an old western. And then there came Uncle Gene, as if out of nowhere, dressed in very typical cowboy dress complete with cowboy hat. We had definitely entered another world. Uncle Gene had brought out two horses, Casey he had saddled with a little saddle for the kids to ride on. Beside Casey was a horse named Pirate, I'll give you one guess as to how he got his name.
Kathryn was astounded at how beautiful the horses were. After a little bit of chit chat, Gene put Kathryn up on Casey and head to the coral.
He explained to her how to ride the horse and told her that once she was comfortable on the horse she could let go and ride with no hands. Kathryn shook her head and say no way, but before long she was putting one hand out
and then the other and sure enough she was balanced and riding with out any hands.
Mean while Tansley was feeding carrots to the miniature pony, Sinbad and to Pirate. She wanted to ride the little horse but we weren't sure if there was a saddle for him or not, so Tansley was getting upset. I asked her if she wanted to ride with Uncle Gene on a horse and she said "NO!". By then Gene had brought out this gorgeous black horse named Curly. Curly is Gene's horse, he calls him "son" when he talks to him, and when he talks about Curly his bright blue eyes twinkle with pride and joy. After he had Curly saddled, he asked Tansley if she wanted to ride with him and Tansley nodded her head yes...and then got up on the horse with Uncle Gene and off they went with Kathryn trotting behind. At first they just trotted around the yard, and then they went out for a longer ride. Kathryn was loving it!
When they got back Uncle Gene said "lets get that little one up on a horse". Now anyone that knows Kymberly knows that she does not do well with people she doesn't know and sometime she doesn't even do well with people she knows if it isn't mom or dad. So it was no surprise to us that she was upset when Daniel handed her to Gene. But then Gene rode off with her and there was silence....until Gene turned around and came back and Daddy was in view and then she started fussing. Gene laughed and said that she was bouncing along with the horse and humming along with him until she saw her dad.
When they got back Gene wanted to get Daniel up on a horse,
but he didn't look to thrilled about that. Apparently he had a bad experience when he was a scout. But Gene had him come into the coral and showed him that no matter what he was always in control, whether he had a hold of the reins or not.
He had us stand in the middle of the coral
and then he told Curly what he wanted him to do using words, body language and gestures. Gene is the Horse Whisperer in real life. With out touching Curly he could get him to go any where in the coral, or make him stop instantly. He showed us how the horses are trained to be around kids so that if someone gets under them they will hold their leg up to avoid stepping on them until they were out of the way. Daniel was feeling a little better at being on a horse and Gene commenced in teaching him how to get the horse to do what he wanted him to do. It was a little funny watching Daniel trying to get up on the horse but once he was up there and Curly was responding to him just as Gene had said he would it looked like he was enjoying himself. They couldn't get a saddle on Sinbad for Tansley but they put her on there bare back and she loved it. Sadly we didn't have enough time for me to get on the horse, we were already an hour late for the family get together down the road. But watching the kids on the horses was more than enough for me.
We then headed just up the road to the Thiessens for the family thing. Hanging out with the Thiessens is like hanging out with my own family. The same crazy stories are told, there is alot of laughing and even water fights. However Gene and I both agreed that their water fights are nothing compared to a Forsyth water fight, as Gene put it "they didn't even bring out the five gallon buckets." Those involved were only mildly damp. The big story, second only to the wedding itself, was the chance reunion of Gene and I. It was a great time and everyone was saying that Daniel and I now had more reasons to come and visit more often. And really, I can see myself actually going all that way to visit both Travis and Debbie(and the rest of the Thiessens) and Gene. We would just do it over 7-10 days so that we could take our time driving up there and home again. Coming home was a long long long drive. Kymberly was sick and threw up just as we were coming into Nanton. That was a big yucky mess that we had to clean up, and then she screamed all the way to Claresholm with out so much as a break and a good way past as well. she finaly fell asleep but would scream periodically the rest of the way home to Milk River. We left Grande Prairie at 9:30am and arrived in Milk River at 11pm. Again we stopped in Mayerthorpe for lunch and in Calgary for supper and to buy school supplies. It was a long trip but totally worth it.
