My girl has been talking about horses: riding horses, being with horses, giving horses treats… but mostly about riding.

Horses are great and their therapeutic effects are well defined. But lets face it. My girls, both of them, are horse crazy. Their mom, not so much.

The idea of spending a few hours a couple of times a week grooming a horse, saddling it up, waiting for a lesson, taking off the tack, cleaning the tack, and grooming the horse again did not appeal to me. With our girl, the riding is great fun for her and it’s something she can do, but the rest of it would be up to me, the non horse girl in the family.

She was persistent. I was silent, mildly supportive at best. While I wanted her to have her dream and encouraged her accordingly, I didn’t want all that peripheral mom/horse stuff coming my way. I have other things I’d much rather be doing.

My little miss, in her unwaivering way, kept the horse love coming. She even dreamed about them, filling me in on the specifics of her sleepytime adventures.

And then, last week, her dream came true.

At one of the top notch shows in the world for Arabian horses, my girl rode an international champion horse with a nationally recognized trainer at her side. In a practice ring of competitors successful at the highest levels, my young lady sat tall in the saddle, riding.

And I didn’t lift a finger.

Dreams? Of course they come true. And for Mary Katherine, it’s go big or go home.

horses