Backfire!

I have a girl who has been in love with horses since she could identify them. Don't ask me why. I didn't even take riding lessons as a kid. Being an animal lover in general, I can understand. Horses are pretty amazing, strong, powerful, smart.

I grew up with friends who had horses, and so I had both the ability to get to know them a little, and the ability to observe how much work and expense they are. And while I didn't ever catch horse fever, I can say that one of my favorite memories is falling off a horse. So, I can understand my daughter's passion.

Still, she's six years old, and her passions sometimes evaporate overnight. And with drama, dance, choir, piano and plain old lessons intended to teach her core subjects like math and language arts, I can't imagine inserting a horse into her urban life right now!

So, I hatched a plan. I thought that if she would only understand the work of caring for a horse, she might be deterred. Maybe if she could see how really huge and powerful they are, she would feel a little more cautious about wanting to put her little body atop one. Heck, the smell alone might scare her off! I took her to a horse show so she could see for herself a little slice of horse reality.

We met with an old, dear friend who knows more about horses than anyone I know (more than anyone in the world, I sometimes wonder), who could give her the firsthand reality check. We watched huge horses jump giant obstacles in sweltering heat. We meandered by horse stalls, stepped over piles of horse dung, and watched other people comb and wash their horses. After a long, hot, stinky day at the horse show, we headed home with what I hoped would be a more realistic perspective on horses.

Exhausted, the kids all fell asleep in the back of the car on the long drive home. And I heard D talk in her sleep like she often does when something is really heavy on her mind.

"Oh, the horses are beautiful," she murmured.

I think my plan backfired. When she woke up, she asked when we can sign up for riding lessons.