A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

Michael and I arrived first, not only before the rest of our party, but before anyone. Ponderosa Stables is just at the entrance to South Mountain Park, and is fixed up to look like an old-timey TV show-style Western town.

However, the staff had arrived early and many of the horses were already saddled and waiting for the morning's crop of customers.

My older granddaughter Cailey, my daughter Dottie, and my younger granddaughter (by another daughter, Jenny) Gianna, were among those in our group.

Gianna came ready to ride with her unicorn shirt and sparkly shoes.

Dominic, who we assumed would be fascinated by the horses, was at first more interested in his morning shadow.

But soon he had an opportunity to meet the horses at his own pace.

Finally it was time for our posse to get going. After someone else's little boy, Jenny got to mount her steed at the convenient, non-cowboy stepping platform.

John's horse had, I thought, unusually beautiful blue eyes.

Uncle John became Dominic's trusted horse whisperer.

I'm embarrassed to say I needed a little help getting onto my horse, Floyd. (It might actually have been easier to mount him cowboy-style.) When the wrangler asked if I'd ever ridden a horse before, I replied, "Yes—you hadn't been born yet."

And even Michael managed to look, if not comfortable, at least not in agony.

Lined up, off we went! To be honest, I didn't get a lot of photos of the scenery as it was too hard to get my phone out of my pocket, especially since I needed both hands to hold on.

After riding just exactly the right amount of time—my hips couldn't have taken any more of it!—we returned to the stables. Dominic and Gianna wanted to say goodbye to a horse.

And, as a last treat, Dominic treated us to a concert. His big brother, Zach, is a musician and Dominic has learned all the movements of a real pianist. He doesn't actually hit any particular notes but he has all the flourishes and showmanship down, pat!