Madison Begins An Adventure

Our Granddaughter Madison or Maddie as we call her, except when she is in big trouble, which hardly ever happens, loves horses. She reminds me of her Mom and yes even of me when I was little. Maddie is eleven years old. Maddie lives for horses.."she needs a horse." Her Mom, our eldest daughter finally said "OK Maddie..lets get you some HORSE experience." She arranged a visit to my sisters, who is an accomplished horsewoman, Maddie will be spending this entire week at her farm, mucking stalls, and learning all about horses from the ground up..so to speak.. I am hoping that not too much ground activity will be happening. I was almost sixteen when my sister was born, she had horses growing up, she has a number of horses now. My sister and her daughter Toots who just graduated from high school will either make Maddie into a horse person for life or her dreams of horses will be dashed and forgotten.

We picked Maddie up on Friday evening, they live an hour north of us, and my sister lives about three and a half hours south and east. So Far Guy and I had an overnight visitor, Chance was in seventh heaven, one girl ALL to himself. He woke her up with kisses! We began our journey, Maddie was so excited, finally the day arrived that she had been looking forward to since way last winter. We began to see horses along the roads, in pastures, cows too but Maddie never pointed them out. We also saw deer, turkeys, a pheasant, a donkey, beefalo and llamas. Lots of road kill too, skunks, deer, porkypines, and raccoons, it is almost the full moon...I swear the animal kingdom gets all out of whack near a full moon. We took back roads the whole way, traffic on main roads is horrendous..tourists pulling boats, and campers. Besides that, you can't see the "real" Minnesota on the main roads.

We arrived at the graduation party, it was a double duty day.. drop off Maddie and to wish Toots the best of luck when she begins her college education at Bethel University in the fall. She wants to major in Elementary Education.. hopefully she will still want to pursue this interest after a week with Maddie. Toots is the last in the line of my ten nieces and nephews to graduate from high school. She also lives and breathes horses.

Maddie was shy when we first got there, clinging to me like a second skin. Finally, I got her to speak to another little girl, after a few minutes, they began to converse on their own. I am not so sure THAT was a great idea, as this little girl who I will call Gracie, has her very own horse. Her horse lives at her grandparents farm, and her grandmother sews her cute horsie skirts. Since her Dad is a Veterinarian, she has several dogs, cats, birds, a gecko, fish, and a hermit crab to go along with her horse. Oh and her Mom has horses too, at grandpa's farm. Maddies reaction to all this information..just one word "Sweet."

Maddie was anxious to meet the horses down in the barn. There were still a number of guests at the party, so instead, we met the two outside dogs, Bear and Hercules, we looked at the sheep in the pasture and took some flower photos. I borrowed Maddie one of my cameras for the week..it should be interesting to see her photos and listen to her stories. I told her to have fun, to listen to directions, and to stay safe. Far Guy and I left before she met the horses.

As Maddie's Grandmother, who just might be a bit overprotective, I wanted to shield her from all the things that go along with horses, the falls, the bumps, the bruises that turn every color of the rainbow and the sore toes, but I know that some of life's little lessons must be learned all on your own. Actually I had to do many "Whoa Grandma's" ..I was thinking..not my baby..what are her mother and my sister and my niece thinking..have they all gone mad?? Whoa Grandma:)