MORE ABOUT HORSES

Andrew was fascinated with horses from a very young age, drawing pictures of them, making them out of modeling clay, Lego (of course), snow and sand (at the beach).

Imagine then the thrill as a young boy being able to sit on a real pony for the first time. And then to go on for a month of day camp learning to ride. And being able to learn about his [assigned] horses and participate in their grooming and care.

Andrew wanted to learn everything about horses and riding. Over the years we accumulated many books about horses and stories about horses and, as Alison mentioned in her blog this month, movies about horses.

This and the following picture are at The Eglinton Equestrian Club where Andrew & Alison road for several years.

Uncle Michael (nicknamed Muncle Ichael by Andrew) had a horse, and sometimes two, on his farm for a few years.

This was an added bonus for Andrew when we visited the farm and he could go riding.

The highlight of four summers for Andrew was four weeks at a residential riding camp in Quebec called The Horse People.

In addition to dressage riding and jumping, Andrew did cross country riding at The Horse People, another new thrill.

You have to look closely at the picture to see anything. But Andrew is there on his dark horse jumping a fence, uphill, on a cross country trail through the woods. He was going full tilt.

This was on visitors day half way through the summer camp and he had told Joan and me where to be to watch for him. But he still took us by surprise as he went tearing past.

By the time of the last three pictures above, Andrew was a very accomplished rider and had probably been riding for half his life.