4H VolunteeringJust Short of Crazy

Emma & I spent time last week volunteering with 4H. I think its so important to have kids volunteer in the community. It allows them to interact with adults, other than their parents, and teaches them responsibility. It’s been difficult finding good volunteer activities for Emma. Recently I’ve found a couple that seem to be a great fit.

Last Monday we helped with the 4H Proud Equestrian Program. This is a horse back riding program for disabled children and adults. Emma loves horses so I thought this would be a good volunteer opportunity for her. Each rider needs 3 volunteers. One to lead the horse and one on each side (aka: sidewalkers) Emma and I were sidewalkers. We are there to ensure the child stays on the horse. When I signed up for the gig I didn’t know that we would be walking in an arena and because I’m horse ignorant I didn’t know arenas are all soft dirt. It was like walking at the beach and NOT on the hard packed stuff. Holy crap, after 10 minutes I realized I was going to need to start working out a hell of a lot more if I was going to keep up. The real torture began about a 1/2 hour into the first session when the instructor told the students they were going to trot. Shut the front door!! I looked at the lady like she was crazy. You want me to WHAT???? Yep, that’s right, place my arm across the child’s thigh, grab hold of the saddle and run next to the horse. Houston, we have a problem! I can either hold onto the child OR I can run, well, jog really, running is so unlikely…asking both is asking a bit much. Somehow I managed and no child, adult, or animal was injured. I apologize for having no photos to share…I was too busy trying to keep up The program runs through June so maybe I’ll get a few photos before it ends.