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Horsemanship 101: Get Back On That Horse

Charlie NSW Dressage

A Display Of True Courage To Overcome Adversity

Means we’re walking away as winners!

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of joining the nanny family at a major dressage event (translation for all the non-horsey people = a horse show). It was so much fun! Kevin even came along for the ride too, (ha ‘ride’, horses, get it?) Ok, not funny.

This was the first competition that all the kids had ever been in, so it was brand new and super exciting. It meant their horsemanship abilities were put to the test! The promise of what was to come was infecting! The Twins were entered into a few horse and rider categories and Miss Charlie was entered into a lead category, whilst Mumma was out riding in the big leagues. The girls all share a pony called Marley; he’s 3 years old, about 12 hands tall and dappled grey. Like a typical pony, he’s 90% cheeky, 5% greedy, 5% oomph and 100% bomb proof. Wait, the maths, oh well, you get it. He’s also kind and loving to the kids whilst being the boss of the paddock. Yep, as strange as it sounds, it often turns out that ponies (the littlest in the paddock) often become the leader over all the other horses that they’re stabled with. Marley is no exception.

When we arrived on Sunday morning, I spotted Marley tied to his hook alongside the horse truck – we luckily have the use of the Polo club’s horse mover so that we can transport our large clan of horses all over the place for various shows. I could barely see him squashed in between two really big Arabian warm bloods, except for the fact that he had his ears plastered back and his “angry face” on. It seems he was in the process of commandeering the two other gelding’s bales of hay. Cheeky, cheeky, pony. I guess that was a tell-tale sign of the way the day was to go.

Half way through The Twins first event of the morning, we discovered a very unfortunate problem with the chosen location of the event. It seems the equestrian grounds was right next to the RAAF base. Yep, that sucks. Although why they felt the need to take off in their noisy planes on a Sunday, I don’t know. It baffles me. But they did. And all hell broke loose. Also, their complete lack of understanding and naivety shown when they felt it absolutely necessary to tow a glider only so many feet above ground over the top of the fields, displays a complete lack of professionalism. Frankly, as Air Force people, they should no better. It doesn’t matter how “bomb-proof” your horse is, by the time you’ve got hundreds of horses in an arena, separated from their mates, filled up on oats (like giving Red Bull to people) and running on the emotions of the children riding them, they’re not going to be so calm headed when loud planes fly over head.

Sadly, one of The Twins was disqualified from her event as cheeky Marley spooked and galloped away from her across the fields. She panicked and tried to hold him, which resulted in a bang to the head (the helmet banged her head as Marley rushed by) and a bruised ego. It turned out that Marley was only trying to get back to the safety of his truck where his half eaten bale of hay was waiting for him (yep, horses are comfort eaters too)!

After quite a few tears and many heart to hearts with the girls, who were scared and had decided to pull out of the rest of the days competitions, we finally managed to convince them to get back on and give it another go. Of course we assessed the situation and made sure it was safe to do so – the girls’ horse instructor got on Marley and gave him a strong talking too, rode out all of his cheeky-ness and turned him back into a placid little, sleepy pony.

By the end of the day the girls had learnt one of the most valuable lessons in life: Never, ever give up! Yes they were scared, yes their egos had been bruised and their pride a little hurt, yes the morning had not gone as planned. But they got over that and got back up on that pony and gave it another go.

 Horsemanship 101: if you come off, you dust yourself off and get right back on!

The kids over came some serious challenges, took a gamble and came out on top. They took away multiple blue, red and green ribbons! Even better were the smiles. It didn’t matter to them that they walked away with fewer ribbons than they had anticipated, because they showed true courage in the face of adversity and strength when it counted. Most of all, they had fun!

 P.S. How cute is little Miss6 all dressed up for her event!

Have you ever been horse riding? Did you love it or find it all a little bit daunting?

Learning To Invest Wisely With Monopoly

Investing Wisely: Monopoly

(Invest Wisely With Monopoly) The last day of holidays before school returned marked the end of an epic three-day game of highly competitive monopoly! It was fast paced, highly thrilling as each player faced unforeseen financial burdens, and frustrating as strategies were won and others lost.

The best part was that it was fun and enjoyable.

As the game drew to an end and those still standing carefully counted up the wads of cash in their pockets and added it to their prized assets (I sadly was not the proud owner of any high-priced blue or red coloured streets), I began thinking about the value that we’d experienced and benefited from in the last few days.

Quality Time Together

I realised that our epic battle had done wonders for achieving some quality time together. Not only had I successfully managed to divert attention away from the TV (iCarly and Victorious were seriously doing my head in), but I had also managed to initiate some family time that could be shared and enjoyed across all ages of the siblings.

Educational Value

The educational value in a game like Monopoly meant the older girls were exposed to real life concepts concerned with understanding monetary finance and how best to manage their money responsibly. It a lesson in investing wisely with monopoly. Simple mathematics of adding up and giving change proved rewarding to the little ones. It prompted them to consider the balance between the benefits of holding large cash money as opposed to owning many assets, planning ahead and budgeting for taxes and necessary expenditures (like landing themselves in jail or on the many hotels and houses placed on Park Lane and Mayfair), and the concept of working strategically towards achieving their goals.

For Miss 6, even though her interest in the game peaked at times and waned at others (a 6-year-old just doesn’t have the attention span for epic Monopoly battles), it was interesting to work through the challenges of simple mathematics with her. Whilst many might say that resorting to methods such as counting on your fingers is not beneficial to long-term development, it proved a great method in a time poor situation.

Miss 6 showed leaps and bounds when quickly counting her little fingers to add up the dice to move her marker around the board. When she landed herself in jail, we talked about the similarity between the two times tables and doubling numbers. Suddenly 2×3 was an easy “6” despite 3×2 proving a challenge. When the banker found herself short of $100 notes, Miss 6 understood that having 2 lots of $50 notes was just as good.

Team Spirit

Perhaps the most valuable lesson that all children faced throughout the duration of the competition was the importance of fairness and being humble. As older sister #2 landed on free parking for the third time, acquiring so much cash that she could barely count it, the rest of us found ourselves smiling and saying congratulations to her. We understood that whilst it perhaps was not fair that she had all of the good fortune, we we accepted that such was the luck of the game and the roll of the dice.

A family game of monopoly is a lesson fairness, team spirit, mathematics and investing wisely. #nannylife #schoolholidays

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As official keeper of the peace and judge presiding over sibling rivalry, I speak for all when I say that:

No matter the outcome, win or lose; the experience was fun, thought provoking, highly entertaining, much more rewarding than another episode of Spongebob, and definitely one for the memory bank.

>>> Does you family play intensely competitive games of Monopoly? Do they invest wisely?