Being a mother of 4 awesome children I often want to make sure my children carry amazing memories with them into their adulthood.  I grew up in the country with clean air, trees, animals and very few neighbors.  When I was a child I always wondered what it would be like to have lived in a city and have not have grown up the way I did, I think it is something many children often wonder.  Is the grass greener on the other side of the fence.

I was always into Rodeos, the western riding however I used to dream of Equestrian riding but roping, barrels, poles and pleasure western riding was where my heart was.  I still to this day often visit the Equestrian Medical Safety Association, just to keep up with what is going on.  Things change so much and I enjoy following the Equestrian education and resource, I had a very good friend of mine that was injured very badly many years ago while equestrian riding.  She ended up putting a lot of time and energy into going to court because of her injuries, so it is just something I find myself checking on now and again.

Now that I am an adult, I can honestly say I would not want one thing about my childhood to have been different.  I grew up riding horses, my favorite thing in the world to do was jump on my horse and take off into the woods and disappear for the day.  Once I was old enough I only had one rule and that was be home by dark, to only go back to those days.  I would work hard for neighbors by taking care of their animals, cleaning up their yards, horse stalls, or homes so I could earn money to buy tack for my horses.
My 7 year old daughter is super into horses also and the other day she was looking online at ManhattanSaddlery.com, it took me back to when I was a child.  I would go through catalogs and find everything that I wanted, write it down, then add it up so I could figure out how much money I needed to save up.

I try to teach my children to shop smart however I did not realized they actually listen to me.  My daughter asked me if there were any ManhattanSaddlery.com coupons that she could use to afford this helmet she wanted.  Wow, when I go to the store or buy just about anything online I use coupons and always share with her the secrets of saving money.  I never thought she listen to me, she always gets that lost look when I bring it up.  This proves it she does listen, and I did tell her I was very proud of her for being so wize with her money, especially when shopping for horse tack and riding gear using coupons or shopping items on sale can save you a lot of money.  I am very proud of her for trying to save money while she is so young.

My daughter and I often look online at horse pictures and videos and I am still in love with Equestrian Riding.  It is something about the horse and rider becoming one, working as a team and having so much trust in one another that amazes me.  The horses and rides jumping so far, yet flowing so smooth everything just fits, its perfect.  It is dangerous, but also something that if your heart is in it you wont ever want to be without it.  You will want to pass it on to one of your children and hope that one of the share the love of riding.

I feel blessed to have my children, all 4 of them and it makes me happy to be able to share my love of riding with one of them.  I think sometimes when we start to get older we someone live through our children.  Honestly my daughter sharing her love of horses in a perk in life, I support them in anything they want to do or try it just feels wonderful to have someone to pass on what I know to.    I want my children to be able to look back on their childhood and feel the same way I do about mine.  I want them to know mom and dad love them, would do anything for them and did everything they could to make sure they had a happy childhood.  I want them to become wise, honest, hard working adults that are able to stand on their own two feet and know how to save money when they can.