For most parents, that moment is when they hear their child say, “I Love You.”  And I agree; hearing Ian whisper those three words absolutely melts my heart, but there are two words he has recently learned that affirm my success as a parent: “heels down.”

Ian rolls out of bed every morning and asks, “Ride Reggie?”  He’ll still double with me on Reggie, but he prefers to ride by himself.  When Brinn tries to rest a hand on his leg to help stabilize him atop of Reggie, he pushes Brinn’s hand away and says, “Ian d0.”  Lately we’ve been working with Ian on his body position.  He’s picked up heels down quickly, and now he’s working on “look forward” when he walks across ground rails.  Unfortunately (for this nervous mama) Ian looks past the ground rails and yells, “Big jump!”  Maybe in the distant future…

This past weekend Ian finally participated in his first horse show.  Tri Color Acres held its annual Halloween Fun Show, where Ian competed in the costume class with Reggie.  Lately Ian is obsessed with “monkey.”  Curious George books are Ian’s favorite, and he will actually sit down and watch episodes of the show.  Marilyn, from work, helped me locate a Curious George costume for Ian’s third Halloween, and Terri provided a yellow cone to transform Reggie into the man with the yellow hat.  I won’t say that Reggie was thrilled with wearing a cone/yellow hat on her poll, but she didn’t protest too loudly.  And of course, a monkey has to wear blue-topped Justin cowboy boots with a crepe sole.

Creative costuming will never be a parenting strength of mine, but Ian’s cuteness factor goes a long way.  He knows how to cheese it up at the right moment to gain favoritism.  I suspect his charisma has more to do with his first win than his mom’s pitiful attempt to throw together a costume at the last moment.  Nonetheless, Congratulations, Ian, on your medal from Ms. Terri for a first win in the show pen.