There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.

That quote comes from Winston Churchill. I think Avi would love it if we could afford to bring him to horse therapy. Until then we'll just have to keep going to the Thanksgiving Point farms. At least this is a cheap way of getting him on a horse, even if it isn't trained for therapy.

We went again this week. Luckily, or maybe not actually, this time we remembered to bring some quarters along to feed the animals. Once again Avi loved it. Itai was awake this time, but didn't get to ride a horse (ima says he's too small.) but he got to see all the animals, feel the heat and spend some time cuddled up with Debbie while Avi ran laps around the place.

Avi threw the food to the animals, but didn't want to have them eat out of his hand; he left that for me. I didn't really think that an alpaca, cow, goat or sheep would eat from my hand, covering it with their very thick saliva but there I found myself, with my hand outstretched, emptied of food, wet by animal tongue. Yuck!

I think Avi and the horses would like it better if I weren't walking beside them, but I'm not brave enough to let him go alone. The horses always seem to give me a look, warning me not to do anything stupid. On our second trip around the carosel one of the other horses let out a loud whinny and tried to pull away from its rider. It was really upset. Avi looked up at it and said "Oh, gosh!" (That's Debbie's influence right there.) :)

My favorite part of the ride was when Avi looked up and saw Itai on Debbie's lap and gave them a great, big smile. He was so happy to see them whil he rode on the horse. His second horse was a little too big for him, but the blond one he rode first, the one in the pictures, was just right. If only I didn't make it so skittish.