Riding Lessons from the Red Ryder

 Avery was not about to be left out of the fun.  She is very determined to ride also.

 I think maybe the Red Ryder was very pooped after this day, she had a lot of little riders she was giving lessons too.

 Cade is doing so great!

 I think maybe this one will be a runner like her Mama!

Could he be any more handsome?

Riding is hard work.

Preg testing cows

Cade and Polka Dot in the middle. Jami and Carter were also riding.

A little hay bribery for the cows to entice them in the right direction.

Cade before we left the house in the morning. He was very excited to go and ride with all the cowboys and cowgirls and chase cows.

A helpful looking bunch!

Not a good picture but this was us getting ready to leave the house at O Dark thirty so we could be there in time to sit on our horses and wait for it to get light enough to see the cows.

"We went riding on the range" said Avery Gerdes

Avery and her Daddy!
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This was taken at the end of the ride. Cade was very serious and his thumbs were sore from gripping the saddle horn so tightly, not to mention his legs were getting sore from Polka's wide back. When he got off Polka Dot he was walking a little bowlegged!

Riding up in Broken Leg above my parents house. The views were great and Avery thought it was neat we were riding on the range. Cade kept talking about how we could see forever. Thank God for big beautiful wide open spaces!



Big grins from the little cowboy. And the little bowlegged walk at the end of the ride to go play in the waterslide and pool! Although he wouldn't get in until I come back with his swimming trunks!

Cade's first time gathering cows

Cade rode Polka Dot for his first big ride. Polka Dot is a most experienced kid horse and there isn't much that fazes him, so he is a great first horse for Cade thanks to my cousin Wynne. He was so excited to get to ride with a lot of other cowboys and cowgirls. I dropped Avery off at Mom's and she asked him if he was going riding to chase cows and he just shook with excitement.

He did really good. I led him the whole way and he was all smiles for quite a while. He didn't want to yell at the cows however he was just fine to follow behind them. He asked me how come Sterling wasn't afraid to gallop after cows. I explained to him that when he got more experience he wouldn't be either. I was so proud of my little boy!

Here is everyone that helped gather cows. Four generations riding so that was fun, in another couple of years there will be a lot of little cousins helping gather which i am sure will test my Dad's patience!

Pepsi

Rance got another horse. Seems like a really nice gelding, four years old and seems really level headed so maybe someday will make a great horse for the kids or I.


Avery adores riding and hates to get off the horse so that Cade can have a turn.
Cade in turn likes to be the big brother and give her instruction like "Hold on real tight to the saddle horn Avery"

Riding Poco

Cade is showing Avery where to hold on to.


Poco was mostly interested in getting back to where the food was, but he was a good sport.

Stirrups are still a little long for Cade, but notice his fancy new boots that were supposed to be a birthday present and I didn't hide well enough!

Cade riding solo with Dad leading.

A great big smile for the camera!

Our precious babies!

Avery was playing outside and despite it being pretty nice out she really wanted her hat on, so we put it on. Notice her little pink Grandpa Mike getter sweatshirt. It looks really good on her when she is playing on her new Grandma Dee getter John Deere tractor. Cade also got a tractor and they think they are pretty cool. Pictures to follow.


Rance and Cade going for a ride.

Avery taking a ride with Rance.

GIDDYUP!!!

Cade got a new (to him) horse from Aunt Nancy and has been having a great time riding it. He climbs on and rides as hard as he can and yells "Giddy up! Giddy up! GIDDYUP!"
So thanks Aunty! His legs aren't quite long enough for his feet to reach the stirrups, but they sit just on top of the blue spring covers and that works great.

Little Cowboy.

Cade loves the horses and has to go say hi to them at least once a day. Better then that is to get to ride them!

Avery Takes a Ride On Cactus

I put Avery on "Cactus" the horse for her first ride. Cade thought it was pretty funny and thought it was even better to get to take a ride with her. He is such a good big brother when he wants to be! He never was said "No Me!" Although I am sure once the novelty of seeing Avery on his horse wears off he won't think it is as fun.

Cowboy Small

Cade was very insistent about wearing his boots, wranglers and belt this morning and then of course had to wear his cowboy hat. Monkey see, monkey do! He didn't want to take his coat off for the pictures though so you can't quite see the whole effect. He has a great book called Cowboy Small and we have to read that one a lot. Cowboy Small has a horse named Cactus so we call Cade's little rocking horse Cactus now. He sits on him and pulls on the ears until he gets it to sing the sing "I'm a little pony clippety clop clippety clop, such a pretty pony.." I could go on I've only heard it a couple hundred times. He then rides like crazy until the song is almost over and he starts pulling up on the ears again to get the song to start over so he can start riding again. If it takes to many pulls to get the song he starts getting mad. The one at my mom's house won't sing the song anymore only make horse sounds and say "I like when you brush me" and "Let's go for a ride" It sure makes Cade upset. He pulls and pulls and pulls on the ears and alas no song.
We spent the morning at my Mom's which I think my Dad was happy about because then my Mom cooks him lunch and Clint got to benefit from that also. Corrine had worked a night shift and so she wasn't going to be cooking lunch for him either. After lunch I took the kids home and it was naptime. Except Avery wasn't tired anymore so I stayed up with her. Cade slept until Avery went to sleep. I took Cade outside except then Avery woke up so I had to drag poor Cade back inside and that in his book was a tragedy! Poor Cade!