Daily Peep: Pony Up

Earlier in the week, Shrike sent me a list of about four different fun things happening this weekend. Then some MOMS Club friends emailed the group about more fun things.

The Autism Awareness Fair being held within walking distance of our house, which included pony rides, was the clear winner.

It was a very nice event - in addition to the ponies, they had games, food, a bouncy house (bouncy dragon, actually), face painting, balloon animals (including the cutest balloon Cookie Monster you've ever seen), "sensory" activities (like a table full of shaving cream), a live band, therapy dogs and three rooms worth of information tables for various organizations and agencies providing services to kids, both special needs and typically-developing.

All for free. Even the food.

And, amazingly enough, given the amount of stimulation available and the target audience, I only saw one kid having a melt down, which is pretty good for any event like this.

This pony ride was the best one yet. For one thing, it involved helmets and signed waivers, which made me sort of wonder about the others ones, but also the saddles had multiple sets of stirrups, including one at Peeper-length.

Between her feet being more or less anchored, and her greatly increased willingness to hold on to the saddle horn, I was a lot more confident that she was going to stay on for the whole ride, and only held onto her waistband, rather than keeping both hands wrapped around her the whole time.