(no subject)

[which_chick]

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I told Cass that she has to keep a journal of our outings. and that she said she was doing that.



OMG. She brought the book to horse outing last night. It is so cute. The entries are dated, one page per entry, carefully handwritten in ten-year-old cursive with proper capital letters and margins. They're about half-page paragraphs per entry. The entries include any events (We saw a bear! or Nick bucked when being saddled!) of interest and then they recap the topic for the day. (Now I feel really guilty about days when I don't have a good topic. Bad adult!) There's also a little description of the route we rode that day.

At the beginning, we talked about what would make an acceptable entry for the day, which is why the entries cover these items. She was like "I do not know what to write! I do not have anything to say!" Wah. So we talked about what to put in the book. I DO NOT write Cass's journal entries for her. Hell, I hadn't seen them until last night. I do have a topic for most rides, something we talk about that relates to competitive trail riding, but I do not outline or write the entries for her. She does that on her own.

The front of the notebook is decorated and it says

Competitive Trail Ride Journal -- DO NOT TOUCH!!!
Cassity/Jessica

I about died when I saw it. It is the cutest thing ever and I had a hell of a time trying not to go all "Damn! That is SOOO CUTE!" I restrained myself to moderate approval: "Good, good. That'll do. I like the way you recap the topic of the day." She says, "It helps me remember." Yes, child. It does. That is why we take notes.

So yes, there is a book and yes, there are entries for each time we ride. Cass says that she wasn't really planning to write that much but that when she got started, she found she had more to say than she thought she did.

Also, at Horse Camp (this past weekend), she answered all the questions about pulse and respiration and stuff during the "Healthy Horse" segment of the programming. (Apparently most ten year olds are not drilled on *what* a heartbeat is and why it gets faster when you exercise. They don't know what respiration is or how you measure it on a horse.) Cass was quite pleased with herself that she answered all the questions about that stuff.

If we don't get an award or something for the damn book, I will shoot someone. It is the best book ever. For real.

Comments

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

That sounds nifty!

I tried to get my spawn to do something like that, but no go...

[gwangi.livejournal.com]

So how do you measure horse respiration? I've used a little plastic contraption to measure mouse respiration (best experiment EVAR, in that we did a before-and-after measurement with a dunking in an icewater bath inbetween), but can't imagine a tube large enough to hold a horse.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry for the lack of clarity. We measure breaths per minute and count 'em by watching either the horse's flank or the horse's nose to see when they are breathing.