Journeys›Photograph

A Sunday Afternoon with the Horses in Daly City

·Daly City, California·#bay area#spring#kids#horseback-riding#pony-ride
A child in a pink shirt brushes a brown and white pony outside a stable building.

A Sunday afternoon with the horses at the stable on Skyline Blvd in Daly City, just up the ridge from the ocean and south of the city. The place has been running riding lessons since 1988, and it shows in a good way — the instructors put the girls to work before anyone got near a saddle. Brushing first, then hoof picking, which meant crouching under a very patient black horse's tail while an instructor held the leg steady.

The pony was a shaggy brown-and-white paint, small enough that the mounting block did most of the work. Helmet on, up she went, and then laps of the arena on a lead rope while fog sat on the hills behind the fence. By the last few circuits she had the reins in her own hands and the instructor had backed off to just holding the line.

The other one got a turn on the big black horse afterward, up on an English saddle looking very far from the ground. They run trail rides from here down toward Ocean Beach — we stayed inside the rails this time. There is now a standing request for lessons every week.

A child stands behind a brown and white pony wearing a halter, inside a stable with dark green walls.A person stands behind a dark horse while a child crouches to clean the horse's hoof in a stable.A person and a child stand by a saddled pony and a red block in a sandy arena with trees and hills.A person leads a pony ridden by a child in a sandy arena with trees and hills in the background.A person walks a pony with a child rider in a dirt arena with a white fence and green trees.A child on a pony is led by an adult in a fenced outdoor riding arena.A child in a blue helmet rides a brown and white pony led by an adult in a dirt arena with a white fence.A child on a black horse wears a helmet while a person stands beside them in a sandy arena with hills and trees in the background.

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