My goal at OATS is to make kids smile and help them become independent riders. I want to help brighten their day :) but I think I have expected too much. In the beginning I just imagined that this project would be perfect, and that was a mistake on my part. All children are different and learn to trust at different paces at OATS. Some of the kids do not always take to their leadwalker or sidewalker right away and when this happened to me, I felt like I was hurting the kid more than helping them. Even though I was told that the kids had all types of personalities, and some were more accepting than others, I still expected them all to like me right away. Well expecting that everything would be perfect was setting myself up for failure considering nothing is perfect. This project is not supposed to easy or make me feel good about myself, it is supposed to challenge me. Instead of being discouraged I will keep going. So what something did not go my way. Not everything is going to happen that way. If everything went our way we would not be challenged, and would not learn. Also instead of me being a type of teacher to these kids i need to open myself to them so they can teach me. Kids can teach us little and big things. I need to be patient with these kids. The kids at OATS can especially teach me because I watch them being challenged everytime they get on a horse, and they overcome their challenge! They are perfect teachers when it comes to never giving up. They are all wonderful and can teach me all sorts of things if I drop my expectations. From now on no more thinking of everything going my way, but watch and learn from these children so I can learn about them and from them.

It has been about a week and a half since I have been at OATS and I miss it. I miss the kids, people, horses, and the place in general. OATS is one of those places where everything is simple and peaceful. A person can not help but love it out there. I am excited to go back and see what new things can be learned :)