Horse Ride My First

This is Annie

and she is six years old.

She likes to walk in the countryside

with her dog and her mum.

-So, what is your favourite animal?

-Horses and dogs.

Annie has come to see her Uncle Dean and his horse, Diesel.

-There's Uncle Dean!

-Hello!

-Hiya!

-Hiya.

-Do you like horses?

-Yeah.

And I think he likes you too, Annie!

Today, Annie will do something new for the first time,

but what will it be?

This is Annie's memory box -

to help her remember exciting

things that have happened.

Can you remember

what goes in it today?

We call him Diesel, this horse.

Do you want to stroke him?

-Aww!

-He's soft.

-Nice and soft?

-Want to feed him a carrot?

ANNIE LAUGHS

Does that tickle?

Is it really tickly?

-Would you like to try and ride a horse?

-Yes.

-Shall we find out where we can try and do that?

-Yes.

-Are you going to say bye?

-Say, "Bye, Diesel".

Bye, Diesel.

Horses were used for transport before we had cars and buses.

They also helped us with heavy work, like farming.

Nowadays, some still help with jobs, but most are much-loved pets.

There are different types, such as Shetland ponies that are small,

to large horses such as shires.

Lots of people ride for a hobby or competitions.

Many people have riding lessons to help them learn how to ride.

Annie has come with her mum to a horse riding school.

Hiya. Annie's come for her first horse ride.

-Hello, Annie, how are you?

-Fine.

-I've heard you like horses, is that right?

-Yeah.

-Shall we go and see some horses?

-Yeah.

-Come on, then.

First, Annie watches Kim, who has been riding for a long time.

It's good for the horses to do a bit of riding with different people.

Kim's been doing some walk, trot and cantering

and some jumping, as well.

-Could I try and do it?

-Shall we go and see if there are

-any horses you could ride?

-Yeah.

This is the stable where the horses live.

I think he's coming to say hello.

This is a really big horse. This is Thunder.

Hello, Thunder.

And this is Spider. Give him a stroke.

You have to reach for that one.

I wonder which horse you'll choose.

-Do you like Spider?

-Yeah. Can I ride it?

-Yeah.

-Shall we get his saddle?

-Yeah.

Annie's come into the tack room, where the saddles are kept.

Can you spot Spider's saddle?

We've got all of our horses' names in here.

-Where is Spider's saddle?

-There!

Well spotted!

Spider's saddle.

There we go.

Can you hold that bit? Brilliant.

-Do we need to put that on first, or the saddle first?

-This first.

This first, right.

He's getting a bit excited now to go riding.

There we go. I think he's all ready.

The first thing to go into

Annie's memory box

is Spider's saddle.

-Shall we find you a hat?

-Mm-hm.

We need to find the right size for you.

-Shall we try this one first?

-Yeah.

Is that one a little bit big?

I don't think we can see with that one on.

Let's try...this one next.

This one is a little bit smaller.

-How does that feel?

-Fine.

Fine. We can see! Why do you have to wear a hat

-when you're riding?

-In case you fall off

-and hurt your head.

-Yeah, it protects your head.

That's a great fit, Annie, and it will keep you safe.

The second thing to go into

the memory box

is the riding hat.

Now that Spider is all kitted out,

it's time for Annie to have her first riding lesson.

Can you put one hand on the front of your saddle

and one hand at the back? That's it.

Put your left foot in the stirrup and count to three.

See if you can do a super big jump to Kim. One, two, three!

Over we go!

Well done, Annie!

Shuffle forward. So, we hold the reins like we've got

two cups of juice. We don't want to spill them on Spider.

-Shall we tell you how to make Spider walk on?

-Mm-hm.

We give him a squeeze with our legs on his tummy

and we say "walk on" to him.

Walk on, Spider.

Walk on, Spider.

Off you go, Annie! You're riding!

Annie is learning how to use her reins to turn her horse.

Sit really tall.

We're going the other way this time,

so we're going to use the left rein, the one opposite to Kim.

Just little pulls back towards our tummy to steer him.

We've got a big mirror at the top of the arena, can you see?

Can we give Spider a wave?

There we go, big wave for Spider!

The next thing Annie needs to learn is how to stop Spider.

So to make Spider stop, we say "whoa".

We're going to gently pull on the reins back to our tummy

-and say...

-Whoa.

..whoa.

Good girl, well done!

-Did you enjoy that today?

-Yes.

How about you come back, do some jobs,

-then we could have another ride?

-Yeah.

Annie is at home playing hobbyhorses with her mum in the garden.

-Walk on.

-Come on, then.

Round we go.

What else are we doing?

Um... Whoa.

Whoa! That's right, you remembered how to stop.

-And then?

-Walk on.

Go on, then. Yay!

Oh, I've lost mine now!

-What did you like about your first horse riding lesson?

-Um...

-Finding Spider's stuff.

-Yeah, did you enjoy that?

-Yeah.

We could maybe go back for your second lesson

and if you like it that much, we could maybe do it more often, yeah?

Come on, then. Get your horse. Get up.

Another ride, that should be great fun!

Like people, horses have to be looked after.

To keep them happy and healthy,

they have to be cleaned out, watered and fed and exercised in the field.

Every six weeks, they have to get their shoes changed by a farrier.

Today, everyone's busy cleaning out the stables

-and Annie has come to help.

-There you go.

First, she sweeps up Spider's stable.

-Do you like looking after Spider?

-Mm-hm.

Why do we clean his stable out?

Because we don't want it to get dirty.

The next job is to brush Spider.

Why are we brushing him?

To get him all nice and clean and little bits of dirt out of him.

Annie cleans Spider's bucket and fills it with fresh water.

That's bubbly water!

The final thing is to give him some hay to eat.

Pop it in the hay net.

Now it's time to wash your hands.

Leave him to eat his dinner because a clean horse is a happy horse.

The farrier is putting on new shoes on a horse called Thunder.

I think he's getting his foot cleaned.

First, he cleans the hoof.

Does that hurt the horse?

Oh, no. It doesn't hurt at all.

Then he heats up the metal horseshoe in a furnace

so he can shape it to the horse's foot.

Why does he get new shoes on?

The old ones are not very good any more, so he has to have new ones.

Next, he marks the hoof and nails on the shoe,

but don't worry, it doesn't hurt Thunder and it protects his feet.

Thunder has a walk outside to check his new shoes fit.

The third thing into the memory box

is the horseshoe.

Now that Annie has helped look after her horse,

it's time for her second lesson, and they've come outside.

I'll close these gates and we'll go for a little ride round the outside.

Those reins held again with your two cups of juice.

Two cups of juice.

Good girl.

Sit tall. You're doing some lovely horse riding.

Can you put one hand on your head?

Oh, very good.

You're doing really well with your balancing.

Can you do aeroplane arms with one arm first?

What about aeroplane arms with the other arm?

Can you do two arms together?

Two hands, wow!

I wonder if you could go a little faster.

Come on, Spider!

You're trotting! That's really fast!

Whoa. Whoa, Spider.

You rode really well with Spider today.

-You've had your second lesson. Did you have fun?

-Yes.

What was your favourite part?

Looking after Spider

-and mucking him out and trotting.

-And trotting in your lesson.

We'd like to give you this nice rosette as a nice thank you.

-What do you say?

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

A lovely rosette for your hard work horse riding!

The fourth thing into the memory box

is the rosette.

Today, Annie went horse riding.

Do you remember what happened?

Let's have a look in the memory box.

First, Annie found Spider and picked out his saddle.

Next, Annie got her riding hat for her big ride.

Then Annie helped look after Spider

and watched a farrier put new horseshoes on Thunder.

And, finally, Annie had another lesson and got a rosette.

Today, Annie went on a horse ride.

There's a first time for everything!