We went over to watch Nancy’s pony ride yesterday. I think horses are beautiful and welcome a chance to see the majestic animals.

The place where the pony was being ridden also had several other animals including many chickens, geese, turkeys, ducks and some Shetland ponies. The chickens had many little chicks running around and they were cute as can be. I’m a sucker for baby animals of just about any kind, except snakes.

Hannah wanted to hold a baby chick, and we were finally able to capture one. She was very gentle with it, and really enjoyed it. During this brief time she learned a few things.

One of the baby chicks wasn’t feeling well and was looking for it’s mom. You have to understand how many mama chickens there were and that it would be a tough search. Hannah wanted to put the chick with any mom so that he would feel safe. Good thing she knows that moms keep you safe. We posed a question to her that went something like this:

“Should we put him with just any mom or with his mom? If you were put with just any mom would you feel safe, or does your mom make you feel safe?”

Fortunately, she’s far enough along in her attachment that she said her mom would keep her safe. We put the chick near where the others were in the hopes of it finding it’s mom.

In another area, there was a duck sitting on a nest of eggs. If you got to close to the duck, it began to hiss. Yes, ducks do hiss. The mother duck was protecting her eggs, and we talked about mothers protecting babies.

We also got to watch a mama and baby horse romp around and play together. It was another neat thing to see that mamas and babies play, even in the animal kingdom.

Hannah also learned respect for things that are bigger than you. I’m not sure if this is going to carry over to adults, but she sure does respect horses. The horses in this stable were some mighty big animals.

Another lesson learned was being gentle with babies. She learned how to gently hold the baby chicks, stroke them, and love them, like what should have happened with her.

There was one horse that was absolutely beautiful, but he was not a very happy camper. I learned that when a horse’s ears are all the way back, they are angry. This boy must have had his ears stapled to his head. He was a beautiful creature on the outside, but with all that “anger”, I doubt he’s very beautiful on the inside, much like our kids sometimes.

Sometimes our kids will take in lessons like these in this kind of environment. It is less threatening and they can relate it to themselves without it being directly about them. Spend some time on a farm or near animals (if your child can handle that) and let them learn some of these lessons about themselves. It is an amazing thing to see.

Photo credit - Hannah holding one of the baby chicks