i was FINALLY able to take a real horse back riding trip with my girls, lizzie hit the age requirement of 7 so she could be included and we found a highly recommended guide near the KOA in Bryce. when we did our first visit to the park and saw horses riding down into the amphitheater, emily went nuts requesting to go too. after some research i found that we could get a longer trip out into some really unique wilderness so we booked a trip outside the park.
the three nicest horses, ever!! lizzie was really new to all this and her horse just didn't sweat anything. she stayed close to the guide and never wavered... 
emily had a paint
my horse "navajo" was an appaloosa
lizzie had a gorgeous chestnut names "bally"
we started our trip walking along a clear blue river, passing wildflowers and sage, gorgeous cliffs all around, heading for "the slots" our guide said. at one point we turned off one river and followed another, the water was bright orange and our guide said it was because this river flowed from Bryce canyon and was orange from all the thunderstorms we had been getting each afternoon. it was surreal to see orange water flowing... so many colors in southern utah
heading into the slots! this was by far the coolest thing ever. most of my photos came out blurry because my horse was bobbing up and down so much through the river...
i hope it's clear that these slot canyons are cool!!
we headed back out of the canyon (i had a small mishap on a "run" up a small hill... my horse decided to jump the river before doing a few more jumps up the hill causing me to lose my stirrups and slide off one side. luckily he stopped when i yelled "whoa!" and i just dropped softly to his side. totally embarrassed though, i hopped back up and resumed the climb up. emily laughed at me from behind and a few minutes later she had her own mishap: her saddle was not tight enough and slipped around and under the belly of her house tossing her to the ground as well. luckily she just hopped off and wasn't hurt. our poor guide was mortified but with these calm and docile horses, it was really not a problem. we had a great laugh and talked about it for days after) we made it to the top and had a nice long pause with the view
then headed back across the valley to the truck and trailer. our guide told the girls they will never remember the first boyfriend they have but they will always remember their first "real" horseback ride with their mom. so cool!
hoping to take some riding lessons back here in the city, i think we were all inspired to continue riding.
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