Rainbows and horses and kids, oh my!

What do you get when you mix children, horses, and rainbows? Pure joy! Some friends of ours had asked if they could pasture their horses in our fields because they had run out of feed for them, and we had more than enough! With Jason being a huge horse lover it wasn't even a question to him, it was all about when!

The kids have loved having horses in our backyard. We bought some horses from some good friends of ours last summer, but due to unfortunate financial circumstances, we were pretty much forced to sell them back to their owners. The kids were really crushed when we did this. They absolutely loved the horses, and Jason promised them that one day we would have horses, he just didn't know when.

Well, these horses are not ours, but we have been granted permission to ride them as often as we like. They are wonderful, kid-friendly horses. For the first two weeks, my children would go out everyday after school to feed them horse treats, to pet them, and just to be around them. The horses would let them walk all the way around them and would often follow them into the hay barn where the treats were. The kids absolutely loved the new pets that they were helping take care of.

So, one afternoon, when some friends were over, we decided to saddle them up and let the kids walk around in the pasture. It was raining outside, gently, but that didn't stop any of them from getting off and going inside. They all endured the soft rain, rode like little cowboys and cowgirls, and enjoyed the full, double rainbow that encompassed half of the sky.

I simply cannot describe in words the joy that was written on their faces. Their hair was damp, the noses chilled, their smiles tatooed, and their joy radiating about them. These pictures tell the story...