When she was little, she collected horses of any kind, horse toys, stuffed horses, musical horses, you name it.

They were probably the only toys she really played with.   Everything seemed to be horse related.

Her favorite movie was Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron.  I can remember watching it over and over.  We bought the soundtrack, which I still hear played sometimes.

We owned several different types of stick horses, which she rode through the house for hours and hours and hours (litterally, over the span of many years.)  She chose Halloween costumes around her stick horse.

or anything close, (like being a cowgirl)

Several years ago she got a blanket for Christmas with horses on it and despite looking quite awful today, it’s  a prized possession.  I have tried to get rid of it many times, but she won’t part with it.  It might be one of the only things she still uses from so long ago.

For her 4th birthday she had a Spirit birthday cake (I can’t believe I found these photos.)

The next year for her 5th birthday, she had a Spirit Horse party   notice the stick horse laying on the floor in the background, boy did she log the hours on that thing.)

The party had to have birthday cowboy hats.  I just noticed she’s wearing her Spirit T-shirt, we still have this shirt in McKinley’s drawer.

and a horsey cake that she helped make

(which had to have all those horses on top)

We took her to a friends house on her birthday to ride a horse, even though it was just around the yard, it was enough. (I had totally forgot about this until I found these photos with her cake photos.)

She’s seen every horse movie and read every book or horse series books we can find including the Heartland Series, Canterwood Crest & Chestnut Hill, and the Thoroughbred Series by Joanna Campbell.  I’ve searched and searched until we found every last book and she’s read them all.  Last night I saw that she was re-reading the Heartland books because she loves them so.  (probably more than 100 books in those 4 series alone)

While she’s grown to be such a big girl, there are still a few last toy horses in her room

(like this pair)

We’ve taken out the rest and she lets McKinley play with them now, although she’s told me more than once that I can never get rid of them.

While it’s not a secret she’s loved horses for a long time, she’s always asked to have a real horse.  But then again, she wanted us to put a kitchen in her bedroom for her 5th birthday too and we didn’t give in.   While we’ve listened, we’ve never felt it was time or she was mature enough for something so time consuming.  However for the last year, the signs and interest she took became quite serious.

She left notes in about every place she went.

this was one her door for a while

in my bathroom after my shower

in her room

after her shower

She reminded us daily on the back of my car, in emails, with sticky notes placed around the house.  You name it, she was persistent with letting us know.

So last fall, we decided to let her start spending time with some good friends of ours, who were willing to share their horse expertise with her (Marty and I are definitely not experienced horse people.)  But we are really good at letting people who have knowledge teach us.  So for the past year, Delaney has been spending time getting to know horses and being around them, all the while we were determining her dedication level.  She’s given up nights with friends, ball games, friend parties and more for any chance to spend around horses.

We decided to let her join 4-H and sign up for the Horse Project (which is a pretty big deal considering you have to have a horse to participate.)  We’ve been telling her since enrolling in 4-H, that we would be able to BORROW a horse to use for the fair.  So for the last year, she’s been looking forward to the idea of showing a horse at the fair and all the learning involved with being enrolled in the Horse Project.

She’s been taking lessons on one particular horse about once a week to learn the ropes of everything she needs to learn about horseriding and more.  She’s slowly learning how to saddle and prep the horse for riding, and many of the things she’ll need to be able to do to show a horse in 4-H this August.   It’s been something she’s loved and we’re so thankful to our friends that are so eager to teach a young girl with a love for horses.   She’s learned so much, but has lots more to learn.

The night before her birthday, a trailer pulled in to our drive with the horse she’s been taking lessons on.  Our friends brought him by for a lesson.   Big surprise!   Even bigger surprise was when she found out that the all the riding she’s been doing on this horse, was a very detailed plan (by Mom and Dad) to see if she and this horse were a good fit for each other.

Her Dad handed her the paperwork to sign for the 4-H project because the paperwork had to include the signature of the horse owner.

She spent several minutes looking pretty confused and I think it took her about an hour for it to really sink in.  This horse she’s been riding and loving for months, is going to come live at our house when the time is right…..(which btw, carries a LOT of responsibility and work ahead of her.)

She got the spend the evening with him.  She rode a little and she did a lot of talking, telling him about his new home that he’ll come back to this summer after some more lessons and some farm prep for his arrival.

While this was a plan in the works for a very long time (even though she had absolutely no idea),  after lots of looking at horses to buy, we decided to let her dream  come true around her birthday.     While this really wasn’t her birthday present, she has told everyone she meets she got a horse for her birthday and that is ok because as Delaney has been telling me for over a year, “a girl has to dream.”  You know what, she’s right.  Everyone deserves the right to dream and have dreams come true.

And if you have never seen the movie DREAMER, it’s worth watching again and again.  I can remember seeing it in the theatre as a family and we’ve watched it many times since.   It’s about a little girl and her love for horses and a family who finds happiness in their time spent together with one very special horse.

and here are a few pictures of our little girl, that I can’t believe just turned 11 (how is that possible) and her dream horse….

He’s a beautiful horse and she’s one very excited girl!!

More pictures to come…..(I think I took more than a few.)