Mike and I went horseback riding on Saturday morning. Rides like these are usually pretty tame – no galloping, no going off the trail, staying at a slow pace right behind the horse in front of you.
The beginning of our ride started out this way. We went up about 1,000 feet along one of the mountains, then came back down. The planned ride was pretty boring: after the mountain, walk across a pasture, then back across it to where we started, and finish up (the ride was 2 hours total).
But then things got fun. The other riders on our group were two guides, two 7-year olds, and one of their mothers. One of the little girls was nervous, so a guide kept her horse on a lead, and held onto that rope the entire time.
The rope got caught under the guide’s horse’s tail, which startled the horse, who reared back, whined, and startled the little girl’s horse. Her horse started galloping around, with her screaming like a – well, like a 7 year old girl! That set all the other horses of, though not as much. Eventually they got the two horses settled, and I do have to hand it to the little girl for staying on the entire time!
Then we had to cross this irrigation ditch that was about 3.5 or 4 feet wide. The spooked horses refused to go across some wooden planks, so the guides decided to walk across it. One horse, then two horses, took one step in the water ditch, and one step out. The next horse… stops, looks, decides to jump it. All the other horses, including Mike and mine, follow suit!
Yes, it was a small ditch. But that totally counts as jumping across water on a horse!
And to make the ride even better, the pasture we went across had just been filled with 500 cattle the day before. The cattle started following our line of horses, all single file themselves. Then we went through the thick of them, and they stood so close, just watching us! It was incredible!
The beginning of our ride started out this way. We went up about 1,000 feet along one of the mountains, then came back down. The planned ride was pretty boring: after the mountain, walk across a pasture, then back across it to where we started, and finish up (the ride was 2 hours total).
But then things got fun. The other riders on our group were two guides, two 7-year olds, and one of their mothers. One of the little girls was nervous, so a guide kept her horse on a lead, and held onto that rope the entire time.
The rope got caught under the guide’s horse’s tail, which startled the horse, who reared back, whined, and startled the little girl’s horse. Her horse started galloping around, with her screaming like a – well, like a 7 year old girl! That set all the other horses of, though not as much. Eventually they got the two horses settled, and I do have to hand it to the little girl for staying on the entire time!
Then we had to cross this irrigation ditch that was about 3.5 or 4 feet wide. The spooked horses refused to go across some wooden planks, so the guides decided to walk across it. One horse, then two horses, took one step in the water ditch, and one step out. The next horse… stops, looks, decides to jump it. All the other horses, including Mike and mine, follow suit!
Yes, it was a small ditch. But that totally counts as jumping across water on a horse!
And to make the ride even better, the pasture we went across had just been filled with 500 cattle the day before. The cattle started following our line of horses, all single file themselves. Then we went through the thick of them, and they stood so close, just watching us! It was incredible!
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