Originally uploaded by tcboos
(Madison) - We went horseback riding at Riverside Farms. My horse's name was Thunder. I was behind Darcy and her horse as we left the barn and headed off on the trail. At first, I was scared because Thunder's walking was like one side going up and the other going down. It was weird to get used to. He kept trying to get right up to Darcy's horse, so he kept speeding up to catch up to her horse. I had to pull on the reins, but I didn't feel like I had a lot of control. He just followed Darcy's horse, and after a while, he started following my commands. By the end, he was a good horse.
(Brianna) - Originally uploaded by tcboo(My horse's name was Shadow. He was a brown horse with black hair. I was behind my Mom and sister, and the guide was behind me. At first, I was a little nervous because I'd never done this before, and at times walking up the side of the mountain it felt like I would tip over the side. He stepped once on a rock and stumbled, but he didn't fall. I then heard a rustling of leaves and saw a black snake. The horse didn't react. By the end, I was used to my horse and I had fun!
Originally uploaded by tcboos
(Natalie) - My horse's name was Miss Roxie. I had to ride with my Mom because I wouldn't be able to remember all the directions like, "pull to the right when his ears go down." You had to lean way back when the horse got on the rocks, and I would have probably lost control if I was riding by myself. Cara didn't like her horse because he kept going into the trees. Once he started scratching his butt on a tree and he just kept doing it and wouldn't stop.
(Krista) - I wanted to go horseback riding, but I thought it would be on flat ground with the mountains in the background, not part of our ride! My horse's name was Miss Roxie and Natalie rode with me. We were behind Madison in the line. I got a little nervous in the beginning when we were in the barn listening to the instructions and the head lady said only one guide would be going with us. I sort of made a suggestion that we have two guides with us! They just assumed we knew horses.
That lady told me to get on and pull Natalie up after me. I was frustrated at that because first of all, I didn't know how to get on and I certainly didn't think I could pull Natalie up from the ground, with me up so high. They did help me up and then help Natalie, but only after I said something. Then the main lady started out of the barn and I was thinking how do we move, but then she started calling all of the horse's names and the horses knew what to do. They just started walking and got in a line and off we went.
Once we got on the trail and we circled the barnyard, I was fine thinking this was it and when the guide started leading us to the mountain, I was all like, "WHAT?" Then Cara's horse started acting up and that made me really nervous.
Once he went off the trail and started down the mountain and he was caught up in the bushes. I told the guide nearest me to help her. "She doesn't like horses," I said. "She didn't even want to come today and she'll just get down and leave. You need to help her!" I said this because the whole thing just made me nervous. We were inexperienced for god's sake.
Then the guide is telling Cara that she is doing the wrong thing and that she is telling her horse to reverse. Reverse? Horses have a reverse? Where is the "R", I'm thinking. Come on! We were clueless.
Then I worried about Cara the whole time. She was so straight in the saddle and so quiet. I've never heard her so quiet, and I tried to talk to her, but she wasn't answering, but one-word answers.
Going up the hill was more relaxing than going down. At the top of the hill, you either went to the left or to the right and if you went the wrong way you were over the side of the mountain. So as we walked up hills I would practice before we go to the top, moving my reins to the right and left. My poor horse. And the obstacles.....oh, my....the obstacle course we were on! Did we have to have so many obstacles?
Trees across the trail, rocks, and stones everywhere, two trees with a hole to climb through, and of course, the horse didn't cooperate. Going down there were stumps and roots and loose dirt....it was a fall waiting to happen. I was looking at my watch the whole time, and let me tell you, I was happy when the hour drew near. I was glad when it was all over!
Originally uploaded by tcboos
(Darcy) - I really wanted to go horseback riding. Kelly and I wanted to go so we kept talking about it. My horse's name was Dixie, and when I got on her back it felt nice to be back on a horse. When we started on the trail it felt cool, but then Mommy's horse started acting up. I was behind Mommy, and Dixie kept getting too close to Sambo, Mommy's horse. That made me scared, especially when Sambo started off on his own down the mountain. I was worried that my horse would follow. Going up the mountain was a little scary, but going down was way fun!
(Kelly) - I was very excited to go horseback riding. My only concern was that I would be too heavy for the horse. So when I walked into the barn I looked at all the horses and knew immediately which horse I wanted....the biggest, most muscle-y horse, and that was the one I requested.
I was never scared except possibly of the horse dying from underneath me after having to carry my weight up the mountain. If I had had my way, the trails would have been steeper and more dangerous. As far as my concerns for Cara went, I was never worried about her safety, only for her disposition afterward. But she was a trooper. I was also concerned about her back hurting and I worried about that some.
About halfway through the ride, I felt a regular popping feeling underneath Sugar Bear's saddle. I was concerned that Sugar Bear had broken her back, or her leg, or her shoulder, but I didn't want to walk home, so I told no one until the end of the ride. Loved, loved, loved it....the whole experience.
Loved the way I smelled afterward. When Darcy and I first walked into the barn, I said, "I love the way stables smell," and she said, (breathing in) "AH, me too!" So I knew at least one other person was enjoying the ride. I wanted to go faster. I wanted to canter and trot.
kelhorse
Originally uploaded by tcboos
Originally uploaded by tcboos
Originally uploaded by tcboos
(Cara) - I have ridden on trails on horseback before, so I did know what to expect, but I have to say that I have never been a horse lover. They are way too big and way too powerful for me to feel comfortable around them. I'm not experienced with them or on them and frankly, they scare the shit out of me!
But Darcy is taking horseback riding lessons and she loves horses, and Kelly's New Year's Resolution was to ride a horse again, so I was determined that both of them would ride horses. If that meant me sucking it up and getting on to a horse, then that was what I would do.
We opted for Riverside Stables because Natalie could ride with Krista. We paid our money and then listened to the guide, Tammy, who then gave us the following instructions (in her southern drawl):
- Don't let your horse get too close to the horse in front of you. Try to keep a horse length between them.
- Don't let your horse's head go down to eat grass or else your arms will be tired from all that pulling over and over again.
- Pull your reins to the left to go left. Pull your reins to the right to go right. Pull back on the reins and say, "Whoa!" to stop the horse.
- Lean forward in the saddle going up the mountain and lean back in the saddle when you climb down.
Sambo was a white horse with a brown speckled hide. He wasn't soft. His hide was coarse and his mane prickly to the touch. The lady could not adjust the stirrup, so she told me to lift my foot up past my neck and climb aboard. I attempted that lift and when I couldn't quite lift my leg that high, she grabbed my foot and lifted it for me. She then had me grab the horn and she and the other guide grabbed a butt check and hefted me on up into the saddle. A sobering experience.
The horse immediately started moving like he was being loaded with ten tons of a load and the lady gave him a stern talking to: "Stop it, Sambo!" She untied him and led him out of the stables. We were put behind Tammy the guide, for which I was quite thankful for. We set off.
We started out the barnyard gate and traveled past a creek and around the large fenced in the barnyard. Sambo did not want to move so he would just stop, which caused all the other horses behind us to stop. Tammy would yell, "Come on, Sambo!" and tell me to give him a kick.
Sambo would move a bit forward and then stop and lower his head to eat grass. I would pull on the reins to lift his head and he would lower it again. Then I would kick him, pull on the reins and make some horse like sounds like I've heard my cousin, Joyce, make a million times when she's with horses. Sambo then turned his head and nipped my left foot. I'm told that this wasn't what he was doing (by Darcy, the now horse expert), but I was sure he wasn't nuzzling me.
As we got closer to the mountain, I got a tad nervous that Sambo wouldn't get me up the mountain. He kept acting like all of this was beneath him, but he would move and then he'd stop. Tammy would scold him, and then he would start climbing again. All the way up, he huffed and puffed as if I weighed more than any other human he had ever been forced to carry.
The mountain was sort of like a forest of trees with dead empty branches and a ground covered in dead leaves. There really wasn't anything scenic or beautiful about the trail.
It was very narrow and always on one side was a death drop-off. I tried not to look down that side. Trees were everywhere we walked. Sometimes we had to walk through two trees close together. Sometimes we had to walk over fallen tree trunks. Other times we had to circle around a group of trees. No matter what we had to do, Tammy would instruct us on the way to do it, and Sambo would do the complete opposite.
Walk through trees? Sambo would go off the trail and walk around.
Walk over a tree trunk? Sambo would stop or stumble as if he had stubbed his hoof.
Walk around trees? Sambo would walk right through the trunks and get me caught in underbrush and vines.
When Tammy would say, "Watch out for the trees on your left as you come up this mountain," then Sambo would be sure to swing his body directly into the tree so that I would bang into it with my body.
Three times he got my left foot so tangled in the branches and vines and brush that by the third time I thought my foot was going to be yanked from my leg, and I whined, "This is hurting me!"
The worst moment was when Sambo just veered off of the trail and started sliding down the mountain. I think even that scared him. Like an errant child proving he knew best and then suddenly discovers that the mother was right. Sambo managed to get his foothold, and I pulled on the reins and "Whoa-ed" him until he stopped.
I wanted to get him back up the damn mountain so I tried pulling to the right, but in my haste and nervousness, I pulled him the wrong way. Sambo smirked at this, went in the opposite direction, and did a complete circle. I tried to get him turned again, listening to Tammy as she tried to talk me through it all, but he was damn stubborn.
Finally, the second guide appeared and led him back up the mountain and back into place. Off we went and at every tree, he would act like he was going to eat it. I'd pull him away and he would move on to the next tree, stop and try to eat it.
Once he just backed up into a tree and began scratching his rear end. This caused quite a reaction from everyone behind us, but I was holding on for dear life while he swayed back and forth, back and forth scratching away. I found it very strange behavior indeed.
Tammy kept threatening Sambo, "When we get back, Sambo, you are not resting. You are going out on the next ride and it's a two-hour ride. You'll spend the whole day out here if you don't start straightening up!"
I would cringe each time she said this and when she turned back around, I would pat him and whisper, "She doesn't really mean it. You are going back to a pile of hay and horse munchies and plenty of rest!" Sambo would just turn around and nip my foot.
I was quite happy to dismount that horse. I threw money at Tammy and thanked her for getting me back in one piece. I walked on shaky legs to the other barnyard and took pictures of the cute baby colt and filly and pretended all was well.
When I returned home I discovered a huge rip in my new jeans and a nice thick stick stuck directly through the denim. It took several minutes to remove the darn stick. Not as pleasant a day as the time spent at the Biltmore, but this day wasn't about me. Kelly and Darcy enjoyed it and that was just fine with me!
After our horseback riding experience, we headed back to the resort. Krista called the front desk and reported the entry into our unit from the previous day. They were not happy to hear this and immediately sent our friendly maintenance men to check it out. Three men showed up and spent considerable time taking the codes off of the key lock to our front door. They muttered something about not being finished and how they would have to return later and they left. We never saw them again and never heard from anyone regarding the entry.
We packed lunches and headed down to the lake where we spent the rest of the day lounging, swimming in the pool, and playing in the stream. We talked about taking the cruise but left that for another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment