sweet and tangy, but with a bit of
punch. By jingo, after two, everyone
seems to unwind. We mosey over
to the dining hall and order dinner
off th m n
n it not
t
bacon and beans.
First Day of Riding
Next morning, I awake early, eager
or my r t ri in
on th r in
my group have prior experience, but
we all attend a horsemanship clinic.
One of the wranglers, whom I named
im
ain
in
ha ior
saying, “Horses pick up your vibe.”
He encourages us to emote positive
energy, but keep after the animals
until they do what you want. ‘Right,’
I think.
I saddle up and hear more
instructions: pull the reins to the
right to turn right; pull back to stop,
keep pulling and the horse will start
to back up. Make a tsk tsk sound by
clicking your tongue, and gently kick
the horse with your heels to get
going. These rules all make sense,
but when one isn’t used to
commanding a beast this size,
pretty overwhelming.
I follow on Jeremiah, walking in
h a to tai a hion nti th ro
gets to a training corral. The
wranglers tell us to face forward
and to ride, one at a time, around
the barrels. In other words, make
the horse follow my directions. At
thi my hort i
oy a r t y
ends. I am an absolute failure. Now
that Jeremiah and I are no longer
following others, he won’t budge.
Then, he begins to turn in any
ir tion h hoo
im
encourages me, but Jeremiah senses
my negative juju, my lack of control.
I become tense and frustrated, as
ater olor
lass
O
he oon as
hoto ra hed in
star a in lass
rett eas to
tell
ne at
ridin
on no
Outdoor ool
does my mount. “Ease up on the
reins” say the instructors, but they
decide it’s time to switch me to
anoth r hor
tartin o r h a
my body up and onto “Uno”, a painted
pony with brown splotches and
endearing eyes, one blue and one
brown. Uno’s calmness immediately
lessens the tension. He seems to
want to listen and actually allows
me to ride him around the corral.
I sense relief and improvement.
Two more walking rounds and the
instructors are ready for the gang
to move on to trotting. Yikes,
trotting is faster and causes the
rider to bounce wildly up and down
in the saddle. I feel like a hard “super
ball” hitting a slab of concrete and
yin
it i
n
t my tto
and back take a pounding. I begin
wishing I’d foregone that second
o off at r a a t
o in i a i r on th ri r
im
announces, and I somehow move Uno
from a trot to a lope, however
ri y ma in ro r
in
t
oth r in th
a
ot to ni h th
session with a walking/trotting trail
ride. In my brain, that means letting
oo
i a
a o
h ar
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