Roland tries new things: Horse riding
My two brothers in law are fans of horse riding and last week they invited the rest of the family to join them for a day of horse riding. They encouraged us with fun tales of how of them fell off/was thrown off a horse. Having not done anything new in a while, Roda and I agreed to it.
When we arrived at the Kalota Lovarda, we received a brief intro to how to ride a horse while it walks and an even shorter intro on how to ride it while it trots. Turns out riding a horse is not a passive activity, but you have to move your hips to nudge the horse to keep moving, while also lightly pulling on the reins. If you let the reins go, the horse will most likely take a break to eat some grass. Horses really love eating grass and will do that whenever they have the chance.
The first five minutes of the intro had me regretting that I signed up for activity. Do this for the rest of the day? Oh boy, oh boy. Please don't fall of the horse! Please don't throw me off, horsey!
It was an interesting experience where I learned a lot, such as the fact that horses have thick skin, so they don't care about going through bushes and thorns - but you do. Also, when going through a thicker forest, horses only make sure they don't hit trees - your knees are none of their concern, or worse, not even your head when going below some low branches.
The views were beautiful, as always, but honestly, I'm not sure if I'd rather do the trips on horses or while walking. There is a certain serenity that comes with the rhythm of horses step, which makes the scenery more enjoyable in a way. But it's so exhausting after 8 hours....
Also, horses have very different personalities and behaviors. Some horses have no problem pooping while walking, others, like my Titi, would always stop whenever he felt the need to relieve himself. Sometimes he would even go off the path, as a courtesy to the others. Some horses would avoid stepping into the mess others left, other horses had no problems marching straight through.
One of the funnier things on the journey was when the owner of the horses got off this horse for some reason and then his horse ran away. I think he spent 15 minutes trying to get back on him. It was quite funny, but it also made most of us reconsider getting off our horses.
When we got to the restaurant after 3 hours, everyone was relieved to finally get off the horse and give our bottoms a well deserved rest. But then it was time to go back, on a slightly different route. This time, even the horses were tired. The older ones would stop periodically for a quick break. But, after 2.5 hours, we did get back to the stables safely.
Unfortunately, I never managed to reliably get my horse to trot and more importantly, I never managed to learn how I should move in the saddle while trotting, to avoid making an omelette. Maybe next time? But it won't be anytime soon. I'd rather go to the aquapark.