Remember how I went horse riding with my teacher friend a while back? Well just a few weeks ago, we went horse riding again!

I already felt confident, because it hadn't been raining at all. No slipping in the mud! Hooray!

It was still quite an adventure. I guess horse riding doesn't tend to lose its novelty (or its sheer scariness!) until you've done it many, many times. Which I have not.

First, we had to go get the horses. The herd was waaaaay up the hill, about as far away from the tack room as they could possibly be. On our way over to get them, we had to stop several times. My endurance is not as good as the horses'! Also, in one of the many holes in the ground, there was some snake skin shed just lying there. I just thought that was cool!

We finally got the horses back to the tack area. We gave them some carrots, brushed them, picked their hooves (you know, with the hoof pick), and saddled them up. I got to ride Heather again (thank god!), and this time I rode her with an Australian saddle. That was pretty cool! My only complaint about the saddle is that my leg was sort of rubbing against part of the leather for the entire ride. I didn't think much of it until partway through the ride, when I realized how sore I was. I still didn't worry about it, figuring it would just be one of those aches that would go away after the ride. Well, bizarrely enough, it still hurts to the touch a little bit AND there's a bit of a scar! Strange, for something that didn't seem like a very big deal at the time. I'll have to be careful of that next time (if there is indeed a next ride before Joe and I move!).

After a while, we got going. It felt so cool to be out and about and have everything with us. Our water bottles were strapped to the saddles. I had my sandwich in E.'s horse pouch. We had our sweaters, our helmets, and our horses. We were set!

I'm not sure I ever completely lost that nervous feeling as we rode around the trails! But that's partly what makes it so exhilerating. I have to force myself to trust this thousand pound animal, to trust that she knows what she's doing and where she's going. Most of the time, she really seems to, though, occasionally, I do have to remind her not to walk INTO the overhanging tree branches. That's not particularly fun!

We went trotting a few times, mostly by accident. Sometimes Heather would just decide that was an easier way to get up the hill. I couldn't blame her for that. I like to run up hills, too, whenever I have the energy (which is, uh, not often?). One time, I was just readjusting myself on the saddle. I stood up and flopped back down, a bit harder than I meant to. In fact, since I'd straightened out my legs and then let them drop, Heather took that as a cue to take off! At least, that's the way it felt. I'm sure she wasn't going too fast. I had to slow her down when I realized I was alternately holding my breath OR getting my breath smacked out of me when I hit the saddle too hard. I couldn't get enough air all of a sudden, which made me feel panicky, and my rising anxiety levels were what made me decide to just slow her down to a walk again. She listened pretty well, which I'm grateful for.

We met a nice girl on the way. She told us she does horse training and was looking to lease a horse part time. She was really nice, and after she left, E. said she might consider letting the girl train Gracie!

While we were stopped, we put on our sweaters, preparing to go up into the hills. It was really nice up in the hills! Windy and very cool! Which is my definition of nice. Disagree with me, if you must, but I thought it was perfect riding weather! In fact, I didn't even get hot up there. Wearing a sweater. In MAY. Crazy!

We made a huge circle. And by huge, I mean that we were out there for hours. It was pretty awesome!

I was sore and eager to get off Heather by the time we got back. I looked for a level place to guide her back in the tack area so that I could dismount. I led her to the left, where she promptly tripped in a hole neither of us saw because it was buried in the grass! She tripped, jumped back a little to regain her balance, and then steadied herself. All the while, I don't think I inhaled once. Or exhaled. Oxygen and carbon dioxide were not exchanged in my system AT ALL during that moment! Luckily, it was only a few seconds, I think, but good god, was that ever freaky!!! It scared me so much, I laughed!

E. asked if I was okay.

"Oh yeah," I said, laughing it off, while clinging with sweaty palms to Heather's mane. "That scared the shit out of me, though!"

Then E. said, "Wow, well you did great! That was perfect. You stayed relaxed, you sat back in the saddle, and put your heels down. That was wonderful posture. You really have a great seat!"

That made me smile quite a bit. The last person to tell me I have a great seat (not in that sense, you dirty minded fool!), was my old horse trainer. She said I had a really great posture with horse riding and that it all seemed to come naturally to me. I figured I might have lost all that in the years I haven't ridden, but E.'s compliment showed me otherwise. I guess I do have a knack for this horse riding stuff after all!

E. also said, "I think it would take a lot for a horse to throw you. You don't have any reason not to be completely confident while you ride."

I think I smiled for the rest of the day after that!

We packed everything up, let the horses go back through the gate so they could re-join the herd, and then sat down for a brief lunch. We had a nice conversation about horses, about my plans for the Fall, etc. It was great.

Afterwards, we loaded a few things in E.'s car, then went our separate ways home. It was a fabulous day, full of pretty weather, pretty scenery, and horse noises and nuzzles. The kind of day that makes me realize I hope I always have horses in my life in some way, shape, or form. They really are awesome, wonderful, loving animals, and I can't imagine being away from them for very long ever again.