Back from the weekend

[handslive]

purplejavatroll , my sister, and I went out to my parents' place on the weekend to camp out and ride horses.  It's probably worth noting that I haven't been on the back of a horse since our honeymoon (with a very docile horse and only for an hour or so).  I didn't do a lot of riding as a kid either.  Most of my experience of being on the horse is of falling off shortly afterwards.

On the one hand, this weekend was no exception.  I did indeed fall off of my horse on the first day.  However, many things were different about the experience this time.  For one thing, I know how to fall down, so other than a stiff neck today I'm not injured at all (and neither was the horse).  For another, I was completely unafraid to get back on once we'd both had a chance to settle down and dust ourselves off.  That last is a critical difference from all my previous experiences.

The second ride on Sunday was lovely and all my additional aches are the result of using muscles I don't normally use.  So, those are good pains.

My parents worked at a pancake breakfast in Ft Assiniboine before we headed out to the park on Saturday, so I've got pictures of cars as well as pictures of horses and sky and trail.

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on conquering the fear part. I remember (vaguely; the last time I was on a horse was many moons ago) how rough that can be.

-J

[handslive.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Weirdly, there was a time when this would have been a big hurdle to cross. It didn't feel that big to me anymore.

[greenjavatroll.livejournal.com]

I am Green(withenvy)javatroll. Looks like much fun. Bravo on the getting back on the horse after a fall-that takes all kinds of gangas.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Nice pictgurea and nice horses!

One thing that struck me though... None of you are wearing crash hats... This is unheard of here. Do most people ride without helmets there?

[handslive.livejournal.com]

Some had them, but most didn't. It depended largely on the age of the rider with younger riders being somewhat more likely to have them.