91. Go horseback riding

Completed: March 17, 2010

My parents have always been very supportive of me in everything that I do. So it was not much of a surprise when I found them asking me what sort of things were on my list that we could do as a family. During the march break last year, my parents made me promise to take 2 days off work to spend time with my family. If you know me at all, you know that I work at a movie theatre that is only open during the evenings, with a few exceptions - summer, christmas holidays, PA days and, of course, that march break. So the idea of taking off the two days (approximately $100 in potential work) was something that was difficult for me. But with my list in mind, I grudgingly booked it off. Now I'm sure you've read my entry about geocaching the day before and how successful it was... But I must say that horseback riding was quite the hilarious outing.


We got there and it was EXTREMELY muddy everywhere. Naturally the little city girl inside of me was screaming: OH MY GOSH. MY SHOES! NO! I was disturbed. Then we walked through the barn. I can handle a lot of foul smells, but horse turd is not one of them. I literally felt like my stomach was going to turn inside out. Whose idea was this anyway? Oh right... That was me.

Note: Friendly dog is covered in mud... resulted in very dirty hands.

So now we're getting our horses assigned to us and the people who work there are explaining to us how to get on the horse. The instructions were pretty straightforward...

1. Walk up to horse.

2. Place foot in saddle. 

3. Swing opposite foot over back of horse.

4. Sit on the horse.

5. Place other foot in saddle.

Obviously, it was a little more difficult for some... Daniel hopped on his with a little help from the staff. Then Andre, Elise, Mom, Colin and myself got on our horses with ease. Finally, it was time for Papa Burns to get on his horse. Oh. My. Goodness. I have never laughed so hard in my life. 

I feel kind of bad for exposing the poor man, but it was honestly the funniest thing. So then we went off through the trail for about an hour. It was way fun! The only thing that I didn't really enjoy was that we were in a line, so I really didn't get to share the experience with my brothers as much as my mom and sister, who were directly in front and behind me. I wish that when they took people on trails like this they would let us actually steer the horse. That's just my preference though, it would feel a little more adventurous that way.

After we came back from our little trip on the trail, my mom pointed out that my dad's horse was sweating PROFUSELY. It had obviously just had the work out of it's life. After we all made fun of my dad for a bit, we took pictures with our horses!