My boyfriend Aaron, nine year old daughter Robin, and I went to the stables and rented horses at Thornton State Beach. The only horse I had ever been on I was in fourth grade and the horse was pregnant at my cousin's farm in Aldie VA and I didn't ride her I just sat on her. Oh, I forgot the pony rides at Bailey's Crossroads when I was a little kid and the guy led you around a ring. Anyway, someone said tell them you know how to ride so they'll give you a good horse. So we saddled up and with a guide and a group we headed down the trail through the cliffs to the beach. On the way down I lost the reins they kinda slipped out of my grasp and I was holding on to the horn of the western saddle and the guide looked around and yelled at me. I did manage to get back ahold of the reins after that.
When we got down to the beach the guide left us and went back up to the stables and everyone rode off, even Robin. I tschked tschked tschked and hit my horse's side with my heels and said "gitty up!" and tschked tschked tschked and shook the reins and couldn't get the horse to do anything. After trying I don't know how long to get him walking I looked around at Aaron and his horse was bending down on his front knees and before you knew it he was rolling over. I'm exclaiming to myself "Oh, no! We're going to have to walk back up the trail to the stables and tell them their horse is dead on the beach!!!!" What I didn't realize was Aaron didn't know how to ride either and this was the horse's way of getting him off his back.
Well, Aaron is now standing on the beach and his horse takes off at a run. I climb down and we start walking back up to the stables leading my horse who has decided he was alright with being led. At this point my daughter comes running down the trail as her horse had headed back to the stable and she was coming to find me. Robin got up on the horse and rode him back to the stable with Aaron and me following on foot. Aaron's horse had gone back to the stable, too, riderless. I have never been back on a horse and don't really mind that I haven't.
The only thing I could add to this story of inept horseback riders is what my co-worker at the time, Nancy, told me about her experience at the same stable. She mounted her horse and it took off galloping out into the traffic there on Skyline Boulevard and her wig went flying off her head. I can just imagine that wild ride.....
EPILOGUE: Almost forty years later.
Robin...I didn't walk back to you guys and ride your horse. My horse decided to go back to the stable. I was fighting it all the way up the cliff trail to turn around and go back to the beach. It finally reared up, I lost my stirrups and it charged all the way back to the stable. It was amazing that I didn't fall off. I spent the next 45 minutes waiting for everyone to come back.
Me, Yikes!
I found this picture of me taken in Cameron Valley, Alexandria, Virginia. I'm sitting, not riding or being led around a ring, but it's my first encounter with a horse. What a cutie I am!
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