Horse Riding, for the First Time

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to ride a horse for the first time.  I do have experience though, in the past, I have ridden a bull a couple of times, a fake one at a bar while drunk. A friend of mine, Marta (the daughter of one of the teachers I work with) has a horse.  I was a little scared, only because I didn’t want to fall off and hurt my already messed up shoulders.  On the edge of town there is a stable where they keep the horse.  I didn’t know that until I got there.  I also didn’t know the owners have a daughter whom I teach at the school.  It’s almost like everyday I meet parents of children I teach.  They say, “my daughter/sons name is……, do you know them” (in Spanish) and I’m always say yeah of course, but it’s hard for me to know exactly who they are because I teach every student(and don’t know everybody’s name).  Before riding the horse I got to watch the owner train one of his horses for bullfighting by doing various maneuvers and such. It was a new horse so it wasn’t the most tame.  Watching it made me a little nervous, since it would randomly go crazy.  They then trained it for a little bit by using a fake bull, someone pushing a wheelbarrow at it.

Then it was my turn.

I used a different horse, an older and calmer one.  Marta first rode it for a little to get it acclimated.  When she was done, she tied a rope to it (she was going to be controlling it) showed me how to get on and I did.  Of course I was nervous.  Horses are huge muscular animals and I have seen too many viral videos of horses randomly acting up.  One it started walking, I calmed down and realized it wasn’t so bad.  She then had it trot and I almost fell off (not really, but kinda).  Instead of my legs gripping in front of me they slid to the back, which is a bad position.  I wasn’t ready for how tight you have to hold on with your quads.  You also have to keep your back straight along with your shoulders and your hands out in front of you.  There is a lot of bouncing and in jeans with regular shoes it wasn’t the most comfortable.  I can see why riders wear boots because the stirrups were digging into my feet.  I sucked it up and listened to the words of encouragement from the gypsies watching a kid from New York ride their first horse.   It was fun. I can’t even imagine riding a horse while it was running.  It definitely gives me a new found respect for anything done with horses, especially for Jamie Foxx who barebacked a horse in Django Unchained.  Once getting accustomed to it, I can see how it would be a lot of fun.  It would be so beautiful and natural to take a horse for a ride out in the countryside.