Definitely Not a Merry-go-Round

I rode a horse for the first time in my life today. It was supposed to be practice for our field trip on Thursday. We're going to ride horses up a mountain for 3 hours to meet some tribe people up there so we had to learn at least the basics of riding.

As we were driving to the stables, I was very excited and when I saw the horses I was even more excited. There were 5 horses; one for the guide and 4 others. The horses were all different breeds, but they were very well trained. There was only one exception and his name was Boe. Boe likes to stop and eat randomly on the trail and you have to kick him to get him going again. Once he starts trotting, he goes really fast and doesn't like to stop and he's the rebel because he likes to be in the front and takes a different path than the other horses. Out of all the horses, guess which one I got to ride?

Oh Boe, I will never forget you. First of all, I didn't just jump up like everyone else; I had to stand on a bench to get on. Oh yeah, I also had my helmet on backwards, so I had to fix that. Second of all, once I was on the horse I realized how very easy it is to lose your balance and fall off.

The instructor gave us several useful tips such as: holding the reins tight while holding the saddle at the same time and leaning back when they trot fast because that's the best way to keep your balance. I tried my best to use these tips, but it was difficult to remember it all. Boe stopped to eat a lot and I had to constantly nudge him to keep going and point him in the right direction. The instructor taught us how to trot and told us to try it out uphill. When I kicked Boe he got a little over excited because he set off and there was no stopping him. I knew it was bad when the instructor looked freaked out. I pulled back the reins as hard as I could and Boe finally stopped, but by this time I was already leaning towards the right and about to slide off.

Every time Boe stopped to eat I tried to get him back on the trail before the others passed us because when he saw that everyone had left us behind he would start trotting to catch up. On some parts of the trail Boe would wander a little to the left or to the right and pass over rocky parts instead of following all the other horses that went over the smooth grass. I think it was because he was looking for something to eat the whole time. The instructor told me that Boe eats everything and I found out that was true when I saw him almost eat our car keys. I stopped trying to fight Boe after a while and just let him choose which trail to take. He almost tripped twice, but he got us back safe. The ride wasn't really that scary or dangerous because for the most part Boe was doing ok, but it just made me nervous to think that horses have a mind of their own.

That sounds funny, but horses aren't like a car that listens to you no matter what. Horses can sometimes choose not to listen to you and can make you feel a lot less in control. It makes me nervous to think about hiking a mountain on a horse for 3 hours, but as long as I don't get a horse with such a unique character like Boe I think I'll be ok. Also, the horses we're riding on Thursday are a breed that is a lot smaller than Boe so I won't have as much difficulty getting on.

The scenery makes the ride worth it because it was so relaxing to just trot through the meadows on Boe's back. Thursday is going to be even better because we're going to go up a mountain 10,00 feet high so I'm sure we'll get to see a lot of cool stuff as we ride along.