Horseback Riding

2-3-2014

     Yesterday we went horseback riding at a ranch near Glenorchy. It was a big place with only a few small but spacious, and clean, buildings. Lots of land. They had 45 horses and they all got along well enough to roam around together. Except for the pony, who was apparently very unfriendly. He had his own small paddock. 

     The ranch does guided tours from a few hours to a full day, sometimes even overnight up to a whole week. They have a lot of horses so they don't wear any one out. 

     When we showed up there seemed to be no-one around but the horses and one employee who came out to greet us. 

     "Can I help you?" She asked. 

      We had an appointment, but somewhere something got messed up and we weren't on their schedule. There was a bit of running around but they still let us ride, and because of the mess-up we pretty much got a private tour. 

      We had to wait while they went out and rounded a few horses up for us to ride. It didn't take long. The tacking (saddling up) went quickly too, and soon enough we donned helmets and muck boots and were introduced to our horses. 

      I was on Sparky, on a Western saddle that looked more English than Western. Luke was on Quiz, on a stock saddle. It's an Australian style saddle used by stock herders, hence the name. Our guide was riding on an English saddle. I guess I hadn't thought about how unique Western saddles are to the US until then.

     Anyways, it was easy riding. Very comfortable. Sparky was kind of a princess, or rather: a gentleman. He hated walking through mud and especially puddles, and he snorted every time we walked through a cold river, which was fairly often. He was also very careful with his footing on the gravel riverbed and in the rivers, taking it slowly, as if to make sure each step was as comfortable as possible. I had to encourage him on each and every river crossing, and especially the part where we walked up a small river for a few hundred feet. I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud. More than once. I could tell he was just being fussy. It's not like he was injured or afraid, he was just fussy. I found I was very glad to have a horse with so much personality. In my experience, most rental horses in the states  are sadly devoid of spunk because it's safer for inexperienced riders that way, and most rental horses get inexperienced riders. 

     Even though Sparky was fussy, it was easy to figure out where to lead him, and he was very responsive to the reins. One small, gentle tug in one direction and he'd go that direction. He didn't respond well to kicking when I needed him to go, but a pat on the butt got him to move right along, no matter how cold the water was. (It's a glacial river). 

     The best part of was when we got to trot. Turns out Sparky used to be a cart-racer (so the guide called it), which entails trotting as fast as possible with the rider in a cart behind being towed. So, as the guide put it, Sparky could trot faster than the other horses could canter (which is faster, usually).

      When we started out I was the last in line. When we started trotting Sparky quickly got fed up with Quiz's slower pace and passed him. It was very bumpy, more awkward than I remember (it's been a while), but very fun.

      The rest of the trip Sparky went out of his way to make sure Quiz didn't pass him back, making me laugh out loud again. Poor Quiz. 

     I think it's safety say that both Luke and I had a lot of fun. Like I was saying earlier, it's uncommon to be able to rent horses, even guided, and be able to trot, tide through rivers, and get great horses that are well trained and still have  some personality left.