Thursday, August 6, 2015

Horseback Riding...

The last time I rode a horse was in junior high and I loved it! Each time I would go to my friend's house, I would ask, "Can we ride horses?" We would spend hours riding in circles. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to ride a horse since...no reason, the opportunity never presented itself. So when we planned this vacation, I requested a horseback riding day!

On our second day in Colorado, we  headed out to Sage Sables for a two hour on horseback ride. I was super excited! Someone asked me, "Did you ever feel like you were going to fall off the mountain?" I laughed. Worrisome me never had that thought cross my  mind!I really wasn't worried about anything!

Our guide assigned us different horses after a safety lesson. Jack had Romeo as his horse. Romeo was so mellow and perfect for Jack. We found out that Romeo is actually the dominant horse of the group and keeps all the other horses organized!


Sam rode Scout. He was another great horse...nice and calm, perfect for Sam. Sam had no problem getting on (and staying on) his horse.

Jason rode Spice. Spice likes her space and doesn't want anyone behind her. Jason reported that all she wanted to do was eat! Riding Spice meant riding in the back of the line!

Meg rode Blaze, the gentle giant. 

 This is my horse, Coolah. She was feisty. She loved to walk fast and would pass other horses. She wanted to walk with Romeo. 


We had a stop right away so our guide could tighten our saddles. Horses will actually bloat up when they know they are going to have someone ride them. Once they get going, the "de-bloat." That means we need to tighten the saddle. I was ok with a safety check.

As soon as we would stop, the horses would start to eat. That lettuce diet doesn't stay long with such an enormous animal!


Could Jason look any more like a tourist?

Off we headed onto the trails. 
See...no mountain to fall off with on these trails!

The afternoon storms started to roll in while we were riding.

Our guide did an excellent job dodging the rain! We got a little wet, but never had to put on our rain ponchos!

A great group shot!
After our guide got off his horse to put us in order!! He was excited that ll the horses had their heads up1

This was us before our guide positioned us. Sam and Jack could not get their horses to move to move into a line.

While getting our horses positioned, my horse got a little touchy. She bit the horse next to her. At one point, she kicked back at Romeo, actually hitting Jack on the bottom of his foot, who jumped back into Scout. It was a little unsettling, but our guide told me to tell her was in charge. Horses will test you to see how much they can get away with...just like kids! 

I think she is giving me the stink eye!

The boys absolutely loves horse back riding and the view!


Heading back to get off the range and back to reality. If you haven't been horseback riding, I would highly recommend to give it a try!

Amazingly, we were all a little sore the next morning...mostly in our rear ends and a few of us in our hips! But all that soreness was well worth it!

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