Day 91 Saturday 12/10/11

 Doing things for the first time brings a mix of emotions- happy, excited, nervous, worried.  But all of them are anticipatory for this new experience.  That is how I felt when this day started.  Today was to be the day that I rode a horse for the first time. Yes I was excited about it, I was happy that I was going to be able to finally say I had ridden one.  But I was also nervous about learning how, nervous about not having skills and worried about how I would do.

Upon arrival I was happily surprised to see saddles on horses!  We started by “passing skills”  we had to show that we were able to do the following:

1. Get on the horse

2. Make the horse walk

My trial ride

3. Make the horse turn left and right

4. Stop the horse

5. Get off of the horse

Although I was told I needed to be a bit more firm, and had to take 2 attempts to get on (I missed the double bounce before swinging the leg over the first time) I passed.  Each of the 6 of us passed!  That meant we were off on our journey up Vodno Mountain.  My horses name was Mikey and we were off to a good start. The first task was walking about a city block, then getting off the horse so it could get over the bridge and river, and then getting back on when we reached the other side.  So far, so good.

Mikey

The ride up was beautiful.  It was a bit foggy and hazy from the smog. But there was still a lot of beauty to be seen.  We walked through one village.  A couple of the horses got a bit spooked when a tractor passed, but with a bit of redirection they were back on track. We passed a very old cemetery, and reached the stopping point with out too many eventful moments.  At this point I was relieved that we were stopping, the sitter was getting a bit sore :)

On the ride - the whole group

The cemetery 

The view

Cassidy, Lizzie and I

We stopped at a Church and restaurant.  The view from there was breath taking.  There was an Orthodox church out on one of the mountain sides that we didn’t go to, but that I did take a picture of.  We did however get to go into the other church. It, like the other churches I have been to, had BEAUTIFUL paintings and architecture.  We stopped for a long enough break to have a tea and chat with our guide.  Our conversation centered around agriculture and farming.  As well as the regulations that come with being a vegetable producer in the EU, as well as how that is impossible without purchasing the genetically altered seeds.  It makes me excited already to grow my own vegetables again when I get home next summer.

The church we got to go inside 

The view of Skopje and the church on the mountain side

All of us at the break

We got back on our horses and headed back down.  This time we even trotted and galloped some. I didn’t enjoy the galloping as much, so I didn’t go as fast as the rest of the group.  About half way down things turned for the worse. Our horses were hungry and taking any opportunity to eat, we stopped by a farmers field and he was on a tractor. At first he stopped the tractor, but as soon as he started driving again, I had a serious problem on my hands.  My horse reared up and jumped away from the field, my body didn’t go with. I landed on my hip, shoulder and hit my head.  I do have to say for those of you concerned. I am okay!   I was sore immediately, but knew I had to get back on and ride good old Mikey back down.  With a sore body and headache I bided my time and rode at the back until we reached the village again, when I then moved up with the guide and he guided Mikey and I back down.  I decided that going to the doctor was not necessary, my pupils were responding to light and I could walk.  This was a time that being home would have been much more comforting- my bed, easy access to ice, a doctor that knows me… but I had to make it in this situation.

Walking back down

I have to say that it was a good experience. I am glad that I can say I have ridden a horse. I also have to say that riding another horse is not high on my To-do list.

Lesson: Finding a balance between trying new things and making the most of an experience and keeping yourself safe can be a very gray line!