sunday bloody nice sunday

Yesterday was a magical day, spent with horses and friends by the river. I went down after breakfast to bring the horses back up to their paddock. Some friends: Kelly, Sahib, Arohi, Lyor, Kavita and Guy had camped down there and were enjoying a very lazy Sunday morning. Morning became lunch, a lunch of coconuts fresh from the tree, some rice and seaweed, wine, papaya and corn roasted in the fire. Quite delicious. We swam in the river, talked and rode the horses. I had never ridden bareback before and was quite nervous, of course I snuck off to try it by myself first. Donkey has a nice broad back and he’s quite short, he’s also well behaved. It was surprisingly easy to get on and after getting my balance we walked around a bit. Then the little bugger decided to run and I was cantering bareback. I was gripping on for dear life though fully expecting I would jump off any second. I was too nervous and found myself inching up his back almost on his neck. I reigned him in and we walked, I was shaking. But I also knew that if it wasn’t for my nerves I would be fine, my body knew what to do it was just my brain that went into panic. We tried again and this time I concentrated on thinking how easy it was and let my body move with the horse. It was fabulous. I love the total motion of cantering, so much nicer than trotting, the rhythm just allows an easy flow. Cantering bareback is so much fun, you feel completely at one with the horse and the movement. We rode around for most of the afternoon and brought the horses back up as the sun was setting. What a day. Last night I dreamed I was a native American galloping across the plain. Oh what a fantasy I’m living!