horse riding. YEEE-HAAAA!

went horse riding out in helensville today for my sister's bday. was gonna go hot air balloon-ing, but it costs nz$300 per person..which is a rip off i reckon. i could buy a return air ticket to malaysia for myself, if my whole family went on the hot air balloon. to quote daddle, "300?! do we get to keep the balloon after that?"

back to horse riding...i was really excited, though i was really reluctant a week ago. i told my dad "i'll have trouble getting up on the horse! i've got short legs! and i'll probably start giggling for the whole hour!!!" but i thought it over, and i thought it'll be a good experience to ride a horse by myself (no..it's not one of those silly rides where the horse is guided by someone). so i booked my sisters and myself for a 1hr beginner's track.

so, today it was. i didnt know what to expect. i saw someone riding, but she was just going round and round, learning to go slow, then trot and stop. i thought we would be doing the same, but no no no...boy was i wrong! our coach, chelsea told us to get on our horses (they had steps for us to climb up!! hehehe), and i had jackson, which is one of the biggest and strongest horses available there -.-"

chelsea must've thought it would be funny to put little me on a big and strong horse and hear me scream my head off! but it turned out that jackson is a very well mannered horse once you know how to control it properly :) took me about 10 minutes to realise that...but it's all good! baby sis had a horse named blue which is really tame, but quite slow (compared to jackson who started trotting when everyone else was still walking slowly!!) and my other sis had trojan.

now, trojan is a really nice horse, and very easy to control according to my sister. he's a beauty too! he's got class man..he walks really nice ^^ and can go fast too when you want it to.

so, enough said for now, i'll let the pictures do the talking :)


this is us, waiting for chelsea to get her horse so we could go for our ride ^^


still waiting..see how big my horse is compared to the others?


didnt bring a camera with me when we were trekking, but here's us after riding for an hour. our bums and thighs were aching. when the horse starts gallopping, you'll start bouncing up and down the saddle, and that's the ultimate OUCH factor!

also, all 3 of us had a few near-fall experiences when our horses started gallopping! i think i nearly fell off twice, but managed to pull the reign to slow down jackson. and once, i even lost my reign and started shrieking :p but i got it right after i started shrieking. heh heh..


me and jackson. he's a really nice horse, though can be a bit stubborn at times. when he pulls his head down, i get pulled forward too, so i'll be lying flat on jackson -.-" he is seriously one strong horse!


the nice and friendly dog (great dane). i was patting and stroking it for ages while it just lay there being lazy.

ahh...such is life. i wouldnt mind going horse riding again! anyone interested??? we can go sometime over the weekend! only nz$30 an hour or nz$50 for 2hrs and it's only about 1hr drive from my place! it's a really wonderful experience..and it's NOT difficult to learn! chelsea just told us how to stop, make it go and turn and then we were off for our trek! if a dumb blonde like me can ride a horse, anyone can!! tell me if you're interested!