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Major Clanger rides off into the sunset
Oct. 28th, 2012 09:24 amYesterday was very much a learning day for me. In particular, I learned that:
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darth_hamster thought seemed well cared-for, and I got my riding helmet. If I take riding up with any degree of frequency I'll have to get my own, as the largest one they had was rather on the tight side.
darth_hamster meets one of our trusty steeds
We were split into novice and experienced groups and sensibly the novices among us were put on horses first, so that we could get used to being sat on them. It took me two or three goes to get on, even with a mounting block, but once I was aboard it became clear that Brodie, my horse for the afternoon, was a big placid lump quite happy with 17 stone on his back. Once all of us were ready we set off in single file, out the centre and into the woods and heathland of Cannock Chase.
Something else that became clear was that these horses did this route two or three times a day and knew it by heart, and I was pretty sure that had I given no direction at all to Brodie we would still have gone around. Having said that, as I mentioned earlier I was able to persuade him to dodge low-lying branches! What was harder was trying to stop him from either pausing now and again to grab a mouthful of foliage, or trying to nip the rear of the horse in front!
For the most part we went at a sedate pace, although Cannock Chase is quite up and down and so we got a lot of different terrain in. A couple of times we briefly got into the trot, and although we'd had it explained to us how to ride with this I'm still sure I'd have had a very sore behind had we done it for any length of time.darth_hamster was in the advanced group who split off at one point for a somewhat faster ride and she even had a bit of a canter; from her comments this morning, she is definitely feeling the effects.
It was a lovely crisp sunny day, although very chilly, and by the time we got back to the riding centre the sun was low and the countryside was gorgeous in the golden late aftenoon light. I'd have loved to get some pictures but of course as a rider you are somewhat otherwise occupied. I wasn't too sore afterwards, although I actually found my elbow joints ached a lot, and today I seem to be mostly fine. I'd definitely like to try riding more, although if I do it will be another motivation to lose weight, as I was pretty much just squeezed in at the top of the trekking centre's weight limit (and several other riding centres I looked up would have excluded me entirely). But it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon and get out into the country, and I can see why some people fall so in love with it.
- 44 is by no means too old to try out horse-riding.
- Getting on is harder than you think, but once you're there, staying on is OK.
- Your trusty steed will cheerfully drag you through branches (particularly if you're a tall person on a big horse).
- ... but you can use the reins to persuade it to deviate enough from nose-to-tail following of the horse ahead to (mostly) avoid this.
darth_hamster thought seemed well cared-for, and I got my riding helmet. If I take riding up with any degree of frequency I'll have to get my own, as the largest one they had was rather on the tight side. darth_hamster meets one of our trusty steedsWe were split into novice and experienced groups and sensibly the novices among us were put on horses first, so that we could get used to being sat on them. It took me two or three goes to get on, even with a mounting block, but once I was aboard it became clear that Brodie, my horse for the afternoon, was a big placid lump quite happy with 17 stone on his back. Once all of us were ready we set off in single file, out the centre and into the woods and heathland of Cannock Chase.
Something else that became clear was that these horses did this route two or three times a day and knew it by heart, and I was pretty sure that had I given no direction at all to Brodie we would still have gone around. Having said that, as I mentioned earlier I was able to persuade him to dodge low-lying branches! What was harder was trying to stop him from either pausing now and again to grab a mouthful of foliage, or trying to nip the rear of the horse in front!
For the most part we went at a sedate pace, although Cannock Chase is quite up and down and so we got a lot of different terrain in. A couple of times we briefly got into the trot, and although we'd had it explained to us how to ride with this I'm still sure I'd have had a very sore behind had we done it for any length of time.
darth_hamster was in the advanced group who split off at one point for a somewhat faster ride and she even had a bit of a canter; from her comments this morning, she is definitely feeling the effects.It was a lovely crisp sunny day, although very chilly, and by the time we got back to the riding centre the sun was low and the countryside was gorgeous in the golden late aftenoon light. I'd have loved to get some pictures but of course as a rider you are somewhat otherwise occupied. I wasn't too sore afterwards, although I actually found my elbow joints ached a lot, and today I seem to be mostly fine. I'd definitely like to try riding more, although if I do it will be another motivation to lose weight, as I was pretty much just squeezed in at the top of the trekking centre's weight limit (and several other riding centres I looked up would have excluded me entirely). But it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon and get out into the country, and I can see why some people fall so in love with it.
