On Saturday morning we woke up freezing cold in the middle of no where. We had taken a trip run by the recreational department of the uni and driven 10 hours up to the border of Tenessee/Kentucky on Friday, put up our tents and attempted to get warm enough to sleep.
We woke up super early in the morning, were fed homemade breakfast burritos and went to the stables to meet our ranch/horse leader man named Larry.
He assigned us each our horses, I was on a pretty small brown horse named Cruiser. He was pretty good to me, I trusted him 100% and considering I haven't ridden in a good few years and have never ridden Western before, I felt In full control of him. He was reliable and we became good friends very quickly.
We trekked 18 miles in total up and down rocky trails constantly, through water and down steep cliffs. I was impressed with how well the horses managed their footing and felt totally safe for the most part.
At one point, a couple of the horses fell down a really steep drop which was pretty terrifying bit Cruiser cruised it and we got down safe. Even had time for a bit of horsing around.
The views were incredible which is one of the main reasons I wanted to come on the trip. You don't get views like this in Oxford!
I was living the dream, Larry our horse leader man had to deal with some issues with the other horses so I had to keep on eye on his steed.
We stopped off for a break and I got an obligatory selfie.
Me and my boy.
The horses were dressed in western tack which I found really interesting and quite different to riding with English tack.
I learnt how to ride western using one hand and got into it really quickly, I loved it. We even got to go out for a second time and go really fast the entire time, I think we all enjoyed galloping!
That night we made a campfire, played drinking games without the drinking and I made my first ever smores! Graham crackers, Hershey's chocolate and toasted marshmallow- the dream!
We sat round the fire for a good few hours until we got too cold and went to bed. It was such a good weekend and an experience I won't forget soon. I wish I got more opportunities to ride while I was here, I really miss it but it's definitely taking its toll on all of my muscles!
Now to crack on with work before headed back to Kentucky for Thanksgving!
Speak soon
Em x
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