And Bingo was his name-o...
Aug. 31st, 2008 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI always wanted to go horseback-riding in Prospect Park, ever since I first saw people doing it way back in 2003. I remember thinking - oh, cool! But alas, didn't have the time or the money back then. Costs quite a bit to do it by yourself. So, when one of the meetup groups I joined offered an hour horse-back riding trip in Prospect Park for $30 ($7 off the regular rate) - I decided to do it. Be a cool way to meet new people and try something I'd always wanted to do. Sure I'd be a little sore, but it was for just an hour - that's nothing. And I'd ridden before, granted over 20 years ago, but how hard could it be?
This Saturday morning, bright and early - well about 9:45 am or thereabouts, I pulled myself together and went horseback riding with the fit and fun meetup group in Prospect Park via Kensington Stables. Was cloudy to start, but the sun came out eventually.
The guides, I was told, specifically selected the horses to fit the size and personality of the riders. Reassuring...except for the fact that they don't know us. They asked each of us if we had any experience. I said, repeatedly, yes but it was more than 20 years ago, as in maybe 25. Around 1981 or 1982, during one of the hottest summers in Kansas City record, my parents let my brother and I take horseback-riding lessons. We'd been pestering them for months to buy us a horse - for two reasons, 1) all our friends in Pennsylvania where we'd lived previously had them, and 2)after a trip to a ranch in the Rocky Mountains -where we'd gone horse-back riding. We'd gone on a couple of long rides - one up the side of a mountain to a pristine lake. Except for my father - who refused to get on a horse "ever" again after the first five hour ride we took. My mother was a tad more sporting. Afterwards, we'd become obsessed with riding. Wise move to pick the hottest summer on record, we both lost interest rather quickly after that. Anyhow, the last time I remember riding a horse was sometime in 1982 or 1983, when I was in junior high and quite a bit lighter, not to mention in much better shape physically than I am now. They split us up into two sections - those with experience, even if it was over ten years ago, and those without any whatesover. In retrospect, I sort of wish I'd lied and said I'd never been on a horse before. Considering how little I remembered - that would have worked.
So the time came to choose the horses. We were told to make sure we remembered our horse's names. "Yeah," I said, "considering I've forgotten everyone's in the group, that shouldn't be too hard." Around the circle they went (there were nine of us) - "Stardust", "Invisible" (which resulted in much laughter) and mine? "Bingo". Easy name. Samuel, Emma, and Katie would have been harder. Bingo I could remember.
The organizer of our little trip, winced, "Your's is named Bingo?"
"Yep, Bingo is his name...why?"
"Oh, nothing...just I think that was the horse I had last round which I told you was acting up..."
Oh great, I thought. This should be fun.
First came the mount. "Bring the mounting step!" the person assisting me yelled. "Or," I muttered, looking at the horse, "we could just try the old fashioned way..." which ironically had been how I'd done it when I was shorter.
Then came the ride...
Interesting experience riding a horse in a city - granted most of the ride was in the Park, but we had to walk down a street, cross a street, cross an intersection, and go down another street, plus a few streets in the park itself - it is after all a city with a park in the middle of it.
Never crossed a busy street on a horse before, it's sort of cool and kinda of scary at the same time, particularly when you've no clue what you are doing. They kept telling me to relax. Funny thing about being told to relax, your body decides that if it is being told to relax, then obviously it should do the exact opposite - because there must be a reason it's being told to relax and it doesn't quite trust the source of that information - after all experience has taught it to be a bit skeptical. They also, for the first fifteen minutes - kept telling me that I was holding the reigns wrong - "no, no, you grip them, what you are doing is carriage style, no no you point your toes up not down, no, you shorten the reigns but keep some slack, sit up straight, don't rest on the saddle....haven't you ridden before?" "Yes, over 25 years ago!" "Because you are doing everything the opposite way of how you should be doing it..." "Okay, well apparently I've chosen to forget everything I learned over twenty-five years ago...may have been longer, not really into counting the years at the moment, let's just say if the memory is foggy, it was a lonnng time ago." (I've since been informed by my mother, who remembers these things better than I do, that it was in 1981 or 1982, when I was around the age of 14.)
The park itself is quite lovely, if you've never been. Prospect Park was designed by the same guy who did Central Park, except they went for a wilder more natural look, with much less landscaping. As a result, there are more trees, a bigger lake, and a sense of wilderness admist the picnic benches, ball fields, lagoons, and bike paths. On horseback it is amazing, that is if you aren't busy trying to control the snarly brute carrying you, whose decided to eat the shrubbery or take a jog at the oddest moment. For some reason I remember it being easier than this.
Oh and did I mention...OW. I mean really, OWWWWW! That saddle hurt from the moment I was hoisted into it. I kept trying adjust my rear-end in such a way that it did not feel like I was bouncing on a concret stump. The gal in front of me - clearly knew what she was doing. Made sense, she'd almost gone to the Olympics and had ridden her entire life. Even herded cattle in Colorado. Currently worked as a Trader on Wall Street and owned a $10,000 ancient designer saddle with a funky French name. Unlikely she'd be using that any time soon, unless of course it was on a stallion that was a bit more expensive, or one would hope considering its a live animal and that's just a saddle. Her horse was appropriately named "Charm".
Half way through - I remember thinking, okay, I thought this was only supposed to take an hour? It's almost twelve and we started at 10:15. Which was about the time they steered us back home and Bingo decided to stop at the little island between the two cross streets, with the other horses at least two horselengths away from him, to take a prolonged piss. I tried to get him moving, because it was first a dump and they can walk and take a dump at the same time, Charm certainly did. But Bingo apparently felt he should stand still and do both. Can't say I blamed him. I wouldn't particularly want to walk, poop and piss at the same time either.
Back at the stables, they told us not to dismount on our own - to wait and be assisted. So, I thought, okay, cool, here comes the little dismount block.
A voice:" You can get off now."
I look down and see a woman holding Bingo's lead. "What?"
"Please dismount so I can bring the horse back inside."
Me:"Uh, now?"
"Yes now."
I sit up, pull my foot out of my stirrup, pull the other one out, swing up and out, every part of my body aching - from my shoulders down to my feet - from attempting to stay pointed up as opposed to down. Worse part, my rear-end, particularly the area around the groin feels badly bruised.
I looked at Bingo and the lady leading him off. And muttered, "I think Bingo and I are happily parting ways."
Now, I understand why my parents weren't that interested in doing horseback riding trip. It all makes sense now. Still ache from that ride, and it's more the 24 hours later, with ice on my groin. Used to harbor fantasies of taking a horse-back riding trip around Tuscany, now I'm thinking, you know, maybe a walking or biking trip would be a better bet...much less pain involved, not to mention cheaper.
This Saturday morning, bright and early - well about 9:45 am or thereabouts, I pulled myself together and went horseback riding with the fit and fun meetup group in Prospect Park via Kensington Stables. Was cloudy to start, but the sun came out eventually.
The guides, I was told, specifically selected the horses to fit the size and personality of the riders. Reassuring...except for the fact that they don't know us. They asked each of us if we had any experience. I said, repeatedly, yes but it was more than 20 years ago, as in maybe 25. Around 1981 or 1982, during one of the hottest summers in Kansas City record, my parents let my brother and I take horseback-riding lessons. We'd been pestering them for months to buy us a horse - for two reasons, 1) all our friends in Pennsylvania where we'd lived previously had them, and 2)after a trip to a ranch in the Rocky Mountains -where we'd gone horse-back riding. We'd gone on a couple of long rides - one up the side of a mountain to a pristine lake. Except for my father - who refused to get on a horse "ever" again after the first five hour ride we took. My mother was a tad more sporting. Afterwards, we'd become obsessed with riding. Wise move to pick the hottest summer on record, we both lost interest rather quickly after that. Anyhow, the last time I remember riding a horse was sometime in 1982 or 1983, when I was in junior high and quite a bit lighter, not to mention in much better shape physically than I am now. They split us up into two sections - those with experience, even if it was over ten years ago, and those without any whatesover. In retrospect, I sort of wish I'd lied and said I'd never been on a horse before. Considering how little I remembered - that would have worked.
So the time came to choose the horses. We were told to make sure we remembered our horse's names. "Yeah," I said, "considering I've forgotten everyone's in the group, that shouldn't be too hard." Around the circle they went (there were nine of us) - "Stardust", "Invisible" (which resulted in much laughter) and mine? "Bingo". Easy name. Samuel, Emma, and Katie would have been harder. Bingo I could remember.
The organizer of our little trip, winced, "Your's is named Bingo?"
"Yep, Bingo is his name...why?"
"Oh, nothing...just I think that was the horse I had last round which I told you was acting up..."
Oh great, I thought. This should be fun.
First came the mount. "Bring the mounting step!" the person assisting me yelled. "Or," I muttered, looking at the horse, "we could just try the old fashioned way..." which ironically had been how I'd done it when I was shorter.
Then came the ride...
Interesting experience riding a horse in a city - granted most of the ride was in the Park, but we had to walk down a street, cross a street, cross an intersection, and go down another street, plus a few streets in the park itself - it is after all a city with a park in the middle of it.
Never crossed a busy street on a horse before, it's sort of cool and kinda of scary at the same time, particularly when you've no clue what you are doing. They kept telling me to relax. Funny thing about being told to relax, your body decides that if it is being told to relax, then obviously it should do the exact opposite - because there must be a reason it's being told to relax and it doesn't quite trust the source of that information - after all experience has taught it to be a bit skeptical. They also, for the first fifteen minutes - kept telling me that I was holding the reigns wrong - "no, no, you grip them, what you are doing is carriage style, no no you point your toes up not down, no, you shorten the reigns but keep some slack, sit up straight, don't rest on the saddle....haven't you ridden before?" "Yes, over 25 years ago!" "Because you are doing everything the opposite way of how you should be doing it..." "Okay, well apparently I've chosen to forget everything I learned over twenty-five years ago...may have been longer, not really into counting the years at the moment, let's just say if the memory is foggy, it was a lonnng time ago." (I've since been informed by my mother, who remembers these things better than I do, that it was in 1981 or 1982, when I was around the age of 14.)
The park itself is quite lovely, if you've never been. Prospect Park was designed by the same guy who did Central Park, except they went for a wilder more natural look, with much less landscaping. As a result, there are more trees, a bigger lake, and a sense of wilderness admist the picnic benches, ball fields, lagoons, and bike paths. On horseback it is amazing, that is if you aren't busy trying to control the snarly brute carrying you, whose decided to eat the shrubbery or take a jog at the oddest moment. For some reason I remember it being easier than this.
Oh and did I mention...OW. I mean really, OWWWWW! That saddle hurt from the moment I was hoisted into it. I kept trying adjust my rear-end in such a way that it did not feel like I was bouncing on a concret stump. The gal in front of me - clearly knew what she was doing. Made sense, she'd almost gone to the Olympics and had ridden her entire life. Even herded cattle in Colorado. Currently worked as a Trader on Wall Street and owned a $10,000 ancient designer saddle with a funky French name. Unlikely she'd be using that any time soon, unless of course it was on a stallion that was a bit more expensive, or one would hope considering its a live animal and that's just a saddle. Her horse was appropriately named "Charm".
Half way through - I remember thinking, okay, I thought this was only supposed to take an hour? It's almost twelve and we started at 10:15. Which was about the time they steered us back home and Bingo decided to stop at the little island between the two cross streets, with the other horses at least two horselengths away from him, to take a prolonged piss. I tried to get him moving, because it was first a dump and they can walk and take a dump at the same time, Charm certainly did. But Bingo apparently felt he should stand still and do both. Can't say I blamed him. I wouldn't particularly want to walk, poop and piss at the same time either.
Back at the stables, they told us not to dismount on our own - to wait and be assisted. So, I thought, okay, cool, here comes the little dismount block.
A voice:" You can get off now."
I look down and see a woman holding Bingo's lead. "What?"
"Please dismount so I can bring the horse back inside."
Me:"Uh, now?"
"Yes now."
I sit up, pull my foot out of my stirrup, pull the other one out, swing up and out, every part of my body aching - from my shoulders down to my feet - from attempting to stay pointed up as opposed to down. Worse part, my rear-end, particularly the area around the groin feels badly bruised.
I looked at Bingo and the lady leading him off. And muttered, "I think Bingo and I are happily parting ways."
Now, I understand why my parents weren't that interested in doing horseback riding trip. It all makes sense now. Still ache from that ride, and it's more the 24 hours later, with ice on my groin. Used to harbor fantasies of taking a horse-back riding trip around Tuscany, now I'm thinking, you know, maybe a walking or biking trip would be a better bet...much less pain involved, not to mention cheaper.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 03:20 am (UTC)I think if I ever ride again I want to try a side saddle.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 03:43 am (UTC)Spoke to a gal who took English and apparently the difference between Western and English: is? I'm not sure. She said that English is more intricate, has jumps and dressage and ettiquet and Western is just rougher, less intricate. At any rate - apparently, the US is the only country in the world that does Western (maybe because of our terrain and the cowboys?) - this I did not know. Australia does Outback style which is somewhat different.
[LOL! Just noticed your icon. It's great! I really love it.]
Also, I learned that riding elephants and camels - which you can do at the BRonx zoo - did not know this - is a lot harder and far more painful. Camels are the hardest, they are slow and jar your entire head making your jaw ache. This was according to a couple of people who'd ridden them at the zoo.
Wouldn't side saddle be more difficult since both your legs are dangling over one side of the horse?
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 03:56 am (UTC)Western saddle is thicker, supposedly more comfortable, you bounce around a lot and I never really enjoyed it, but they do have a saddle horn you can hold onto in dire straights!
English is a much thinner saddle and you are never supposed to bounce around (it is bad for the horse's spin) you are supposed to 'post', supporting your weight on your knees pressed into the horses' sides and matching the rhythm of his gate... it is very comfortable and elegant until your thigh muscles give way.
There is no saddle horn and you hold the reins in both hands, never in one hand like in Western riding....
Side saddle is archaic, but you sit with your left leg in the stirrup and your right leg over the enlarged saddle horn, so you actually end up having a fairly secure seat, which hopefully doesn't feel too imbalanced to the horse (they have to be trained to put up with side saddles) so it is less work on the legs of the rider... but I've never gotten to actually try it.
I guess I should just get a couple of coconut halves.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 04:09 am (UTC)On the other hand, my husband learned Western, and couldn't ride English if someone put a gun to his head. Nor would he want to. On the other hand, he's a better bareback rider than I ever was, and can sit on a bucking horse for a while, whereas I would immediately get launched.
I've never ridden side-saddle, or dressage (which I've heard is insanely hard, but I've heard that from people who shifted to it after learning another style).
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 01:54 pm (UTC)You can't ride English up the side of a mountain well - maybe a small mountain, but not one like Pike's Peak - you have to have the horn and the ability to use one of your hands to balance yourself. Same with herding cattle - while it is possible to do it English style - it would hurt after a while - as
Me? I'm sticking with the coconut halves. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 04:00 am (UTC)it was like sitting in a fancy covered chair that was rocking back and forth (more side to side than front to back) with a mean guy sitting between the elephant's ears poking him with a sharp stick which was very upsetting to watch!
I've never ridden a camel, I've heard that that is harder!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 03:55 am (UTC)I road hunt-seat for years, and was just getting into competetive jumping when my parents divorced and we moved, and that was that. I haven't ridden in about 18 years, and sometimes I miss it SO much.
But yeah, if you haven't ridden in awhile, it creates amazingly sore muscles even when you do know what you're doing. Even when I rode regularly my upper body used to get sore from holding down my regular mount, who was a very alpha-y, energetic, ex-racehorse. My skinny arms and shoulders were a mess after an hour of keeping her at civilized speeds, or discouraging her from jumping 3 times higher/farther than the jump required...
Ah, nostalgia...
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 10:20 pm (UTC)Horse-back riding doesn't appear strenous, but it is, as I recently discovered.