Getting Back on the Horse

Although I'm already in New Zealand, which is a pretty decent way to celebrate anything already, I felt like we should do something special. We left Christchurch and went to well-known Hanmer Springs, a place famous for its natural hotpools. We had three nights booked and tons of potential for an epic birthday!

We went to the pools the afternoon of the 23rd, which were pretty extravagant and a lovely time. We also booked our activity for the real birthday on March 24th: horseback riding! I'd been wanting to go for a long time now, so a birthday seemed like the perfect excuse to splurge.

On the morning of my birthday, March 24th, I was surprised with a warm muffin from Mariah, and I splurged on an entire bowl of coffee. It was the PERFECT way to begin the day.

We then got picked up from the Hanmer Horse Trekking lady (named Becks) in the afternoon. She drove us through some rugged terrain to their horse ranch, where three horses were already saddled and ready to go. 

I felt pretty confident on my horse (named Casanova), since I used to ride horses every summer at a summer camp. I remembered how to get the horse to go, how to sit on the saddle, and how to steer. During my last year of camp we had even cantered several times. I never had any problems with horses, and I wasn't about to have any on my birthday either! Or so I thought...

We rode through a lovely trail, chatting with Becks along the way. The whole thing felt very casual, as Mariah and I were the only ones on this trek, and it was even more fun because of it.

Then Becks asked if we wanted to try cantering. Mariah looked hesitant, but I said "sure!" I figured what's the worst that could happen?

She shouted some tips at us, from which I basically just remembered to squeeze my legs as right as I could. I squeezed and squeezed, and our horses took off running. 

I didn't remember it ever being this fast or bumpy or unsteady. I squeezed my knees tighter and tighter as my horse zoomed up the hill. I was jostling dangerously in my seat. I squeezed my knees together even tighter, but that just seemed to make it worse: my legs were sliding backwards, and soon I was gripping the saddle for dear life.

"Let go of the saddle! Squeeze your legs!" Becks barked at me.

I tried, but I knew it was too late. I was getting thrown around, having completely lost my legs' grip on the horse. I came to the point of basically lying on my stomach on top of Casanova, at which point I knew it was all over.

I finally got fling to the side, falling on my shoulder to the right of my horse and rolling away to avoid getting trampled. I sat up, realized I was miraculously uninjured, and looked ahead. The other three horses (two of them with riders) were a bit further of the hill.

"I'm fine!" I shouted at them, trying to get my bearings. 

"Are you really fine?!" Mariah called back.

"Yeah, I'm good!" 

I stood up and got back on Casanova before I could think too hard about it. We took some pictures then (see below) and continued on.

The ride back to the ranch was relatively uneventful, but still really fun. Becks explained to me what I had done wrong (turns out I shouldn't have squeezed with my knees, but shouldn't turned my toes out and used my thighs instead.... Would've been nice to know earlier), and we trotted a few times but didn't canter again. 

All in all it was tons of fun, and I learned more about riding than I would've if I didn't fall of the horse. Glad I had some golden birthday luck to keep me uninjured!

Oh, and as an added bonus: Becks told us she had owned some famous horses for a brief time: the horses of Arwen and Legolas, and Gandalf's horse in the Hobbit. I forgot all about my fall when she told us that.