My time on a horse has been a rocking one! But I think I am finally getting in the swing of it - trotting to a place where I have a better view of what's supposed to happen between rider and steed in order to generate motion without commotion!
I've been trying to learn to ride a horse for a long time now; it is, in fact, around this time 31 years ago that I was carried off against my wishes across
the open heather land of Penny Hill Country Park, in Bagshot (how fast can a horse canter sideways flat out with a blubbering teenager hanging onto its back for dear life anyway?) by a young 15.5 hands mare who really was taking me for ride!! Of course all my "mates" - travelling in the right direction, naturally - thought it was very funny!
Since then I've ridden a few times here and there... The longest gap was between that staggering intro to equestrianism and my next attempt - in Johor Baru, Malaysia some 21 years later. At least, I think that was the next time. If there was anything in between it was obviously too traumatic for me to recall under normal states of consciousness!
I had the crazy notion that I had "always" wanted to learn to ride (that's similar to wanting to own a cat, right?), so I chartered a horse (still had a lot to learn) with some friends while I was living and working in my birthright city - Singapore! Of course they're not convinced I have any rights, so I'm still waiting for them to change to laws there and give British-born war heroes PR status "on the house" (so to speak!).
Anyway, the immense gap following that trip to JB might have had something to do with the lasting image I have of one of my friends slowly slipping sideways around the belly of the horse until... well, I'll leave the rest to your fertile imaginations. Suffice to say there's not much you can do from 10 yards behind except hope that your own saddle is buckled up safely! I might even go back to the place in question, but I would recommend you have some basic knowledge of your own before you let them take you out!
The craziness cantered up to a careering pace when I next mounted a steed (just as death defying as the original Steed himself - see what I mean) in a smashing place hidden in the New Territories of Hong Kong (which I can no longer find). The instructor was a retired jockey using retired race horses - which only added scintillating spice to the whole affair.
I remember I couldn't get my charge to charge - but when he handed me a whip he charged me with the instruction "whatever you do, don't use this, or you won't get him to stop!". It was a beautiful horse as big as a house and very powerful. I loved that brief foray into the world of horse racing, and thankfully this was the first real moment when I felt I might actually get somewhere!
There was actually a point to my riding in HK; I was preparing for a mission trip to Mongolia where we would search out the unreached people groups north of Ulan Bator on horse back, being the only way you would ever find this traditional nomadic tribal community.
That trip never took place, as some of you will know, because I got married instead - and after landing in Beijing, China instead of Mongolia I decided it was time to step up the pace some more. So I took a series of lessons from a Mongolian horse rider (they are the best, you know ;-). That was fabulous fun as I made more riding progress than I had ever seen before, but at the end of it I still hadn't learnt much because the language barrier was really getting in the way.
At the end of our time in China I took one last chance to ride my extremely cantancourous horse before we left, and he took one last crack at getting me off his back (an every ride event for me by then) which he finally managed to do. Being unable to walk after landing rather awkwardly on the fence, I bade farewell to the cheeky little chomper and there was, through no fault of my own a gap of some 5 years before I got on the back of a horse again!
Phase I - England, 1980
I've been trying to learn to ride a horse for a long time now; it is, in fact, around this time 31 years ago that I was carried off against my wishes across
the open heather land of Penny Hill Country Park, in Bagshot (how fast can a horse canter sideways flat out with a blubbering teenager hanging onto its back for dear life anyway?) by a young 15.5 hands mare who really was taking me for ride!! Of course all my "mates" - travelling in the right direction, naturally - thought it was very funny!
Phase II - Malaysia, 2001
Since then I've ridden a few times here and there... The longest gap was between that staggering intro to equestrianism and my next attempt - in Johor Baru, Malaysia some 21 years later. At least, I think that was the next time. If there was anything in between it was obviously too traumatic for me to recall under normal states of consciousness!
I had the crazy notion that I had "always" wanted to learn to ride (that's similar to wanting to own a cat, right?), so I chartered a horse (still had a lot to learn) with some friends while I was living and working in my birthright city - Singapore! Of course they're not convinced I have any rights, so I'm still waiting for them to change to laws there and give British-born war heroes PR status "on the house" (so to speak!).
Anyway, the immense gap following that trip to JB might have had something to do with the lasting image I have of one of my friends slowly slipping sideways around the belly of the horse until... well, I'll leave the rest to your fertile imaginations. Suffice to say there's not much you can do from 10 yards behind except hope that your own saddle is buckled up safely! I might even go back to the place in question, but I would recommend you have some basic knowledge of your own before you let them take you out!
Phase III - Hong Kong, 2004
The craziness cantered up to a careering pace when I next mounted a steed (just as death defying as the original Steed himself - see what I mean) in a smashing place hidden in the New Territories of Hong Kong (which I can no longer find). The instructor was a retired jockey using retired race horses - which only added scintillating spice to the whole affair.
I remember I couldn't get my charge to charge - but when he handed me a whip he charged me with the instruction "whatever you do, don't use this, or you won't get him to stop!". It was a beautiful horse as big as a house and very powerful. I loved that brief foray into the world of horse racing, and thankfully this was the first real moment when I felt I might actually get somewhere!
Phase IV - China, 2005
There was actually a point to my riding in HK; I was preparing for a mission trip to Mongolia where we would search out the unreached people groups north of Ulan Bator on horse back, being the only way you would ever find this traditional nomadic tribal community.
That trip never took place, as some of you will know, because I got married instead - and after landing in Beijing, China instead of Mongolia I decided it was time to step up the pace some more. So I took a series of lessons from a Mongolian horse rider (they are the best, you know ;-). That was fabulous fun as I made more riding progress than I had ever seen before, but at the end of it I still hadn't learnt much because the language barrier was really getting in the way.
At the end of our time in China I took one last chance to ride my extremely cantancourous horse before we left, and he took one last crack at getting me off his back (an every ride event for me by then) which he finally managed to do. Being unable to walk after landing rather awkwardly on the fence, I bade farewell to the cheeky little chomper and there was, through no fault of my own a gap of some 5 years before I got on the back of a horse again!
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