Horses and Harnesses: Horseback Riding in Kauai

After we had checked in and made our way to the horses, it finally sunk in that I was going to have to ride a horse for the first time. Prior to the trip, I had thought a lot about ziplining portion and how I felt about that. I had, in turn, ignored what I figured would be the equivalent of a pony ride. Boy, had I grossly underestimated that.

When our guides, Amber and Kim, began to show us the ins and outs of riding a horse I realized that I had retreated into my own head. Instead of paying attention to the details of getting on and directing a horse, I found myself wondering what I had gotten into. "Snap out of it, pay attention, this is no time for daydreaming," I told myself. We were each given our horse assignments and patiently waited to have each horse brought out to meet us. My horse's name was Rusty.

Like me, Rusty didn't like to take direction. He knew the way and he took some convincing to veer off of the worn path. I quickly discerned that when it comes to animals, being nervous, quiet and indecisive were not good characteristics. I'd make a clucking noise to get his attention and then fall through with a half-hearted foot jab. Rusty would peer back at me with a look that said "what the hell does that woman want?" Rusty hung towards the back of the pack, while the others charged ahead. I was jealous and unsure of what to do. I spent the first 15 minutes brainstorming ideas on how I could get the horse to move off of the path and speed up, all the while ignoring the gorgeous scenery around me. I clucked, kicked ,and had a tiny bit of success. We wandered into tall grass just to the side of the other horses rather than single file behind. But just as I let my guard down to enjoy my success, Rusty would mosey his way back onto the path again. When we finally reached the ziplines, I was happy for a break from Rusty and his temperamental ways.

It was misting when we made our way up to the first zipline. There's something strange about propelling yourself off a plank and hurling into the unknown. It's not at all graceful and I thought for sure as I pulled my feet off of the ground that I would just stop and need a do-over. But gravity takes over and whisks you across the gorge. We repeated this two more times, each one a tiny bit longer. I know there was some breathtaking scenery to take in, but when I flung myself across I just took in the motion of it. It was exhilarating and over far too quickly.

Back we were to reconvene with our horses. I think Rusty was as thrilled to see me as I was him. I let him stick to the path this time and allowed myself to take in the scenery. Gorgeous mountains, green hills, and plenty of guava and strawberry guava to snack on. We came upon the cow pasture on this working ranch and I was surprised to be led right through it. I'd never been that close to a cow before, never mind hundreds of them that bellowed and swatted flies as we wandered through their turf. I was proud of myself when I helped Rusty maneuver his way through the cows and ahead of the group to get a front row spot at the water barrel. Whether it was my doing or if he was just indulging me one last time, I felt triumphant as we trotted back down to the stables with the mountains in the distance.

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