My Little Pony

To be completely honest, my first encounter with horses was not positive. My family and I were vacationing in the Smokey Mountains and my mother decided that it would be really fun if we all went horseback riding. I was eight, and I was terrified of the monstrous beast my mother was allowing to carry me through the woods. I was placed on a pony that was known for its impatience on the trails, as well as its dislike of the other horses. The guide only had one rope to tie a horse to his own and my sister, being smaller, was given that privilege while I was forced to follow behind on my own.

Truly, if I hadn't been so panicky, nothing probably would have happened; but since I am me, and I can't seem to do anything new without panicking I succeeded in causing a scene. We were about halfway around the loop when my stubborn friend began to kick at an equally stubborn horsefly that was buzzing around her hind legs. I felt the movement, and in a completely natural reaction I gripped the round barrel beneath me and in doing so, dug my heels into her flanks.

Now, even people who do not ride horses know that in order to get one to move, you are supposed to use your legs and heals to speed the horse, or pony, up. Therefore, the pony's trained reaction to my grip was to begin speeding up and when there was a horse blocking her escape route, she simply veered off and began galloping through an open field to our left. I somehow managed to stay on the runaway but to say the least, I was hysterical when our guide caught up to us and grabbed the reins. My sister was taken off the rope, which she threw a fit about and I was placed on it for the remainder of the ride.

When we arrived back at the barn, some poor volunteer came over to lead the horses from the water trough to the stables. In my eight year old mind however, when she stood next to my wild mustang of a mount, she was there to catch me so I could jump off; and that's exactly what I did. She had barely turned to look at me to ask how my ride was, when I leapt into her arms and nearly took her to the ground. I clung to her all the way back to the barn until my mother got off her own horse and, apologizing profusely, pried me from her limb from limb.

It is safe to say that after this, while very exciting, very terrifying experience; I was not too keen on horses. At lest, not for a while.