Valentine's Day at the Polo Club!
I realized at work the other day that the only posts I ever write about involving the trail are related to crazy people and super difficult rides (in which I'm very behind on my story telling so they are coming a little out of order) So I thought I would share that my job is actually wonderful and very safe for people to ride!
I don't want to discourage anybody- just sharing some of the interesting situations we have to deal with as guides.
On that note! I wanted to share a few positive stories. Valentine's Day was quite fun. We were completely booked with couples that wanted to go on romantic rides on the beach. We even had a third guide come in so that everyone could go on private rides instead of being grouped together. The weather started off pretty terrible (we had a storm the night before that downed several trees and it was still raining) so we had a late start to the day. By two o'clock the sun came out and it was beautiful!
The first couple I took was pretty cute. The guy was stationed on the Marine Base and had surprised his girlfriend with a ride on the beach. (She was very nervous but excited to try it. She couldn't figure out why he had taken her to the middle of nowhere) They were a cute giggly young couple.
My next couple had been married for several years and were still pretty obviously in love with each other. They both had riding experience so we were able to relax a little bit- they were excited to have been able to leave the kids behind, even though their poor 14 year old daughter called every ten minutes because she was babysitting the new baby.
Lehua (one of the horses) was a good sport but was pretty comical to everyone. She does not like to step in mud puddles (and there were many on the trail) so she did everything she could to go around them, even if it meant going through a bush or tree branches. I felt pretty bad for the riders getting pushed through the branches but they all laughed and thought it was pretty funny.
At the end of the rides everybody got some complimentary champagne and the couples hung out on the couches and talked or went down to the beach. In the mean time we rocked our evening feeding and were able to leave an hour early! (I was stoked because we had our own plans with the Cheesecake Factory. YUM)
It was a wonderful and relaxing day- not to mention I successfully have been able to ninja myself on to a couple of the shorter horses. (I refer to "ninja-ing" as a way to mount bareback. You grab the mane and jump, throw your right leg over, and hoist yourself up. I still can't do it with tall horses but I'm getting better!)
It was a happy valentine's day!
