Saturday, March 6, 2010

Dreams really do come true. Sort of...

I have always dreamed of riding my horse on the beach since I was very little. Today I was able to live out that dream...

In my fantasy, I ride my beautiful black stallion bareback down the beach and into the knee-deep surf where we then effortlessly gallop in the water.... his mane and tail streaming out... my waist length hair looking like something out of a shampoo commercial, not being affected by the salt or wind...

The reality actually went something like this:

I go up to the pasture to catch my nondescript, orange arabian gelding named mud-ball... I mean Flash. I proceed to chase him around the pasture for 20 minutes because the sun is out and he's feeling good. I eventually get him loaded and we pull up to the parking lot by the beach. I unload him and begin to try to brush him. Because it's a warm day and coming on spring, he is shedding so much hair I begin to wonder if I will have a second horse to take home... there is hair everywhere.

After brushing him down and saddling him up we proceed through the narrow little roads and try to find a beach access point that doesn't look like it will eat him alive. At the first one we try, we walk up this little hill and then *poof* the ocean is magically before us. Flash takes one look at this and immediately tries to head back to the trailer... quickly.

After calming him down (somewhat) and actually getting him onto the beach we proceed to start walking down it. Instead of a graceful gallop in the surf, I have to settle for a very disjointed trot about 20 feet out from the water where every few steps we come to a screeching halt because every white seashell must be snorted at and investigated. Not only that, but the varying colors of the sand seem to give him fits as well.... *sigh* He is not taking to the ocean quite how I imagined.

Ah well... after an hour or so, he decides that even though the ocean is noisy and moves around a lot he isn't in imminent danger and we are able to enjoy ourselves for a little bit... until the next seashell comes into view.

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