Horses!!!

So Sunday, we went to ride horses in the French countryside. It was so cool!!! This picture is of the three of us that went riding in front of the house. From left to right it was Sarah, me and my roommate, Callie. Callie had ridden before, southern belle that she is, but Sarah and I had never ridden before. So, Callie went off with the group that went galloping and we stayed with the walkers. I had fun and I think I finally started getting the hang of it by the end of the ride. It's funny how each horse responds differently though. I started out with a brown horse named Chippie, but a lady that had already been there once wanted Chippie because she had Chippie last time. So I switched horses with her and got Houston. He was kind of a rebel but we became friends and got used to each other. It was pretty fun. And the forest we rode in was beautiful with the changing colors of the leaves. I didn't get very many pictures of it because I was on a horse with rough terrain underfoot but I got a few.
I do have a funny story for y'all though. Our guide took us down a path and he didn't know that the path had gotten covered with fallen trees in the last storm they had had. So he got lost. Since I was riding right behind him, I followed kind of closely. He led me and Houston into a fallen tree. We got stuck in the branches and couldn't turn around because it was a very small space for two horses. He turned around and got out of there first, but on the way out he smashed my leg up against Houston. Then Houston and I got out of there but I was very scared for my life! He was kind of going a little wild trying to get out and I was hanging on for dear life. But we got out and it was good after that. But he had a little bit of trouble trusting me. We started to get back into the rhythm again though.
He was funny. Whenever we stopped for the briefest moment, he bent down to eat the grass and weeds. It was a lot of fun! I think we're going to try to go again. Christian and Sandra (the guides) invited us to come again and stay in their spare room if it would save us time. We might do it. It was a very friendly place.
Fortunately, I didn't break anything. But I found a large, softball-sized bruise on my left shin, where it hit Houston. Also, after climbing stairs practically all day on Saturday and then riding a horse on Sunday, I'm pretty much sore from the waist down. But at least I didn't fall off the horse!! It was all worth it! This weekend was freaking awesome!

Toodles!
French Amy