Hidalgo

11-11
Today we got to ride the estancia horses around the park. At 10, we followed Vaten out of the stables and onto the dusty park road.

By far the best way to see the park, James said, as I looked over and noticed that it seemed as if he had ridden horses all his life, although this was only his second time.

My first horse was very obedient, running only when I really encouraged him. The horses here don´t have names, as they are workers not pets. Jamie´s horse, however, had fiery glistening eyes and bobbed its head as if it were a recently shaken coke can, about to explode.

It was sweating profusely under Jamie, who at 6 feet 8 inches and 200 pounds, holds the record for largest CP volunteer ever. At noon we took a lunch break amongst a grove of poplars. I was eager to share my apple with the horses, but it might as well have been a cup of coffee. The animals here don´t eat human food.

After lunch I offered to ride Jamie´s horse the rest of the day, and he eagerly accepted my offer. I adjusted the stirrups, hopped on, and decided that we were a much better fit. She wasn´t sweating and diligently obeyed me. That is, until, we got back onto the road.

Reina Loca (Crazy Queen) as I would come to call her, took off so fast that instead of bobbing up and down in an uncomfortable gallop, I coasted lightly, a few inches above the saddle. Vaten grabbed the reigns, whispering ¨shhh shhh shhhhhhh¨ until she calmed down. I soon learned that Reina was the queen horse, with a need to be the leader, up in front, at all times. AS soon as a horse would try to creep into the lead, she would cut them off, or sprint ahead. If they managed to slip past her while she ate a feast of dandelions, she would throw her head back and sprint.

The only way I could stop her was to pull back so hard on the reigns I thought I might injur her, but it worked, and so I´d let her do 100 m sprints now and again to get it out of her system. She was so happy during these sprints, she would often veer off trail and leap over thorny bushes. During one 10 foot leap I slid off the saddle, but was able to shift my weight back into riding position, accidentally kicking her, sending her off on another burst.

4 hours later we were back at the ranch. I was sore and so was Reina, with gaping bloody wounds where the saddle had rubbed her the wrong way. Luigi arrived not long after we did. When he noticed the sores on my horse I told him it was my horse, jokingly, but it turned out to be his, and he immediately began to treat her wounds.

Although I want to ride again, I don´t want to put these horses through another full day beneath the saddle. I´ll stick to pullin´ weeds if it means these horses don´t have to pull gringos.