MORE POSTCARDS FROM COSTA RICA ~ Ponies in the Sand

I’ve checked off another item on my bucket list ~ horseback riding on a beach. What a rush! With our daughter, Kate, and our ever adventurous friends from Annapolis, Carol and Tom, we set off down the beach at Junquillal on the Nicoya peninsula (Pacific coast). Our horses were just mellow enough for us rank amateurs.

Although I owned a horse which I rode religiously as a child, I hadn’t been in the saddle for many years. I had always ridden with an English saddle so it was a whole different experience using a heavy McLellan with box stirrups and a simple, single-reined bridle. I kept trying to post and give the impression that I knew how to ride but I was really getting jerked around. What I didn’t know until we were well into the ride was that Christina, our affable Austrian guide, had given me the horse with the lumpiest, roughest gait because I was the only one with any significant riding experience. She, however, was riding a dressage-trained beauty with a gait as smooth as silk. My sweet but bumpy horse was "Cologne" or "Colon". I'd say that "Colon" was the more appropiate name since he really did a number on mine. I also now know why cowboys are bowlegged. (Photo right: Our leader, Christina)

Carol had never ridden a horse but was such a trooper, even when the horse took off with her at a faster pace than she could handle. She hung on for dear life and only fell off once while getting into the saddle. Near the end of the ride we were allowed to let our

ponies run along the shore. That was a magical moment.