You might not believe it, but on the afternoon of the gale force winds and rains, I went horseback riding!
The weather started to turn sunny and the rain had stopped, but the winds were still quite high. We went anyway! (Leslie opted out, though.)
The stables were fabulous! The horses were big, healthy, and gentle. Mostly Quarter horses. I was given an English saddle which was great as I don’t ride Western and the big, puffy, saddles they use in Patagonia are a bit uncomfortable for me as I don’t like how wide they are and the stirrups are those funny ones that look like hooves. Oronda was the name of my horse.
There were 10 of us and we were split into two groups. Somehow I got stuck with a bunch of people that didn’t know how to ride so I wasn’t too thrilled with that but it ended up that I went off ahead with one of the gauchos for a long while so I could trot and canter.
The terrain was lovely. Wide open pampas with several streams that we crossed. The horses weren’t all that happy with the wind, though!
When we got back to the barn we played with the cutest little barn cat that was very friendly (an odd thing in a barn cat). She apparently even does some tricks although she wasn’t in the mood for it that day. 🙂
Not Quite a Mid-Life Gap Year 