Horses, horses, horses, horses...

In every new country I visit, it doesn't take long for me to start hankering to see its surroundings via horseback. And so not too far into my stay in Cape Town I found one place that did rides along the beach at sunset; after a quick scout to get fellow adventurers to come along, I was in!

The horses looked really well cared for, which is always a lovely sign. Occasionally they can look like they've been run too much on too little food, but these were lovely creatures. Mine was called Habana, and had, like the others, an eastern saddle. Thank heavens. Nothing more uncomfortable than a stock saddle, or (ironically enough) an endurance saddle. Or maybe I've just had my rear molded into an eastern fit.

Anyway. Off we went, starting along the roads towards the beach. There were about 10 of us, and only one guide, which was a little unsettling, especially given that the two people I'd gone with hadn't ridden before and were a little nervous. I hung around the back with my friends to keep an eye on them. Then two boys went by on skateboards, and a woman up the front who had professed to be a rider lost control of her horse, which backed into the one behind it, which in turn backed into one of my friend's horse, who (quite naturally) freaked out. I'll say this, though. Given how scared she was and how new to riding, it was the most graceful fall I've ever seen. She hung on until the last possible moment and then just sort of stepped off, not even stumbling over.

Then (and I'm a little ashamed to admit I'm proud of this) I swung into action...

(SWAGGER!)

...and went after her horse, which had bolted into a nearby driveway, shooed it back towards the others, then rode back to the girl and jumped off to give her a big hug for being so brave (she really was, especially that given how scared she was, and once she'd calmed down she jumped right back on the horse!). Meanwhile, completely negating any selfless acts of compassion, I. Felt. Awesome. WOO! The truth is I've just always wanted to rely on my horsey skills in a crisis, and I've always been able to act pretty calmly when things go wrong on horses, but this was a particularly Indiana Jones moment.

Ok, the sad part is the girl who fell soon decided she didn't want to keep going, so I felt pretty bad about getting her to come, and kept an even closer eye on the other girl as we made our way through the brush down to the beach.

It. Was. Gorgeous. The sunset was cold (blues and yellows) but beautiful, just sinking into the sea and lighting all the waves with a bright glow as they crashed into the beach. Wow. And while I tried to convince my horse to canter (it was very reluctant to do so, and kept running in circles instead. SIGH. One of these days I'm going to find a horse riding place that actually does what it says it does, which is offer canters along the beach), the mountains rising up around us, the sun sinking into the sea, it was marvellous. I finally got Habana to shed her inhibitions and go for it, and we had a lovely canter away from everyone else for a bit before I coerced her to the back of the line to walk with my friend there. (Should point out that it's not me in the picture, but I did take it.)

It wasn't the most satisfying ride I've ever been on, but it was pretty spectacular, scenery-wise, and plus there were all my Indiana moments. Pretty freakin' awesome way to spend an evening.