Pony Express

Aubrey dropped us off at Island View Stables and we gathered in the stable, excited to meet our horses. After signing the necessary forms ("Riding is risk sport") and donning appropriate gear, we were excited to get going.

The inside of the stable was the typical horse farm/stable setting. On one wall there was a pile of saddles, ready for riders.


There was also a shelf full of riding helmets of all different sizes. Boots are required, so there were lots of pairs of boots as well. We had worn our rain boots in anticipation of wet weather, so we did not need to borrow boots. There was a dog and several cats around, as well as a few little kids who had just finished riding sessions.


We went outside and found a line of horses munching on hay and looking content, despite the rain that had been falling all day. Luckily, the rain stopped when we got outside, so we had a dry ride.

I met my horse, a beautiful mare named Kitty. As I got situated in the saddle, the employee told me that Kitty liked to go slow so she would need some nudging along the way. As I was wondering what I had done to get paired up with the slow poke, Kitty looked around a little bit and was probably laughing to herself as people clumsily mounted their own horses, as I had done a few minutes before.

It took us a good while to get to the beach where we were to ride, but once we got there it was so nice. Kitty did have a little bit of a hard time keeping up and she insisted on wading through the deepest areas of water, while all the other horses tip-toed over the little streams and barely got wet. It was such a nice ride, though, and we got to trot for a bit and then Kitty was able to keep in line with the other horses. She was getting a little territorial because the horse behind us (Molly's, named Henry) kept wanting to pass her and she was having none of that.


The coast was beautiful and we could see little houses on the other coasts, across from where we were. It did not rain the whole time and it was an absolutely amazing view.


This is a line of horses on the way back to the stable. This time, Kitty was not the horse that could not keep pace. The horse in front of us, Chippy, was the slow one. On the beach ride, Chippy actually laid down on the sand. The rider (a local boy named Evan) came running up and then there's Chippy just walking around, covered in sand. Evan got back on and we continued on our way, trotting a little here and there.


After the ride, I took a picture with Kitty, who was camera shy and preferred eating hay to looking at the camera. But, it's all right, she was a great horse to have and we definitely bonded over her slowness.


Back in the stable, I found Kitty's bridle on a hook and took a picture of it to remember her name. She's a beautiful horse!