young hearts run free

Whenever you see horses in movies, they're galloping...on the beach, through the fields, in battlefields...wherever. They're beautiful creatures, with their manes flying and their hooves hovering over the ground. Their muscles pulse beneath their shiny coats as they gallop. On Saturday, I went horseback riding in Half Moon Bay and although I had gone twice before, this time was a different experience. It was the same old ride for the most part...walking slowly on the trail and then trotting on the beach. Ouch. Trotting is fun because you're going faster than you were on the trail, but you're just bouncing up and down on your saddle, clenching the horse with your inner thighs so you don't fall off the saddle. But OUCH, it hurts.

Toward the end of our stretch on the beach, Queencie and my horses took off, leaving our two other companions behind. We ended up with two girls who had gone riding with their dad. On the trail, you're not supposed to trot and you are NOT supposed to gallop at all. A sweaty horse is a hot horse, and a hot horse means a $15 extra charge. The horses wanted to go faster though. They were bored with the walking, and honestly, so was I. One of the girls' horses began trotting and once one of them does it, they all follow. Soon the trotting became unbearable. One girl mentioned galloping and how it's much smoother. I asked her to show me. Our horses continued trotting and here we are, all in pain, bouncing up and down and at one point, I look over to see her flying by me...her horse is galloping, just like in the movies. A few seconds later, it starts trotting again.

I want to do it too. She instructs, just kick your horse with your heels and say "Yah! Yah!" She brings her horse to a trot...they all follow...and then she does the secret code and her horse takes off galloping...and ours follow. It's exhilerating. You feel like you're going incredibly fast and if you're not hanging on tightly, you may fall off. But the horses are flying and she's right, it definitely doesn't hurt as much. I looked at the others galloping by and I would have given anything to have a video camera then, capturing the moment. All I could hear in my head was that song from the "Romeo and Juliet" soundtrack..."Young hearts run free." The speed, the wind, the power of the horse...it was like nothing I had ever felt before. You're on these huge creatures and you should have control over them, but you realize that they are restless spirits too. They want to run free and gallop through the trails and on the beach at their leisure.

I've always heard that horses smell fear. So when you are near them, or when you're riding them, stay calm and they, too, will know that you are in control of the situation. But maybe they also smell freedom and independence. Maybe they smell when we want to take off and also run free. Our two companions were more hesitant on their horses and wanted to take things slow, and amazingly, their horses obeyed. But for the rest of us, we wanted something more...my horse and I...young horses run free.