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| Step 1: approach the horse quietly; Toby with Christian |
I am not much of a horse person, in that I don't feel particularly comfortable on them or around them and I've never considered them too important to my well being. But I can appreciate why they hold such an important place in so many people's hearts. I like animals, I've always had dogs, and I want the best for all of earth's creatures. Yesterday we had an "Equine Experience" with Alanca Puerto Varas, whose tagline is "Horses and Nature". Fair enough. This was Felicity's 10th birthday activity. The day before, on her actual birthday she had celebrated with an online party with a lot of friends back home, and a cheesecake, the kind of thing you make when you're in a rented kitchen with few utensils. It was delicious.
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| Happy 10th Birthday Felicity! Of course it has gone quicker than we could have imagined, but what a priviledge to have had ring-side seats for this unique decade. |
Felicity has been developing quite a lot of interest in horses and is going to a horse riding camp in the summer. I wrote in my last post about our other horse riding experience in Puerto Montt, about being jostled around on a trotting horse as we raced up and down the mountain. If that was a baptism of fire then this was a warm bath with scented candles.
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| All of nature seems quite happy here: bee and blackberries |
We did little else than greet our horses, caress our horses, introduce the bit-less bridle to them, walk them around, and finally mount them bareback, and ride around the small woodland on the property. It was lovely and afterwards we released them into a large meadow and said our farewells. In those two hours, I developed more of a relationship with a horse than I have ever done before.
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| Felicity and Karu, a Chilean horse |
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| Crystal had an Arabian horse, Tuka, which are known for always moving around and hence being tricky to mount |
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| Felicity and Karu |
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