Tag: horses

Rides Around: Little Joe

Leigh, Travel
When I think of riding around, it doesn’t bring to mind anything with a motor.
Little Joe was one of three “new horses” purchased by the barn where I worked in north Georgia.  He came along partway through my ten years there, and quickly earned a place in my heart.  He was on the small side (hence the name) and very timid.
The first morning we met, I arrived at the barn with some advance warning — there were new horses; they were just settling in, and there were instructions on how much and what type of grain and hay they should receive for breakfast.  The first hour of the barn days were always heaven, but when there were new horses I would practically skip to the office.
The routine was simple, peaceful and relaxing.  I’d check to make sure all stalls had hay and clean water, and then fill up food buckets one by one.  Once all the stalls were ready, I’d walk up to the pasture and let the horses down for the day.  Most of the time, they’d go to their own stall and quickly get to munching on breakfast.  But some of the smarter and faster horses knew they could get a couple extra mouthfuls by zipping into a neighbor’s stall.  They’d snatch gulps of food before one of the staff could shoo them out and into their own stall, where a full bucket would still be waiting.
So there was a bit of a pecking order, and poor Little Joe was new, and … little.  He came down last, and was trembling.  He didn’t want to go in his stall.  He was intimidated by the bigger, more dominant horses.  The poor thing was just scared.
I got him into his stall by coaxing him with food from my hand.  He ate some, but was still shaking, so I got my breakfast, a bowl of instant oatmeal with apple chunks, and brought it to him.  He slowly relaxed while enjoying my breakfast, gently taking scoops from my hand.
Day by day, Little Joe got more and more comfortable, until he found his stall just fine in the morning, and he no longer trembled when the other members of the herd came near.  I chose him for many a trail ride, and he stayed calm and steady.  While he eventually settled in, he never settled for just one breakfast.  He would smell the oatmeal in the microwave and meet me in the breezeway, ears up and ready for a treat.  I’d have a bite and scoop one out for him, back and forth, until it was gone.  Oatmeal and apples.  Breakfast for two.
The Rig: A little gelding with a sweet personality
The Location:  a barn in Georgia
The Driver Rider: a sucker for the underdog
The Special Circumstance: helping a new friend get settled

Volcanoes and Banana Thieves of Costa Rica

Leigh, Surfing, Travel

This is part two of the recap of our trip to Costa Rica.  You can catch up on part one here. 

La Fortuna was a little bigger and catered to tourists.  Just about every street corner had a shop with supersized pictures of people zip lining, riding horses and jumping into waterfalls… and big signs advertising the best prices in town.  We talked to a few and found out the horse ride wasn’t exactly what we’d hoped — it didn’t go to the volcano at all  — and we decided to ride later in the week at our beach stop.  But there was an option to hike to the top of a (dormant) volcano and swim in a crater at the top!  A quick group conference confirmed we all thought that sounded amazing, so we signed up for the next day.

The climb up to the top of the volcano was no joke.  It was hot and a bit more strenuous than we anticipated, but we all felt very accomplished to make it to the summit. When we reached the highest point, we met up with a group of German bodybuilding tourists, who tried to warn us in heavily-accented English about a big, long-nosed creature that came out of the woods and stole their bananas.  I thought they were pulling our legs until they showed us the video one of them had captured on their phone.  Sure enough, there was a banana-stealing creature confronting them.  I wanted it to come back out so we could get a look, but guess it was off in the jungle enjoying its banana stash.

The water at the top was chilly.  Some of us enjoyed a dip, while others enjoyed the leftover chicken we’d dragged up for a picnic.  It didn’t take us very long to head back down, where we decided a proper swim was necessary.  We’d passed some rushing water with a natural pool and a rope swing on our way to the hike, so we pulled over and got in.  This was clearly the place where the locals came to cool off, and they welcomed us with big smiles.  Edgar even got cheers and applause for his elaborate swing, tuck and dive off the rope.

With our waterfall and volcano boxes checked off, it was time to surf.  We got on the road again, this time headed for the coast.  On the way we saw a car pulled over and people feeding some sort of animal.  I had to see what that was, so we pulled over too and saw a bunch of the banana thieves all together! They’re called coati or pizote, and even though they look a little like an opossum to me, they’re actually in the raccoon family.   A family was there feeding them apple jacks.

It took us a few hours to reach Tamarindo, our destination for the next three days.  The hostel where we stayed was across the street from a break, and it even had a surfboard rental place right out front.  We walked into town and got some supplies for breakfast, and lined up our boards for the next day.

I don’t have beach pictures because we were all in the water and I didn’t want my phone to get stolen.  Just imagine several pretty beaches with some of us catching waves, and some of us petting dogs or playing hacky sack.

I do have some shots of the open air kitchen where we made breakfast, and the contraption that gave us delicious coffee.

I know this is sounding like quite the animal-themed recap, but I couldn’t leave out one of my favorite activities.  While Edgar checked out one more break, the girls and I took a two-hour horseback ride up into the mountains.  I asked the guide if he thought we’d see monkeys, and he said maybe.  But I think he over-estimated my desire because he kept doing little detours into more jungle and looking up, and then sadly saying, “Ohhh… no monkey…”    There was a bit of a language barrier, but I tried to communicate that I was just curious, and would not be heartbroken if monkeys were not spotted. (They were not.)

We said goodbye to the beach on Thursday and drove back to San Jose.  CR traffic can be a bear, and we didn’t want to be stressing out for our flight back to the states on Friday.  All in all it was a great visit. Everyone got a little color, a little exercise and a lot of ice cream.  Pura Vida.  🙂