Horseback Riding in Banos -- A Post by Taylor

We went horseback riding on Monday, January 10. We walked over to the stables at 8:30 in the morning. The horses were tacked up and were waiting behind the local park. We were confused because we weren't close to a trail. I was riding a fast horse named Martina, Wyatt rode a pony named Maria, Mommy rode Martine, and Daddy was riding the wild, angry horse Simone. When we got on, the owner, Jose, said that if we had ridden before, we could go as fast as we want. We all thought he was joking. (spoiler alert, he was not.) Our guide got on as we did and we started riding on the street. Literally. Taxis and busses honked at us from all directions and I was scared that the horses were going to spook.

This is Wyatt's horse, Maria, just before we rode.

Our guide said, Vamos, and the horses, including his own started galloping down the street when we said, shhh, the horses steadied to an easy trot. Galloping was not to hard in a western saddle if you lean forward enough. Wyatt started crying and shaking. I could tell his horse was confused and scared. It didn't help that Martina wanted to keep going and backed up into Maria. Wyatt and Daddy left and me and Mommy continued. After a few more turns we ended up at a trail. We did a lot of galloping and some walking.

It's just me and Mommy now on the trail. Our guide is in front of me.

After a few more twists and turns we ended up at a stream. we left the horses untied, our guide said they would be fine. The horses followed us and drank a lot of water. I should mention we were riding up a volcano. Our guide picked up some rocks and said that they were lava rocks.

My horse drinking at the stream

The lava rocks from the volcano

On the way back we didn't do much galloping because it was mostly downhill. when you are going downhill on a horse it is very likely you will fall if you are going faster than a walk. Once we made it to the street, busses and taxis started honking, Martina, the horse I was riding was trying to kick out at the busses. Once we made it back we hopped off and headed back to the hotel. Wyatt and Daddy were waiting for us there.