horse, adventure, dominican republic, two horses, magic, https://wetravelandblog.com

Taming Not-So-Wild Horses

This past Tuesday we did something I never imagined I would do, we had ourselves a Dominican Republic horseback riding adventure.

The thing is, I often see tourists riding around on their high horses–no pun intended ;)–on silly little tours through not-so-impressive parts of town, and, having never really gone horseback riding, I didn’t realize how fun it could be, so it just looked like one of those overpriced attractions for silly tourists.

Here’s a lesson in never saying no to new experiences.

A few days ago, a couple friends we LOVE asked if we wanted to go horseback riding with them. I trust their judgement, so we agreed, despite the price tag.

Holy !@#$ are we happy we did.

First things first, this country is absolutely gorgeous. It doesn’t matter if you’re by foot, donkey, horse, motorcycle, car, guagua, or hummer, getting around the “backwoods” of the Dominican Republic will take your breath away and show you shades of green you never knew existed. (and also are really hard to capture on camera)

river, gorgeous, dominican republic, lush, jungle, heaven, garden of eden, https://wetravelandblog.com
Just another river in the DR. No big deal.

We went inland quite a ways. Here, besides farmland, the nature is free to be its wild self.

Rolling hills rivaling any golf green, Lazy rivers snaking through lush bush, air-plants and bromeliads filling in the voids, life taking up residence in all possible nooks and crannies.

Ok, the local fauna isn’t the most exciting…

family of pigs, forrest, dominican republic, http://wetraveladnblog.com
… but pigs are cute, right?

But the landscape is to die for.

horse and dog, horseback, jungle, river, river rocks, dominican republic, https://wetravelandblog.com

Hiking these parts alone would have been a day well spent.

Getting around on a horse just blew my mind.

At first I had a rough time getting accustomed to being on a horse’s back. When we did Pico Duarte we rode mules part of the way, and sitting on another animal so it could do the work for me made me feel lame. The same thing happened this time.

If someone were on my spine, bobbing up and down with every step, I don’t think I’d enjoy it much.

Controlling the horse was also new to me. I’d never really had a horse follow my lead, so the idea of controlling it by a rope in its mouth was a foreign concept. Luckily for me, these horses are trained to follow the leader and be gentle, so I didn’t need to understand much.

Then we hit our first gallop, and that’s when I realized the horse has a flow, and if you move with it, your butt isn’t hitting its flank quite as hard. I did what I could to take my weight off him during the rest of the ride, the trots being most challenging.

By the time we made our first pit-stop at a local colmado, I’d gotten the hang of maneuvering my horse left and right on the trail, and had developed a satisfactory technique and stance for minimizing my impact on my live transportation’s spinal chord.

The colmado we stopped at was quite rural, and it was a wonderful break in the shade, chatting with the locals and our tour fellows.

tropical, teal, tiffany blue, rural, dominican republic, shutters, http://wetavelandblog.com
Shutters painted teal

 

The local kids posed for the camera.

dominican kids, locals, donkey, pose, genuine life, https://wetravelandblog.com
doesn’t everyone love a selfie?

This pig came over to see what was up.

pig pen, pig, eyes, animal, farm animal, dominican republic, rural https://wetravelandblog.com
future dinner hanging out in his pen

This turkey thanked his lucky stars.

turkey, rural, dominican republic, lunch, local cooking, cooking with the locals, https://wetravelandblog.com
Water boiling for lunch. The turkey has at least another day ;)

Our tour operator and guide, Tommy:

HOrsebackriding-6

Tiva chatted me up about riding bareback with some girl friends in Alaska and I realized I’d been hanging around the wrong kind of ladies my whole life.

A good rest for us and the horse, we got back on for the more interesting part of the tour.

The river part!

horse, adventure, dominican republic, two horses, magic, https://wetravelandblog.com
Brandon and his brother cowboyin’ it out.

Not only did we have gorgeous view of the surrounding landscape from the mellow river bed, we also got a fresh break from the hot sun splashing around in the water with the horses, the water sometimes getting up to our ankles.

Some of us were lucky enough to be on horses that knew how to swim!!

river, horse, swimming, cowgirl, dominican republic, lush, https://wetravelandblog.com
Brandon and Tiva on the back of their horses, fully swimming through the river

Serious?! The only thing that could beat riding a swimming horse in the DR would be riding a flying unicorn through space.

Then we took another break and all had ourselves a swim in the river!

At this point I’d like to send a special thank you to Brandon and Tiva for suggesting the adventure.

couple, cute couple, brandon sanford, saltwater swimwear, mermaid, merman, river, dominican republic, https://wetravelandblog.com
here they are enjoying the fresh water.

Of course, boys will be boys.

fly, cliff jump, cannon ball, river fun, https://wetravelandblog.com

While we all enjoyed a water bath, Chiquita the chihuahua preferred the small gravel and dust bath.

chihuahua, gravel, 50mm, short depth of field, adorable, rock bath, https://wetravelandblog.com
Ah yeah, ah yeah, that’s the spot. mmmmmm.

Well refreshed, we got back on the horses, but with only a half hour left to go and very wet socks, I opted to finish the ride barefoot.

Well it wasn’t long until I realized that my slippery feet weren’t doing good job of staying in the stirrups, so I pretended for the last gallops that I was riding bareback and got rid of the stirrups altogether.

Mind blown.

At this point a connection happened between the horse and I that I didn’t even know was possible.

The closest I’ve ever gotten to this feeling is duck diving in surfing. That moment when you glide through the element you bathe in with perfect flow.

But a surf board doesn’t have a heart beat, and a wave passes over you in seconds…

New on the bucket list: Learn to ride a horse. Bareback.

 

Do you ride horses? Have you had any adventures riding animals? Elephants maybe? Camels?
Have you ever said “I will never!!” to something, and then realize it was way cooler than you thought?

8 comments

  1. Jade, First of all..I love pigs! Let alone the horses. I used to ride as a kid and did some fantastic rides then, but as I grew to an adult and married, Jim wasn’t that thrilled….until I convinced in the desert, at sunset, quiet, golden, beautiful. He changed his mind, too.

    I love the part where you meld with the horse. To me, maybe because horses have been a human’s companion almost as long as dogs, there is a rhythm, an understanding between us. I’m glad you experienced it!

    As always, inspirational words!

  2. Very cool photos and well written. Makes me feel like you are actually speaking to me. I know exactly what you are saying when you talk of not really wanting to do the “touristy” things but sometimes these things are touristy because they are worth doing…not always but you never know until you experience it yourself.

    1. Hey Tim!!

      Thanks for dropping by, and I’m glad you enjoyed the read and photos!
      As for touristy stuff, YES, sometimes they are ABSOLUTELY worth doing, but sometimes they’re just gimmicks to give sheltered foreigners an overpriced mundane experience. This was definitely NOT one of the latter :)
      Like you said, absolutely, you have to figure it out for yourself. :)

  3. Hi there! I will be visiting the DR in march and found your blog, it is fantastic! Really nice to have some pre-travel fun by reading into the country.
    This horseback riding adventure seems amazing, and I wanted to ask you, do you happen to remember where this was? Would love go on a horseback riding tour, but definitely don’t want to end up on a touristy one.

    Kind regards, Dorien

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