Vacation Highlights

I feel like I’m back in school writing the usual report on what I did on my summer vacation. My title should probably be:

How My Son Overcame The Trauma of His First Trail Ride

One of the opportunities we had during our vacation was a trip on horseback up into the mountains to a waterfall and back to the coastline. We had no idea what an adventure we were about to have.

We, along with 40 others, rode a tour boat to a small dock. After waiting for our tour guide’s directions, we walked through a small village to 40 waiting horses. My group of five was called together to a section of horses where we were assigned the “correct” horse for each of us.

My sister was assigned a tall black horse that responded well to her signals. My husband sat on the wooden saddle of a horse with a one-track mind. Must’ve been a postal service horse. Nothing was going to deter it from its appointed path.

My son’s horse was nice, eager, and didn’t need any coaching. Her name was Alison. She took off with the rest of the horses, and I followed immediately after her. My son was a little upset that Alison didn’t wait for instruction. I yelled out, “Pull back! Pull back!” He did and the horse stopped. I looked around and saw that all five of my riders were on horses, so I followed my son’s horse when it started up again – without my son’s permission.

My horse was great, but the stirrups were in need of repair. One stirrup had leather around where my foot was supposed to go. My other foot was in an oddly-bent, metal stirrup-wannabe.

What I hadn’t realized at that point was that my daughter still hadn’t grasped the whole “kick and click” concept. I heard others clicking their tongue and kicking the horse gently to get it to go. My daughter sat and waited. And watched us leave.

When I noticed my daughter not following us, my sister volunteered to be the cavalry. I stayed with my son, trying to calm his worried mind. My husband almost left his horse and ran to help our daughter, but decided to let my sister get her instead.

My sister is a good teacher. My daughter learned to direct the horse well. She also was able to stay on the horse when her horse started kicking because other horses got too close. I was proud of her first attempt on a horse.

My son wanted off the horse the whole way up to the waterfall. This mother’s heart ached at his unhappiness, but I kept encouraging him, following him. When we arrived at the dismount area, one of the locals helped my son put a foot on the ground, but walked off before his other foot was down. My son’s foot was caught in the stirrup when the horse headed off for a drink with the other horses, tripping and dragging my son. My husband happened to be near my son’s horse and grabbed Alison’s reins as soon as he heard my yell. I, of course, was behind Alison and couldn’t reach her to stop her.

I joined my son and left the horse area. None too soon, from the look on his face. We rejoiced at the falls – most of us. My son just stood with his distraught expression breaking my heart. We took off our jeans and shoes (we wore swim suits under it all), walked across a narrow rickety bridge, and jumped into the water below the falls.

When the time came to dry, dress, and get back to our appointed horses, my husband talked my son into giving the horse another try. The fact that he got back on the horse is, in my opinion, a miracle from God.

I was on my horse already when my son settled onto Alison’s saddle. I was ready, just in case. I think some of his discomfort came from sitting a little off to one side on the saddle – all the way to the falls and back. And the stirrups weren’t the right length for his legs.

I was well aware that either God Himself was walking alongside my son or He’d assigned a couple of extra angels to protect him that day.

On the way back to the boat, my son started singing. “I’m pretending I’m not riding this horse. I’m pretending I’m back at the hotel.” I didn’t laugh at the cuteness of my son’s singing. I was just glad he found a way to overcome his fears.

All in all, it was a day of rejoicing. We let the kids experience new things. But the best part of all was my son dancing to the music on the boat on the way back to the hotel.