Giddy-up Horsey!

I like reading fantasy novels - I'm talking about the 'saga' types that involve great battles, elves, dwarves and magic. Books by Raymond E Feist, Terry Brooks, and to a lesser extent, JRR Tolkien. I love the way the battles are always fought with courage and honor, against overwhelming odds, and the way the cavalry, archers and foot-soldiers are always used to draw their enemies into a trap for wholesale slaughter.

But this entry is not about the horses in those cavalries.

I used to have an ex-colleague in IATA, by the name of Kimmy. She's pretty fun to be with, the zany type. In a recent email exchange, she told me that they "all miss me.... sometimes."

Good enough, I guess. But this post is not about Kimmy too!

At least, not THAT Kimmy. This post is about my experiences with another Kimmy. One that I mounted and had a great time with. And we took photos and videos together too! Heh.

Introducing our horses! The wife is sitting on her Boss, and I am sitting on Kimmy.

The two-hour horse-riding experience was booked at a tour desk run by Hostelling International, a hostel chain that we got membership for before leaving Singapore, but have never stayed in. And now, after 7 months on the road, we finally got to whip out our HI card for some discounts! Yay!

After a quick brief on how to control the horses, we were off!

Our riding trail wasn't the lush greenlands we had dreamt of, but a scrubby, rocky trail full of thorny plants. Ouch!

The wife's horse is called Boss because he doesn't like to give way, and deliberately causes misery to others trying to get the event over and done with. How interesting!

The ride itself was fairly pleasant, though the wife and I had a little trouble keeping our horses under control. Kimmy was soooooo slow! And I had to kick her so often just to get her to move. Sigh.

Yi Lin's Boss was even worse. For no rhyme or reason, he would irritate others, usually by nipping at them. And he was sometimes really slow too! That being said, he really went off to relax really quickly in his stable when we were back at the ranch and his workday was over. Hmm...

But I guess the problems we had was also due to our inexperience in handling horses. I felt that the stirrups were too tight and I could not secure my shoes in them. When Kimmy cantered (cantered, mind you... nowhere close to a gallop!), I was already bouncing around so crazily that it was a miracle I did not fall off!

At the halfway point, the wife's sock doll and my action figure decided to come out to see if they can do any better...

Darnie up on the stirrup before a mighty jump onto the horse's back

Riding with his lady love

FAIL. Kimmy wasn't even moving, and Darnie was already hanging on for dear life

Joining the circus is easier!

But seriously, the two-hour ride was really uneventful. I was getting butt-sore from all the bouncing about, and in my mind, I was visualising all the Osim iGallop commercials that I ever saw, and furtively thrusting my hips back and forth to replicate the motion (being always behind helps!) but achieved nothing by thought of terror at being seen and labeled a dirty old man with a fetish for horses.

So, yeah... I was glad to be finally finished riding Kimmy. Maybe she will be happier with someone more experienced than me. After a short while of bumming around and taking pictures, a cab finally arrived to bring us back to our hostel, bringing our quest for a horse-riding experience to an end.

If you are reading this and your name is Kimmy, why not buy 4D? Share some good fortune with me if you win :)

The guide brought us to see his private S & M room

All in all, I guess it was quite meh