COSTA RICA - Day 3 cont: My Rogue Horse

We had an option of taking the shuttle back out of the rain forest or return on horseback. Everyone was gung-ho about coming back on a horse, I on the otherhand, said I would decide when the time came. Having only been on a horse once in my life, and not really caring for the experience or maybe I just don't care for the idea of not being in total control should the horse decide to take off. THIS horseback experience just confirmed my fears and dislike of riding a (stupid) horse...HA!

After leaving the hut, we all walked over and our horses were picked out for us. Sean thought it was hilarious that his horse's name was Terminator (eye roll...haha). As soon as I mounted my horse, I wanted off. When someone asked our guide, how do we make the horse run, he responded, these horses are trained to follow the horse in front of it and not run. His response still didn't ease my nerves.

Our 30 min ride back was muddy and unstable for the horses as their legs sank a good 8 inches into the mud. Everytime we went down hill, I panicked thinking my horse was going to fall over. They walked through thick mud, rocks and fields. Another scary part for me was when we went down a rocky hill. Almost crying telling Sean, I don't wanna do this, I don't wanna do this, I wanna get doooown. My horse made it through and I was fine....momentarily.

I don't know what triggered my horse to run. Oh you thought I just got through telling you, the guide said they don't run, well, MINE did! Maybe it was the rain that triggered the horse to run, or it sensed my fear or the guide gave me a running horse and not a follower or the horse was just pissed off at me for not letting it stop to eat. Who the hell knows, but my friggin horse decided it wanted to RUN! I didn't know what to do and started to panick. My head was knocked back and forth in whiplashing motion, so hard that my friggin helmet flew off! I was crying and yelling STOP! STOP! STOP! But that sucker kept on running and I just held on and tightly kept my eyes closed. Now that I think about it, I probably could have gotten it to stop if I had yelled ALTO! : /

Everyone in our group wanted their horse to run. They did everything from kicking their sides, slapping the horse's reins, giving it that kiss kiss sound and yelled "giddy up", but they just took their time and waaaalked and followed the horse in front of it. Now, why couldn't I have one of those horses???