The Mammoth Cave adventures outfit that provides zip-line tours also offers horseback riding. After our Zip-line tour we walked into the woods to start our horse back tour. All along I am imagining that we will probably mount some horses and ride them around the grassy field for 30 minutes or something. I couldn't have been more wrong.
With me on the expedition was Jack, Lei and my g/f Judy. Judy was the first to mount her horse, a small white munchkin horse named White Lightening. Next was my father who mounted a splotchy brown and white horse named Patches. My mom had some issues getting on to her brown horse, but was helped out by one of the aides. Finally it was my turn. Little did I know that this was the beginning of the end. My horse was a fairly big gelding, dark brown with an agitated demeanor. From this point on I shall refer to my horse by his true name, "Diablo."
This was my first time riding a horse, so I was a little nervous as I did not know what to expect. To make matters worse, we only had one guide and he gave almost no guidance as to what to do. He told us the horses follow the path and that we should use the reins to keep the horses from eating greenery on the course of the trail. Thats it. No instructions on how to start or stop, or what to do if your horse hates you and decides not to move. With the intro out of the way we started on our epic journey through the dangerous Kentucky terrain.
The guide went first and was followed closely by Judy, Lei then Jack. My horse either didn't get the message that our tour was starting, or simply did not care. I watched my companions ride into the forest while my horse refused to move forward. I started to panic, but resisted the urge to call out. I heard the others calling for me, but I could do little to encourage the beast forward. I decided to take charge and to dig my heels into his rib cage like I have seen so many times in the movies. Instantly Diablo urged forward and relief washed over me. However after only a couple of steps the he again stopped dead in his tracks. With my limited equestrian skills, I had no other tricks up my sleeves, so I decided to do this over and over with the hopes of catching my comrades. This proved futile and eventually our guide had to circle back to check on me.
I was expecting an explanation of what I had done wrong and perhaps some tips on how to better control this animal. Instead he handed me a small twig that he broke from a nearby tree and told be to slap him on the butt with it, then he rode away. The twig was tiny and it seemed a joke that it would do anything at all. I gently tapped the rear of Diablo with the twig and it unleashed a monster! The horse reared up and launched forward with enormous power. I nearly fell off as we took off into a gallop. It took everything I had to keep him under control as he raged forward. I caught the rest of the touring party quickly and overtook Lei and Jack as if they were standing still. After passing them I got him to calm down a bit and fall into the pace and order of the rest of the horses. The terrain itself got tricky at this point because there was a steep climb that lay ahead. Remarkably our horses were able to climb almost straight up the hill! Just after we climbed the hill, we wound around the path and came to an extremely rocky area. It almost seemed like a dead end, but I watched as our guide horse carefully picked its way down an extremely steep rock/boulder slope.
Diablo was visibly upset and began to back up and shudder as it was our turn to decend the treacherous trail. I had to dig my heels into his side and urge him downward. Halfway down he decided that it was not safe to proceed and stopped in his tracks. Meanwhile my dad had already started his horse down and they came right into us creating a traffic jam on this rocky slope. With both horses upset and crammed into this dangerous ledge, I had to tap Diablo with the twig to get him to finish the decent. The whole time Diablo seemed scared, unsure and unhappy to be going down the slope. He also had a bad habit of tripping over almost every rock or branch with his hind legs, so I was convinced I was going to be toppling off of him at any time. I don't know how, but we actually made it down the slope in one piece.
After this extremely dangerous part of the trail, my horse seemed intent on getting me back. I made sure to keep his head pointed to the center of the trail, but he did his best to swing his back end around to crash me into trees or bushes. In essence he was trying to scrape me off and get rid of me. At one point the devil managed to target a thorn bush and was able to not only drag me along the thorn bush, but actually break a part of the thorny twig into my arm. Stinging and bleeding, I wanted to brush the thorn twig off, but it was dangerously close to touching his rear end. Seeing as how he reacted to the miniature twig, I didn't want the thorn bush to hit his ass. I had to endure the thorns pressing into my arm, until I finally managed to remove it. Unfortunately with letting go of the reins to remove the thorns, he found another opportunity to run me into a tree. Meanwhile as I was battling my horse with each step, Judy's horse had taken the lead. Her white pony was surprisingly quick and spry. Our guide made a move and took a shortcut hoping to overtake Judy and White Lightening, but Judy gave no ground and remained in the lead. Meanwhile behind me, my dad's horse, Patches was happy as a clam. My Dad was allowing him to eat all the greens he could possibly take in. Instead of eating them, Patches liked to keep them in his mouth, like a cigar. I'm not sure if he just liked the taste of the leaves in his mouth, or if he wanted to show off to the other horses that his owner allowed him to eat as many greens as he wanted.
As we approached the end of the tour, the guide had regained the lead and I tried to pass Judy. Actually I had no control of my horse, and he had decided to pick up the pace possibly with the promise of ending his time with me. White Lightening refused to be passed and nosed out Diablo. In the process Judy's leg touched my horse, and which point she cried out in disgust. She pointed out that my horse was drenched in sweat and everybody else quickly agreed. Diablo was an angry sweaty mess, and was probably very relieved when the ride finally finished.
Scraped, bruised and bleeding I managed to finish the journey. It may have not been easy, or pretty, but I enjoyed the adventure and look forward to my next ride with Diablo!
It was appropriate that our picture be taken in front of the Gazebo, the focus of our 2010 Hidden Cove Tee shirts. Post-photograph, the entire group headed back up to John and Cathy’s camper and participated in a Flip Cup tournament. A relay-race drinking game pairing beer chugging with plastic cup flipping agility, Flip Cup was the ideal activity to engage the entire group.
