Rasika DalviAs residents of a New England suburb, beautiful barns and horses grazing on a green pasture are not a new view for us. It always makes a feeling to get to know this beautiful and powerful animal from closer. We decided to give it a try for Horse riding.
We booked a one-hour trail ride at Lee’s Riding Stable, Litchfield, Connecticut. This beautiful stable is nestled on the 100-acre Winfield Morgan Farm. This incredible Connecticut business has been raising Morgan horses since 1976. The farm currently has about 55 Morgans, and they have had many champion horses throughout the years.
We reached there on a beautiful summer afternoon. The trail ride was $50 per hour. We reached there 15 minutes before, as we could not book our spot online. They had us sign waivers and then they fitted us with helmets and set us up with our horses. I got a beautiful whitish-grey horse called “Rose”. She was a beauty! The staff gave us very quick instructions on how to control the horse. That made me a bit nervous as to how I was going to manage on my own for an hour. As my excitement-turned-into-nervousness was so visible on my face, the staff told me, “Don’t worry!! Rose is very calm and friendly. You’ll have a wonderful time with her.” Undoubtedly, she was so right about it. All horses looked so beautiful, gentle, friendly, and well-cared of. After speaking to the staff, I realized they love and know so much about horses.
This was technically our first experience independently on a horse, where we had to make a connection with a horse and explore the surroundings with him. As we started our tour, I started to feel more relaxed and confident. After getting out of the stable we need to cross the main road. I was wondering how these many horses were going to cross the road amidst traffic, but the instructor who was leading our tour managed it so well, plus all the horses were extremely well-trained.
After crossing the road, we entered a forest. I cannot describe in words the experience of exploring the beautiful countryside on a horse ride. It is like a dreamy experience of horseback riding in the rolling hills of the beautiful Connecticut countryside. The scenery was gorgeous. We are all beginners, so we had a slow and leisurely stroll along a trail.
I think I got a horse, Rose, matching my personality. No, I am not talking about her grace & beauty; but her habit of munching all along the trail. She kept stopping and going off the trail to eat the flowers, the bushes, and even tree leaves. On an hour trail, she stopped and went out of the way at least 10-15 times. Nothing intimidating, she was extremely calm and just enjoying her snack. Though the instructor was telling me from behind how to take her back on a track. I just did not do it. Somehow, I strongly felt I shouldn’t be controlling her. If she wants to graze, she simply should. I was enjoying seeing her eating all the flowers and leaves. She was so adorable, my heart melted looking at her.
After finishing our one-hour tour, it was time to say Adieu to my beautiful Rose. I had such a wonderful time with her (In my mind I decided whenever I come next time I am going to request for my beautiful, snack-lover Rose for a ride). The staff told us that we could walk through the stable to look at the horses.
Overall, the experience with beautiful horses, scenery, and such friendly staff was amazing! If you ever get a chance to explore the gorgeous countryside on a horse, just go for it. It would be a memorable experience.
Interesting facts about horses:
- Horses have a nearly 360-degree field of vision. This is due to the positioning of their eyes on the sides of their head.
- Horses are highly intelligent animals. They can be taught many different tasks through positive reinforcement and clicker training, just as dogs can.
- Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up. Horses have what’s called a “stay-apparatus” which is a system of tendons and ligaments that allows the horse to lock their legs in position so they can relax without falling over. When not sleeping, horses also use this apparatus to rest while standing for long periods, so they don’t fatigue. But it is a myth that horses never lay down – they do spend a short amount of time each day laying down for deeper sleep.
- Horses have lightning-fast reflexes. If a situation arises when they need to fight, they can go from standing still to delivering a powerful kick in just 0.3 seconds, whereas human reaction time is 1.6 seconds.
- Horses have 10 different muscles in their ears. This allows them to rotate nearly 180 degrees and move independently of one another.
- Horses have bigger eyes than any other mammal that lives on land. Horses use their ears, eyes, and nostrils to express their mood. They also communicate their feelings through facial expressions.
- When horses look like they’re laughing, they’re engaging in a special nose-enhancing technique known as “flehmen,” to determine whether a smell is good or bad.
- Horses are social animals and will get lonely if kept alone, and they will mourn the passing of a companion. To keep your horse happy, it will need a (preferably equine) friend.
- Horse hooves are made from the same protein that comprises human hair and fingernails.
- Most of the time, wherever a horse’s ear is pointing is where the horse is looking with the eye on the same side. If the ears are pointing in different directions, the horse is looking at two different things at the same time.
- Horses’ height is measured in units known as “hands.” One hand is equal to four inches. The tallest horse on record was the Shire named Sampson. He was 21.2 hands (7 feet, 2 inches) tall found in Toddington Mills, England.
- Horses like sweet flavors. Horses are typically less fond of sour or bitter-tasting foods and more likely to turn them down than sweeter flavored treats.
- One leg/side of the horse is shorter than the other. Horses usually are slightly shorter on one side than the other (kind of like how people may have one foot a slightly different size than the other.) You can tell which side is shorter by which side that the horse’s mane lies on naturally.
These random, amazing, bizarre facts about the horse make it such a beautiful and noble creature.
I hope you enjoyed the read. Please share in a comment your experience with horse riding or any other interesting fact about this magnificent animal.
