On our second day in Rotorua, we headed out of town to Lake Okareka, about 15 minutes away from our hotel. There we had found a great deal on a two hour horse trek around the lake, through the rainforest, over some hills and pastures, and then back down to the stable by the lake. It was a cold but beautiful day, and we had a truly lovely time.
Hard to imagine that it's winter.
We ended up with one horse in between J and I, because my horse was being difficult. He was very intent on showing me that he didn't have to do what I wanted him to do, and though I always won, he made it rather difficult to accomplish forward motion at times.
Equestrian Merciers!
J looking very confident on his horse, who was lovely and just wanted to be nice.
So, as we were riding out of the fields and back towards the lake, I noticed a bunch of fantails (birds) flying along with us. I wondered why that was, and our trail guide said that the horses' feet turned up the soil, making it easier for the birds to find food. I don't really understand this, because they didn't seem to be checking the ground at all, but far be it for me to disagree with her.
Anyway, I wanted to get a picture of a fantail, but knew that I would not be able to focus in on their rapid movements, even if I wasn't on a moving horse, so I didn't even attempt it. Imagine my delight, then, when I got home and looked at this picture and saw a fantail right there in it!
Zoomed in and cropped - TAH DAH! A fantail! Awesome bird, don't you think?
At the end of the trek, after J and I had split off from all the other riders, who were on shorter treks, the trail guide said that since we seemed confident on horses, we could try going faster if we wanted. We agreed, not realizing that the horses took "faster" to mean "bolt." I have never experienced horses going that fast, and 80% of my being was intensely focused on just not falling off. Fortunately, the other 20% of me - admittedly the stupidest 20% - was screaming "YAHOO!!!"and wishing it would never end. When it did end, however, with me mostly still in the saddle, I had possibly the greatest surprise of all which was J, still fully in his saddle, which was rotated 90 degrees to the side of his horse. I turned and saw him at exactly the second when he had to admit that he wasn't going to be able to fix this problem, and was forced to fall, surprisingly gracefully, to the ground. Turns out that his amiable horse had pulled the sneaky horse trick of puffing out his chest when he was being saddled, resulting in it being much too loose and basically letting go when he started running. Thank goodness it didn't fully let go until he slowed back down, or J would have been in trouble. Anyway, excitement all around, and a very adrenaline-filled ending to our horse trek.
After the trek, we went to a little cafe on the beach of the nearby Lake Tarawera and had a lovely lunch and enjoyed the view. Life is good.
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