"Just for your information is a seafarer is either dead or working. Therefore, I have because of our kinship signed up you for riding on Iceland horse at 1430 now on Thursday."
HUH?!?!
I emailed back my confusion and he told me he would explain the seafarer thing in person, and that he signed me up to ride an Iceland horse on Thursday. Diane was quick to join the trip because she has been wanting to ride a horse since we arrived in Sweden, so Thursday morning we ventured to Alingsas. Anders picked us up at the station and we went back to his house for a quick lunch consisting of hot dogs and berries with vanilla cream on them. Interesting combination, but delicious.
About the seafarer thing--apparently seafarers all signed up for watches on ships. If a man was ill and could not do his watch, other people had to cover for him although they were not paid extra. Therefore, seafarers took their own watches unless they were deathly ill. Anders used this story because he knew I was tired from my travels last week, but unless I was deathly ill, I would be riding a horse!
After lunch, we left to go to Boras. When we arrived, we first stopped to pet the komondor dogs--so cool! Then we picked out helmets, we were given a horse and then headed to an open area to practice. It had been about 10 years since I'd ridden a horse and so I was a little nervous. We rode in circles, getting used to using the reins and the feel of riding and then we were off.
There were 7 of us in total: the instructor, Anders, Diane, me and a family of 3. The crew started by 'walking' along a forest path. Even the slightest downhill made me nervous because I thought my horse would fall. I eventually gained confidence in my horse and was able to pay less attention to the actual riding and more attention to the scenery. It was so green and natural. There was moss growing everywhere and the trees were really thin. I've been reading "Game of Thrones", and I definitely felt like I was in the book--riding along the "Kingsroad," scared that enemies would jump out from behind the trees.
We emerged onto a flat area and our instructor told us to pull up on the reins and the horses started to trot. One word described this experience perfectly: bouncy. My horse was a little difficult (or maybe I didn't know what I was doing which is probably the more likely explanation), and so I quickly fell to the back of the group. It was kind of nice to be at the back so I could go my own pace. Before I knew it, the group was galloping. Yup, first time riding in 10 years and I was GALLOPING! One word perfectly describes this as well: exhilarating! It was partially incredible as I felt the wind in my face and the joy of riding the horse, and it was partially terrifying since I was scared I would fall off the horse. Although, Diane and I agreed that galloping was WAY better than trotting! Anders had mentioned the words trotting and galloping before we left his house, but we didn't really know what he was talking about until we actually were doing it.
Riding a horse kind of felt like I was using a real life game controller--pull up on the reins to trot, lean back to stop, pull left or right to "steer" the horse, etc. But...I was IN the game, and the controller didn't always follow my commands, haha. Two hours after we began, we arrived back at the stable. I hopped off and immediately felt sore. I didn't want to think about tomorrow. The instructor mentioned a massage place, and when we were confused, he led us into the stable and into one of the pens for the horses and the floor vibrated. Apparently the horses like it, and it felt good on my legs! Overall, today was an incredible experience to ride horses in Sweden, and I am so grateful to Anders for setting this up.
We stopped by one of my relative's houses briefly to say hello and then we went back to Anders's house. He made us dinner and then I retired early to the cottage since I was exhausted, (but not before Anders could slip me some chocolate!). I fell asleep quickly and woke up to make scrambled eggs for the group. Another wonderful visit to see Anders!
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