A horse is a horse, of course, of course

The biggest problem I have with Groupon (other than the fact that it mostly peddles laser hair removal and sushi) is that I always seem to wait until the last moment to redeem my deals (which isn't actually Groupon's fault at all). In fact, as a byproduct of trying my darnedest to stay out of the heat this summer, I completely forgot about a horseback riding groupon my friends and I had purchased until it had nearly expired. After calling the stable to try to make a last minute appointment a couple weeks ago, only to be met with an answering machine and no calls back from the owner, we had given up and accepted that this would be yet another groupon that we would never get to take full advantage of (along with my tandem kayaking deal that could only be redeemed Tuesdays through Thursdays and my bowling groupon that I would have been able to use had I not potentially broken my thumb shortly before it expired). But lo and behold, the owner finally called me back last Wednesday to tell me that they were extending the deadline for a week and that they had one opening left at 10am Saturday morning!

Kirsten, Gigi, Blazer, and me

Apparently, everyone else forgot about this Groupon in their attempts to stay out of the heat as well, so when I called back to confirm my reservation, they swindled me into moving it up to 9am to accommodate the sheer volume of riders they had for the day. While I don't usually relish the idea of rising from bed before 8am on a Saturday, this actually worked out perfectly. Kirsten met me at my place promptly at 8 (which is not only out of character for her, but also meant that she had to wait in her car for a bit while I walked back from the donut shop with our breakfast), and we headed out towards the ranch lands. Again, I'll say that though it necessitated waking up way too early for a lazy bum like myself, having a 9am reservation was perfect. It meant that we were the only people there at the time (with the exception of the staff, of course). We got a lot of one on one attention from the owner as he taught us how to start, stop, and turn our horses. After walking around the arena once with us, the staff turned us loose to continue walking around the arena (on horses). Then, the two of us were led on a trail (which is where my horse, Blazer, would start trotting, terrifyingly, whenever we lagged behind).

By the end of our hour, we saw that multiple groups were showing up for their reservations, reminding us that not everyone is lucky enough to get such one on one treatment. Also, during the 2 minute walk to my car, it had started drizzling, then sprinkling, then raining. I cannot emphasize enough how happy I am that our reservation was at 9am.

The horses were beautiful and as sweet as can be, the owner and stable hands were extremely friendly and accomodating, and I was able to work towards conquering another of my fears (large animals... especially ones that I could potentially fall off of). All in all, it was a wonderful outing. Kirsten and I had so much fun riding on Saturday that we're thinking of postponing my plans to buy a piano and get a horse instead (assuming, of course, that getting a piano to begin with is even a feasible idea, which, unfortunately, is not the case).


Remember how in almost every grade school class there was at least that one girl that did horseback riding regularly and could usually be spotted by her horse-themed books? Have you let any groupons and/or other pre-paid activities expire? Do you think Kirsten and I should have tempted fate as we did later that day by walking to lunch after narrowly escaping the morning rain? Because we definitely got drenched on the way back from the Corner Bakery.

What are we even doing with our hands?