Tu Caballo Esta Loco

I had such a great vacation. We went to San Jose Del Cabo for a week since it's a nice short flight from Vancouver. It was very non exciting by traditional standards because I basically read books and slept for the entire week! While I am a little sad to have missed out on some of the fun adventures on offer, we've stayed in the area before so I did feel a little like I had checked a lot of things off the bucket list on previous trips. Mentally I just desperately needed a time out this time, and apparently my body agreed.

Sleepy time in paradise. I was in bed asleep by 9pm most nights and the earliest I got up was 7:30am  :o

Luckily for this blog, the one thing I did do was drag my butt out of bed (relatively) early one morning to go riding before it got too hot out. And it was an adventure, for sure!

I booked a 1 hour ride at the place across from our hotel, where I could see the horses were well fed and cared for. Actually, I have to say, even the horses the competing beach vendor guys trudge up and down the beach all day with looked happy and healthy, so that was pretty nice. We've travelled to some places where the animals don't enjoy the same standard of care we're used to here and I'm always a little nervous that I'm going to see something sad.

Beach horses looking for riders one afternoon

Anyway, having worked at a trail riding establishment in the distant past, I never, ever, admit to having any experience riding...because it's a 50/50 chance whether you're going to get the fun, well trained horse, or the difficult spoiled one that's kind of not working out but it's the only one left (and you did say you weren't a beginner, didn't you? ;) So, I quite happily popped on the placid looking Bailo ("I dance")

You'd think horse blogging = horse photo skills. Not true. Poor dude, he's maybe not traditionally handsome, but he's way cuter than my bad pictures portray. 

In an amazing stroke of luck, the other bookings didn't show, so it was just me and the guide.

I started to suspect things were going to be fun when we walked out the gate and immediately took off at a speedy trot up the busy main street. And, the previously sleepy looking Bailo turned into a little wannabe racehorse. Asking whether I was ok with cantering, we popped across the rather large road median like a tiny 2 stride bank complex. Up off the pavement (Why are curbs in Mexico always like minimum 2' high?), two strides over the grass, drop back down onto the road, lol. My "technique" must have met with approval, because next I was being asked if I wanted to race.

So, down to the beach. Where we trotted, cantered in place, and trotted some more. Bailo was feeling great, and in retrospect, knew something I didn't. He didn't walk, at all. There was a bit of a language barrier, but the guide definitely said "Bailo esta loco", with a shrug and a laugh "He's named Bailo because he dances! He's crazy, but he's fast!"

Beautiful beaches

If you're familiar with the riding culture there, you'll know that a dancing horse or one with a lot of energy and expression is considered a really nice horse in a lot of circles. And Bailo really is a fantastic horse. We raced on the beach numerous times, and I'm not sure I've ever gone that fast on a horse. My 3/4 TB mare might have come close for stride length, but that little guy was in a class of his own for acceleration. "The beach sand makes the horses strong and fast!" I was told. I had to laugh a little, because at home, beach sand just makes Bridget sad and slow(er) ;)

Estuary we rode through/around. My Spanish is sketchy, but the guide was awesome about teaching me the words i didnt know for all the animals and things we saw. I seem to have a permanent goal of getting a better grasp of the language. Languages aren't something I find super easy but I try :)

60 minutes later, I was shaky and dead tired.... galloping up and down those (surprisingly huge in places!) sand dunes, through the water, off and on gravel roads, it felt a lot like we had just completed the longest and most scenic XC run ever.

Water hazards ;)

These pictures all courtesy of my husband, who walked this part later in the day. We were too busy racing along here to take pics, lol

We met up with another group for the last few minutes home. A bit of my tack was a little askew, so the other guide was asking if everything was ok.

"Oh, it's great!" replied my guide, "But that horse is crazy, and the girl is too!" (I so wish I had a better grasp of the language, because I missed a lot of what followed, beyond the teasing of whether it was me or Bailo who wants to run so fast/is the craziest.)

Marina we rode by. There were camels and dolphins here too!

Poor Bailo by now was pretty fried, and so we cantered on the spot sideways the remainder of or way home. You'd think that might be frustrating or scary, but he actually felt quite safe and we just all carried on chatting and laughing while even the other horses pranced a little to let us know how much fun they were having too.

So, my expected sedate beach ride was anything but. Better yet, it was probably the most fun I've ever had on horseback. If I had a million dollars, I'd buy and ship that horse home and gallop around like an idiot all day. Or, maybe I'd just leave him be. Our sandy beach space and people wanting to randomly race me for the better part of an hour on horseback is pretty limited, and he seems to be living his best life as is :)