Pony Trekking in Lesotho

Okay, so we haven't been horseback riding since 2006. No worries, we'll be okay, right??

And we were. But it wasn't without it's interesting moments!

Some of the mountain passes that the ponies go through are a little hair raising. As in "hold on tight, and close your eyes!"

In fact, we read some comforting words with regards to how to handle these mountain passes.

"Put your faith in the horse. If you are nervous, get off the horse and walk behind it. If you prefer to ride and then become nervous, close your eyes, hold on tight, and pretend to ignore the sound of the rocks careening down the side of the mountain. Despite the occasional stumble, the horses always make it."

Ha!

Despite all the joking around, everything is done very professionally. Although some of the horse guides may not speak the best English, they do know their horses and the horses are very well looked after. And we never once felt that the horse didn't know what it was doing. Even though we may not have!

We set off at just after 9:00am.

Sorry, but a lot of the pictures are of Ruth's back, and her horses back end!

We had to wear riding helmets. I would have been quite happy with a cowboy hat! But somewhat surprisingly, the lawyers have taken over in some of these parts and we had to sign a release and promise to wear the helmet.

The sheep can go anywhere. Apparently so can the horses!

Sure is green!

Another great idea is to go Trekking in Nepal.

Sheep.

Soon, we head higher.

But when we headed above the river, we couldn't take any pictures. This was when it got a little hairy! The path was narrow and with lots of loose rocks. But again, the horses knew what they were doing. Several times, we looked back at each other thinking "holy crap!", but there was no need to worry. These horses travel these trails every day without incident.

This was our destination!

We sat by the falls and had our lunch.

There was another group that came up behind us...three younger guys from Japan. One of them stripped down to his underwear and had a shower in the falls! Sorry, too cold for me!

We eventually took a route out that brought us above the falls!

Not the best pic of the two of us, but our guide was not that familiar with photography!

Back down by the river.

Too funny. I look like a little kid with my brain bucket on.

Oh, and by the way...you won't be seeing me with those sunglasses any more. That's a story for tomorrow!

Heading back to the lodge, we got in line with the three Japanese guys.

Four hours on a horse? A little sore, and still feeling it today. We were thinking of doing the overnight trip, which requires six hours each day. We'll be recovered enough by Saturday, but our other option is to hike it and hire a horse to carry our gear. Horseback riding is fun enough, but we're thinking hiking is actually more comfortable!