I had a horse from when I was 12 to 14.

Many times from the time I was 10. Last time was almost 30 years ago.

Of course.

Love to ride – but no horse.

Makes it kind of hard on the volunteers.

As a kid my parents raised registered Quarter horses, so yeah I have ridden horses, but I prefer off road motor cycles, bikes are no work if your not on them they sit in the shed and don’t complain.

I did. Drunk as Hell in St. Croix.
I think I was 19 or 20. I was a big, overconfident, cocky bastard. I wanted the biggest horse the stables had.
I got my wish.
Big mistake.
I didn’t want to be assertive with my horse. He sensed it, and was really disobedient as a result.
It’s a small miracle I survived our trek through mountainous terrain.
I’ll never do it again.

I rode a horse on my brother in law’s ranch about 10 years ago. NEVER AGAIN!!!
I thought I was going to die. The horse knew that I was terrified and it tried to get me off by suddenly taking off in a full gallup on a narrow trail on a steep sloping hillside. I had an English style saddle with no saddle horn. The saddle slid sideways and I somehow muscled it back upright. All the time I kept thinking balance, balance, balance and don’t wind up like Christopher Reed.

Yes. My husband actually loves going riding, and we have done it on several vacations. The last time we went it was really hard for me, I had hip pain the whole time and was worried during the whole ride that I would have some sort of acute episode, but I was able to tolerate it. I have muscle troubles and very little flexibility.

I was just planning a trip to see the horse stables at Disney. Not sure if I will risk riding. I asked my husband if he will still go if I get up on the horse and can’t do it, and he said no.

If you go as an adult you won’t have trouble like when you were little. You can take a beginners walk at a ranch that regularly does that sort of thing for tourists and visitors. I’ve done it in the Catskills, NY; Hot Springs, AR; Alaska; Michigan, there is probably a place near you.

@JLoon “Love to ride – but no horse”?..Oh..!
@JLeslie I may try again sometime. I am a little traumatized by it but maybe I’ll get over that by now.

@Dig_Dug You could go see the horses first, or watch a YouTube from your local ranch filmed by someone who went riding.

Many times. My favorite was a white horse with my own RL name. Ha!

I used to ride ponies in a ring when I was little, in a public park in the Bronx.

When I was about 10, I went away to Girl Scout camp and they taught riding lessons (English).

When I was about 18, I was on a riding trail with my parents and my sister. It was just us, four horses and the leader. The horses were all following the leader, through the woods, and all of a sudden, two dogs came out of the woods, barking and snarling at the horses. A lady was walking her dogs off the leash. The horses started rearing up and it was really scary because none of us were seasoned riders, so we couldn’t have controlled the horses. The leader was screaming at the dogs’ owner, yelling “Control your dogs, control your dogs.” The lady got hold of her dogs and we went on our way.

Maybe I rode once since then. also on a trail through the woods on some vacation.

Many times I’m a Texan :)

Yes indeed.

@jca2 That would have scared me so. I’d probably would have fallen off.

Yes, but only when I was a kid. I liked to let the horse go where it wanted to go, which was generally to go hang out places and eat plants.

Yes, a number of times, and loved it, but then, I love horses! Beautiful, majestic animals. When I was in 1st grade, I was in a new school and a new state. I guess I wanted to be special in some way, so I lied and said I had a pony back in South Dakota where I had moved from. I said it was black and its name was Licorice. O_o

Oh God no, what am I Bill Gates?! I have rode a big dog once if that counts.

Yes, many times and in many locations.
I rode yesterday.

Last time I rode a horse was about 15 years ago at Lake Tahoe. My kids and I went on a guided trail ride.

My son went on a horseback adventure at Philmont Scout Reservation, averaged 10 to 15 miles a day on horseback, all of the riding was at altitude. The scouts were taught to care for the horses, making sure they were cleaned, watered and fed before the scouts could do the same.

When I was younger up into my twenties, I would go trail riding from time to time. I too never really felt comfortable having the horse gallop, although it’s actually easier than when they are trotting because it’s much smoother. And then about 10 years ago or so, my brother-in-law, although he was just my sister’s boyfriend at the time, treated her to two sessions of horseback riding because she really missed doing it. But he didn’t want to go, so she invited me to come. Well, I found out that as you get older, your body does not adjust as well to being on horseback for a couple hours. I remember my sister drove to the place and she had a very low car, some sports car, but I can’t remember what she had at the time. So by the time we got back home, I could barely get myself up and out of her car, LOL!

Oh, and one time when I was a teenager we had a youth retreat where you could go horseback riding for an hour. And I forget exactly how it happened, but I think we started running, which could happen if you were in a group of people riding horses, because if one horse start running then the others would too. Well I fell off! And I was like the next to last person in the line of horses, or it would have been much worse, but I remember laying on the ground momentarily and seeing the horse behind me jump over me! But then I got up, and I wasn’t hurt, thank goodness, and I got right back up on the horse, which they say you’re supposed to do. But I’ll never forget that happening to me.

Yes, it was a stubborn SOB and only wandered behind the group I was riding with. Couldn’t actually control it.

^^ Makes you truly appreciate what the old cowboys went through.

That reminded me of the time when I was about 12 and I was riding behind my uncle on his horse named Blue. We trotted down a dirt road a bit, and as we did he dropped his wallet onto the ground and continued on. I pointed it out to him, but he didn’t say anything. Well, when he turned around to go back and pick it up, to my surprise he began galloping! I don’t know if it was a full gallop, but when we got to the wallet my uncle leaned way down and snatched it up! Of course, I was so impressed, but when I think about it now, I’m really impressed! That took some ridin’!!

My riding partner and I used to compete in rodeos. One of the things were did was the Rescue race.
Y’all who are afraid of horses will love this!
In the rescue race one person stands at the end of the corral and the other person barrels down on them on the horse. Then she leans out with a crooked arm. In a perfect world I’d grab her arm and swing up behind her. Then we’d race back to the starting point. We did it a thousand times.
Then one time she swung me up and I came down just as Venus gathered her haunches and her butt came up. Just as my butt came down! Bounced me right off! came down, hard on my butt in the dirt. The audience said “Ohhhh!”
Susie raced back to finish the race….without me.
Susie finally turned around and saw me. She trotted out and we did the race flawlessly, albeit in slow motion!
I got to hook up with Susie several months ago. We talked about that. She said she didn’t even realize that she’d lost me!
“Well Venus knew I yelled!”

^^ Wow! A real cowgirl! I’m impressed, but not surprised. You’ve always struck me as that kind of woman!