When you get up close, a horse can be big and scary. He towers over you, his hooves are hard, his kick fast and fierce. And when you climb up into his back, there are the stirrups and a saddle to help you, but no handlebars or steering wheel! Oh, and when he moves and you're sitting up high, there's a sway that you don't expect, a lively step, a move from walk to trot, from trot to canter and then to gallop. Will he stop with the reins? Will he swerve at the fence, or will he jump clean over it? Whoa!

So it's a big challenge when you ride a horse or pony for the first time, as well as a dream come true. But how come this magnificent creature does us a huge favour of carrying us safely from A to B? Why not throw us off and break free? I'm grateful for it, of course, but it's always a mystery. So is the way his brain is wired to to flee from invisible danger and spook at the least little thing. You have to be ready to think fast and pick yourself up when you fall off. Get right in the saddle and try again. That is, if you're lucky enough to be able to ride. I dreamed every night about riding a horse when ever it many take me the woods, the dessert, the mountains. Then I decided that if I was going to live that dream I would have to get up there and ride them. So I put my first foot in the stirrup, and swung up into the saddle... and the love affair began. Me and my riding school pony in the arena.