Horse Riding Gaucho Style
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2008
1
11
13
Trip End
Aug 26, 2008
Salta, Argentina
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The road became nothing more than a dirt track for the last few miles of our journey and as we rounded a corner there was the ranch with both horses and gauchos (cowboys) waiting for us.
Imelda and I were invited for breakfast outside the farmhouse and a welcome cup of coffee. The ranch owner, Enrique, sat at the head of the table with the cowboys alongside in a scene reminisent from 'Bonanza'. Enrique was a very generous host and was keen to know where everyone came from. Within our group of 9 were French, German and Swiss people of ages 7 to 45
Ranch
.Once breakfast was over we made our way over to where the horses were tied and the step ladders were waiting!It was hillarious watching everyone trying to mount their steed with varying degrees of success.
Imelda´s horse was a dappled grey with a very relaxed attitude to anything other than a slow walk-Imelda said that this suited her fine and she wouldn`t be trying to gallop anyway.......little did we know what was in store for us!! Ash´s horse was a little different with a frisky nature and a habit of letting rip at every opportunity, the horse tried to pick fights with the other horses on the trek....it was going to be a long day in the saddle for him.
The scenery on the trek was beautiful with the dark blue hue of the mountains in the background, flora and fauna lining the track and the odd vintage tractor poking it's bonnet out of an old shed was perfect!!
Midway through the three hour trek our gaucho guide decided he'd had enough of sitting in the saddle and decided to lead the trek standing on his saddle!!He gathered us round and showed us how to gallop the horses along a 100m section of the trail
Mounting the steed via step ladder
. It all looked very impressive and just what it looked like on those cowboy and Indian westerns you see on the tv. He then let everyone have a go at galloping, we thought he was joking at first but it became painfully obvious as the first rider took off that this was no joke.As Imelda´s turn came round she looked very focussed (or was it scared) as she galloped along. The cowboy thought she and the horse could go a little faster and so proceeded to chase after her, whipping the rump of her horse with his reigns and yelling in an attempt to make Imelda´s horse go faster.....boy did it work. Her horse, who must have been conserving all it´s energy for the rest of the trek, took off like a tribe of red indians were chasing it across the field to meet the rest of the group waiting further down the trail.
Ash´s horse was next, the horse (a chesnut brown) was very frisky at this stage and was wanting to join in with all the fun long before it was his turn to go. When the moment finally arrived Ash`s horse took off with a triumphant fart!!
Ash hung on for dear life as his steed and he grapled about who was actually in charge, was it Ash pulling the horse to slow down or the horse accelerating with all of his might??
Anyway we had many more galloping moments along the trek due to health and safety not existing in this country galloping through the countryside as pure beginners with no helmets or protection and a guacho whipping your horse is all quite normal. Ash now feels or is certainly walking like John Wayne.
Lunch was tremndous when we returned to the ranch. Glasses, or should we say bottles, of red wine were awaiting our arrival with a spread of salad and barbequed beef that rivaled the feeding of the five thousand. Enrique didnt seem satisfied that he had done his job as a host until we couldnt stand, through huge consumption of food and of course the bottles of red wine. He was a most fantastic host and storyteller and we had a most fantasic day!!
