14 September 2015:

Jackson, my guide and trainer, coaches me to get on my mount, Chiccadee, a beautiful mare.

So, did anyone guess where Gonsha took me on Saturday from the 2 pictures at the end of the previous blog?  As the title says, we went horseback riding. When I was a teenager I had the common “horse-crush” that many young girls have. I used to go riding every once and a while and even took a couple months of lessons a long time ago. Since my teen years, though, I think I’ve only been riding twice on gentle trail rides. But never did I think I would take part in that activity in Uganda. It turns out there are just a few riding stables in Uganda but the one that Gonsha took me to was called Flametree Stables just outside of Kampala. I was truly impressed with their operation. They have 28 or so of their own horses and they board about a dozen more. All of the animals I saw seemed to be in really good shape and well taken care of. The stalls were also quite clean and the barn smelled good- if you like “clean barn animal smell”, which I actually do.

We basically went on a slow trail ride led by guides but at the end, they brought us into a fenced training area and asked if we wanted to go faster. Although I was a bit nervous, I couldn’t say “no”, so the trainer led my horse into a trot and taught me to post. It turns out that those lessons from eons ago seemed to still be with me.  All in all it was a great day! Thank you so much Gonsha for just a unique experience!!

The lovely Gonsha!