Teams and their corresponding trustful relationships (horse-riding journal 5)

This is a journal-like exercise pertaining to a 14 h horse-back trail ride, in a region of hills and mountains, between 800 m and 2300 m altitude,  a total of 58 km, in spring time, in a team of 14 individuals: 7 riders and 7 horses.

Hope you enjoy the story as much as we enjoyed the ride and we invite you to tag along in one of the Haidook Experiences opened to the public.

Here is the fifth chapter. The previous one is here https://madalinavintu.ro/2018/09/05/the-fog-horse-riding-journal-4/    The next will follow shortly. 

In addition to the big team of 14, on this Haidook Experience, there were also three other types of teams: 1) horse – rider, 2) riders with each other, 3) horses with each other. Each of these teams was defined by an underlying sense of total trust.

There is no exaggeration when I say “total trust” because on the type of track we went, there was no room for anything else. There was, at no time, the possibility to split teams. There was no swapping of horses available, there was one single option – keep going forward!

Of these 3 teams, the horses with each other is the “oldest” one, in terms of actual time spent together. They live on the same pasture and in the same stable. The “youngest” was the riders team. We were on our first ride in this 7-people team. We do not work together. The “middle” one is the relationship each one of us has with his horse. Keep in mind these horses belong to the Potcoava Riding center, they are not literally our horses. I just use the expression to keep things simple.

These 3 relationships started in one point and by the end of the day had progressed by a quantum leap. And our ride took only 14 hours.

The most impressive transformation was in how awe we are with these horses. We knew they are calm, but we had no idea how brave they are. They never hesitated to step or jump over impressive tree bodies or go beneath them in deep mud and leaning on the heel side. There was no complaint from them, they never tried to escape from the tasks at matter. They were all in, all the time.

They were also extremely kind to us. In terms of physical fitness, the 7 horses are the role models of this trip. Their life-style helps! 😊 What is worthy of noticing is that although they were fitter than us, they never tried to push us around or take things to a faster pace. They really tuned to our pace and just continued to go further.