warrior of wales.

He is stubborn, but obedient. 

He is sweet and non-confrontational...except when it comes to leading the way.

Then he turns competitive, and will push others out of his way, 

or run ahead to be in the front.

He has black hair, except for his white nose. 

His mane has streaks of brown and red. 

He likes to eat...grass, that is. 

His name is Warrior and he was my horse this weekend 

when I went riding in Wales!

The instructor asked me my experience. I told her 

"I have never been on a horse in my whole life!"

She replied, "Great, you can take Warrior."

Warrior: noun. One who is engaged aggressively or 

energetically in an activity, cause, or conflict.

Did she hear me? I said I have never been on a horse.

 And I get the one named Warrior?

It turns out, Warrior was everything but that. He was a sweet horse and by the end of the ride, we were great friends. I found myself constantly talking to him and petting his neck saying, "Good boy, Warrior. You're such a good horse. We are doing so well" mostly to make myself feel better. I wanted to do everything in my power to make Warrior like me enough to not throw me off of his back. 

Before the ride, becoming acquainted with Warrior.

The least of our worries were the cars passing us, turning around the bends of the narrow streets which we rode on. I, personally was more concerned with the steep, muddy walk up a mountain. You know when you see cows standing on mountains {at least in California} and think "how do they not fall?" Yeah, Warrior and I were testing that out on the side of this mountain. I will remind you once more, it was muddy. Thus, it was also slippery.  Oh,  one more slight concern: the barbed wire fence to the right of us that we could have easily fallen into if our horse slipped. Which Warrior did. But thankfully, he was an excellent navigator and I hung on tight to his saddle, so we were fine! By then, I did not know if I was shivering from the extreme cold, or from nervousness. "Warrior, you're doing great, buddy"

But let me tell you: the views from that mountain were amazing!

The ride was a little advanced for beginners, and we were all surprised with some of the trails they led us through. However, at the end of the ride...when I was off of Warrior...safely...I was SO happy I experienced this. I mean, I went horseback riding in Wales! How cool it that?

The ride went in four stages, as established by me, Sarah, Chloe/Claud, Megan, Ciara, Lauren, and Kateri.

1. This is scaryyyy

2. This is so cool/amazing/awesome/perfect/picturesque

3. Why the heck are we going on this trail? This is way too advanced

4. Done. Over it. I want to go back. {the ride was 3 hours long, we were scared, it's understandable that we were over it at this point.}

Before and after. Sarah and I were totally exaggerating our misery in the "after" photo. But we were cold, scared, dirty, and had major helmet hair.

But like I said, we are all so happy we went! It was such a fun adventure, and an amazing experience!

Other than that, our 2-day tour of Wales included seeing Tintern Abbey, which was more amazing than I had imagined! That was one of the highlights of the trip {besides the horses, of course} and I honestly was not expecting much. It was so beautiful—like nothing I have ever seen before! We also saw the small town Hay-on-Wye, which is a town with a population of 3,000 and 30 bookstores! Fun fact: the Kindle is banned in Hay-on-Wye. Also, I stood in two countries at once. That was pretty dang awesome. 

Standing with one foot in Wales and one in England!

It was so nice to be back in small towns for a little while—a quick 48-hour break from the craziness of a city {but it was still a great feeling to get back to London last night!}