Sorry, sorry, sorry! I haven’t been posting anything for a long time! There’s a reason. I bought a horse. A real HORSE.

Yep, when winter cheated us yet another year, I simply had to find something else fun to do since snowmobiling was minimal at best. So I restarted horseback-riding!

A dirt-bike-friend’s friend had horses. And she needed a little help getting her horses ridden. So I called her and said “I can ride!” She was very polite and said… “sure, come ride with me on Saturday” probably thinking to herself “—this will be fun. I bet Hanna really thinks she can ride — well, we’ll see about that.”

So I showed up, and she tells me I get to ride “Gunnar.” Gunnar is one of the biggest horses I’ve ever seen! Gunnar is a Clydesdale and Quarter Horse mix. And not super polite as he had thrown off a few people before he met me. Thanks friend!

Funny though, when it comes to horses, I’m not easily scared. Although I haven’t really ridden a horse in — oh… 27 years or so — I was very excited to pick it up again. And I’ll be damned if Gunnar was going to show me who’s boss.

Tacking up was a breeze. My friend rides “English” just like I grew up doing — it’s what you learn in Sweden. (Oh, did I mention my friend is Swedish too?) If she had handed me a Western saddle, I would have been in trouble. I don’t do “Western.”

Well, off to the trails we went and I must have proven myself because I was invited back for more rides 😉  Which I took her up on. And we spent many a weekends either riding around in the hills in Carson Valley or trailering out to some of the other fantastic areas here in Northern Nevada.

As it turns out, Gunnar was my “gateway drug.” I instantly got hooked and decided that I wanted my own horse to love on. So I talked my friend into selling me one of her other two horses (between me and you, I’m pretty sure I bought her best horse and it wasn’t even for sale…).

Obi (as in Obi Wan Kenobi), the horse I bought, was even taller than Gunnar, so I am literary in Heaven every time I ride!

So screw winter this year! I have a new passion — I haven’t missed my snowmobile once since Obi entered my life.