Things to do before you die

I've always thought that before I die, I want to gallop a horse on a beach. After today I can check that off my list.

I went riding with some people on the team and it was AWESOME. Seven of us went. We took the train to Longniddry, this town on the coast about 20 minutes from Edinburgh. After about a 10 minute walk from the train station we arrived at the barn, called Harelaw Equestrian Center. It was a very stereotypical British barn- made out of crumbling brick with muddy/cobblestone aisles, horses tied up in the "yard" and long rows of stalls. Completely different set up from an American barn.

But anyway, we were split up into two groups, one novice group with 2 people and one advanced group with 5. The advanced group was the one that went to the beach, and that was the one I was in. We got our horses, and mine was this massive guy named Red. He was huge, at least 17 hh. Here's a picture of me on him (compare this to one of me on the pony from the last pony trek!):

Our ride started off going through some fields and at one point we went through a field with 8 baby cows in it! They were actually really cute, and they were playing like dogs do. You can't really see the calves in this picture but they were there:

The horses were unphased, and we went into the woods. We trotted for most of the time we were in the woods so that was awesome. Then we went out onto a road which is also new for me. The horses were really great.

I guess before I go on I should describe Red. Like I said, he's huge, but really just the perfect horse. He was perfectly behaved but didn't plod along like a lesson horse. He was really responsive and did exactly what I asked him to do and all his gaits (walk, trot, canter, gallop) were perfectly controlled and balanced so I didn't have to worry about anything, he was perfect. It took a little bit to get used to his massive stride but once I did he was quite comfortable and we had a great time.

Anyway, after the road, we got to the beach. It was beautiful, I love the ocean. Here are the pictures I took of the beach:

We walked for a little when we first got to the beach because there were a lot of people out but then we got to let them gallop all out. It was incredible. Just amazing. It took a few seconds to get over your fear that they were going to trip or buck, but once you got used to it, you could relax and just let them go. What an experience. Red was the biggest horse there so he shot to the front and covered huge amounts of ground with his huge stride. It was so cool!

We galloped for a while, then turned around, and galloped back to the road. So amazing. We trotted the whole way back on the road, which was great since we weren't just walking.

We made it back just in time for the next train so that was really nice (we would've had to wait an hour if we'd missed it), and I was back at my flat by about 5:15. It was such a great ride. It's funny because I remember when my friend from the Wash U team studied abroad here 2 springs ago she did this beach ride, and I remember thinking "I'm going to do that", and now two years later I've done it!

Spring break plans are taking shape. Here's the tentative plan:

March 26-30: Dublin/other places in Ireland

March 30-April 1: Brussels and Bruges

April 2-3: Berlin

4-6: Prague

7-9: Budapest

10-12: Vienna

13-15: Munich

16-18: Venice

19-21: Florence

22: Pisa/back to Edinburgh

It's going to be awesome! I'm traveling with different people at different times. I bought the tickets to Dublin and Brussels today!

Oh, also, a new Tesco, the local grocery store, opened up like 2 minutes away from my flat. Yesss.