Ride two, part two

I don't know if this was a better gaited group of horses or if we'd all magically become better riders overnight, but everyone had a better ride on Sunday. The mood during our lunch break was happy and relaxed. We took turns holding each other's horses...

and taking pictures of ourselves in our ridiculous suits.

Karen

Hedwig

Hanna

Jennifer

I was really hoping to keep Tinna, but everyone changed horses after the break. My new mount was another silver, this time a gelding called Glóinn.

We saddled up and headed straight into the water.

It seemed too big to cross,

but we crossed it anyway.

We came to the other side quickly enough.

Then we rode through a marshy area.

Splash! Splash! Spalsh!

Then it was right back into an even larger expanse of water.

The route was marked with a series of poles, and the water never reached higher than halfway up the smallest horses' sides. It was a safe crossing, but also, totally other wordly.

Water was everywhere.

There was water to the left,

water to the right,

water behind,

water in front.

It was an entire world of water.

In all my years of riding, I have never experienced anything like this.

I wanted to stay out there forever.

When we reached the end, Hanna raised her hand over her head, two fingers extended in the universal victory sign.

The horses were tired from walking through so much water, so we found a dryish spot and let them graze.

Good boy, Glóinn.

We hadn't even made it to the beach, and already, this was one of the best and most memorable rides of my entire life.

To be continued.