Horseback Riding in Guelph!

I used to read many a horseback riding book when I was younger.

I day dreamed of being a young girl who was given the unruly horse and would have to break him until he became my faithful companion. We would then overcome a great personal trial and be bonded for life.

When my friend and I decided to go horseback riding this past weekend, I’ll admit that all those thoughts came flooding back, despite never having ridden a horse before. I wondered if I would be able to tame some large black stallion into being my trusty steed.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to do that. None of the horses were black, and I’m much too timid to command an animal that size to do anything other than exactly what it wants.

There were four of us that went horseback riding, and we went to a lovely farm just outside of Guelph. The farm was called Horseback Adventures, and they offer a variety of different trail ride options.

We went with the two hour trail ride for $60, which included taxes, but not tip. This included a helmet and two hour trail ride with two guides. We also got to explore around the farm and each lunch on a picnic table after the ride was over. The guides were great and pointed out the names of all the landmarks as we passed through. For booking and more information you can visit their website here. 

Tash and I met her sister and sister’s boyfriend at the Guelph greyhound station after a very long bus ride from Toronto. I did, however, learn how to properly crochet on said bus ride, so time well spent.

Tash and I had talked before we left about what to wear horseback riding. We had decided that leggings and a long sweater with a jacket was probably the best option. I, however, went a little overboard and wore a long top with pleated trim under my sweater along with a tailored blazer type jacket. Whatever, I looked cute as hell. Look at me in my helmet.

After we paid and signed our waiver forms, our main guide, Emily gave us a run down of the different commands. We then were assigned horses. My horse was a fairly large boy named Rohan.

Now, as I’ve mentioned, Ive never gone horseback riding before. So, I was rather surprised how high it was off the ground once I got up there. I felt a little uneasy at first. As I waited there for everyone else to get on their horses, I freaked out a little bit in my head. What if the horse falls over like in Django and my leg is crushed underneath it’s massive weight and someone just comes over and steals the coat from my lifeless body? What if the horse gets its hoof stuck in one of thousands of holes along this hill? Their legs look so delicate! They could break!

My inner panic aside, we started out on our ride and I tried my best to not freak out.

Once we got to a more open area in the field I relaxed, and realized that the horse is incredibly stable on it’s feet. Duh. I also hardly had to steer at all because the horse essentially just followed the one in front of it. Only then did I realize that I was freaking out for nothing. I could finally sit back and enjoy the scenery including the literally PERFECT weather. Like, we could not have picked a more perfect day to spend outside horseback riding.

The trail ride was really cool.  We got to do quite a few river crossings and take the horses through some forested and hilly  areas. It was a nice change to be able to breath such nice fresh country air. I’m used to coming off the subway everyday and having black stuff come out of my nose when I blow it. It’s super glamorous.

Anyways, it was a really great ride and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I loved that I was able to try something new!

When we headed back to the farm, most of our horses just kind of stood around waiting to be put somewhere. Tash’s horse, however, immediately went right back to her spot and rested her head on the bar that was there. It was hilarious because we had to try to get her in a picture after but you could tell she just was not having it.

Once we dismounted, we explored the farm a little and saw the other animals that were there. There were several other horses, as well as an adorable little donkey!

There were sassy goats that stuck their tongues out and surprisingly loved being pet.

The pièce de résistance, however, was this adorable little barn cat. I saw it from a distance and automatically made my cat calling noise. If you’re a fellow cat lady, you know what I mean.

Anyways, I made the noise, expecting the cat to bolt, but it made a B line for me! Never in my life has that happened. Even with my own cat.

So this cat comes over and Tasha’s sister picks it up and gives it to me. It then spends the next 15 minutes in my arms accepting all the pets and head nuzzles in the world. And the entire time, it didn’t try to escape once. It was officially the nicest cat I had ever met, (sorry Sev) so I brought it to have lunch with us. It tried to eat our hummus, but it was the nicest cat in the world, so it could do whatever the hell it wanted. After lunch I got in some more cat snuggles, along with 50 more photos of me and the cat. Be grateful that I only made you suffer through 5.

We then packed our stuff and headed back to the Greyhound Station for our ride back to Toronto.

We had a great time on our trail ride, so I highly recommend you try one out if you live in the GTA.

I’d love to hear stories of your first time horseback riding! Also, any stories related to the nicest cat you’ve ever met. Although, it can’t possibly be nicer than the cat I met…

xo, tess.