I was at the birthday party of my best friend’s daughter that featured pony rides and realized that my five year old had ridden a horse already three times. Me? Never. Not once. Of all the years I had gone to camp and participated in Girl Scouts, I never went horseback riding!

A few weeks after creating my list, Groupon emailed me of a great deal in my area for horseback riding, so I bought it and signed my husband and I up for horseback riding.

On a lovely April morning, we drove to my mother’s and dropped my son off with my mom, sister and nephew while we snuck away to go horseback riding. I was very excited and maybe a little nervous. I had recently finished listening to “The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls” which has a scene where a horse tramples someone. (But stuff like that doesn’t happen in real life, right? In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have been reading a story about horseback riding right before going horseback riding. But nothing bad would happen to me, right? Right?? Reassure me! I’m starting to get nervous!)

We pulled into a small farm and began to look for someone to help. We eventually made our way to the office. The forms we needed to sign didn’t quell my anxiety. We promised we wouldn’t sue them if we died and I’m pretty sure I verified that it wasn’t my first time on a horse (whoops. But seriously, the “The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls” made it sound super easy, except for the scene where the horse got spooked and trampled someone).

Then we were given helmets. I got the one that looked like a true horseback riding helmet. It was starting to feel very proper like we were going on a foxhunt or something.

Then we met the horses while sidestepping a lot of poop. My horse was so handsome! He was clearly the best one. I named him Jonesy and we quickly became best friends. I hopped on Jonesy (again fibbing about my previous horseback riding experiences but saying that it’s been so long…like since I was a kid. Lies. All lies).

We were off. Well, Jonesy didn’t move at first, but I gave his side a little tap with my foot and then we were off following the instructor. Our horses followed each other through meadows and woods while we chatted with the instructor about why we had come, which of course prompted a discussion about my list and what other items were on it.

As we chatted and trotted, Jonesy was aching to go faster. I was too. I totally understood why little girls want ponies. Jonesy was awesome.

It had been a perfect day. The weather was amazing. The owner of the farm was extremely nice and friendly. Needless to say, I loved horseback riding and was very happy it was on my list!