Horse ride

Friday, June 8

If you know me, you know I love horses and their women. I am recovering from a back injury last year (incurred, naturally enough, caring for horses) and worried I'd never ride again. I am regaining my strength and really wanted to go on at least one trail ride in Costa Rica. I rode my gelding, Cote', a few times before the trip to get my skills and confidence back up:

From 2012-05-13 (by Eye-Fi)

Today was the day I would finally get to ride in Costa Rica!

Juan Carlos the taxi driver picked me up at the hotel at 7:30 am, after my usual breakfast. He has one of those nice, new Toyota Corolla diesels I like so much. We drove east out of town, then south. Juan regaled me with stories of how the tourist industry has grown over the past decade. Most recently, the Hotel Riu has opened with (he said) 800 rooms! I cannot imagine.

Fortunately we do not go there. We go to a residential community, Lomas del Mar (http://lomasdelmar.com/). They have an equestrian facility and my hotel made arrangements for me to ride their private trails. The facility is named Haras del Mar, and here is their sign:

Their blog is at http://harasdelmar.wordpress.com/; they are also on Facebook.

The barn looked amazing:

as did the boarder's horses:

With barn manager and head wrangler, we headed up the trails:

Enjoying the forest views on our way up:

Eventually we got high enough to look down to Coco and my dive sites of yesterday:

I loved the view from the summit!

Luna, the mare I rode, was pretty amazing as well. I really like these horses of Spanish ancestry....

In this photo, you can see the Tortuga islands where I dove with sharks the previous day, here appearing just above the horizon of the infinity pool:

The homes are pretty nice. Here is where the developer lives:

and here is another home in the subdivision:

That one has a view south along the coast and so reminded me of my parent's Oregon coast home. (Sort of.)

One more view north, to Coco where I have been staying and diving:

Back down at the barn I admire the pastures:

and the owner's paint foal:

I know Luna had a good ride, but she was also happy to be back to the barn and untacked:

Taxi driver took me back to the hotel. He wanted to talk as he was bored from waiting for me at the barn but I was tired and so not good company. Showered and changed at the hotel and worked some more. Went down to the beach for the sunset again:

Yes, a great day.