Horseback riding!
Or maybe a pony, but for some reason I feel that's unlikely to happen.
So, my birthday is coming up in a couple of months, and I wanted to do something special. A close friend had originally wanted to take lessons with me but money prevented him. He and I were talking about what to do for my birthday the other day. We came up with the usual dinner, movie, etc., but that didn't sound like so much fun. He offered to buy me paddock boots and chaps, which would be nice, but... I kind of wanted to go out and do something cool. And then I had an idea. My uncle and my sister and okay, everybody ever is always talking about wanting to go riding with me. I mentioned that I thought a trail ride with would be fun. But then it hit me; what about a beach ride?
My buddy jumped at the idea. It just sounds cool, doesn't it?
So I started to do some research. The results were kind of disappointing. There are no horse-friendly beaches in LA County or Orange County. I kept googling and googling and came up with very few results. There's a place in Topanga called Los Angeles Horseback Riding that has a beach ride. They didn't list a price online, but their website states that all beach rides are long distance. 4-5 hours to get to the beach kind of long distance. I thought about calling them, but I'm afraid of what a 10-hour-long ride will cost... not to mention what it will do to my behind!
There's also a place in Malibu called Park Place Stable. They show very little information on their website about the ride. All they say is that beach rides are private. No price, no time frame, nothing. Very frustrating. They did, however, mention that beach rides take place in Santa Barbara. I'm assuming they trailer their horses there, in which case it's sure to be very expensive as well. I took a quick peek on Yelp and two or three different people mentioned that the beach ride was $500 for two riders. That's absolutely insane. There is no way we could pay $250 each for this!
So, the search was on. I looked for places in Santa Barbara this time, knowing that there is a horse beach in there somewhere. Yet, for some reason, a lot of the Santa Barbara stables appear to trailer their horses to Pismo Beach, near the Bay Area. That's getting waaay too far away for us. Eventually, I came across the Santa Barbara Adventure Company. They were refreshingly clear about their options. $150 per person for two hours, with a group discount available. Plus it's a private ride. Not too shabby, but still on the expensive side.
At some point I found a place that seems to fit a little bit better. It's called Happy Trails Horse Rentals. It's a little bit far, as it's in San Diego, but it's just $90 for a 2 hour beach ride. It says so right on their site (crazy)! On the slightly lame side, they allow walking and trotting only. It's better than walk only, but I love the idea of cantering along the shore. Then again, if I run ahead a little bit, what is anyone going to do about it? Maybe that's bad logic. Maybe if I tell them it's my birthday I'll get away with it!
I have a couple of friends who ride in Riverside. I suppose I could ask them if they know of anywhere and see what they have to say about it. If I get lucky, they'll pull some magical amazing stable out of their butts and we'll go and have a great time. In the event that they don't have stables up their butts, I will probably call Happy Trails and see what I can do about keeping this endeavor as cost-effective (ha!) as possible. If we get lucky, maybe we can get a group discount or an early booking discount. Even if we can't, I'm sure we'll have a great story and a wonderful memory for it.
Or maybe I should just get new boots. ;)
