An Evening at Japaloupe with the Horses

With Siddha and Sweta in town, we decided to do something different this weekend - and ended up at Japaloupe Farms for an awesome evening with the dogs, the horses, the geese, and the goats.








We took our first formal horse riding lessons, and it was just awesome! Starting with how to climb into the saddle, to how to hold the reigns, we learnt and practiced walking the horse around, and then moved on to the canter, learning to feel the horse's rhythm and moving with it in complete sync...

An hour and half later, we practiced swinging our legs around and turning full circle on the horse, did some wind down exercises, and finally swung off the horse and gingerly took our first steps back on terra firma.






Then it was time for some hot tea and bhajis, while watching Sarah (check the jump in the pic below!), Rohan (the owner of Japaloupe) and his boys play a real exciting version of polo - one person with a kerchief tucked in his side, and the rest of the riders chasing him trying to snatch the kerchief away!






Here you see Sarah taking a beautifully executed jump. An accomplished rider, Sarah was a treat to watch as she put her horse through the motions...

This is Siddha with the kill - oops, I forgot to add the tiger in the shot!

And while we spent the rest of the weekend nursing our sore backs and thighs, we promised ourselves we would come back again, and again...