About 20 years ago when I was younger and (more)
foolish, I was visiting a friend who lived in Brooklyn but worked in the
city. She went to work that day, and I wandered around Manhattan. I
rented a horse for an hour, a huge paint, and took him for a ride in the
park. I was by myself, and the owner watched me ride twice around the
arena then told me to make three rights (so I'd go with the one-way
traffic) and I'd be at the park entrance. I rode him, mostly at a
walk, around the pond. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences
that I could never do again, but I'll treasure. To be in the middle of a
horse - my comfort zone - in all that city "stuff" - decidedly NOT my comfort
zone, made a great dichotomy that isn't easy to repeat. The horse was bomb
proof, but not in a coma - he trotted and cantered when I asked.
Definitely one of the best trained horses I've ever ridden. The horses
were in a remodeled parking garage and the arena was on the ground level.
When you walked in and said you wanted to ride, they called upstairs and the
horse came down the ramp - unaccompanied - and was caught at the bottom.
After the ride, he was led back to the ramp, turned loose, and up he went.
I would never bring my country mouse horses into that place, but it was well
worth the money (about twice what you can rent a horse for anywhere
else).
