19 Aug 2022
The views were very nice on this trip. Unfortunately the rest of the outfit running these horses made the trip less than ideal. The guides taking out the horses spoke virtually no English. They had children and teenagers shepherding the horses along the trail. One girl was thrown from her horse when the guides tried to bunch some of the horses together, which just spooked them and caused her horse to buck. The horses are smaller in stature but seemed underweight by any standard. When a horse would stop to eat along the trail, the child guiding behind me would throw small stones at it to keep it moving. I took a hit from one of these stones to the back of my neck at one point. No injury but I was surprised that it happened. The guides did not make it feel like a safe and controlled trip. Many of the riders had never ridden a horse before and the semi chaotic nature of the ride did not put them at ease. When we returned to camp, one of the staff was disrespectful to the girl who had fallen and made her quite upset by telling her not to cry about it. If the guides could inspire some more confidence and safety among the horses and riders, it would be a much better trip.