A Lifelong Dream Fulfilled...

In my previous three postings I shared how 'beautiful Bali' showered me with unforgettable memories during my two week Indonesian holiday. Not only was I overflowing with warmth emotionally, physically I was feeling revived and energetic, basking in and savouring each moment.

Stumbling across a spontaneous opportunity, I even ticked off a 'bucket list' wish I had been longing for as far back as I can remember!

Early one morning, while my friends were still asleep, I was enjoying my morning coffee on our verandah during sunrise and heard the distinct neighing of a horse coming from somewhere close by. I eagerly investigated, as I adore horses and was yet to meet a Balinese one. To my delight, I discovered a man with a young girl exercising a stunning, brown horse in a long laneway adjacent to the hotel my friends and I were staying in. I approached them asking if I may pat the gorgeous, native animal and to this the young girl, who spoke brilliant English, proudly announced he was her very own.

There were many other horses of various colors within an arena and stables happily feeding on their breakfast. My enthusiasm must have been obvious, as it was explained to me these horse stables offer the public daily rides on the beach, including during sunsets. Since I was a little girl I had always wanted to gallop bareback and barefoot along the water's edge with a warm wind blowing in my hair and the water splashing up cooling off both the horse and I during the setting of the sun. I was ecstatic! Mind you, that's not quite how it was going to play out! Yes, I'd nurtured a couple of precious retired horses in the past back home in Australia, however I'd never actually learned to ride. Regardless, I was determined to fulfil my wish. It just needed a little modifying …

I ventured back to the hotel with a spring in my step and asked my two German girlfriends if they would care to join me. Conny exclaimed she had two years of riding lessons under her belt – but from forty years ago. Still that was more experience than Susi or I had. They decided the opportunity was too good to pass up, so I returned to the stables that afternoon and booked for three with a lovely man, who I thought may have been the owner. He told me when we arrive the following afternoon, we would all be led into the enclosed arena on horseback to see which standard of riding we were at. That sounded fair and I excitedly shared this with my friends back in our room.

At 4.30 pm the next day, with eager anticipation and wearing uncomfortably warm jeans in the heat, we made our way to the Balinese stables. The circular compound was impressive, with individual, stone stables lining the circumference of the property, while a spacious, earthy-toned, outdoor, entertainment area filled the centre. The horses there were beautiful. They must have been so hot in the heat, but were in lean, good condition. It turned out we were a surprise to the three workers on duty, who were pottering about! Quickly, as one asked us to take a seat on the wooden, outdoor furniture setting, all three sprung into action saddling adorable horses they hand-picked for us. It seemed we were the only customers and the man I had initially booked with was nowhere to be seen. Of course, me being 180cm tall, I was nervously given a big horse, which I very clumsily and literally climbed onto! My friends quickly mounted too (more elegantly than I), and off we went, each with our own, friendly, barefoot, Balinese cowboy walking beside us, holding onto our horse as we held the reins. There was no arena trial involved in the preparation and in hindsight, no helmets either! It was straight out onto the laneway.

I felt a little uneasy, but so very excited to be heading down the cobble-stone pathway toward the beach, not believing I was finally fulfilling a lifelong dream. We walked in single file, while my horse trailed a tad behind. My cowboy called himself 'Dusty', after Slim Dusty, the Australian country singer. He spoke very little English, but his smile spoke a beautiful universal language. He seemed a sweet, carefree fellow in his late thirties, with long hair tied back in a pony tail. Dusty told me my horse's name was 'Miela', after I posed the question. She was a beautiful, dark brown color with, I sensed, a bit of frustration in her nature. I could understand, as I wondered how many hundreds of times she had walked this same track, day in, day out.

We all comfortably plodded along at a walking pace, talking to our cowboys as best we could and looking around at the scenery of private, picturesque Balinese homes with their tropical gardens, so different to what we were used to. The inviting beach was suddenly in sight and Dusty, Miela and I were still a little way behind my friends, who seemed to stay together quite well. I suddenly heard a surprised squeal sounding from Susi! Before I even had a chance to wonder what that was about, I instantly couldn't believe what I was looking at up ahead! The end of the laneway had huge, wide and high, concrete steps, which I'm sure looked even more frightening mounted on the top of Miela. Those steps lead onto the beach road, busy with scooters and walkers (no car traffic thankfully), and to top it off, there were another set of similar stairs to conquer leading from the road down onto the sand. I just remember thinking how on earth was I going to remain seated on Miela during the two, daunting descends, and in between, not collide with any hurrying, passing scooters? Worse still, what if Miela trips and hurts herself? These thoughts of panic were at the forefront of my mind, as the scene quickly unfolded and before I knew it, we were suddenly all walking on the beach heading towards the water. I felt immediate relief, as the after effect of my adrenalin rush began to diminish. That was quite an extraordinary experience and I wondered how tourist children react to this challenge, as there was no warning given; obviously not significant enough for our Balinese cowboys to worry about.

The foreshore was busy, as it always seemed to be at sunset. Many day beach lovers hadn't packed up yet wanting to view the sunset, while joggers and beach strollers appeared to enjoy and utilise the last hour of daylight. We reached the water and turned left towards the life saving flags in the distance. We seemed to be the beach entertainment, as I felt all eyes were upon us, but that didn't worry me. I was still reeling in overwhelming disbelief, completely, happily engrossed in the moment. It was magical and I patted beautiful Miela often, thanking her for the opportunity. She would throw her head around sometimes and Dusty would respond by speaking to her in his mother tongue, pulling her into line. I asked Dusty regularly 'Is Miela happy?' 'Yes, yes, Miela happy,' he would answer, turning to look at me with his big smile. I hoped she was …

The sun was setting, the temperature was comfortably warm with a gentle breeze brushing my face as soft waves rolled in around Miela's legs. Young children were squealing with delight, attempting to run up to the horses, while parents would come hurrying behind to catch them before they were too dangerously close. It was such a pleasure to see the children's elated facial expressions, as I felt just the same as they did. One proud grandfather ran up to us for a chat, cradling his toddler granddaughter in his arms. He explained, as we passed them, she suddenly became animated as she spotted the horses, and he wanted to show her the animals up close. Her reaction was priceless. It felt good to know, not only was I basking in a lifelong dream, but many of all ages were sharing the joy.

We reached the life saving flags and soon after, our cowboys suddenly conversed with each other in an urgent tone. I thought I heard the word 'police' spoken! Sure enough, we were turning around to retrace our steps. Police were present somewhere in the vicinity and it appeared the horses weren't allowed anywhere near the flags, but all was well. We started heading back, not meeting any police at all. We were now looking directly into the sunset and the colorful sky was beginning to darken. Curious, frenzied stray dogs came running up behind us, which made me a little nervous, as I didn't want them to scare Miela or be kicked by her hooves. People were still bathing in the surf, and walking on the beach; still lots of activity happening. While continuing on along the water's edge, far enough away from the flags, we stopped for a photo session and had some fun with our mobile phone cameras, kindly instigated by the cowboy who spoke the most English. Then suddenly again, our guides spoke nervously amongst themselves and we continued on our way, this time picking up our pace to a fast walk. A few kites had become airborne, which was a usual late afternoon occurrence, however apparently they frightened the horses and we needed to move away before our ponies spotted them. That thought raised our individual blood pressures again just a little! 

We eventually reached the point where we needed to turn right to walk up the beach towards the laneway entrance. It seemed the more we moved up the sandy beach, the busier it became. I was still last in line, as I had been the whole adventure, and by the time Miela and I reached the daunting concrete stairs, there was a crowd of people on either side of us, already appreciating the evening acoustic beach music. This unnerved me a bit, as it did Miela, and she anxiously skipped around a little from side to side. I was concerned for her, and also worried for the tourists being so close! However, Dusty wasn't phased, hung on tightly to Miela's rope and proceeded up those steps as he'd done many, many times in the past. Before I knew it, we had returned to the laneway with my friends just up ahead, walking in the direction of the stables … and soon we arrived at the arena where a few horses were so excited to see their friends back, they ran around madly in circles on the sandy ground, while snorting and carrying on, coming to a sudden halt at the fence often to greet them.

We continued on into the compound and dismounted. Planting my feet on the ground, I couldn't believe my legs were already feeling like jelly after just over an hour of sitting on Miela. Dusty beamed when I shook his hand in gratitude and I thanked beautiful Miela one last time for helping me fulfil my dream as she was lead away. We were offered a cold drink of water, then promptly returned to our room to peel off our sweaty jeans. Sitting on our verandah, each sipping on a gin & tonic, we eagerly reminisced about our unique adventure, sharing, comparing and laughing at our personal perceptions of what had taken place. I found the experience of horse riding during sunset to be just as amazing as I had always imagined (even the Balinese version), and although it took me many years to finally realise my dream, it was well worth the wait, especially in such an exotic, beautiful location as Bali.