A Trip to the Beach…on Horseback

Monday morning started with a beautiful pink sunrise. This has only happened once or twice before as most mornings have been very cloudy (although we are not always up at sunrise).

We started school right away so that we could be finished in time to go horse back riding. Kelly, Bobby and Nora were all finished by 10 am. This might be a new record for us! Maybe we should get up at sunrise every morning…well, maybe not.

Everyone was so excited to ride! Kelly is our biggest animal lover, and I think she was the most excited. We went to Long’s Riding Stables in Ventry, which was not far from where we held the baby lambs a while ago. John and Christine were great with the kids and made everyone feel comfortable.

Before riding, we had to put on boots and helmets. (I need shoe storage like this at home! Right next to the giant coat rack from the hotel in Killarney.) They had boots in every size, from Nora’s toddler 12 to Thomas’ size 15, complete with a conversion table from US to European sizes!

Once everyone was ready, they brought us over to where the horses were waiting and helped everyone mount.

• 

• 

• 

Bobby rode Oreo, Kelly rode Raggles, and Nora rode Marley.

This is Thomas on Captain. We rode in a single file line down the mountain onto the beach. The view was amazing!

Here’s all of us on the beach. You can see that the horses are on the small side. They are Irish Cob horses, which is a breed native to Ireland. They have been bred to be small and wide, but powerful and easygoing. Perfect for riders of all ages and ideal for pulling carts and wagons. They have especially long, thick manes and tails, and also feathering (fluffy hair) around their feet, like a Clydsdale.

Then we rode back up the hill to the farm. The whole ride was about an hour, which was perfect (our backsides are a little sore today). The weather was great, and it got even warmer in the afternoon, so after lunch we continued our outdoor adventure.

We drove over to Inch Beach, which was only about 20 minutes from the house, but in the opposite direction from the horse farm. We had passed it on our way to Killarney last week and wanted to come back to it when the weather improved.

There was a famous scene from the movie Ryan’s Daughter that was filmed here. Inch, or Inse in Gaelic, means “sea meadow.”

Here the cars can drive right onto the sand. In summer, you can even camp on the beach overnight.

Nora found a razor clam shell and turned it into a shovel.

It was a spectacular day, and we were so thankful to have spent almost all of it outside! Thank you, Long’s Riding Stables and Inch Beach. We enjoyed every minute!