Ian, hey
So, your ass have to be on horse on 2 pm.
You better wear comfortable and thick cloths

Also you will clean the horse and saddle him, so dress clothes that is not your favourite 🙂

I have decided to try and ride a horse across Moldova next summer and this is how it starts.

Marina, my only friend in Kyiv who rides (horses) has kindly offered to help me and today is my first lesson at the Hippodrome in Kyiv. It’s the end of November but Kyiv is still unusually warm and although it’s grey and raining, it’s not snowing or frozen. This is a bonus because it could/should be a lot colder.

Anyway, Maria’s message was delightful not just because I can finally start this journey and finally get my ‘ass on a horse’ but because I wasn’t really expecting it to happen. Maria is a wonderful and beautiful person but she’s also less than reliable and has a (very Ukrainian) tendency to cancel things at short notice.

Not so today.

So, it’s now 11:45 and I’m relaxing on the sofa and ‘googling’ all the things I should have googled before deciding to try this journey.

How far can you travel on a horse in a day? 40-60km
How long is Moldova? About 400km
Can you cross a border on a horse? Not easily
How long does it take to learn how to ride? 10 to 15 lessons (but apparently this depends on loads of things)

As instructed I am not wearing my favourite clothes.