it made sense to everyone but me

I may as well get this down on paper while it's still fresh in my mind.  As I said in the previous post I have this distinct feeling that Galan and I were destined for failure from the outset.  I knew from the very earliest stages of planning that the likelihood of success on this particular endeavor was somewhere in the single digit range so I guess that makes the current smile on my face reasonable.  So it didn't work, whatever, no big deal, but why didn't it work?

Well as I said, for my part it was simply just not being prepared.  I don't have the knowledge or the supplies to make a serious run at camping on horseback for 30 days or any trip resembling such a thing.  I had no idea just what it took to keep Galan happy and in fact did not even recognize the most overbearing trait of most every horse in the world that eventually doomed the trip on the whole.  By the minute, hour, and day Galan had only one thought: getting back to that farm.  So over the course of the five days we traveled together he made every effort to get free from the fences, ropes, bridles, whatever, and break for the finca.  He managed to free himself two times total with the second being around 9 or so at night outside of a bar I had ridden to to have beers and dinner.  With the help of the bar owner and his moto we tracked Galan down in the pouring rain and proceeded to corral him with limited success.  Thirty minutes later through jungle and swamp we finally pinned him enough to throw a rope over his neck and get the bridle and saddle back on him.  Holy shit man, that was the last straw.  Galan was risking himself in a very major way just following his instincts all the while taxing the shit out of me and draining the life out of this gloriously romantic horseback, Guanacaste, surf, camp, soulfind.  So that was it, I resolved to return to camp that night in the pouring rain, with a couple of beers for the ride, the following morning had a stellar surf, packed my shit up and rode back into town to return Galan to safety.  Luis the farm owner was more than relieved at my return as he said that Galan had in fact lost considerable weight, but shared his sincere surprise that I was actually with Galan when he made it home.  His guess was that Galan would show up at his place one morning and leave me high and dry.

Anyway, sorry for the long-winded BS but I figure a couple of people might want to know the deal. Crazy thing was that when we were actually riding together we kicked serious ass.  We got to where we could full out run when we wanted and I had full command over our actions in total.  Back to the drawing board, I'll do it again someday down the road.  It'll be with my own horse and a shitload more experience.  I can still raise my beer to toast Galan, we had a blast man...

By the numbers-

5 Days
4 Nights
44 Kilometers covered
3 Surf Sessions
4 River Crossings
2 Escapes
0 Falls
0 Broken Bones
1 Broken Heart
200 Or So US Dollars
Countless Lessons big and small
Countless New Friends
1 Hell of a good story.........


So the trip has taken a turn, I'll update this deal as soon as I have a little clarity on the real direction this deal is going to take...  Time to surf mae