Day 12 The Best Little “Horse House” on Kauai After another breakfast on the lanai, we put on our jeans and headed for the north side of the island. Our destination was the Silver Falls Ranch for an afternoon of horseback riding. We had never done this together, and I hadn’t been on a horse since I was a kid. As soon as we were out of the car at the ranch, we were greeted by a friendly – you guessed it – chicken! His name was Neil. His story is interesting. The north shore of Kauai is where a lot of wealthy people and celebrities stay for vacation, and many of them ride at this ranch. Some of the customers have been Graham Nash, Glen Frey, and Ben Stiller. One time, a customer had a very large diamond earring in his ear. Neil the chicken is so friendly you can even pick him up and pet him. Well, Neil was particularly interested in the guy’s earring. One good peck and the diamond was gone. The guy followed Neil around the yard all afternoon but he never pooped out the diamond. Then they took the chicken to the hospital, did an x-ray, and saw the stone stuck in the chicken’s gizzard, where it still is today. Now, they refer to the chicken as “Neil Diamond”. We signed the insurance waivers and were soon standing at the fence getting a basic lesson on how to ride a horse. We were all assigned a specific horse. Nancy got to ride Hoku and I was assigned Ineiki. We climbed aboard and walked the horse around the pen. After we let the horse know that we were in charge, the rest of the day was very enjoyable. Our guide was a nice guy named Greg, and we were accompanied by six other people; a couple from California and a family from Calgary with two young girls. We rode single file on the trails for about an hour and a half, and it was a very enjoyable ride. Once you get in a rhythm with the horse’s gait, it makes it easier for you and the horse. We arrived at a nice waterfall with a swimming hole. We had a good lunch brought in by the ranch hand which was shredded chicken with rice. It wasn’t Neil. Everyone except us changed into swimsuits and took a dip in the swimming hole, but we just watched. A little while later we were back on the horses. Soon we were at the end of the ride and said “Aloha” to our horses. Then I was reminded how the words “saddle sore” came to be. We then drove by the condo to put on some shorts and get out of our jeans. Nancy wanted to visit the local Hilo Hattie’s to get a shirt, but decided to look somewhere else after she saw the prices. We made our third trip to Wal-Mart where Nancy got a nice Hawaiian shirt for our dinner on Thursday. We also wanted to order a gift to be shipped home, so we visited a local nursery that specializes in exotic plants. We picked out a few and had them shipped out. The heat must have gotten to us because we were both very tired. We stopped by the local Panda Express and got some Chinese take-out for supper. We ate out on the lanai and had a beautiful supper together. Tomorrow is a sight-seeing day, so we will see if it really is the heat or if it is actually old age.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 06:20:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015