Slow Ride to Hora Boka!

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What is the point of having access to a horse and walking yourself? Apart from the fact that it would be faster! Daamaa is the slowest horse in Robe, and possibly in Ethiopia - old women on foot overtake us! Being a Sunday, I decided that we should go out for a trip, especially as I would be away from Robe for the summer. I chose Hora Boka as the destination as one of the schools I will be working with next year is there and it was as good a destination as any.

The ride there was very pleasant … and very slow! There are no cars on the road and we were very quickly (or slowly in this case) out in the countryside, ambling past teams of oxen ploughing in the fields. Once in Hora Boka, I did cause a bit of excitement - a Farenji on a horse.

Coming back, I rode part of the way alongside some women and their donkies, on the way to Robe Sunday market - a walk of around 5km each way. Daamaa managed to keep up. After they had taken the left fork he did, at one point, break into a trot for a couple of minutes. At which point I noticed that the girth strap had come undone. Now that I wanted him to stop, he wouldn’t. So using willpower and balance to stay on the horse we finally got back to College without mishap! How embarrassing would that have been? At least if I fell off while dismounting I didn’t want it to be in public.

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