Horseriding the Barume Oreum in Jeju

Heloise came during the New Year's Eve party, a party spoken in Korea, a language we are both student of, but she could understand the topic of conversation.

Both having our hearts tied to other people, it seemed not ackward to sleep toe to toe on the electric sleeping pad.

Yang came at 4:40. We got out of the house at 5. I took the truck to round up Barabo, our almost wild horse who I would ride.

I had to tie his lead to the truck, but first I had to untie his lead from the treee. Barapo was all tangled up by walking around the tree while grazing.

Jeju horses are traditionally, not in stables They are exposed to the air and they often subsist of of wild grasses. This is not the case in most cases, but some people keep this tradition. I prefer this mix of wildness that Barapo has.

Horses have their personalities. Cocoa is very sweet. Barapo is very naughty and lazy. Always hanging his head, he always is in the range of sleepy rather than active.  If annoyed he will buck. He has a rough gallop and it takes a brave beginner or an experienced expert to ride him. I am more the first. Today, I would push him harder. We had to ride the field of the Barme Oreum and he had to keep up with the horses.

But first I had to tie him to the truck while keeping him reined. I had to untangle him first from his lead. It felt long untangling him. I reigned in my impatience by remembering to breath deeply. He moved his rope while looking for something to eat. I pull him back.  It was dark out still, but the moon provided enough. After untangling the rope, I had to untie to the knot.

Tying him to the truck took a while as my brain was tired. I gave him some slack.

We started driving from his mooring  near an abandoned parking lot.

I wondered what Heloise thought of this. I didn't have time to ask to involved in getting to the Tangerine Farm to meet the other horse and Yang.

It was too dark to check the horse through the back window. So I opened the door and checked outside and noticed Barapo had one leg tangled. I had gave too much slack and it was hopping along to keep up.

I stopped the truck and got out. Speeding up two more attempts to tie him later with no slack. The rope was hastily tied the first attempt. We drove on. I asked Heloise to check the horse and she said she didn't see him.The rope had came undone. sent me scrambling back to find Barapo eating along the road side.

Heloise thought we weren't going to make it at that point I found out later. It was so dark, so early and taking so long to get to point B. What we wanted to take 20 minutes took 40 minutes.

We made it to the farm and got both horses lashed to the truck. We drove 20-25 minutes to a point. The horses trotted along and got warmed up for our trip.

We saddled up and took the horses there. One of Barapo's straps broke. Something not great, but I shifted the to a middle strap which through the centering of the sattle of a bit. Cars sliding along the road as we saddled, I felt the nervous energy of some of the people around.

It was too ice to continue with the truck and the other car.  Yang had me walk the horses to the main road. Where he met me with the truck. We saddled up and entered the trailway.

It was too beautiful to care about the length of the trip. We were riding to meet the horse riding club ride on. Heloise would meet us in a car where she would get to the run the horses at the Oreum's prarie.

Heloise took pictures near the Oreum itself. This one in particular I found spectacular.

We met the riders of the club at the top. They are a more cavalier group of farmer's and roughriders then the haughty sort you'd imagine at a upperclass club. They ride there own horses and there equipment is old and well used. I saw saddles and reins tied up and restrained with other gear. Many of them wore farming gloves. Their sun age faces wore wrinkles of a well lived life. Most of them were over 40. Only Heloise, I and another were younger riders.

A view from the side.

Along the trail

Yang looking for me after he told me to go ahead.

We met the club at a prarie near the Barume Oreum. There was one feet on snow where we started. We galloped the horses. Barapo, is a rough galloper but in the snow it was even rougher. Then halfway through the gallop we hit a 4 ft patch of snow. Barapo jerked to a stop and I toppled over and landed in the snow like a kid somersaulting onto a pillow. Between the shame and embarrassment it was a lot of fun.

I looked back and saw the riders at the waiting at the start had seen my fall.

Coming back I saw Heloise galloping a well-trained horse.

Riding back.

Children were around, including Yang so we took them out for horse rides. I rode back to give the kids a ride on the other horses.

I rode Barapo back a out of few times.

The RidingOn Club took out snacks including this cheap sausages, cheese and sugary tasty wine to drink. Hunger was the best seasoning. We went around and everyone said something. Then we toasted.

Heloise and I left before Yang so he could ride Barapo hard while we pulled an injured Cocoa back. We met a long the road where Yang's cousin was waiting. Some of the riders passed us. Then came Barapo on Yang.

Since Cocoa only had some cuts we decided to ride her to another place so we wouldn't lose the club. Heloise rode Cocoa while I rode Barapo.
We got to the horse riding club's track and we had an assortment of rice cakes, gimbab, steamed sweet potatoes, ramen, smoked dried fish and sauce, and fish cake soup to eat.

Apparently me and the younger man of the group had both fallen so we both were supposed to buy the drinks for the group at a later date.

Heloise and I picked around the junk food and went for the healthy food.

I continued to thank Yang, since he has continued to enrich my life with his activities.

We left early. The other horses would stay there but ours had to travel with us, so Hejern and I galloped back to a smaller road. Galloping on ice roads was thrilling. My appreciation of the shortness of life got worked out as much as my stabilizer muscles.

We got to Yang's truck and then Heloise swapped horses with Yang. Yang would drive the truck to the farm and we would meet him.

Heloise rode down to lower elevations and dryer climates.

I got off near the farm to walk Barapo who was tired. When I got off I almost fell down from the stiffness in my lower legs. I waddled more than walked at first.

Near the tangerine farm, we were almost finished.

I got back to the farm house. We said goodbye there. Yang left to celebrate the day with his family. Heloise left the house to go home and relax. I went to the house to catch up on all the sleep I missed.