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S U B S C R I B E
Adventure Switzerland: Galloping into the sunset
All this week WRS has brought you a glimpse at some of the adrenaline-pumping activities you can do around the country. After paragliding, ziplining, climbing and biking, World Radio Switzerland’s Alex Helmick dons his ten gallon hat and saddles up for a little horseback riding in the Jura for the final story of our Adventure Switzerland series.
After paragliding 2000 meters above the alps and climbing a mountain in a thunderstorm, riding horses in the Jura sounds like a bit … relaxing. Being the Jura mountain range is calming and these horses are quite well tempered.
Audio Slideshow: Horse Riding
The biggest problem I had with Soraya, my horse, is she wanted to eat everything.
HELMICK: No, no, no. Come on. Come on. No, no, no.
And when a horse wants to eat, you can pull on those reigns and nudge it in the ribs all you want but it will do what it wants.
HELMICK: No, no, no. Allez! Allez! Come on.
WINZ: When she goes for the side of the field, you must –-
That’s one of my two 15-year old guides on the trip, Yasmine Winz, along with 15-year-old Lucile Cattin.
WINZ: …you must—
HELMICK: Pull? Pull? Yeah? No, no, no. Come on.
There are number of options in the Jura for riding, especially if you speak French. The mountains are relative low here and you can navigate a number of different trails.
This adventure didn’t have any crashes or rough landings, but there is a moment when you saddle up on a horse that you realize that this massive animal has the power to do whatever it wants.So you grab the reigns and act like your charge and trust that the horse takes kindly to your orders.
HOT TIP: Bouncing up and down in the saddle can get a bit uncomfortable, so if you are sensitive (beyond normal) this may be quite a painful adventure.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: The most physical this adventure gets is getting in and out of the saddle. But the experts still wear riding elements, so you might want too as well.
Today’s guides were Yasmine Winz and Lucile Cattin. Their friend Audrey Loeffel also joined us for the ride. Yasmine and Lucile work at the Poney Ranch in the Jura, and a ride on one of the horses will cost 20 francs.
So that’s it for this summer’s series. A fitting end I think, riding off into the sunset.
That’s today’s Advent—
(SORAYA CHIMES IN)
That’s today’s Adventure Switzerland on WRS. I’m Alex Helmick.
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