Intelligent Life: Riding High

Georgia is a country of beautiful contradictions: it has rolling hills of green pasture that stretch as far as the eye can see and sharp peaks with white, snowy tips that pierce the blue sky; friendly and hospitable people but not-so-friendly wild dogs; and it basks in the sunshine but when the weather turns, raindrops the size of golf balls bucket down, sometimes for hours on end.

Five English women discovered these Georgian realities and more while embarking on an epic trip across open plains of Georgia on horseback. Over several days the women revel in the beauty of Georgia’s ancient monasteries, bathe in the friendliness of locals and experience being soaked to the core after riding for days in the rain.

One of the women, Samantha Weinberg, has penned a humorous yet honest and inspiring piece about her experience exploring Georgia, published in the Intelligent Life magazine – a bi-monthly magazine published by the Economist Group. As she explains, over several days she learns to ride – and drink – like a Georgian cavalryman.

We climbed aboard. Levan kicked his horse, Zeskho, into canter and we followed as he leapt over a thorny hedge. When we pulled up, he asked if we were OK. "The English are too careful with their riding,” he said. "Many people do not want to canter downhill. But what would happen with the cavalry? When they lined up for battle, did one side put up their hands and say ‘Do not charge yet, please, until we have walked down this hill?’ In Georgia, we canter downhill. OK?,” writes Weinberg of her first day on the horse.

At the end of day one, the group arrives at a guest house owned by an Abkhazian refugee named Leila.

"We come downstairs to find a table and chairs have emerged from the van, Leila has put two flat loaves of khachapuri – Georgian bread stuffed with cheese – in the stove and Shalva, our ample chef, is busy over a barbecue. Levan pours local red wine out of a plastic bottle and raises his glass: "To the first day of riding!” He drains his wine and pours another glass – and so we are introduced to the Georgian custom of toasting.”

Days of adventuring follow and the group enjoy a raft of Georgian sights. Their last camp is on the banks of the Khrami River.

We rub off the horses for the last time; we are quiet for a change. I pull my bag into my tent – still a little damp on the inside – and change into the closest thing I have to clean clothes. I don’t want this journey to end. I don’t want to go back to my warm, dry life…”

Read the full story here: www.intelligentlifemagazine.com