Horse power

I like to gallop. But I’m scared of going fast on the beach.

He turns around on the horse and asks me why. He seems genuinely surprised.

But it’s open, there are no obstacles, he continues.

Exactly because of that, I answer.

It’s just wide open. Completely free.

Praia do Moçambique is just like that. Wide open – a 7.5 km long stunning Brazilian beach with not a single restaurant or kiosko. Just nature, open ocean and surrounding hills. And on any other day precisely the way I like it.

As we stop on top of the dunes before heading down to the beach I take a deep breath.

Ready?, he asks.

As ready as can be, I say but with a heart beat ten times faster than usual.

And we walk down with the horses to Praia do Moçambique and I take her down as close to the water as I can and we set off.

There’s no trotting, barely a canter before we head off in a flat out gallop, She goes from first gear to fifth in a second and I can feel her accelerating underneath me.

I hold the reins softly in my hand and relax. Try to move with her beat. It feels like we are flying and I know she has even more in her. But I’m too scared to let her go fully.

Then after a few minutes we slow down and she walks calmly again.

You know she would have gone faster if you let her, he says.

I know. I felt it.

We probably would have galloped 40 km an hour if I’d let go completely.

But I didn’t dare, I admit sweaty and short of breathe wanting to be nowhere else.

But if it goes too fast you can just break, he says.

I know. But sometimes I don’t have breaks, I admit and laugh as I try to catch my breathe.

I am more afraid of myself than her, I exclaim and points at my brown sweaty mare with her ears flicking back and fourth.

The horse, the Brazilian chestnut Manga Larga that has followed and listened to every move I have made so far.