Ride a horse at full gallop

“Cherokee was reluctant to go and being inexperienced, I didn’t force her. Recognizing we were falling far behind, she decided she’d better catch up and she picked up her feet. We got a good pace going, but when she lost sight of the others, she broke into a full gallop. It was faster than I had ever ridden and it was magical. [...] This time, when Cherokee took it from canter to gallop, it was smooth and graceful. For a moment, I got lost in it. I was flying.”

“We went on a ride that had a beautiful field that was used for gallops. We let all the kids go at time intervals, and my poor old OTTB almost stood on his head trying to go. When it was my turn he overtook 3 of the kids. He was a flyer whose wins had all been at 800m to 1200m. I had ridden this horse for 5 years, done well in show jumping and eventing- but never had we gone flat chat, full speed gallop. It is the most amazing feeling. I mean, I love cantering, it's fun and fantastic and beautiful, when my lowers himself and stretches into gallop? I cannot imagine another feeling that matches.”

“Low level Eventer here - I did my first real gallop a few weeks ago on my semi-green OTTB at a hunter pace (there was a lovely track around a field on the trail and we let the horses run a little) and it indeed felt like flying - that’s the only way I could judge just how fast we were moving I was worried about slowing down, but turned out not be a problem. I think the first few times you let them go, it’s going to be scary until you know the sensation.”