Last seen…..

……disappearing into the beach horizon. More fleet-footed horses involved of course!

On a top tip, we hot-footed it to a village just between Chang Gu and Seminak for a beach ride. The horses looked well pampered, and smartly decked out in their red bandages.

We were slightly surprised when the yard wanted to send foot-runners with all 4 of us (given that we were on the advanced ride), but ultimately they sent 2, and it turned out to be quite a good thing.

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We were set up with 4 steeds, and took it calmly down some fairly ‘major’ roads** to the beach. B & E rightly baulked at being led, so their runners trotted along side them.

** a major road equates to one where you can pass an oncoming vehicle without bypassing onto the verge, or dropping half a wheel into a ditch

When we got to the beach, all became clear. The horses started dancing and prancing, and it turns out that the main function of the stables is for riders (or actually more often non-riders) to get their Instagram shots. Apparently plenty of girls arrive in long flowing dresses or bikinis and expect to go out for a hack…….

If you can’t beat them, join them….. so we took our turns to walk the length of the beach, and hoon it back while the patient photographer took pictures on my cellphone.

Here are our Insta-shots – duly colour filtered!

Once we were ‘post-ready’, our escorts were rather surprised that we wanted to go again, (EVEN though we already had the money shots) purely for the love of the gallop! Actually the staff were fab. Galloping technically wasn’t allowed by the stable’s owner (most punters predominantly stand and pose in the shallow surf), but seeing that we actually loved the horses and the riding, they let rip, and cheered us on.

The horses got seriously excited, and Bella in true Beanie style was completely unstoppable:

Squiggler was brave in the face of her speed demon:

James encouraged his steed out of its leisurely cruise into overdrive, and mine frothed in the foamy waves and generally looked beautiful (when she wasn’t going mental at being held back to last-to-go in the galloping order!):

We cruised through Chang Gu on the way home to check out the scene (having heard much), and grab a late lunch at a popular beach club. It was on a spectacular setting on the coast line, and served a very decent grilled fish (and some sausages!). The bathrooms were somewhat ‘hose-down’ and it was clearly a big party venue by night that cleaned up just enough by day to pull the punters in for the lunch shift before picking up the pace again at sunset.