One of the things I did shortly after arriving in the U.K. was to learn how to ride a horse. It was something I had always wanted to do but was out of reach where I am from- horses were things you saw on TV, not in real life. No prizes for guessing that I am a city girl through and through. So when I moved to the U.K. and found myself living near fields with stables and horse riding lessons, I jumped at the opportunity to get close to horses. I enjoyed my riding lessons and though I haven't ridden in a good few years I think I should still be OK on one.
Having learnt to drive in East London, I have not had any opportunity to drive near horses. I know what to do in principle because its something that my driving instructor talked about briefly when I mentioned to him that I have issues driving down country lanes. At the time I had still not encountered equine obstacles, even on country roads, and was merely concerned about driving on very narrow, often winding, roads. In trying to explain how best to drive on these roads, he mentioned horses and other animals that could potentially be in the way while driving along country lanes. However, I had not actually met any animals while driving, not even sheep and we often go walking in the Lake District. I met a pony today while driving through Kingston. It was being ridden by a little girl and led by a lady that may have been her mother. They did notice us and moved towards the side as much as they could and I tried to give it as much space as I could while I drove past. Of course this happened on a narrow stretch of road that had parked cars on both sides and we were just going round a bend so I couldn't really see if there were any cars coming towards us at speed. I was very glad my partner was sitting next to me and talked me through it. I was nervous but would probably have felt a lot worse had he not been there. One never stops to learn new things.
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