One of the best things about my backyard is the diversity of adventures just waiting to be taken. When it comes to stay at home vacations, my all time favorite happens to include horses. Since I was very small, I have had a love for these powerful and very beautiful animals.Fortunately for me, my backyard is a haven for horse lovers, offering not only horseback riding, riding lessons, and riding trails, but horseback vacations.

If you are just interested in a weekend vacation, there are several stables very close by that offer their services for your enjoyment. If you are willing to drive a couple of hours, there are a ranches that offer everything from fine dining and trail rides to week long cattle roundups.

The Mustang Riding Stables, located twenty minutes away, in Mission, British Columbia offers a wide range of services, experienced staff and beautiful scenery for your riding pleasure.

If you are more inclined to take in a long weekend, four day trail ride or cattle drive, then perhaps the Sundance Guest Ranch just outside of Ashcroft, British Columbia, or Siwash Lake Ranch located at 70 Mile House, British Columbia, would be more to your taste.

There are a wide range of steeds to choose from depending on your level of expertise, from first time rider, beginner, up to and including seasoned hand. They may not look very big, but the view from the top tells a different story!

The bigger they are...well, the bigger the horse! Not only do you need to find a horse to suit your riding level, you need one that can carry you comfortably. Most women don't have that problem, but men need a strong, solid animal - how would you feel packing around an extra 210 pounds?

This particular excursion was cause for a celebration. This was a birthday ride! Actually, the man-of-the-hour sits a horse pretty well for a greenhorn.

The trails that we enjoyed this time were similar (sorry, but rain forest trails all look very much alike) to the ones we walk on the weekends, but seeing them from the back of a large animal changes your perspective a tad.

The higher we travelled, the taller the trees were, as you can see by these photos.

This picture was taken just before my horse decided to go swimming! It was rather hot that morning, and I really had no desire to take a dip...but my mount had other ideas. Actually, she didn't plan on taking a bath, she lost her footing in the water, which was really quite deep.

Just as our guide finished explaining the perils of crossing this particular body of water, and what to do "if", I got to put her words into practice! We both managed to get to the other side without losing anything, and had a chance to cool off at the same time.

When our ride was finally over, we were taken to a lovely gazeebo where they provided us with wine, water, beer, (our choice) a plate of fresh fruit, cold cuts and crackers, and told to relax and enjoy our stay. It was the perfect topper to a wonderful excursion - one that we will definitely take again...this time without the bath!