From what I remember, the air was as crisp ast the satisfying crack of a rice cracker breaking cleanly in half. My eight year old fingers clutched each other eagerly - that is when they weren't galloping on the side of the rear passenger door of my parents' lime green Citroen, or as I liked to call it because it lifted up on the axles upon ignition, the airplane car. My hands looked comically small coming out of the puffy green sleeves of my winter coat, which swished like two sheets of aluminum rubbing together when I moved. My galloping fingets moved faster as we approached the stables - and I was already running the routine through my mind - greet the teacher, get equipment, get Joyeux (my favorite horse at the camp), saddle him up, get ready, get on board and get ready to go on the trail. 

My first indication of something amiss should have been when I found a horse already saddled for me, and this horse was not Joyeux. In fact, It was Tatiana, a beautiful chestnut mare that had an equally beautiful temper, and although I had already worked with her before, I was not too eager to go on a forest trail ride with her. Alas, a slight inner whimper is where my tiny voice could take me, and before I knew it, I was saddled up and ready to go. Although I was nervous with Tatiana, I was confident in my skills, and very much ready to tackle the hills, branches, turns, and speeds involved in this trek. My teacher, who rode ahead of us as a group, had an equal amount of confidence and thus placed me with riders whose age and skill was a bit more advanced than mine. 

The trail was a beautiful, naturally carved out path amidst the woods in Fontainebleau, and the path proved to be rocky, but not too difficult to handle. We set out past the camp and deeper into the woods, passing families, other hikers, and some animals along the way. The trail itself was laden with rocky formations, as is natural in those woods with roots from trees curling over, under, and around them. From the horse's eye view, it was truly remarkable - a entire universe existing at my feet - mountains and valleys and hills for ants that to me were just a footstep. I looked up from admiring the path to set the trail straight...and

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