export_ofoct.com (72)

[00:00.39] John: So Sarah, you talked about competing in a rodeo. Have you done any other sports on horseback?

[00:06.89] Sarah: Yeah. Well, not a sport. I used to have a job, and my job was to take people on horseback into the mountains in Wyoming.

[00:19.38] And it was a really fun job.

[00:21.89] Everyday, we would saddle up, maybe 15 or 20 horses.

[00:28.89] And then we would take beginners, people who had never ridden horses before, and we'd show them how to lead the horses and get on the horses.

[00:39.89] And then, we'd go up into the mountains for two hours or four hours or sometimes all day.

[00:47.14] John: Well, that sounds great.

[00:48.14] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:49.14] John: That was your job?

[00:50.39] Sarah: That was my job, and it was really fun.

[00:54.38] We would walk along these cliffs, and people would get nervous and they'd say,

[01:00.64] "Oh no, isn't my horse going to fall down the cliff?" And I'd say, "No. Your horse doesn't want to fall down the cliff just like you."

[01:08.14] John: Yeah. Right.

[01:09.64] Sarah: And the horses were really good. And to be honest, the horses mostly ignored the people on their backs.

[01:20.39] John: Really?

[01:21.14] Sarah: The horses, they knew the path that we were taking.

[01:24.64] John: Oh.

[01:26.13] Sarah: And sometimes, people would want to do something that's dangerous like go too fast or go a different way.

[01:33.64] And the horses would ignore the people and go the way they're supposed to.

[01:38.64] John: That's probably better.

[01:41.63] Sarah: Yeah.

[01:42.39] John: What about wild animals? You're outgoing on horseback trail rides through the mountains, right?

[01:50.14] Sarah: Yeah. And the area we went through was famous for elk. We saw lots of elk.

[02:00.14] And, you know, where there's elk, there are also the animals that eat elk. So there were mountain lions and bears.

[02:11.39] John: Bears?

[02:12.14] Sarah: I never saw a bear. But I always told the people I was with, I said, "Don't worry guys.

[02:19.39] If you see a bear, you don't have to be faster than the bear.

[02:23.64] You just have to be faster than the slowest horse."

[02:27.63] John: Oh, that's a good one.

[02:30.39] Sarah: Yeah.

[02:31.64] John: Did the visitors like that joke?

[02:34.39] Sarah: They did. They thought it was really funny until I pointed out which horse was the slowest, and then that person got really nervous.

[02:43.14] John: Did you ever see a mountain lion?

[02:46.64] Sarah: I never saw a mountain lion. But one time, the horses were all acting really nervous and they wouldn't go forward.

[02:58.89] And I didn't know why they were acting this way.

[02:59.89] John: Oh.

[03:00.39] Sarah: They refused. And so, I ended up turning around and we went off the trail, and we had to make a big circle.

[03:09.64] John: Really?

[03:10.89] Sarah: And then, later, I found out that there had been a warning, that there were mountain lions in the area. And so, I think that's why the horses refused to go.

[03:20.89] John: Wow. Those horses sound pretty smart.

[03:23.89] Sarah: Yeah. Sometimes in the morning, when we are the first people on the trail, I would see tracks, like wolf tracks or cougar tracks. But I never saw the real animal.

[03:37.64] John: That's probably lucky.

[03:40.14] Sarah: Yeah.

[03:41.14] John: Sounds like you had a really fun time at that job.

[03:43.64] Sarah: Yeah. It was really fun and we were outdoors everyday. That was my favorite part.

[03:50.14] The air was so clean and I loved working with the animals and being in the sunshine. It was great.