My daughter Maeve rode Izzy, a chestnut brown teenager. I followed closely behind on Summer, a horse with a slightly darker coat and a hankering for roadside grass.

Just to see what would happen, I foolishly made the little "click, click" sound with my tongue on the roof of my mouth and gave a slight kick to Summer's sides as they do in the movies. Amazingly, it worked. She responded with a trot. Not so amazingly, the trot seemingly chipped away at my ass bone – slamming me hard against the saddle with each excruciating gallop. (READ MORE)