"For the first time since about 1980 I rode a horse. Dana and I started at 8.00am at the stable of our friends, Lorelle and Tom, a couple with ten children and about the same number of lovely Arabian horses they have bred and trained themselves. They are the trail managers for the Spruce Creek Preserve, a large and accessible area of river hammock and southern scrub habitat. In places it looks very much like the Central American Rainforests of Belize. I rode a mild tempered, 22 year old mare who was gentle on me. Our hosts were also kind and patient and encouraged me. I took it all in in a rather relaxed approached but remained quite focused and tried to do everything right. The landscape was dry and harsh in places with the thick leaved thorny bushes and hardy scrubs. We twice came across a gathering of dark vultures, first on an armadillo carcass and then on a raccoon body. The first encounter spooked the horses as the birds exploded into the air."

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