Paresh, Ben Theyre's 26-year-old friend from London (shown here with his pinto Marwari mount in India's Thar Desert) visited the United States last May. "Long-distance friendships are easier using Internet services, such as Facebook, Skype, and e-mail," says Theyre.

One sunny afternoon in early April, I was working with my yearling colt, Willy, when Vanessa walked up with great news. "We just got an e-mail from Paresh," she said smiling. "He’s coming to the United States. His schedule permits him to visit us for a week in late May."

"Holy cow! That is great news!" I replied.

When I spoke excitedly, Willy stopped fussing and turned his attention toward me. "Good boy," I said soothingly, gently petting his nose. In his enthusiasm, he wiggled, poked his nose at me, and started to invade my space. I gently swung the end of the lead rope to tap his chest. He got the message, moving a step back and standing quietly.

An Honored Guest
Paresh is our 26-year-old comrade from London who rode the trail with us to Pushkar during our safari adventure in Rajasthan, India, last November. (See Life’s Lessons on the Trail, November/December ’08, January/February ’09, and March ’09.)

Paresh is a partner in his family’s long-standing business, Neil and Palmer of Jermyn Street, which operates a shop in Piccadilly Square. It sells custom-made men’s clothing. When Paresh isn’t watching the shop, he travels the world promoting the business. His dream is to endurance race in the deserts around Dubai.

Paresh had never ridden a horse when he signed up for our eight-day, 125-mile horse safari, so those of us who were more experienced gave him crash course riding basics. He came away from the Indian adventure with a love of horses, decent riding skills, and several new horse friends from the United States and Europe.

The friendship between Paresh, Vanessa, and me grew during the months that followed. Using the Internet, including Facebook and e-mail, our common interest in horses transcended our cultural, ethnic, and generational differences. Today’s communication technologies permitted us to keep in touch, as well as plan his visit to our farm in upstate New York.

When Willy and I continued with our lesson, it didn’t last long. Given the news about our British guest, I couldn’t keep my mind on the task at hand. It showed. As my mind wandered, Willy lost attention, too. When he became fixated on the geldings and his mother calling to him from afar, I knew it was time to end the lesson.

Rather than growling at him, I gently shortened the lead rope and brought him to me. When he faced me, I rewarded him with a carrot. I walked him at my shoulder and released him from class. As he galloped into the pasture, I marveled at his acceleration and speed. As he ran, I watched his bascule, the upward movement of his back. "He has a nice way about him, but needs to be gelded this spring," I thought out loud.

Preparations
When I returned to the house, Vanessa was sitting with her eyes glued to her computer screen asking The Google about places to ride. We both knew we had much work ahead of us to prepare for our guest. We needed more tack to add a third person to our two-rider barn. But searching for appropriate trails was the immediate priority.

"We should try to ride most all of the days he’s here," Vanessa said, looking up from her screen. "I know he’d enjoy the sandy trails in Otter Creek, but we can’t stay there for an entire week. Even at the end of May, nights can get pretty chilly in the North Country. Besides, I know he’ll want to ride in the hills around the Finger Lakes, take some pictures and enjoy a winery or two." Her attention returned to the screen.

The schedule she worked out had us initially riding around the farm to fit tack and acquaint Paresh with his assigned mount, Thunder. Then we’d travel up north to Otter Creek for Memorial Day weekend. Next, we’d ride in our county park and explore the Hi Tor Game Management Area in the hills to our south. It was a nice plan, but we needed one more place near our farm to fill the schedule.

Continuing the online search, Vanessa discovered a trail in our area we never knew existed. It isn’t short or obscure, either. In fact, it’s an 84-mile trail system that stretches from Rochester to the southern tier of New York called the Genesee Valley Greenway (585/658-2569; www.fogvgw.org). There were numerous access points along its span that offered a variety of riding terrain.

In all these years we’ve lived here, I reflected, if it wasn’t for Paresh coming to visit, who knows how long it would’ve taken us to find this trail? You gotta love the Internet.

Saddle Shopping
That solved, tack became the issue. We only had two saddles, my basket-tooled Bob Marshall Sports Saddle (270/988-2684; www.sportssaddle.com) and Vanessa’s brown Sports Saddle with a sheepskin cover. We headed back to the computer.

Vanessa decided to invest some of her hard-earned pay in a third Sports Saddle. Searching Endurance Net (www.endurance.net), e-Bay (www.ebay.com), and several other sites, she found a slightly used saddle similar to mine, but with floral tooling. It was in excellent condition. Through e-haggling, she negotiated the price down to an affordable amount. Paresh could use Vanessa’s brown saddle, and Vanessa and I would be stylish on the trail with "his and hers" tooled Sports Saddles.

Staying Connected
Like Vanessa, the seller was an endurance rider. The two developed a friendship and now share horse stories on Facebook. Such a scenario is common in these days of social networking.

In the same sense, the Internet enabled our friendship with Paresh to easily continue beyond our safari ride. His plan to visit our farm wouldn’t have been so routine even 10 years ago, when the Earth wasn’t connected by the Internet. His excitement about "coming to the United States to ride horses in New York’s Finger Lakes and the Adirondack Mountains" is evident in his Facebook posting and e-mails to us.

No doubt, the Internet has made the world smaller. Making online friends, sharing horse experiences, and learning from others have never been easier. And discovering new training methods and techniques is as easy as typing a subject in a search box. A world of help is now at your fingertips.