When I woke up on Thursday morning, I didn’t think I would ride the reverse sling shot. Twice. With a horse.
But that’s what happened when I strolled into the Stampede after a hearty pancake breakfast. Within two minutes of my arrival, I somehow ended up strapped into the contraption.
I ventured on to the sling shot — which is known for its thrill of launching up to two people 235 feet into the air at 160 kilometres per hour in 1.8 seconds.
All I can say is the ride lived up to its name. It felt like eternity, but within the promised time, I was high enough to touch the sky — but too scared to try.
The funny part comes when Harry the Horse jumped in beside me, grabbed my hand and braced for the ride. It was his fifth time.
Before I knew it, I was screaming my head off and twirling into the air holding on for dear life.
I am not sure what I was screaming, but I’m sure at one point I said, “What am I doing?”
After a few more spins in the air, we were done almost as quickly as we had started. Just when I thought I could escape, my photographer asked me to do it again. He needed a better photo.
“Oh come on, it’s not so bad, the horse has already done it five times,” the ride attendant prodded me.
OK, fine. How bad can it be? So again I went — and it was actually worse than the first time.
The worst part was watching the video after. I didn’t know I could make those faces and I don’t remember screaming that loudly. Definitely a ride I would do again, but maybe not twice in a row.
