San Francisco
We just got back from a birthday trip for my husband in San Francisco. Even though he unfortunately got sick on his actual birthday, we had a great time. Neither of us had been to San Francisco before (I’ve never even been to California!) and we had a great time walking around the unique city.
Since this was obviously several days without Simon or anything hunter/jumper, I thought I’d find horsey things around the city to share with y’all when I got back.
Turns out, there isn’t a ton of horse stuff in San Francisco.
We walked throughout Golden Gate State Park, which is quite beautiful but decidedly un-horsey. There used to be stables but they closed in 2001. What’s left is an “Equitation Field” aka a riding ring that’s overrun with weeds now. Further up the park, there are really pretty stables by the polo field. They have terracotta roofs and look like they were quite nice in their day, but are now closed up and covered in no trespassing signs.
The stables were for polo ponies and the field is behind them. It’s large and grassy and pretty as you might imagine, but now holds soccer matches instead of polo ponies.
Aside from the ghosts of horses’ past in the park, there isn’t much to report. Your run of the mill equestrian statues in a major city.
The human in this statue is a guy named Simon something or other (I don’t really like to read plaques). I decided to pretend that his horse was also named Simon, and that it was a monument to Simon equines everywhere. It worked for me!
Aside from that, I also noticed a pony in the street lamps. And buffalo. And weird Native American things… I didn’t really get it.
The good news is, I went on vacation to relax and spend some quality time with my husband. For that.. mission accomplished! On the horse front, I’m excited to get back to the barn this week and work on my goals with Simon to gear up for our final horse show of the year in late November.
14 thoughts on “San Francisco”
I love SF. You have to go across the bay to Berkeley for horses at Golden Gate Fields:)
Looks like fun! I’ve actually never been either but would love to visit someday 🙂
Oh but the SEAL!! (or sea lion, or whatever…) SO CUTE! I love seals, haha. I want one…I also want that polo place! Looks like it was gorgeous back in its day! Glad you guys had a good trip. 🙂
Sea lions. I’m now obsessed with them. They were by far my favorite part of the trip!
Sounds like fun. I’ve been to San Francisco before and think it is a nice city.
That’s actually kind of depressing- realizing that horses are fading away into the American past 🙁
Sea lions! Cute, even though they are clearly not a horse. I’ve never been to California, either. Glad you had a good time!!
We went to the aquarium at Monterey and found SEA horses 😀
So close and now so far away.
Next time when my husband doesn’t come down with the plague!
Yes next time meeting up is a must! 🙂
Love the pics!
isn’t it funny how you see (or see the lack of) horsey things everywhere you go? Drives my husband nuts sometimes when we spend hours on vacation looking for some horse-associated spot that I MUST see. He did, very graciously, tolerate an entire vacation around the WEG in 2010 though. 🙂
PS- I’d love to have you check out our equestrian bloggers FB group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/153571864852426/
I’ve been steadily reading through your blog’s archive but had to take a moment to comment on something in the past. The buffalo are on light posts because they used to have buffalo in Golden Gate Park. 🙂