“Name 5 farm animals that you’ve ridden?” I would ask people, especially Filipinos, whenever the Philippines was mentioned. More often than not, they could only come up with 4, the max.

“Ha! I have ridden 5, if you ask me!” I would interrupt. “Your Philippine-experience is not complete unless you have ridden all 5!”

Swimming in the *suba and engorging myself with **kulabo were not the only things I looked forward to when visiting our farm in Dorog, Tigbauan, as a kid in the 50s; riding farm animals was first and foremost on my list of thrills.

Being on a pig or goat ride was great fun for a 3-foot tall me. However, I had to wait until the pig was well-fed and its chin rubbed to get it on a riding mood. After several guttural grunts, it would run for a few feet until I fell off. Goats would stay put until I was on top of them. However, I was always careful since they’d dash off and/or they’d gore without any warning. What comforted me was that both the pig and goat were quite short and hence, falling off them meant no broken bones, except for a few scratches and an ear twist from my mother.

I loved ***carabaos. Not only were they quite tame, they moved with such grace and would get from Point A to Point B in their own sweet time. Nonetheless, my legs would hurt being spread wide on the water buffalo’s back. I remember falling on one while it was chewing cud. I was reaching for the ripest fruit on a nearby ****sarisa tree when I lost my balance. Luckily, I didn’t break any bones and only a lingering glance from the carabao.

Now, cows were a different matter altogether. I liked their mooing, but I was unhappy about their bony, narrow backs and their speeding off when easily alarmed. I fell off a cow once when following my cousin on horseback as we went down a steep slope. I was too slow in grabbing the cow’s tail to keep me from sliding off its back. No cow rides for me after that!

Of the 5, I found horse-back riding to be the most exciting. The horse’s pungent smell, neighing, and snorting always had my pulse racing. Our horse was fond of nudging which I found quite heart-warming. I remember riding it with just a burlap sack as a saddle while trotting along the suba and peanut plants on the sandy shore. My barefoot legs tightly gripped the horse’s sides while I ignored the saddle sores that were forming, the creaking noise of bamboo trees, the rustling of the coconut fronds, and the gentle babbling of the suba completing the memorable ride of the day.

I visited Dorog several years ago. I wouldn’t dream of swimming in the river anymore, but visions of my being 3-foot tall enjoying the rides on the 5 farm animals came back in high-resolution and technicolor.

How about you? How many farm animals have you ridden so far?

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*suba = river
**kulabo = fresh, young coconut meat with milk and white sugar
***carabao = water buffalo
****sarisa = Muntingia calabura which bears fruit, an edible berryaboutt