Why KindEdge Runs Experiments

At KindEdge, we run experiments. Not because every experiment becomes a daily habit or a life transformation, but because every new experience fires your neurotransmitters in a different way, builds new brain connections, opens up new ideas, and puts you in contact with new people and new energy.

You cannot redesign your life from inside the exact same set of experiences you have always had. The new thing is the data. The new thing is the spark. Sometimes it becomes part of your regular toolkit. Sometimes it is a one-time adventure that rewires something in you that you did not know needed rewiring. Either way, you come back with more than you left with.

This experiment was Florida Water Horses, a horseback riding experience in Bradenton, Florida, where the horses go into the water and swim — with you on their back. And it was extraordinary.

Getting There: Over the Sunshine Skyway

The drive itself was part of the adventure. I live in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area, so to get to Bradenton I crossed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge — the iconic, very tall cable-stayed bridge that replaced an older bridge tragically destroyed when a cruise ship struck it in 1980. The current bridge was built much taller and stronger as a result.

I have actually run across the Skyway once, as part of a military fundraiser for veterans. The bridge gets closed and opened up for runners and walkers, and a close friend whose family has military ties invited me. We walked it instead of ran — taking our time, soaking up the views, the height, the people. I cherish that memory and her for inviting me.

Driving across it on the way to the horses, the bridge still feels like a roller coaster. You rise high, then curve steeply back down. From the top, you can see water in every direction.

Florida Water Horses: The Team Behind the Experience

Before I get to the riding itself, I want to say something about the team at Florida Water Horses. They had been through real hardship — health losses within their team that forced them to pause the business for a period. They came back from that and rebuilt, and the warmth and dedication they bring to the experience is palpable.

The ratio is one guide per rider, every time. It is a genuinely labor-intensive operation: guides in the water with the horses, a full farm caring for the riding horses as well as retired horses who are given a home there. The price you pay for the experience does not begin to reflect the work behind it. It is a community, a passion project, and a beautiful one.

The Ride — and the Big Answer

My horse was named Nox. We took to each other immediately. He loves making bubbles in the water, and I started playing along, which delighted both of us. I kept thinking my dog Donovan and Nox would be ridiculous, wonderful friends.

The answer to the question in the title: yes, a horse can absolutely swim while you are riding it. When the water gets deep, the horse's legs transition from walking to full swimming, and you feel the entire motion shift beneath you. Your guide, who was amazing, rode ahead of us through the deep sections in a way that looked like she had done it ten thousand times, feet braced on the horse's chest, completely calm and completely in control.

Riding a swimming horse is one of the strangest and most beautiful physical sensations I have ever experienced. You are in the water, in nature, on a living animal who is completely at home in an environment that surprises you every time.

What Experiments Like This Actually Do for You

Here is the KindEdge lens on why this matters beyond just being a wonderful day.

When you try something genuinely new — not just a variation on something familiar, but something your body and brain have never done — you build new neural pathways. You expand your catalog of what is possible. You encounter new people doing something they love, and that energy is transferable. You come home with a different quality of aliveness than you left with.

This is what the Experiments series is about. Not every experiment becomes a weekly habit. The horseback riding is a toolkit experience, like the float spa, like the cold plunge — something I now know exists in the world and can call on when I need what only it gives. A particular kind of embodied joy, presence in nature, and the specific pleasure of connecting with an animal in a completely unfamiliar context.

You do not know what will feed you until you try it. That is the whole point. Taste test the world. Add the things that nourish you to your toolkit. Leave behind what does not.

After the Ride: A Perfect Low-Carb Reward

After the peaceful drive back over the Sunshine Skyway, I stopped at The Lure in St. Pete for my favorite low-carb meal: naked sushi. If you have not tried it, it is exactly what it sounds like — sushi without the rice, just the fish and fresh ingredients. Fresh, clean, satisfying after a day in the water.

That is the WWHD principle in action. Work hard, play hard, reward yourself specifically and deliberately with something that fits your body and your life.

Go find your experiment. Mine today was riding a swimming horse over the Sunshine Skyway and back. Yours is waiting somewhere, probably closer than you think.

Join me at kindedge.com. It is not going to be easy. But it is going to be fun.