Amelia Island is the Florida of days gone by – summer homes along the shore, beaches lined with boardwalks and independent restaurants serving up locally-caught grilled shrimp, seafood chowder and fish tacos you take outside and eat at picnic tables under a canopy. This narrow island, 18-miles (29km) long and three miles (4.8km) wide, is in the northern part of Florida, just south of Georgia and a one-half hour drive from the Jacksonville International Airport.

It’s not the kind of place I thought I’d have three different equine experiences.