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I’m back, eh?

Title says it all! I got into Winnipeg at 10:30pm on Wednesday and was welcomed by lots of snow. Good thing Leah and my mom brought my boots!

The first thing I did upon clearing customs in Vancouver was get Tim Hortons- as any self respecting Canadian would. I’ve had Tim’s almost every day since- due to trips to Winkler to get my phone and computer sorted. Phone is unfixable, so guess where my first pay cheque is going! Computer (the one with all my pictures) needs a new harddrive. We’re hoping my pictures can be salvaged- or at least that’s what the tech told me. He might just not have wanted to see me burst into tears. Either way- nobody gets to see my pictures for a little while longer, including me!

The thing I’ve found the weirdest since being back is not the snow, or seeing everybody again, it’s the driving. I didn’t realize how used to the left I got until we were driving out of the airport parking lot. Seriously throws me for a loop. Hence why I’ve been banned from driving for a little while. Other then that, absolutely nothing is different. That I’ve found yet anyway. I guess I expected that though, I mean, Carman isn’t a very exciting place on the best of days. My friend Katie probably has the best quote on how exciting it is here.. She came to see me on Thursday evening and after a good 5 minutes trying to come up with something new to tell me, this is what she said..”There was no dog sledding at blizzard fest this year.. cause there was no snow.”. Whoa. I know.

My horse is quite pudgy, and fuzzy. I haven’t seen him with this much hair.. ever. As usually he’s blanketed in the winter and by this time of year clipped for fair. He has quite a lot of muscle to gain back, and I’m pretty ready to get back on him and get going. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I can for a while- at least until we know when I have surgery. I’m feeling great right now, and I’m sure I could do some riding- and if the put me on a big waiting list, it’s going to be very hard to stop me. I saw a local doctor yesterday, who has referred me to a surgeon who is to call me early next week to set up an appointment, then I might find out how long I’ll have to wait for a surgery date. This is going to drive me nuts!

I don’t really have any other interesting news at the moment. So I’ll stop here until I have either some pictures to post, or something riveting for you to read.

Cheers!

Pain in the Ass Part 2

Alright, so where was I.. Dr. Rennie. Right.

I think here’s the point where I should point out that my flight home was booked for March 7- which is this Wednesday (Surprise!). I’d been keeping this a secret- which no longer is a secret due to all these recent events.

It was decided that this was indeed a Pilonidal Cyst, and would need surgically removing. So Dr. Rennie gave me two options- which weren’t really options- 1- we could go to theatre and do the surgery asap, which would mean I would be staying put for 2 weeks at least- more likely 6 weeks or more- or we could go the conservative route first, and see if that clears up the problem enough for me to fly home and do surgery there- still having me on the surgery list just in case things went bad or didn’t imnprove. What do you think I chose. So, what came next? Rennie and her intern Nathan trying to get as much of the gunk out as they could. Definitely one of the most painful things I’ve ever been through, but they got almost all the pus and whatever else out. But in Dunedin I stayed for 2 nights. Dunedin and I do not have a great relationship.. first my hair.. now this? Really? The next morning I was examined yet again by Dr. Rennie, and a higher up surgeon, and their interns. I felt like I was in Grey’s Anatomy! There was interns scribbling furiously in charts around my bed, and surgeons having heated discussions about what to do next. Unfortunately none of them looked even close to McDreamy or McSteamy. So that was disappointing.. It was decided, on Sunday morning that they would insert the tip of a sterile glove into the small opening in the cyst to keep it open, and draining what was left inside- and I was to stay one more night to be observed. My antibiotics were switched to oral now so thankfully I got to have the line taken out of my elbow. I felt so much better after that was out.

I should also mention that dear Marie and her sister Bern stayed with me through all of this. After driving me to Dunedin and getting me settled in they stayed the night at a rellys, and came back to visit me the next day. They went back to Alex that evening, and Marie packed my bags and brought them to me this morning (Monday) so that I would be ready to go, if and when, I got permission to continue on with my scheduled flights. They basically adopted me as their own, which I am so grateful for! I’m also very glad I wasn’t in some random hostel, by myself, when I started passing out and what not. That would have really sucked!

So I hung out in Dunedin for another night, treated very well by the nurses who were all lovely. Going on extreme diets. Since I was on hold for surgery, and nobody ever knew what was going to happen within 24 hours.. I was usually not allowed to eat or drink from midnight on. Usually I got something around 11am each morning, after the decision was made- but then it started all over again. Annoying! But the next night passed, and Dr Rennie came again this morning and gave me the very awesome news that she thought I’d be able to make my flights! So the discharge process started and before I knew it I was out (it felt soooo goood not to be stuck in bed and walking around for the first time in 4 days) and at Dunedin airport purchasing a $325 ticket for a 45 minute flight to Christchurch, where Lindy picked me up. Better then sitting on a bus for 6 hours… 45 minutes was painful enough. Which raises the question of how 14 hours would go over. Not well. This is why we’re hoping that we’ll be able to upgrade my flight to business class so I can lay down for majority of the time.

So that’s been my week. But I’m very happy to be coming home, on time. Even though I’m disappointed that I don’t get to really surprise people anymore.. and that I have to have surgery. Kinda upsets all my plans.. for everything. But I’m feeling much healthier now then I was a few days ago- antibiotics are magic. I haven’t had to rely on painkillers much. Which is good, cause I hate hate hate them. But I’m well stocked up for if I do need them.

Tomorrow morning I get on a flight to Auckland- where I’ll meet up again with my family there, repack and get on a plane on Wednesday evening for Vancouver!!!! I arrive in Vancouver around 12pm Wednesday, and then Winnipeg at around 10pm Wednesday. So time is standing still for me. That will surely be lots of fun!

What have we learned from this? Travel insurance is a very worthwhile investment…

Pain in the Ass (literally) Part 1

Ookay, so long time no post- but I’m sure you’re used to that by now. I at least have something interesting to post this time, no pictures..thankfully.

I don’t think I mentioned this in my previous post, but I guess about on Monday this week I started getting really bad pain in my tailbone area. I hadn’t done anything traumatic- so I was a bit confused as to why this was occurring. At this point I was in Queenstown staying in a dingy hostel. I figured it must just be from spending hours and hours on buses (which I’m sure didn’t help anyway). I would rate this pain at about an 8 or 9 out of 10. Definitely the worst pain I’ve ever had- and if you know me, you know I’m decently accustomed to pain. Anyway, although I was a little concerned- I wasn’t about to not go out to Milford Sounds (10 hrs on a bus sucked), and hoped it was just bruising and would subside in a few days. Well, a few days passed- which brings my location to Alexandra at the lovely Marie and Ken’s place. By Wednesday, since I don’t usually carry painkillers with me, I had bought some nurofen (ibuprofen). This had little to no effect. By Friday nothing had improved, at all, so I finally decided to find a doctor. I was getting concerned because not only had the pain maintained for a week- it was constant pain. Usually if it’s a muscle thing, certain movements will make it worse, etc. But this was constant. Didn’t matter what I as doing, it was excruciating. So, went to Dr. Norman at the local family clinic. He did a quick look and decided it was a pilonidal cyst, and gave me some antibiotics and stronger pain medication. So off I trotted with my prescription. I started the antibodies as soon as I got home to Marie’s. Really not feeling too hot. So I spent the evening curled up on the couch. Later on, about 9, I got up to get another antibody pill from my room. I made it to my room, got the pill, but noticed as I went to leave my room I was feeling a little faint. Then my vision went. Then my ears started ringing. Then I was kneeling. Me, being me, figured I just needed a glass of water. So I got myself up and went to the kitchen. Where I completely failed at getting water. By this point I remember thinking, okay, this isn’t good, go get someone. So I started walking towards the living area. Still having no vision, or balance, I promptly walked into a wall, and proceeded to pass out. This got Ken’s attention- who quickly jumped up and exclaimed some words not appropriate for wordpress, and put a pillow under my head and got me back to reality. He got me up and almost as soon as I was up again, the whole thing started over. So we sat me down and called the doctor I’d seen earlier. Thank goodness for small towns! We met him back at the clinic where he reassessed me and decided that I might be a little septic, hence the fainting. Thus began my first night in hospital. Dunstan hospital took very good care of me, and it being a small hospital I got my own room too! After being assessed by another doc, having a line put in my arm (in the stupidest place, the only vein he could find was in my elbow), having that arm splinted so I couldn’t bend it, having IV antibiotics, and given some very strong painmeds, I was down for the night. I can’t say I slept great, because I hate painmeds. I can feel the exact moment they kick in, and wear off. So that caused a lot of me being wide awake.

The next day I was seen by yet another doctor, who found that the cyst had begun leaking a little bit-not a lot- as the hole was very small. Here came the decision (not really a decision, more like “you’re going, now”) to move me to Dunedin hospital. Marie and her sister Bern were more than happy to transport me themselves, and set up the car like a mini ambulance, as I couldn’t sit. So I had the seat reclined and full of pillows. I was pretty dopy the whole ride- but my pain at this point was down to 3 or 4 as some of the pressure had been relieved. Upon arriving at Dunedin, I was assessed again by a surgeon, Dr. Rennie.

To be continued…….

Greymouth/West Coast

Glaciers, Lakes, and Mountains- Oh my!

What an amazing week!

It started out quite dreary and grey coming on the train from Christchurch to Greymouth. Actually it stayed pretty gross the whole two days I spent in Greymouth. Made for some pretty cool sea shots though, here’s a preview. I’ll upload more later on!

I left Greymouth on Thursday and headed down the coast to Franz Josef. A very quaint little mountain town- it basically exists to cater to the tourist who come in to see the Glaciers. Me, being one of them. I did the full day Franz Josef Glacier hike on Friday. Probably one of the single most physically exhausting things I’ve ever done- but also one of the most amazing. This is definitely a must do for anybody travelling in New Zealand. Before we even got onto the Glacier itself, we were surrounded by huge moutains with waterfalls coming down from everywhere and a beautiful glacial river to one side. It looked like Avatar, with a giant chunk of ice in the middle. Then after climbing past the terminal face of the Glacier, we strapped on our spikes (crampons) and started trekking up the ice- using ice stairs carved by our guide. It was quite rainy during our ascent. So rainy infact it managed to kill my phone which was wrapped in plastic, twice, and wrapped in two sweaters in a backpack. Although the weather was disgusting- it was still absolutely breathtaking to be surrounded by such a huge natural force. Everyonce in a while you’d hear what sounded like thunder- this was ice breaking off underneath the glacier and falling into the river of melt water and rain. When we reached as high as we could safely go that day, and turned around, the clouds all of a sudden (literally within a minute) disappeared and the sun came out. This turned the ice into a brillaint field of sparkling turquoise and crystal. Again, absolutely breathtaking. After we made our way back to the base, I enjoyed a lovely complimentary soak in the hot pools and then settled into my nice warm bed at the hostel and slept quite soundly. I have lots of pictures, but no way of uploading them so you’ll just have to wait!

After spending the next two days wandering aimlessly around Franz Josef- I hopped on a bus to Queenstown. This is definitely one of the best 6.5 hour drives I’ve ever seen. The scenery was unbelievable. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome it was. Basically watch Lord of the Rings, then watch Avatar, and then combine the epicness of the scenery in those two films- and you’ll come close to having a good idea of what I saw. I got into Queenstown at about 8pm that night, and was immediately in love with the place. I also immediately regretted my decision to not spend too long there. Before seeing it I figured that it was just a tourist town, with not much to it. And, to be fair, it is just a tourist town. But it’s so adorable! And the views you can get from just standing anywhere are incredible. Surrounded by the Remarkables and on the edge of the lake- Queenstown provides even the brokest of travellers with sights of a lifetime. My first evening there, after dropping of my bags (at a less then mediocre hostel- “Base” hostels are kinda grody. Avoid.), I headed down to the lake front to just explore. There was people from all over the world, all ages, all backgrounds, just hanging out enjoying life. I sat on the beach and listened to a busker called “The Piano Man” while watching the paragliders float down and land on the sand. The scene I was looking out on as the sun sunk behind the mountains over the lake? The same scene you see in the Lord of the Rings movies when Bilbo sails away into the sunset. Literally. Same place. Magical. The next morning came bright and early and I was on a bus out to Milford Sounds. It was a very long day- over 10 hrs on a bus, and 2 hrs on a boat- but, oh man, so worth it. The drive down (5 hrs) took us through Fjordlands National Park. Once you get out of Te Anau, on the way, you see the last of the farms and civilisation drift away and you’re left in the middle of stunning mountains and valleys. Completely beautiful, and I hope to one days see it in the winter as it would be equally as stunning covered in snow. We drove though thick native beech forests, through huge valleys and even through a mountain in a very long tunnel. I hate tunnels. They always sketch me out. Didn’t help that we had just been informed that this area has over 1000 earthquakes per MONTH. Nonetheless, as you come out of the tunnel you’re posed with fantastic views of the valley as you go down switchbacks towards Milford Sound. Worth the 5 minutes of darkness, I’d say. Once we got to Milford, we were loaded onto a boat and taken on a cruise around the Sound. Again. Avatar + LOTR. That’s the best way for me to describe it without pictures (which are coming soon). We got back into Qtown at 8:30pm and it was time for me to try the world famous Fergburger. If you’ve never heard of it. Google it. It is everybit as amazing as people say. I made a complete mess of myself in the process of eating it. But it was so good, I couldn’t form thoughts, other then “oh my good god”. It’s definitely a must do for everybody before death. It fixes all problems. Kay, maybe not all problems. But it’s a damn good burger. After that, to further my fat intake for the day, I got some gelatto and watched the stars come out over the lake.

This morning I got a bus and headed to Alexandra- where I am currently. Still not sure what I’m going to do for the next while. Haven’t made any more travel plans- I might just hang out here for a bit and visit with the family that’s here and in Christchurch before heading back north. Much cheaper this way too. Saves lots for me to see for next time I’m this side of the world 🙂

Money in Money out

Phew. Got most of my organizing and booking done today- up to next tuesday that is where my planning has stopped for the moment.

As mentioned before, I went out to Waimate for a few days to meet and stay with Esme Elliot. She gave me a tour of the town (complete with showing me where everyone of importance lived), which is a bit smaller than Carman, took me out to the old Elliot farmstead, and kept me entertained by taking me to her Woman’s Society meeting, and on visiting rounds with other long lost family members. I drank lots of tea, and made lots of small talk- but it was great to meet more rellys.

I spent this past weekend working at a horse show for Tessa Williams (pictures will be up shortly). She and her mom were very pleasant, and it was very nice grooming for people who appreciated your help. She had 4 horses, two in the 7 yr old division, one grand prix horse, and another who didn’t end up competing that much as the first day he gave himself a pretty nasty puncture wound from overreaching. Never seen an overreach that bad. It was quite deep. I slept in my little one person (see picture in next post) tent beside the horse truck and stables, so the melody of horses kicking walls, and NZ’s bird chorus sang me to sleep and woke me up each morning. My tent is so tiny that I can’t really lay straight in it. I always have to be curled up at an odd angle in order to fit. Plus, all the pegs have been bent out of shape by the previous owner- so pegging it down is near impossible. Thankfully there were no strong winds, and the rain held off until the last day. My days were much the same, I fed the horses at 6:30am and then mucked out, watered, walked, and put studs in, and plaited if needed- usually around 8am Tess was either up or texting me with further instructions. On Sunday I let myself sleep in until 7am, as we didn’t have any classes until later in the day. Once competition commenced, I basically spent the rest of the day tacking up, walking to the ring, holding, watching, holding, bringing horses back, getting another horse, and repeat. Pretty relaxed compared to the crazy days we had working at shows for LC when there were 10 horses on the go each day. For three days of work, I got $200. Not bad! That plus the $600 I got from Airhill have pretty much been used up on this week travels. But boy have I got some awesome things planned! Here’s what I’ve got!

Tuesday (Feb 21) I take the train from Christchurch to Greymouth. Said to be one of the worlds greatest train rides- it travels through some gorgeous scenery. That experience (one way) costs me $110. Sure I could take the bus and cut that cost by about thirty bucks, but I’m going to be doing the bus thing for the rest of my trip- so I think I’ll avoid the squished seats, blurry finger/head printed windows, chatty asian tourists, and the awkward guy who headbangs and sings along to his death metal.

I’ll spend two nights in Greymouth ($48 in Noah’s Arc Backpackers). There are rumoured to be some very nice walks and hikes in that area- plus it’s right along the coast. Plus the hostel I’m staying at provides free bikes to use while staying, bonus! I’d love to get up to Punakaiki park, where the “Pancake” rocks are. It’s about 40 minutes up the coast, but unless I can find some cheap transport I might have to skip that (save it for next time:))

On Thursday (Feb 23) I bus to Franz Josef ($40). On the Friday I’m doing something awesome. I’ve booked a full day Franz Josef Glacier guided trek. A must see of NZ. We spend the day hiking up to the glacier, and then climbing up and through the glacier before returning to have a dip in the hot glacier pools. Everyone I’ve told about this has told me “not to fall down any cracks”. Clearly they know me well. I’ll stay in Franz Josef at the Chateau Franz for 3 nights ($72). One night longer then I’d likd, but the bus service doesn’t run on Saturdays for some odd reason and to use the other bus service was going to cost me an extra $50. NO thank you. My hostel comes with a free spa pool and free soup and popcorn so I’m sure it won’t be too hard to stay an extra day. Normally I wouldn’t be this excited about free soup and popcorn (okay maybe I would) but when travelling on my budget, any extra food is absolutely a god send.

On Sunday (Feb 26) I bus to Queenstown ($33), where I’ll stay for 2 nights ($44). On Monday I’m partaking in a scenic day trip out to Milford Sounds ($121) – which includes a 2hr cruise around the sounds. After Queenstown I’ll bus to Alexandra ($15), on Tuesday (Feb 28) where I’ll meet up once again with Marie and Ken, do some laundry, and enjoy a unshared room. This is where I’ve stopped planning. I haven’t quite decided if I’ll go down to Invercargill. I very much want to, but it’s going to cost me $80 in bus tickets so I’ll have to decide if it’s worth it. I also need to decide if I want to go up to the top of the South island to Nelson area. Oh well, one day at a time. At the rate I’m going my bank account might make that decision for me!

Helloooo South Island

Lindy and Jude Elliot were waiting for me along with this gorgeous NZ super star, Richie McCaw- the All Blacks Captain! Could not let him walk away without stopping him to say hi, of course. Which I’m sure he gets a lot seeing as he’s kinda famous and all that. Really cool to meet him after watching him lead his team in such an awesome World Cup! Plus we have very similar hairstyles! Never thought I’d be able to say I have the same hair as a rugby player.. But life moves in mysterious ways- evidently!

Quick News

So I decided earlier this week to stay at Airhill for a few more days. Originally we were leaving for Wellington this past Monday, but due to a lack of funds on my travelling partner’s side of things.. That didn’t happen. As I’m pretty anxious to get travelling as I only have a few weeks left- I’m busing to Wellington on Saturday, and then flying to Christchurch later that night where I’ll visit/rely on family hospitality (again) with Esme Elliot and one of her daughters, Lindy. They sounded very nice on the phone! Next weekend I’ve lined up a job working as a groom for a grand prix rider at a Christchurch show. They needed some last minute help and I’m always in favour of some extra cash. After that I’m not sure what’s happening. I’m supposed to meet back up with Hannah and Niamh whenever they get over to the South but as usual, I’m just going to plan as things happen. I’ve learned that (especially with my luck) there’s not much point planning too much ahead as usually (always) it doesn’t work out to said plan. Going with the flow like a champ over here!
As for work. Still loving it. Well, mostly. I think it’s fantastic to be in the saddle again.. Unfortunately my knee does not. My back is perfectly fine- its loving it actually. However, it got to the point where I didn’t even ride today because of my knee. One of my last good joints! Ah! Probably does not help that I’m riding 3-5 horses per day.. Most of which are very strong race horses.. Not easy rides. Tomorrow is my last day and I’ll have 5 horses needing exercise so I’ll pretend it doesn’t hurt to move my knee (while trotting for 4 hours.. Good luck with that!). By the way, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to ride a race horse at full speed… I can tell you now.. It’s flipping terrifying. I guess it’s because I’m not a jockey (clearly, look at me) and I’m very much used to training the run out of horses, not letting them run. Although I have noticed something when I’m riding these horses. As terrifying as the situations are, I never actually feel scared. I mean.. There is a voice inside my head screaming “what the hell are you doing, you should be curled up in a ball whimpering in fear at even the idea of this.. Etc etc” but clearly that voice has been locked deep deep inside by years of riding and training myself to not be nervous or scared when on a new horse or in a difficult situation, because I legit feel nothing and I keep on riding just the same as if I was on a leisurely hack. I could just be insane. A little of both? Most likely.
Anyway that’s basically all that’s new here in this earthquake ridden country. Apparently a lot of the regular grooms that go to the south shows are refusing to go due to the fact that there is at least one earthquake a day there. Leave it to the crazy broke traveller to head right on over!
Oh and a you can see in the picture, my hair is growing fast! Tonight we’re out on the town for a Bob Dylan tribute concert in Napier, and Chinese buffet. I also made cheesecake today.. And have become addicted to toast. There is a reason I don’t bother with diets, food is just too awesome.
I’ll stop writing now as its getting pretty random.
Cheers!

Trust

“Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something”

It’s something almost everybody struggles with at one point in life. Something that’s so hard to gain, but can be lost in a split second. As a rider, I’ve learned many times how much trust can have an influence on results. It’s often a deciding factor between success and disaster in our sport. As much as any team needs to be able to trust one another completely, horse and rider have to have the same connection.. Except without words.
Something I knew before, but am very aware of now, is how much every horse varies. Just like people, horses have very distinct personalities. Some will be easier to build a partnership with, while others will be standoffish for quite a while before you really get to know them.
When I first began riding, I was put on a big black beauty named Otis. My first ride on him was bareback, being led around the back pasture at Bluebear. Not long after that you could find the two of us galloping across fields chasing geese. He was the first horse I trusted completely. That being said its much easier to trust when you’re 7 years old and have absolutely no fear. Nonetheless we formed that special partnership that all equestrians will know of.
I’ve been through many horses since Otis. Washington, my mom’s horse, and I never quite got past the despising each other part. Monty, the loveable little appy who took me to my first provincial show and taught me oh so much about staying in the saddle before and after jumps. Then there came Flash, a chestnut mare who very much lived up to the stereotype of chestnut mares. Flash and her previous owner had been in the same 4H club and teams as I had (with Monty) for a few years and we’d seen Flash win everything in site, as well as be a complete bitch here and there too. When we bought her, we knew she had issues- but what horse doesn’t? This beautiful girl became my closest friend and my worst enemy depending on the day. She was a horse that was hard to trust, I can’t lie. We had some pretty rocky days. But the relationship we built was rock solid. She took me to many wins and taught me almost everything I know about trust, and how to handle chestnut mare syndrome. Unfortunately she developed some soundness problems in the last couple years I owned her, which made competing much more of a touch and go scenario. Eventually it became painfully (literally) clear that she was sick of the show routine and was ready for the next part of her life. She enjoyed demonstrating this by bucking, rearing, and playing games in the middle of classes. Our last show together was Carman Fair 2010 where we had a less than ideal show, which ended with her rearing, me bailing, landing very hard on my shoulder- ripping my favourite show shirt, and the judge finally looking our way. Since selling her was too hard and we wanted to know who would own her, she was traded back to her original breeders- who still remembered her as the first horse who ever made them money in the show ring (she was 2nd in the ’97 50/50 futurity). In return we got Felix, and the right to one more of their foals.
In comes Willard. Another horse who it took me a long time to build trust in. It took so much to get him to where he is today (or where he was in August of last year anyway). I grew up a lot in the process. In order to build trust, you first have to have confidence enough in yourself to build your horse’s confidence. This was the case with Will. He needed me to be the confident one as he was as timid as a mouse. You’ll find a lot of horses are this way, especially green horses. If you knew me when I was younger, you’d know that I wasn’t the most confident. As I got older and more involved in athletics, theatre, and progressed in my riding, this changed of course. And it got easier to ride Will- and thus Will began to grow up too- becoming what he is now.
When you really think about it, it takes so much trust to do what we riders do. Hopping on a 1100lb plus animal and expecting it to listen to you let alone jump around a course of big obstacles sounds insane to a lot of people. But personally, and I know many will agree, I could not imagine doing anything else. The past few days I’ve been exercising race horses at an extended trot around the pastures of Airhill farm. These thoroughbreds are all on average about 16.3 or bigger and are some of the best race horses/ jump race (steeplechase) horses in New Zealand. Galloping up steep inclines is at its best a little terrifying but I’ve found that I’m absolutely in love with it. Every muscle in my body is sore and tired, and I’m way past the point of exhaustion. But I’m still saying yes to another ride out and smiling as the horse races up the hill on the way to the work out trail. In this kind if situation you have to be able to build the trust quickly. You don’t have months or years to build a relationship. You have seconds, maybe minutes, to trust the horse you’re on and establish a confidence. As I said earlier, each horse is different. Yorkie, one horse I exercise, is quiet and likes to know I’m there with him, and needs more contact on the reins.. While King is quite hot to start out, will not stand still and needs a more relaxed contact to relax himself. All these little things need to be picked up on quickly if you’re going to have a successful ride.
I’m getting pretty excited to get home to my own horse, as much as I love riding all these talented horses in this beautiful landscape- there’s nothing quite like that feeling when you’re on a horse you have that special bond with. I’m sure Willard will present me with some new challenges, as he’s become quite the spoiled brat in my absence. I’ve gotten myself back in shape, now it’s hammer time for Mr.Willard. Poor guy. His leisurely days of lazy life are nearly over!

Timing is everything

We had the most amazing thing happen to us today!

I’ve joined Hannah and Niamh, two grooms I worked at LC with, and we’re road tripping about. Our strategy is to stay in a campsite one night, and then sleep in our car for a couple nights. We slept in our car last night. This car is not a big car. It’s a small ’89Toyota corolla, and it’s stuffed full of all our stuff. We are quite the site when we finally all get tucked in. I originally started out in the driver’s seat, but after getting stuck between the steering wheel a few times I switched Niamh (who is the size of a pixie stick) for the back. Which was quite alright if I stuck my legs out the window.

Anyway, today! We lined up a temporary job at racing barn, with trainer Paul Nelson, and due to bad directional skills/common sense got there an hour late. Nevertheless, we went straight to exercising the steeplechasers up, down, and around the rolling hills. The views were absolutely spectacular, and it was so much fun! I missed riding a good thoroughbred, and it’s a great work out too! The horse I was riding, Yorkie, was at least 17hh. I’ll try to get some pictures of the view tomorrow. Pretty much imagine the best landscape you’ve ever seen and quadruple it. Even better from the back of the horse. Almost better then the riding, we’ve been given beds and so far lunch AND dinner. Oh and showers. For homeless people like us this is huge. Plus we’re getting paid. I wish I found this 6 months ago!
We’re planning on staying until Sunday and then moving on to Wellington. Based on today, if I didn’t want to see the South Island before I left I’d be tempted to take up Paul’s full time offer.
They fed us lamb roast with delicious veggies and wine for supper. Such nice people! Tomorrow Hannah and I are the only two working so we’ll be off our feet riding out horses all morning. It will be exhausting, but so much fun I’m sure. I actually feel like I’m finally in decent shape again- after handling today’s work out quite well while a few others were pretty breathless after a few laps of the valley. My legs are a big jelly like now, though- which is fair enough as I haven’t ridden in so long- especially not at this intensity. But I’m loving it!
I have lots of pictures from the past few days here in Napier, which I promise I will post ASAP. I just need to find the energy to edit them- which I do not have right now. This lovely bed is calling me and after about a week sleeping on solid ground and in cars.. Well.. This is basically a 5 star hotel.
Here are a few pics from Parachute though!