"You create the lesson"

Well, today was a long and productive day! I find the day goes by really quickly when there’s lots of tasks to do, and so far I’m really enjoying it.  None of the work has been back breaking, which is good—that sort of work can really sap any enthusiasm... but I am enjoying the consistent schedule and the fact that when we’re done, we’re done.

This morning started with riding—I rode Herodes, Mauro, Justinian, Pastrocito and Puccini—and had my first lesson with Martin on Herodes.  It was great, just trotting and cantering over a vertical and correcting my (very pronounced) position flaws.  When I brought out Mauro to lightly hack him, I walked beside Martin as he rode Virtuoso and he told me that when he worked with David O’Connor, they’d start out at a walk together and within ten minutes, David would be twisted in the saddle to talk to Martin over his shoulder, because that’s how efficiently David made his horses march in comparison to Martin’s.  “By the end, I could stay with him the whole time,” Martin finished.  As he said this I realised that Martin was now twisted in the saddle to talk to me—so I urged Mauro’s walk on!

In the afternoon the client from the weekend came to try Herodes, Pierrette and Lion again.  Watching her coach, Tito, get on and school the horses and then proceed to give her a short jump lesson on each horse was an education in itself.  For one thing, I’m getting a better and better impression of how people ride and train here and what they expect from their horses; for another, I’m starting to catch on to some of the Spanish down here, and can loosely follow a conversation! (I think!)  At least, I know the words for the gaits and for lead changes now... a good start?  Watching Martin school Lion over some bigger fences for the clients was also fun.  After the clients left, we finished up the riding (I trotted Benito around) and did the wrapping-up tasks: cleaning tack, watering, sweeping aisles and wrapping the horses that need to be wrapped.

I can’t get over how different the Spanish is here; I suppose it’s somewhat akin to the difference between American English and British English.  The accent is especially different.  Canelo is going to make so much fun of me when I get home and start speaking Spanish like an Argentine...

I'm definitely pretty tired though and looking forward to bed.  Looks like tomorrow should be more of the same, hoping I can step up to the plate!