Really nice today :) The sun came out and while the ring was still, er, squelchy, it was certainly good enough to walk through, so that is what we did! Rodrigo, Katie, Martin, Alice and I took it in sets to walk all the horses smartly round the ring, working on bending, transitions, lengthening, shortening and halting. I was on Puccini, Benito, Pastrocito and Herodes. By the time we'd finished lunch the glorious sun had dried the ring quite well, so we hopped back on to take out the ones who'd walked in the morning for trot sets. I was on Justinian, Uxmal and Herodes again for the afternoon.
There's some new faces in the barn recently, and I think the guys are having a ball lying to me about what their names are. I was pretty sure that the new guy was named Marco, but when I asked him for a hand with one of the horses today he responded to (what I thought was) his name with, "No es martes, es miercoles," which Walter thought was hysterical. Confused, I asked him what his name was, and with a smile he told me it was Javier. So I called him Javier and Walter laughed every time. Turns out his name is Marco. Apparently leading me wrong has become a game even more amusing than bleating my name at increasingly frequent intervals whenever I walk by. But in the end I got the fly treatment applied to every horse without much fanfare, which, of course, was the goal.
It's Halloween at home but there's really no sign of it here, unless you count the paltry pumpkin stickers that decorated the door of the gas station we visited yesterday. I do kinda miss the parties and I definitely miss raiding Davis' loot for Rockets and Reese's peanut butter cups, but I'm not gonna lie, I had no complaints about my sunny, 23 degrees Celsius Halloween here in Arg...
By the way, I purchased tickets to the Argentine Open this December, and I am so stoked to see some more of the polo down here! My trip has been extended eight days so that my Dad can come down and join me to see some of the horses down here, and of course some of the polo! I am beyond excited. Sometimes it feels like I've been down here forever, and other times I can't believe how fast the time has whizzed by.
I'm really excited that I think I've found a place for my horse when I get home. I've learned so much here and I already feel like a different rider. There's something to be said for riding upwards of five horses a day; you learn more than you ever could with just one or two. I'm not ready to give up this hardwon knowledge, and talking with Katie and Alice had really helped me to become resolved in setting my goals for the future. I know what I want to do, and I am going to make sure that I do it. Sometimes I get in my own way with doubts and second guessing, but not anymore! I miss Haajes a lot and often wish I could have him here. I'm excited to go home and try applying some of what I have learned here with him.
Oh, and it's quite far off still so not a sure thing, but weather app predicts 34 degrees Celsius and sunny on Monday!! Good Lord! I hope it happens so I can say it did!
Having the Internet back is truly blissful :)
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