Two Days Adrift

So the Wifi here at the Ranch is still down, and i gotta say, I’m feeling mighty adrift!  Starting to realise just how attached I am to, well, being connected.  And Reddit, of course.  But the past couple of days have also been pretty busy, so that’s kept me interested!  Yesterday the ring more closely resembled a shallow lake, so riding was a no-go.  We rotated the youngsters (and oldsters) on the walker, groomed them all, and cleaned up the barn.  By 12:30 everything was done and we joined Martin, Rachel and a good friend and client of theirs upstairs for a great lunch.  In fact, the lunch just about sated the hankering for a Thanksgiving dinner I’d been experiencing, and I have to admit that I liked the chicken we had even more than I like turkey!  The only thing missing was my family, of course.  Missing them tons. 

It was really fun to swap horsey tales with everyone.  It truly is a really small world—the world in general, certainly, but the horse world in particular!  I feel really lucky that I’ve gotten the chance in my life to enjoy and pursue this incredible, all-consuming passion.  Horses have led me to friendships in my life that I never would have experienced otherwise; they’ve opened up avenues of travel that I might never have considered; and they give me something to dream about every night before I go to sleep.  Meeting other people that feel the same way?  It’s pretty damn exciting.  And I guess the greatest part of this is that it’s not only limited to the horse world.  In any shared passion, shared pursuit, you can find likeminded people that really understand what it is you’re so fussed up about, be it sport or academics or music or anything else.  There’s nothing better than conversation with people who are passionate about the same thing. J

After lunch we watched the video replays of the Olympic show jumping final.  Martin also assigned us some take-home reading for the week!  I’m now reading Centred Riding by Sally Swift, which I had heard of but never had the opportunity to read.  I had a chance to try applying some of her imagery and tips this morning; we walked the horses (forward) on a stretchy rein for twenty minutes in the ring to get them out and help air out the wet footing.  The walking gave me a chance to really focus on my position and how exactly I move with the horse, and to try some of the exercises the book recommends on how you use your eyes when riding.  I was on Benito, Geologo, Cor Lit, Herodes and Boss.  After lunch we cleaned tack, groomed and cleaned up the horses and finished up the chores before making a quick dash to Petrobras before dark so that we could snag some Wifi.  This may become a bit of a tradition for the next while, and I’m not complaining because I had some killer orange juice while I was there!  Sayonara folks.