Tuesday, July 24, 2012

July 24th - 8:52pm

Up late watching more Criminal Minds with Alice. Its kind of becoming part of the routine. Very convient that Alice and I like basically all the same things. And both adore Criminal Minds. And microwave cake. But I like Criminal Minds better than cake.
Spent this morning in the saddle and rode Picaro, Buck, Luli, Nixon, Cylene and Jour. Schooled Nixon and Cylene over fences which was definitely interesting. They were very good and my riding was good enough but both have very different jumps for me. Both are slower horses that dont expend a ton of effort over fences. It takes everything I have not to rev the engine really hard when I feel like Im going too slow. But I can go slow as long as I have power under me. Which I had but it makes me crazy not carrying more pace. Which is bad since I dont need more pace just power. The more horses I get on the more I realize how few types I have been on. I was able to stick with their jumps and get to the fences at a nice pace and distance but it just felt weird. Out of my confort zone. This job is definitely pushing me to expand my horizons. And the young horses are also teaching me that as much as Id like to ride to the distance, riding the canter is much more effective. Doesn't matter how many times a trainer tells me that, the horses explain it better every time. Buck, Picaro and Luli are still working one teaching me to ride the hotter horses. One day I will figure out how to manage a hot horse and ride one well as they are my favorites. Especially Luli and Mauro. Id ride either of them any day.
After riding we grabbed a quick lunch (empanadas!!!) then drove an hour up the road to a farm that trains cart horses. Martin has a client looking to buy a cart, all the accessories and a matched pair of horses to drive. So we went and saw some very chunky draft types. We went on two cart rides around the property trying out the pairs. The owner drove some and Martin drove some. I was dying to but maybe another day. Love horse drawn carriages. We tested their walk, trot, turn and woah abilities. I liked the first team the best which also happened to be the youngest (only 3 years old!) but the second team was very nice as well. I took video of the teams working and tons of pictures as well.
After we went into the owners garage and saw a lot of the carts/buggies/carriages he owns. Some were super ornate herses while others were very small, simple doctor's buggies. His house was full of driving things as well. Another carriage, bits, harnesses, bridles, saddles and tons of antiques. It was one of the coolest places Ive been in Argentina for sure. And he was a very interesting guy. Spoke a little english but was very nice and obviously loved what he did. Anyone who carries their old, fat, arthritic lab into and out of the cart so he can go out with the rest of the dogs that follow the cart is good in my book. Anyway, the pictures show the place far better than I can describe and the pictures so do not begin to capture how cool it was.
After Alice and I came home to dinner, hanging out, studying spanish and Criminal Minds. Great end to a great day.






































No comments:

Post a Comment