May 17th - 6:45pm

Another full day riding! Ive given up on keeping up with who I ride or get on during the day. Usually in the morning I get 4-6 full rides in then in the afternoon I may have more full rides or just warm horses up for Martin. Today was one of those days since we had clients coming from the US. I get on and start the ride while Martin canters and jumps the one before it. Then we switch and he gets on mine while I walk his horse out/take it back to the barn for the guys. Then I get on the next one in the hotwalker and start again. Rapid fire horse riding. Its different from anything Ive done before but I love it. Just climb on whatever someone hands you and figure it out. Sometimes specific instructions go with a horse. Sometimes not. Or in the case of National today instructions came in the form of hand signals from Martin while he drove the tractor working on the ring.
Rodrigo and I had a lesson on Pastrocito and Herodes today. Grid with with a little bit of course stuff. Its really interesting and rewarding how Martin can say to fix one thing or do something different and suddenly the horse is doing what it needs to. Today was a continuation of moving my hips back to slow the horse off the ground and in the air. Hard to explain but Herodes (like Lion in my first lesson) jumped far better when I did it right and jumped out of the deeper spots easier. Martin's a fantastic teacher of the horses and riders. He's patient consistent and fair. Even with the horses and riders who are a total pain in the neck and would rather not listen. And Rodrigo bit the ground today off Pastrocito. According to Hernan he owes something now. Either money or food. Or money for food. Im still trying to understand him. But I did realize I understand more than I think I do sometimes. I just don't realize it because it doesn't make sense. Like today I asked David for the controler for the gate. Asked him in spanish and he gave it to me. Then said I bought bread today! I thought I was totally misunderstanding him until Rodrigo started trying to translate. No idea why buying bread (and dulce de leche for the bread) was so important to tell me but it was.
Tonight we were suppose to watch the Tatabra horses free jump but a protest on the highway meant the 45 min drive into the city took 3 and a half hours on back roads and in traffic. Managed to be right on time to dinner at Rachel's friends house. He and his new jack russel puppy Pampa were a ton of fun. Very interesting guy but very fun. And we ordered pizza. Which was way different then pizza like I think of. They were rectangular and flat with cheese on it then toppings. One had tomatos and ham and the other had lettuce type veggies and slices of red stuff on it. No idea what it was but both were great. Trying new food has been a trip here but enjoying it so far!