November 19th - 9:41pm

Typical Monday at the farm today. Everyone but the horses that showed Saturday went out for a nice hack. Nothing terribly challenging. Just a get out, get moving, remind them about transitions ride for each of them. I was on Picaro, Puccini, Holandesa, Pastrocito, Boss and Cor lit. I feel like there was one more but since I cant remember who its probably just a figment of my imagination. And it was a bit of a hotter day today so everything felt like way more work than it was. Not my favorite weather but since I know its only going to get warmer trying not to think about it. Summer isnt even until December 21st!
We finished up riding before lunch though and spent the hottest part of the day inside the barn. Shortening manes, helping the guys and getting the day wrapped up. Since we did a ton of manes/noses/ears one rain day a bit ago. Now, a few weeks later, theyre all growing out at about the same time. All of a sudden almost every horse in the barn is starting to look like a mountain pony (maybe not truly like a mountain pony; theyre incredibly hairy!). Some got trimmed up for the show at Equus and the Aleman but with 35 horses, those couple feel like barely a dent! Well be doubling timing it in the afternoons to get everyone back looking spectacular!

November 17th - 8:42pm

KLast day of a long week. Got up early and packed up Nixon, Justinian, Virtuso and Benito to go to a schooling show at the Aleman. As usual, my job was getting on and starting the warm up process. Just walk/trot with transitions for the most part. I ended up on Virtuoso while the .70 class was warming up and it was just a tiny bit terrifying. Small warm up rings in general make me a little antsy. Just so many horses in one little area moving at different speeds and directions. But that ring with all the small kids on way to big of horses can probably go down as one of the worst Ive been in. At least when you warm up with professionals most everyone knows how not to get killed. The little kids though are death defying. Swerving across the ring randomly, galloping around cutting between other horses, using other horse's butts to stop and generally scaring the bejezus out of Katie. But Virtuoso was very well behaved and handled the craziness without a problem. Thankfully after the small classes were over the sanity in the warm up ring.
Once the show was over we quickly loaded up and shot over to the Hipico to watch Cylene go in the dressage show. Martin had dashed over and seen Twilight go already with a good test. He finished 2nd and Cylene finished 4th against some tough competition. Including National who use to live at Rancho Pampa. I rode him a few times at home before he sold and he looked great with the new owner. So a good day for current and old Rancho Pampa horses.
Once we got home I had Geologo to ride to help Megg finish up for the day. He was quite good as usual. Which was very good considering the ring held some more excitement (as if I needed more after the warm up ring). Rodrigo is breaking some fillies for the Peruvian police force and has been working with them on the ground for a couple weeks now. Today was their first day undersaddle. And it was accomplished in a slightly different method than with the up and coming jumpers. He got his gaucho friend with a criollo horse to pony each of the fillies around the ring without a rider until they would walk, trot and canter following the other horse. Then Rodrigo would get on and they'd do the same routine. Most caught on really quick and by the end of the afternoon all of them had completed their first rides undersaddle. Definitely a different way to do it than Ive seen but it seemed to work well enough! Rodrigo said theyll be going around the ring by themselves come Monday. It was definitely a bit interesting to ride around but Geologo couldnt have cared less so I just had the job of staying out of the way. Significantly easier than avoiding the children this morning! Good last day of a long week though. Off tomorrow and headed to see a polo game or two!

November 16th - 8:50pm

Today was Alice's last day at Rancho Pampa. Needless to say the last two days have been full of emotions. We rode yesterday morning, spent the afternoon trimming horses up then went out to dinner to celebrate Alice's last night. Dinner at Kansas was, as always, fantastic but I definitely would have been quite content for it not to have been her last hurrah with us.
Today was riding in the morning again. We tried to take a group to Equus to school but ended up having tire issues that turned us around. So we jumped them all around at home. I was on Nacar and he was a good boy. The jumps ranged in height up to a meter and included two combinations, two related distances and a triple bar. My first course was lacking in rythym and enough forward which resulted in two rails. Plus my nasty little habit of trying to lay out to take a nap on their neck over fences doesnt help him get his feet out of the way. Martin keeps saying if he painting Nacars neck Id be covered in paint after a few jumps. And hes right. I did laugh out loud the first time he said it though. Especially since I consistently get made fun of for gettin paint all over me when Im actually painting. Let alone getting it all over me from riding. I felt the second course was better even with the taller jumps. One rail at the first but clean besides that. Didnt feel like my riding was at its best but thats all on me. The second I get in a ring with eyes on me and a course to ride, I freak. Then have to spend time/energy I should be putting toward preparing for my ride into calming down. Dont know why I get so stressed about it but I do. It has gotten significantly better in the last year but I can definitely tell when Im out of practice. Forcing myself to go and deal with the stress/anxiety makes me better at handling it. Just have to get myself in a position to do it more often. After our little "show"/course/thing I was on Geologo, Picaro and Jour. They were all very good. We got finished a bit early so we set up a free jump arena in the ring to send some through. Garufa, Quantum, Invasor and Kir Royal were all sent through and jumped quite nicely. Garufa in particular was incredible to watch. He and Quantum are in a free jumping competition next weekend so fingers crossed they do well at that. I think they will though.
Spent the afternoon doing the freee jumping then clipping up the series horses for the show tomorrow. After that was finished it was time to drive Alice to the airport to leave. Im so happy for her that she gets to go home, I know shes missed it but life at Rancho Pampa wont be the same without her. Weve been together basically nonstop for almost five months. The fact we can even stand each other let alone hug and cry at the airport is incredible. But we did. Some of my favorite memories here in Argentina are with her and it will not be anywhere near the same. She's probably just now boarding the plane and Im already missing her like crazy. My partner in crime, my basically sister, my mommy Alice and my best friend. Gonna miss ya love!

November 14th - 9:31pm

I guess I just like making myself suffer by staying up far later than I should. But enjoying my last few days with Alice so it is worth it. I can go back to my early night routine after she leaves. I am going to miss her so, so much!
Today was a good day at the farm though. Started off with an early morning jumping lesson on Nacar. We turned a one stride combination into a figure 8 jumping pattern that required riding staight lines and accurate turns. Not the easiest thing on a young horse with a tight pattern but he was very good as usual and I was happy with my riding. Definitely some room for improvement but overall, I was happy.
After Nacar I was on Holandesa and Cor Lit for a flat school. Once they were finished,Mono arrived to do some jump schooling with Martin. I warmed up Justinian and Benito for him to jump. Neither are horses I am on frequently but both were good and jumped well. After lunch I took Picaro out for a hack then spent the rest of the afternoon inside finishing up barn work. Fernando came to check on some horses as usual but besides that, it was a very typical and quiet day.
The weather has been fantastic for working the horses lately as well. Praying it holds and stays nice!!

November 13th - 9:12pm

Day started off with a jump lesson on Holandesa. We did course work with a timed initial round and jump off to follow. The jumps on course ranged from cross rails to a meter. Quite a spread. Megg, Alice and I had rearranged the ring a bit yesterday so it could be more thoroughly drug and had set up a variety of heights for whatever schooling would occure. Didnt think we'd be jumping a full course but I made one up and we went with it. Bizare heights and all. My first round was fault free and came in at 1:25. Megg went next and had a steering issue that resulted in time and four faults. Alice went last and put down another clear round at 1:28. I was first to jump off. Ended up not understanding what direction we were suppose to be jumping one vertical so went off course. Alice won with 12 faults in her jump off. Martin let me take a second go at it and we went around without time or faults. Pretty fun lesson.
After that it was a flat school with Nacar followed by a short grid school on Uxmal, Mauro and Nixon. Just trot poles set to a gate. Everyone was good through them and in the warm up. I ended up on my butt in the dirt off Nixon in our canter warm up. Got up, retrieved him and was able to participate in the lesson without fruther incident. Twisted my knee a bit and definitely going to hurt tomorrow but Ill live.
One cool thing we did get to see today was the reproduction vet collecting from Virtuoso. It was his first time doing anything with breeding so took him a bit to figure out exactly what he needed to do but got it done and the vets got what they needed. Definitely a side of the horse business/industry I dont know much about so very interesting to be here with breeding season in full swing. The repo vets have been out at least once a week checking the mares for awhile now and I guess now it is drawing close to when they will all be bred! Always busy here at the farm!

November 12th - 8:45pm

Perfect day for riding today. Warm enough to ride in a polo and a breeze to keep everything cool. So nice. Just hacked them again today. I was on Mauro, Nixon, Nacar, Picaro, Pastrocito and Geologo. Maybe one more. Gets to the point some days when I have no idea who Ive been on without asking the other girls. Just a constant string of putting horses on the walker and taking them off again. Everyone was super good though. Especially Nacar and Mauro. Really enjoy getting on those two.
The afternoon was spent longing some of the young ones who were not ridden this morning as well as moving the jumps around the ring. This included moving the liver pool which was filled with water. I think Alice and I provided some quality entertainment as we tried to empty the water out to drag it somewhere else. End result was the liverpool in a new spot and one of my super nice alpargatas ($30 peso shoes) falling off in the water. But it was retrieved and hopefully will survive the incident. Definitely got laughed at for loosing it though!
All in all a good day. All the horses ridden before lunch, a new course set and all the barn work done by 6:00. Not bad for a Monday. Even if it totally feels like Tuesday! We did make a quick walk to Petrobras to get connected to the internet after work only to find it was closed. Super dissapointing. But it did mean we had time to walk around the corner to buy some things for Christmas gifts back at home. Got some alpargatas for friends and checked out the prices on some other really cool things. Knives, belts and the like. So excited to be going home for Christmas!!

November 11th - 9:07pm

Its actually kind of sad that I now consider any time after 9:00 incredibly late. Rodrigo makes so much fun of me for it but its true. Definitely enjoy the sleep and need it to be functional here but it is ridiculous. Going to go home and have some major readjusting to do. And speaking of going home, as my mom's Christmas gift to me (and herself she says) Im flying home for Christmas! So excited I can barely stand it! I love this job and have truly enjoyed being here but as of late Ive been finding myself missing my mom/home more and more. Im not ready to go home for good but Im so excited to see everyone! Leaving Argentina December 18th and returning December 28th. Thinking it will be just enough time to see my family/friends and just chill for a bit. So excited! Already planning a lot of stuff Im going to do when I get back. Mostly just riding my horse and seeing people I havent in 7 months. Cant wait!
But thats still a long way off and today was actually a fairly busy day. The ring was still somewhat wet from the downpour last Friday but thankfully good enough for some light riding so we took everyone out for a 15 minute trot. I was on Puccini, Nacar, Benito, Mauro and Virtuoso. Obviously didnt get to do too much more than school bending and transitions but they were all still very good. Especially Nacar. Hes getting to be a lot of fun to ride. Love him!
The afternoon was spent doing the usual tack cleaning, horse grooming and clean up. Nothing terribly exciting. Megg and I ended up walking to Petrobras to check in with family and hang out. One more Argentine thing I didnt do much of at home. Hanging out in gas stations. But this one is actually pretty nice and the girls that work there are fun. Im sure they think were weird as anything but theyre still nice to us. Oh the joys of being foreign!