March 11th - 6:51pm

There are some things that take you by suprise even when they shouldn't. The sunset over Rancho Pampa. The beauty of Virtuoso and the other horses hanging their heads out the windows. The crispness in the air after a warm day that tells of fall at last. The early hour of said sunset confirming that.
I always wondered how I would spend my final days here at the end of April. What plans would I make, who would I see and the like. Today would have started the real countdown. Today would be 49 days until my return stateside. Bound to be an emotional time but sure to be filled with memories. The auction, Picaro, Camilla, Rodrigo, Martin, Rachel and everything that has come to make up Rancho Pampa. Plus the new memories that were set up to be made. New horses arriving, Emma, tango dancing. For reasons I cannot begin to fathom I no longer have to decide how to spend my last week here. It has already passed me by. And perhaps that is best. Tomorrow night I will board the final plane to take me home. Hopefully it will be possible to do without tears as I am about done with those after today. Leaving it two months earlier than expected is hard. Leaving this country without being able to say a real goodbye to the people that have befriended, helped and influenced me is tougher. Knowing the last horses I will ride for many months were the three I sat on last Monday is painful. Incredibly painful. I have come to this country become so attached to this country and these people due to these horses. They have been my lifeblood for so long that the thought of going any length of time without swinging a leg over is terrifying. But I'll do it. Because not fixing this means forever carrying it as a weakness and shortening my future as a rider. It's got to be done and I'm finding that knowledge makes it easier to walk away. Or rather gimp away as that's about all I am doing now days.
Regardless of this outcome, however, I would do this whole adventure again. It has been an incredible learning experience with an amazing group of horses and people. Cannot ask for anymore than that. The experiences I have had here will shape my riding for years to come. I suspect one could find Martin's influences in my riding, teaching and horse management for the rest of my time with horses. And that is certainly not a bad thing. Not a bad thing in the least. He's opened my eyes to a lot. Held my hand when I needed it and kicked my ass when I needed that to. Thanks Martin (and yes, I'm sorry and it is all my fault). Don't even remember when that joke started but it still makes me laugh every time. It's the little things like that that have made this experience great. The horses, the reason behind it all, get featured almost every day on this blog. They're a huge part. But it's those little things. Those little stupid things that make it or break it. And here, they certainly made it.

March 11th - 9:00am

Not the result I wanted or prayed for but it's the result I expected and recieved. Have torn two ligaments in my right knee and they will require surgery to heal. I will be headed home in the next week to take on this new challenge. Devestated at the moment but will find the silver living soon. My time at Rancho Pampa has been cut short but it has been an incredible, incredible experience. Nothing can change that.

March 8th - 10:03pm

Spent Tuesday in the house with pretty limited mobility. Wednesday and Thursday propped up painting jump standards. Have a knee brace with metal inserts that allow me to get around pretty decently which is nice. Can't stay upright for long though. Would kill to be on a horse but I'm off for awhile longer.
Mono came on Wednesday and apparently all of the horses jumped well with him. Kir Royal, Invasor, Picaro, Virtuoso, Geologo. I missed jumping Puccini and Picaro but know Martin can do a far better job than me. The auction horses were filmed that afternoon as well. Thursday was an easy flatwork with turn out day. Today the auction horses just went to the walker while Martin took the crew he jumped with Mono to Equus.Apparently Picaro was pretty happy for his first outing out in awhile but put out good work. The others did great as well. Sad I missed it but that's life.
The open house is tomorrow and I will not be riding in it. Hoping it goes well and I can help out in some way. Pretty heartbroken about it but nothing to be done. Just going to hope for the best news possible from the doc on Monday. We'll take the MRI results and see him to get the final on what is wrong. I'm praying for an easy "quit being a baby, you're fine, go ride." Not ready to give this up yet. Not ready to give any of it up. Hardest week at the farm by far this past year. Fingers crossed. 

March 4th - 9:20pm

Needing some prayers, snaps, good juju and thoughts at the moment. Took a mild tumble off my third horse of the day and seems I may have reinjured my knee. Afternoon trip to the clinic got orders for x-rays and an MRI. X-rays looked good and getting an MRI scheduled to see what is up. Praying it is nothing major and a day of rest will solve any problems. One can hope...

March 3rd - 9:15pm

Slept in and enjoyed every second of it this morning. From the lack of noise during the night I make the assumption I was the only person in that little second of rooms. Or everyone else was freakisly quiet! Either way, it was greatly appreciated.
Got breakfast at the hostel before heading out to meet Camilla. It was a bit chilly and breezy at first but warmed up to a perfect temperature. We went to the Buenos Aires where I met Skipper and some of the ponies try use for lessons. We sat and drank mate watching instructors teach young students and talking nonsense. I work 6 days a week in a barn, live in a barn and yet on Sundays can be found in the barn. Sitting on a tack truck, feeding apples bought for cheap and enjoying friends. Did have the bizare moment of being recognized though. Camilla introduced me to a friend and she immediately knew who I was from the auction videos. Very strange feeling!
After we headed up toward china town where I bought more peanut butter and wondered with Camilla over all the random stuff for sale. Things I never even knew exhisted were there. Definitely some place to check out more! Ended up parting ways at the grocery store Disco since she had to get home for lunch and I had to grab a few things for the kitchen here. Headed home early since it looked like a storm was on the horizon but thankfully it stayed away. A good day in capital though. Realizing more and more how much I am going to miss the freedom I have here to just come and go. Plus going to miss all the incredible people I have met and spent time with. 7 weeks left and intending to make the absolute most of them!
A new one was posted today of me on Puccini as well. I've watched it more times than I can count and hit up several friends for critique. I've gotten better but I still have so much left to learn!

March 2nd - 10:30pm

The rain arrived during the night and dashed any plans of doing an open house at the farm. The ring returned to its state as "Lake Rancho Pampa" and we spent the day doing inside jobs. All the horses went to the walker, got their noses trimmed and were cleaned up. Manes were braided over, bridles changed around, tails were rebraided and stall doors relabled to round off the newest change up of stalls. Maybe I'll figure out where everyone lives by the time I leave. Maybe. And that was just the morning.
The afternoon was more cleaning, organizing and painting. In 10 days a new family will be moving into my house which means the loft must be finished within nine days. In 11 days the new working student will be here so the loft has to be set up as well. Lots of painting, cleaning and fixing has gone into that project and I'm hoping it wraps up nicely this next week.
After work I took got my stuff togethe and headed for another night in town. Waited for the bus to Palermo for an hour before giving up and getting on the bus to Once. Had no idea where I was going but told the driver I just needed to be near 9 de Julio. Ended up in a huge plaza where two subway lines meet. Too bad the blue line going directly to 9 de Julio was closed. So ended up taking the yellow line toward Cordoba and switching to the red line to the Obelisco. Figuring out the public transportation in this city is always a bit of an adventure but I'm figuring it out pretty well.
Once at the Obelisco I headed to the hostel to put my stuff down and got the pleasant suprise of a free upgrade. Last time I split a 4 person room with two other girls. Small and with bunk beds. This time I ended up in a private room with a double bed. Awesome because it's a private room with a double bed. Not so awesome because its easier to get to know people that you're staying with. Even if it is just for a night. Ran into one of the girls I stayed with last time and we ended up gathering some of her friends together and walking down to Flordia to check out Fusion. Fusion is a small club/bar that is available to people staying at one of the three hostels only. So lots of people there hanging out and meeting new people. Talked to some great people from all over the world before headed back with Cris and friends to the hostel. Definitely going to have to check that place out in more detail in the future! Also got the names of four places to try tango dancing in the city! All are more open to novices and three are very close to the hostel. Super excited to head to one those soon!

March 1st - 10:27pm

How the heck is it already March!?
Cannot believe I have been living in Argentina for 10 months now. March 3rd will start the beginning of month 11. Which I am sure will be one of the most action packed so far. A new working student, the auction, the possibility of new babies. The list goes on. But even while so much has changed, much has stayed the same.
Started off the day on Cor Lit, Picaro and Justinian like I have so many times before. Just quiet hacks to finish off the week. Then brought out Kir Royal for Martin before switching over to longing. Normally the auction horses get Fridays off but since we're expecting some heavy rain tonight and tomorrow, the open house has been tentatively cancelled. So the auction horses went out for a bit before starting their two day weekend. All of the were quite good having fallen into the rhythm of our work. Holandesa left today as well so we are down one more. For the first time in a very long time there are empty stalls at Rancho Pampa. Hard to imagine that after this auction we will loose even more. The next group is already being put together but I will miss several from the current one. We have some incredible horses here. Extremely grateful for the opportunity to ride and work with each and every one of them.