August 7th - 7:55pm

So first off, congrats to the Brits to kicking some serious ass. Alice and I have been compulsively checking olympic results (ie every time we get a chance to click refresh on our tablets) and today the Brits finished off their team medal spree with gold in dressage. Now to see how the individual competitors do! Not sure what we'll do once the olympics are over. I know Ill be following pony finals as well as the medal/derby finals back home but those dont have quite the media coverage the olympics does.
Besides that, the day was pretty normal. Origionally we were going to take the series one and two horses to school at the Hipico for the show Thursday. Had a last minute change this morning and ended up only taking the series one. So Martin and Alice packed the horses up and went to school. I ended up staying at home to ride on the roads with Rodrigo. Definitely think I got the better end of that deal since I got to actually ride and wasnt stuck in traffic for a veryvery long time. As of late me and car rides havent been mixing well so any time I can get out of riding in a car for several hours is good. So while they went to town I was able to ride Luli, Benito, Puccini and Nacar. Almost got to ride Geologo but the skies positively opened up right before we got on so that was a no go. Everyone was good and it was nice to be able to ride out for a change. Sometimes rings get so stuffy after youve been in them every day for hours. Least I think so.
Martin and Alice got back around 1:00 so we unpacked the horses and grabbed lunch. Alice and I then spent the afternoon doing treatments, helping the guys and getting stuff together for the show tomorrow. We're taking Luli, Benito, Nixon, Puccini and Skyline. Going to be an early, early morning. Got to have all the horses in the trailer by 5:30! Fingers crossed it quits raining as well!

August 6th - 10:37pm

Up kind of late tonight since the day ended up including a whole lot of nothing. Martin said to sleep in so I did (till 7:15) then find him when we were ready to ride. At 9:00 I figured I was as ready as I'd ever be to ride young horses who'd had 4-5 days off. Didn't end up on anything until almost three though. And then it was short lived since none of them quite wanted to play by the rules on the trail ride. They just wanted to play. So spent a lot of time watching the olympic show jumping, reading, rolling wraps, treatments and finally walking down to the store. Probably not the most productive day in Rancho Pampa history but hey, its the day after a show and I think everyone's got a decent horse show hangover.
Since I wasn't quite ready to pass out when 7:00 hit decided to embark on the journey of figuring out skype. Which, after a few minor hitches, worked pretty well. Which is suprising considering our internet. Was able to talk with my dad, mom, brother and Austin which was absolutely awesome. Been missing everyone. This trip was the first time Id left the country and the longest Id ever been away from my parents. Had lived alone for the past year so that wasn't a huge adjustment but being away from everything for so long was and still is. Everyone is safe and sound stateside though. Well, safe at least. Sound is up in the air with my mom in double wrist braces after joint injections. And since this was the first time Id seen Austin since very early April, it was especially nice to see him.
Headed to bed now since the morning is going to come entirely too quickly. We're taking the series horses out to school again since we've got another show Thursday. Quite a week for their to be so much rain. We have another show the week after and Im hoping our ring drys out quickly or we're going to be hauling out a whole bunch of days to school!

August 5th - 6:21pm

Horse show was at City Bell today. Early morning and long day. All the horses were very good. Nixon did his first 1.20 class and absolutely rocked it. Spent most of the day sitting on something walking and trotting around the warm up. And when I wasn't on something I was usually going to get on. So tired. Bed now. Martin said we're riding whenever we get up so Im turning off all the alarm clocks, drawing the shades tight on my windows and staying asleep as long as possible. And chances are good Ill be up at 7:00 anyway. Such is life.

August 4th - 9:16pm

Everything is still under water here so we carted the series horses plus some extras to San Martin to school. I rode Cylene, Mauro, Luli and Buck. Everyone was a little up after having yesterday off and being in a new place but they all finished well. Which is good since we have a horse show tomorrow at City Bell. We're taking Luli, Cylene, Puccini, Nixon, Benito, Mauro, Skyline, Justinian and Georgia. This is one of the series shows so some will be doing straight meter classes and some series classes. Should be fun! Love horse shows.
Spent the afternoon getting all the stuff together for the show. Hoping to have the first 6 horses on the trailer by 5:30 so going to be an early start in the morning! Everyone's wrapped so just have to groom them and throw them on the trailer. Fingers crossed it goes quickly. Had dinner with Martin, Rachel and Alice which was very yummy (Mexican food!). As always it was fun and with lots of laughing between Alice and I. Walking back to our house we started collecting barn cats since Alice wants to be the cat lady. As of right now I believe Ramone, Chester and Lady Jane are passed out in her room. Good thing I gave her the big bed! Origonally I was going to get the cute calico Ramone but Alice's room seems to be the place to be if you're a Rancho Pampa cat so I lost out.
Oh and on a totally different note, if I had not changed my flight plans to stay a year, I would currently be on a plane headed back to the United States right now. Such a strange thought! I am so glad I was able to stay because I am so not ready to leave now. I have so much left to learn from Martin and these horses. Plus I would miss everyone here terribly. So excited to have 9 more months to learn, travel around and make friends!

Photo of Buck at her new home!

August 3rd - 9:29pm

Alice and I are staying up till Criminal Minds starts at 9:30. Super excited. Since we basically did no real work today neither of us are really tired.
Spent the morning tacking horses up to have them walk on the walker under tack. Then take them off, untack, groom, put up. Repeat about 50 times. Took till almost 1:00 to get all the 4 legged animals on the walker. And it poured almost the whole time. After getting soaked taking my second horse outside to the walker I just made Rodrigo walk them there. So much dryer.
The afternoon was spent cleaning horses, clipping up the few left, body clipping and doing whatever else had to be done. A pretty low key day all in all. Alice and I ended up hysterically laughing for silly reasons a couple of times which totally freaked the guys out. Couldn't begin to explain to them what we were laughing about when Im not sure we even really knew what was so funny. On rainy days, dropped blankets, mountain goats and wooly mammouths are absolutely hilarious. Guarentee it.

The photos are of Buck by the way. Thought she needed some pictures on the blog since I like her so much. Cute little bay mare!

August 2nd - 8:24pm

Woke up to Alice asking "are we getting up this morning?" after not hearing my alarms. Likely going to sleep hearing her yell at Lady Jane for eating her crackers. Its a miracle we can even tolerate each other after being together 24/7 (literally) let alone be friends. And yet we're already best friends. From 6:30am to whenever we happen to crash, we're constantly yelling back and forth to each other talking, joking and laughing. Which is good. Because for the next year, she'll be closer than any sister to me.
Anyway, we rode this morning as usual. I managed to get on Vitroso, Buck, Luli, Cylene and Nixon before the rain started. I was suppose to ride Uxmal (!!!) and Jour as well but that's life. They were all very good. Didn't school any tough stuff. Mostly just worked on anything that wasn't easy. Turning left, turning right, woahing, going, stretching, collecting, ect. When you break a ride down into those basic parts it becomes easy to find the places with room for improvement. Before coming here I'd get on a horse some times and have absolutely no idea what to do with them. Now I can get on just about anything and come up with a plan for the ride. And on some of the horses that I ride regurally Im able to come up with a plan for the week and month to go along with the ride. I enjoy being competent enough to evalute a horse's way of going and giving him a ride to create postive change. Its a nice feeling.
With the rain, we broke a touch early for lunch (12:45ish) then resumed beautifying the horses. I clipped Holendesa while Alice finished most of the ears/noses and did treatments. We also did the foals on the walker thing which resulted in us getting positively soaked trying to lead them in and out in the rain. Tomorrow Im sure will be more of the same. Clipping, cleaning, packing for the show Saturday and doing whatever else needs to be done. Not one of the more exciting days but definitely a necessary one.

August 1st - 9:02pm

Its the first of August. Origionally I would be heading home Saturday night and likely leaving Argentina/Rancho Pampa forever. With how in love I am with this place, that would not be an exciting prospect. But thankfully, I am able to stay for 9 more months. Three times the amount of time I have been here already. Absolutely cannot wait to see what the next 9 month hold. Miss my family, friends and activities back home a bunch. Particually my mom and swing dancing. The opportunity to be here and learn so much far outweighs my desire for things that are comfortable and easy. Besides, I have the rest of my life to spend Saturday nights swing dancing. Only 9 months to spend every day in the saddle with some of the best instruction available.
And speaking of instruction, I had two lessons today with Martin. One on Jour and one on Pastrocito. In both we worked on control around a course. Using the corners to test the horses (forward, back, shape out, ect) before coming to the next fence. Almost all the jumps on course were less than 4' wide boxes and two only had one standard so it took a decent amount of direction to get horses over the middle. Plus we couldn't go around without enough pace to get more control. Had to have both. I felt like I did pretty well with both horses and definitely had fun jumping them both around. Something abou working over fences just makes me smile. I love it. The feeling of galloping up with the right pace, right balance and just jumping a decent sized fence without missing a beat it like magic. And even over the little fences, its just awesome.
Mono was here as well this morning so Martin rode the Series 1 and 2 horses for him. All of them looked good which is awesome since we have a show Saturday. Another leg of the young horse championship! I was also on Buck who was just hacking after a hard jump school yesterday. Apparently she's leaving to go to her owner's barn soon which is great but also a little sad for me. Had grown to really like the little mare.
The afternoon was spent beautifying the horses and cleaning. Two of them now have shorter manes and the majority have hairless ears and noses as well. Going to finish project non-hairy barn tomorrow I think. Finger's crossed tomorrow's forcasted rain goes away and we can continue to ride! 

Photo of Pastrocito. One of my old favorites