February 8th - 6:36pm

Short post and bed since I've been feeling crummy most of the day. Was fine for my first rides on Cor Lit and Justinian. Felt kind of icky coming off Montana. Then more so on Virtuoso. Cut my ride on Geologo short because the light headed/naseua feeling was rapidly getting stronger. Ended up longing Puccini and that was it with the riding. Once I got inside the barn I felt a bit better but anything that had me in the sun for even a bit was not fun. Don't know what caused it since I haven't had any problems with the heat thus far. Hoping some water, sleep and cooling down will help. And that tomorrow is better!

February 7th - 9:56pm

I think if I had a job or anything that was not horse related that consistently had me nearly unconscious before 10:00 everyday Id be miserable. But I'm not! Exhausted but happy.
Rode Justinian this morning. Just a flat hack. Then jumped Cor Lit around the new course Martin built. Can definitely tell we have both improved because when I first got here I couldn't have jumped him around that course with all the distances and on stride. It just would not have happened. But today, we did. After it was on to young horse filming. Martin was jumping each of them around the course we had set up. For many of them, it was their first course which was super exciting (for me, they didn't care a bit). I sat on most of them to warm up so by lunch time I had been on a ton of horses. Oficiala, Casia, Ojiva, Quarial, Nacar, Uxmal, and Orly. After lunch climbed onto Puccini, Geologo and Montana for a flat ride each as well.
Definitely one of those days I likely should have gone to bed much, much earlier but enjoy staying up talking to friends and family. Hopefully a less busy day tomorrow or Im not sure how much movement I'll be doing on Sunday. Was hoping to catch a bus tour of the city! Always something going on around here!

February 6th - 10:27pm

Morning started off helping Rodrigo with the young horses. Then helping Martin warm up horses for his lessons with Mono. Was on Puccini, Invasor and Geologo for that. Hopped on Cor Lit after and jumped around a little bit with him. Just small verticals and x-rails. Was suppose to get on Justinian after but ended up getting side tracked showing Holandesa to some clients. She was very good for them and I was super happy with the fact I didn't get nervous at all. Would have been ridiculous if I had but I probably would have been when I first arrived. Everything went well though and I was able to hop on Justinian after. Followed him with Orly and finally my favorite Nacar! Quick lunch then onto riding the last two of the day: Quarz and Quarial. Both were good and everyone seems to be ready for tomorrow! More filming for the facebook page! It was Marcus' last day here (my diet coke is now safe...) so he headed home tonight. One more thing getting back to normal around here. It feels like there are a hundred projects going on here right now with guys going every which direction. Normally I think of Rancho Pampa as being fairly closed and quiet. Well, not right now. It's non stop something right now. But hopefully the projects will start wrapping up soon with a completed loft, gazebo and new roof on the outdoor barn!

February 5th - 10:45pm

Busy and long day today. Jumped Cor Lit first off this morning then helped Rodrigo with the two young horses. Then rode Invasor and ended up doing a little jump school on him with Marcus' lesson. After that it was Oficiala, Quarial, Orly, Nacar, Puccini and Justinian with flat rides. Nacar was my favorite of the day hands down. Martin changed his bit and schooled him all last week which he was going super nicely. I've always liked his gaits and temperment but as he comes along in his training I like him even more. He never quits, never says no and just keeps getting better. Super good pony! Not that anyone today was bad though. He was just my favorite.
Ended up riding until decently late in the afternoon and then had to switch gears to showing Casia and Ojiva to a client. Which was suppose to happen at 6:00. Since they're clients and this is Argentina, they didn't show until almost 7:00. Joy. Both mares were super good though especially considering they have never been ridden that late AND have never been asked to jump that high. Not always a fan of the way people try horses here. Very little on the flat and lots of jumping over big fences. I try to keep an open mind but still not how I would try horses or want mine tried like. Im sure I will be seeing a lot of interesting horse trying in the coming weeks though. As of next Saturday we are opening the farm up on on Saturday afternoons for people to come see the auction horses. I have no idea how it's going to go but the sheer thought of preparing 19 horses is daunting. You have no idea which horses people will want to see so just have to have everything ready. I'm use to getting 3-5 ready and shown to people but 19? Hoping for sanity. All the horses are going super nicely though so at least my only worry is getting them ready. Could be a lot worse!
Hopefully some of the videos I have ridden in will be posted to facebook soon so I can see them! Maybe post them here too. Except the one with Quantum. When we took the video I had never jumped him and only been on him a handful of times. Whenever he put power into his jump, I had no idea how to stay balanced. As Rachel put it "You had some fabulous neck riding there on landing". If you cut the video off when we're actually in the air it looks fine. Once he flips that hind up though, Im on his neck. Really want to study the video some to put together how to ride that jump. A lot of times watching video helps me a lot. Plus its just fun riding for the camera on super nice horses! Hoping for more good riding tomorrow!

February 4th - 8:47pm

Happy birthday to the best (and only) little brother I have. He's 16 today and spending his birthday working at WEF down in Flordia. Like me he's a working student with big dreams for his riding. He's well on his way to achieving a lot of them too. Hoping he had a great day at the show.
I ended up having a pretty great day here as well. Stayed up far too late last night and had to drag myself out of bed this morning but once I was up life got better. Turns out we had two new guys here to ride. One is here from San Luis and is just staying until Wednesday as a clinic/lesson thing. The other will hopefully be taking over Camilla's job of grooming/preparing horses. She helped the barn run a lot smoother while she was here. Just with being able to step in pretty much where ever necessary to help. Both the guys seem really nice and are about my age. They only speak spanish so communication is a bit slow but that's life. My spanish is a lot better than it use to be but it's still pretty terrible. Maybe this new influx of spanish only people combined with the lack of english speaking people will change that.
It ended up being a pretty quite/easy day all things considering. I rode Uxmal, Invasor, Virtuoso, Justinian, Cor Lit and Puccini. And we jumped almost all the young ones in the free jump. Everyone was well behaved and looks like the week is off to a good start. Plus, the weather was AMAZING yesterday and today. Looks like it will stay that way all week too! Hopefully!

February 3rd - 11:16pm

Slept in late today. Well overslept really. But it was still super nice to do even if it wasn't exactly how I was suppose to be spending my morning. Hurried out of Rancho Pampa, caught the bus and headed into town to meet Camilla. She'd had a bunch of stuff here so left some with me to bring when I went into town today. Due to some miscommunication and bad internet I ended up hanging out in Starbucks for awhile once I arrived in town but honestly, I cannot complain one bit about that. Hung out, read my book and enjoyed the change of scenery. Once I met up with Camila we walked down through Palermo where she lives to another bus stop which we took to the Buenos Aires riding club. She wanted to show me the horse she use to lease but sadly enough he wasn't there. Most of the club school horses get turned out in the country during the summer and that's where her Skipper had gone. So we picked up her stuff that was stored there (pretty dressage saddle, bridle, polos and the like), caught a taxi and brought it all back to her house. We met up with Joy there, went for a walk around the neighborhood and finished with ice cream at a fantastic little store. Absolutely incredible ice cream. Don't know how they do it in this country but it's so good. After I caught the bus and headed home. Not sure why but the trip ended up being longer than usual so didn't get off the bus to nearly dark. Then had the walk home. Usually it takes about 20 minutes to get from the bus stop to home. Im pretty sure I did it in about 13 minutes. I don't live in a neighborhood where walking after dark (especially alone) is anywhere near a good idea. Got home safely though and headed to my very clean house. I went nuts yesterday after work with bleach and windex. Everything is clean and spotless. Hanging out in my room now talking to friends and staying up too late. Definitely going to regret it tomorrow but I'll live. Hoping for a great week!

February 2nd - 9:38pm

Didn't get a post in yesterday since it ended up being an incredibly late night with Martin's dad's birthday party. As always it was super fun to spend time with Martins family. It is kind of weird, however, to realize Ive been here long enough that I have met most of his family. Hard to believe in some ways. As always, great food, awesome people and a lot of fun. Camilla and I bailed just after 1:00 while everyone else was still going on with the party. I dont know how they do it. Especially Martin. Cause I had an easier day than he did and I was still half dead. Pretty much over this heat. Makes everyday feel like you've about killed yourself even after doing minimal work.
And for me lately, today was minimal work. Rode Jour, Bellini, Montana, Virtuoso, Cor Lit and Quantum. Light hacks all around since we needed to be quick with Rodrigo not riding today. He had an accident with one of the first horses of the day and took the rest of the day off. So rode some of mine then helped Martin film the young horses over fences just before lunch. Didn't get through them all so had some for after lunch and it was HOT. Not quite as bad as Thursday but still not fun. Thankfully though it did rain last night. The lightening started just before dinner and then toward the end the skys absolutely opened up. And then the hail came. That was a shock for me to say the least. And not just a little bit of hail, an insane amount considering it was so hot earlier. So much wind, rain, hail and lightening. Never seen anything like it. That did pass quickly thank goodness. But since it did rain last night, today was a lot cooler. It is probably too much to ask for but I do hope that was the last of the really hot weather. As a result of the rain, it was a quiet inside day today. No riding, just barn stuff. It was also Camilla's last day here. Very sad stuff. It is so weird to be the only person in the house again. And not just for a night or two. Craziness. There is a new girl coming some time in March. Mid March I believe. Not sure if there will be any new additions between now and then though. Always a suprise of who ends up here!