February 16th - 11:59pm

What. A. Day.
It's a late night with Martin's birthday party (his birthday was Friday and friends/family were invited to stay after the open house) but wanted to take some time to write a post about my crazy day.
Started off the morning like usual on the horses that aren't in the auction. Justinian and Picaro. Then Cor Lit, Montana and Puccini for a light hack to stretch their legs. Then it was onto the finishing touches before clients were to arrive for the first open house! Making sure the barn was clean, horses spotless and everything organized. Which, weirdly enough, is one of my favorite things to do. I love the final half crazed moments when everything finally comes together. As long as it comes together. If it doesn't, I hate it as much as anyone. But today, it did!
Quick lunch then onto bringing out horses for clients. The way it is set up, anyone can come to the farm at 2:00 and request to see a horse. Or horses. We'll pull them out and show them in hand to whoever is interested. Once we finish with that, then those horses are shown briefly in the free jump and finally brought out to go undersaddle. At that point either Martin can show them over fences or a client can get on and jump them a bit. Today they wanted to see Nacar, Puccini, Uxmal, Orly, Quantum, Quarz, Quarial and Casia. Everyone jumped incredibly in the free jump. Easy to handle, did their jobs and were just fantastic. After they came back out and continued to bring it by being rock stars under saddle.
But, the craziest part for me was that I actually shows Nacar and Puccini over fences for everyone. I was warming horses up for Martin so I was riding them till the horse before was finished them then switching. We do that quite often with lessons, schooling, shows, whatever so not unusual. But when I went to get off Nacar Martin was like "Do you want to jump him?" Im not sure what my face looked like but he was like that is a yes or no question, do you want to jump him. I made the snap decision to just do it. And it actually went really well! Not perfect but considering how I was a year ago about showing horses to people, it was incredible. We just did one jump that the guys kept building up so not a bunch still the fact I was able to do it was super exciting! Finished at 3'-3'3" or so. Got off and was on cloud 9 for pulling it off. A few horses later I was on Puccini and got the same question. Now Puccini is not Nacar. I've been riding Nacar for about a month shorter than he's actually been broke. I know him about as well as I know a horse I personally own. At this point I think I've been on him as much if not more than Martin. So jumping him, while stressful due outside circumstances, is not overly nerve wracking because I just know him. Puccini is one that I had been on inconsistently until recently and one I have not jumped a ton. Poles a lot, little stuff sometimes but definitely not like Nacar. I could barely ride him when I got here. Just had no idea how. But with the confidence boost off Nacar I again decided to just go for it. Since Puccini is an older horse he needed to be shown around a real course at a decent height. Not the simple, inviting jump on the diagional. The whole thing is a bit of a blur but jumped the course once. Did a 7 in the 6 from over woahing but made it out of the two stride after. Then the jumps were put up to 3'-3'3" (don't think anything hit 3'6" but maybe). Did the course again, fixed the striding and got it done! Photos after showed my position left a bit to be desired but honestly, I'll take it! Just have to keep in mind that when I'm nervous I tend to let my leg get infront of me. Have to work on keeping it back under me more.
When I got off Puccini I was literally shaking from the rush. When I say I could not have done that a year ago I am not joking in the slightest. Horse shows, clients and all that would reduce me to a nervous (probably crying) wreck. I would just freak. Totally loose it. But today, I didn't. After when I brought out the last of the horses some of the clients I know (Mono and some others) were super complimentry and kind. I know it wasn't perfect and there was a lot I would have changed but sometimes, it's just nice to take the compliment, smile and know it's all paying off.

Photo of me on Baral Nacar. And Camilla somehow found peanut butter and brought me some! Yay!

February 15th - 10:23pm

Spent the morning at Equus with Invasor, Kir Royal, Virtuoso and Geologo schooling. All four were super good with the two young geldings being total rock stars. It was their forst adventure out as riding horses and they were both great. Well behaved, easy to work with and totally chill. It did mean a hot morning out in the sun though. But apparently the heat should slack off in March. Which is sad because we're not their yet and great because we're less than half a month away. The afternoon was cleaning, organizing, helping Fernando and getting ready for tomorrow's presentation of the auction horses. I should be getting to bed early since it's going to be a longlong day but obviously, I'm not.
Staying up too late listening to music and talking to friends. Missing home tonight. A lot. I keep thinking it should be easier to be away after being gone so long. But it doesn't never easier. The lack of other girls here really is hitting hard too. Just someone to chat with during the day. To share breakfast or dinner with. It's far too early to be saying it but I'm pretty ready to be back stateside. For awhile at least 70 days until home. I've got this.
It's been a hot, busy week here getting everything ready for tomorrow/the auction. Hoping we can hit the routine of prepping each week and it will get easier. Cause right now it's stressing me out and its not even my auction. Everything is pretty well put together at this point though so just a matter of getting the last bits together. I'm sure tomorrow will be pretty crazy since it is the first time doing an open house but hoping for the best. Fingers crossed!

February 14th - 9:42pm

Valentine's day! I refrained from posting it on facebook so there you go. Busy day today though at this point, that should not be a suprise. Rode Justinian, Picaro, Montana, Kir Royal and Virtuoso to start off the morning. Jumped Virtuoso and Kir Royal over the little course. While they were both excellent I rode like garbage. Couldn't see a distance, couldn't find a rythym and it was just bad. Even Martin commented that he knows I can do better and I just couldn't. Don't know why but it just wasn't happening. So frustrating. Especially since I usually love jumping Virtuoso. It was my first time jumping Kir Royal and I wish I had just done better since I have really been looking forward to riding him. He's really fun and feels great. Probably won't get a chance to jump him for awhile since today was less than fantastic. We got around, did the striding and did the job but it just felt slow. Like everytime I needed to make a change I would realize and do it about 10 strides too late. And it showed. Frustrated to say the least.
After we free jumped the auction horses in prep for Saturday. Everyone looked good and jumped well. Hoping the rain we are expecting Saturday holds off. Would be a bummer for sure. Got Montana all clipped today for it. We're taking a few over to Equus tomorrow to school but after we're spending the afternoon scrubbing horses. One thing I haven't had the chance to do in awhile! Actually kind of excited about it! Probably not riding a bunch tomorrow or Saturday but they should be good days never the less.

February 13th - 8:56pm

For whatever reason, my alarm clock did not go off this morning. Set just like normal and nada. Woke up at 7:10 and nearly killed myself shooting out of bed. Im suppose to give grain in the morning before 7:30 so over sleeping like that is not good. Somehow managed to scramble into clothes, into the barn and get everything that needed to be done by 7:30 done by 7:30. New land speed records may have been set though. Definitely not how I like to start mornings.
Was on Picaro first for a short hack. He's been off work for awhile so today was his first day back. He was very good. Then was on Montana followed by Justinian. Longed Kir Royal and Cardona while waiting for Martin to get back from running errands.
We got on all the auction horses and jumped them around a bit. I ended up jumping Cor Lit, Puccini, Nacar, Casia, Quarz and Holandesa. Flatted some of the other but can't remember who at this point. Everyone I jumped was good and Martin had some really good points about setting standards. Basically when you walk in you've got the standard that everything usually happens at. If you walk in each day and start low then eventually get to acceptable or good then there is no improvement. You have to build each time and push to raise the standard or it will never happen. If you know a horse likes to come in weak and stall a bit then just dont let it happen. Dont wait till the last time around to push and get there. Do that the first time so the rest of the ride you can push different things. Not the same thing over and over again. On a similar note if you have a horse that usually goes around at a 6 speed, you can lower it a bit or raise it a bit. But going from 6 to 3 to 8 does not work. Changes to 5 or 7 work. Nothing drastic. Especially with the young ones.
All in all a decent day. A busy one for sure. I was tired by the time lunch rolled around and there was still a lot of day left at that point. I don't know how Martin does it as I feel like I could use several days of straight sleep at this point.

February 12th - 9:41pm

Any hope I had that the heat was gone for good has been dashed. It even rained Sunday night and Monday was still hot. The ring was flooded yesterday so just a lot of mane pulling, nose clipping and cleaning up inside. Didn't feel it warrented a whole blog post.
The ring was somewhat rideable this morning so we took everyone out for a trot. Not a big work out but enough to stretch their legs and get the edge off a bit. I was on a fair amount as usual. Justinian, Cor Lit, Uxmal, Quarial, Casia, Montana, Puccini, Pastrocito, Orly and maybe one more. Honestly, they all run together a bit after while. Everyone was well behaved which was very nice since it is going to be a hugely busy week. Horse show Friday and people to look at the Auction horses Saturday! Camilla is coming to help on Saturday though which is super great. I miss having her around! Did get an email off to the girl coming in March though. She seems very nice and I'm excited to have someone else here (even if it is still quite a distance off!).
Now if only this heat would let up...

February 10th - 9:20pm

Any hope of sleeping in this morning was dashed when I had to open the gate for Walter and then could not get back to sleep. Laid around like a bum for a bit then got my stuff together and headed into town. Going into BA has gone from being a near insurmountable task to an every weekend thing. If I don't go into town I feel like I have been a far bigger bum than is really acceptable. So made the walk to Petrobras and caught the bus to town. Then had the lovely experience of hanging out on the side of the road as when the bus ran out of fuel. Got to love a bus driver that lets a PACKED bus run out of gas on the side of the highway. In 30+ degree heat. So we stopped and waited for another truck to bring us the fuel we needed. Thankfully we were not held up long as it was incredibly hot on the side of the road and I was getting fried. One of the joys of being pale. I go through sun screen like it is going out of style and anything that does not have sun screen is bright red.
Eventually made it into town and after cooling off in Starbucks for a bit I hopped on the subway and headed to Plaza de Mayo. Always nice to see the gorgeous buildings in that area but I was actually headed to the bus tour on Flordia (yes, a street name). The bus tour does a huge loop of the biggest/best sights in BA. It goes for about 3.5 hours and you can get on/off the bus at any stop to see more. You listen to the presentation in one of 10 languages and they have someone on the bus to answer any questions as well. A really cool idea in theory and I have heard the tour is pretty good. Today, however, I believe they were experiencing some problems. There was a decent sized line waiting for the bus and unhappy people in the little ticket place. Opted to just watch what was happening a bit before getting my ticket. Definitely a good idea there. There was suppose to be a tour starting quite frequently according to the sign and website (every 20 minutes) but for whatever reason there was a hold up. The next bus wasn't coming around for another hour and a half. Maybe. Ended up skipping on that for the day and wandering down Flordia. It is a pedestrian road with different shops off it. Talked with some people, looked in the stores and checked things out. Not bad considering the big temperature sign said 34 degrees. Awesome. Eventually headed back to the subway to get back to the bus stop. Super proud of myself there because I ended up being asked how to get out of the subway by a stranger and could tell him! In his defence, there are four lines that all meet at Plaza de Mayo and it is not always easy to navigate. But I could tell him!
Got off a stop before Plaza Italia to walk next to the botanical garden and pick up the pasties I owe for falling off. Ive lost track at this point how much I've come off but I figure if I buy some every Sunday I should be good by the time I leave. And this place had really good looking pasteries. Definitely a place to head back too!
Caught a pretty empty bus back to Moreno which was incredibly nice after making the ride the last couple times standing on a crowded one. Then the not so nice rain started about half way home. Which meant a long walk in the wet. Which ended up being an even longer walk when what looked like a short cut got me totally turned around. God watches out for kids and stupid people though so found my way somehow and ended up home without too much trouble. Thank goodness for the big tower (not entirely sure what it is there for) next to the farm though. You can see if from a decent distance and it sits right next to the front gate. Managed to make it home right before the real rain, thunder and lightening hit which was good.
Headed to bed at a decent hour since it is sure to be an insane week. First open house for the auction this Saturday!

February 9th - 7:30pm

Busy day today! Thankfully one where I felt much better. Started off helping Rodrigo then switched gears to filming some of the young horses for Martin. Both the young horses Rodrigo and Martin were on were quite good.
After all that I hopped on Justinian and started the riding for the day. After Justinian was a jump lesson on Puccini which finished well. Had to do a five stride to a one stride followed by a second one stride. The first jump was 2'6" or so with the one stides set at large cross rails. Took a couple tries and some help from Martin but we eventually got it. The one strides were short and we kept bouncing the last one. Got it done though and that's what matters. Martin also commented that I have gotten a lot closer/tighter to the horse which allows me to react to what they do much quicker. Definitely a good thing. After it was flat rides in Virtuoso, Geologo, Montana, Nacar, Orly, Casia and Invasor. Everyone was well behaved and finished off the week well.
A good day for sure but I will admit even after the ridiculously early night yesterday, I was still tired crawling off those last couple. Just thankful it isn't as hot as it was last week! Maybe the intense heat really is gone!
And in just one week we start the open houses for the auction! People will start coming next Saturday afternoon. Can't believe it!