August 31st - 11:54pm

Good day at Rancho Pampa. Rode Navratilova, Olendesa, Uxmal, Pierrette, Jour and Pastrocito. Not a huge group but since I had to tack and untack them all it took all morning. Plus the weather is heating up which always makes riding that much more challenging physically. The first four horses are all new rides for me which is very fun. Im loving riding all of the different horses. Especially the younger horses. Theyre so new to their work and so much fun to get on. Every day you can feel improvement from the day before. And easier transition or a more balanced trot. So rewarding.
After work Martin, Rachel, Alice and I went into town for Gallery Nights. Gallery Nights is when a whole bunch of art galleries in capital stay open till ten at night for a weekend. Artists and featured, there are tours and all sorts of things. We went to support Martins moms but after stopping in for a bit Alice and I took off to look at some of the other open galleries. Some had abstract art, others with paintings almost photo like and some with statues. All very cool. We saw seven or so before heading back to meet Martin and Rachel for dinner. Went to an awesome mexican place. So yummy to get spicy food! A little bit of a late night but thankfully weve got tomorrow off!

August 30th - 9:32pm

<p>&lt;p&gt;Busy, busy day. Alice, Martin and Rodrigo went into town early for the series show at the Aleman. That left me home doing what I love best: riding. The ones from the show yesterday had the day off so that left me with a lot of young/green ones which is rapidly becoming my favorite group. Rode Geologo first and its almost embarrassing that I use to find him difficult to work. Today was my first time on him in almost two months so Ive had a lot of time to improve. Getting on him was both enjoyable and eye opening. He is such a nice horse and being able to actually work him a bit was fun. After I rode Nacar and Uxmal. Both are still quite green but have a ton of potential. Ive ridden Nacar a decent amount before and hes still the same easy going baby. Uxmal was a little fresh after having yesterday off but youd have to know how quite he normally is to realize he was up. Another sweet, easy going baby. Besides that, though, they are polar opposites. Nacar being slimly built, about 15hh and grey while Uxmal is great big bay tank of a horse at close to 17hh. <br>
After the babies I had my two of my favorite mares; Olendesa and Pierrette. Both were quite good and are settling back into the swing of work. Quiet, soft and relaxed today. Those two are my favorite type of horse. Forward and sensitive without being over the top. I still have a lot to learn about riding horses like that but they are without a doubt my favorites to sit on.
Jour and Lion were next on the list. Both are coming back to work nicely. They both worked up nicely into the bridle during the ride. Jour's canter especially has improved so much in the last two months. He still doesnt have the stride Lion does but I no longer feel like Im cantering a medium pony. As my riding is improving he is becoming more and more fun as well. I can ask him correctly for difficult things and actually get them! Both those horses are so nice Im amazed they are still here. Especially Lion since he could qualify as ammy horse of the year. Not sure there is anything he wouldnt tolerate. And nothing phases him.
The afternoon was spent on the two greys Herodes and Pastrocito. They were there usual selves. Nothing too terribly special there. By the time I got the them (horses 9 and 10) I was pretty close to being finished riding for the day. Adore riding but by the time you get to double digets in hotter temps, its not quite as exciting as it was at 8:00am.
Martin and Alice got back around 3:00 so once I was finished it was right in to help unpack and get the horses back settled in. All the horses at the show was good and made it home in one piece! Tomorrow will be a less busy day with many of the horses still having time off after the shows the last couple days. Ive just got some of my favorites, Uxmal, Pierrette, Olendesa, Navratilova and probably either Jour or Nacar. Super tired at the moment but still cant wait for tomorrow!

August 29th - 8:46pm

Horse show at the Aleman today with Luli, Nixon, Vitroso, Skyline, Cor Lit and Mauro. All were very good. Has been a LONG day since I started at 4:30am. After the horse show I had time to ride Pierrette before heading in to finish up with the barn. She was quite lovely and every day I can feel her getting back into the swing of work. I wish I had a horse like her in the US. She would be so fun to do in the equitation and jumper classes.

August 28th - 9:43pm

Great day at Rancho Pampa. Beautiful weather and fantastic horses. Started off early with Mono over for lessons. I warmed up Mauro and Cylene. Cylene felt reallyreally good on the flat. Mauro was a touch up still after his long vacation but still felt great. If I had the funds to purchase a jumper prospect, Mauro would be my first choice. Luli is right up there as well but Mauro wins. After Mono left I hacked Pierrette and worked on shortening/lengthening in the walk and trot. Mostly the trot because right now if you even think about putting pressure on the reins she tries to slam to a walk. And shes a decently forward horse so its suprising to me she does it. By the end of the ride though I could shorten to a smaller expression of the trot or walk depending on how much leg pressure I held. Such a good girl.
It was on Twilight after her that I had my break through moment with shortening the trot though. Martin uses shortening of the trot to its most minimal expression while still mainting the bounce as a way to put the horses together and work on ridability. Not sure why its taken me so long to get it but on Twilight I did. Its not just holding them until you think they cant trot any smaller. It is more of progressively woahing until the energy in the trot is vertical instead of ground covering. The hold themselves and just bounce off the ground. Id felt it before but that was the first ride Id felt it, recognized it and been able to reproduce it multiple times. And I got the result I wanted. Twilight and I had sharp transitions up and down. As a result our jumping was better than I think its every been before. I was also able to work on sinking closer to him and steering less with my hands and more with my legs. Its a feeling Ive come to look for when riding even if my first inclination is to steer with my hands. I figure eventually it will be like using my outside rein to balance/turn/ect instead of just pulling on my inside rein: if I self correct enough, Ill learn. As of right now about 80% of the time I go for my outside rein first. The remaining 20% is usually when Im cantering and moving faster than Im thinking. Definitely room for improvement there.
Had a brief lesson over some small fences with Jour in the afternoon. He was quite good and I got out with only a few minor corrections. I am a lot better than I use to be about my left thumb turning over and the obvious postion issues so the critique is changing. Less stuff like "heels down" and more work on really riding to produce something. Though since its Martin there is always going to be something postion wise to fix. Now it is my toes sticking out! Every time he has a new critique I simotaneously cringe and smile because it usually means Im getting whatever he use to comment on correct now.
The highlight of the day, though, was showing Olendesa to a client. Yesterdays ride left a lot (a lot, a lot, a alot) to be desired. Got on today though and was able to put all of what Martin said to use. Got a nice relaxed horse on the flat and was able to carry it over to the jumps. Today was the first time Id even cantered Olendesa (a hot, green, mare) let alone jumped her. By then end though we were going over an oxer set at a meter for the client to see. That mare has a funfunfun canter and great jump. I know the goal is to have her sell but I wouldnt mind that one sticking around for a bit. Pierrette too!
After Olendesa I got Herodes untacked (our ride had been interrupted by the client arriving so he'd been stuck on the hot walter to walk) and packed for the show tomorrow. Walter, Martin and I are going to the Aleman tomorrow to school with Luli, Nixon, Skyline, Cor Lit, Vitroso and Mauro. Should be a fun productive day. But an early, early morning!

August 27th - 8:20pm

After 25 days of being ringless hobos Rancho Pampa is back on track with a mostly dry ring! So exciting. And for the first time in entirely too long all the horses were able to be worked. Absolutely stellar news. I rode Twilight, Cylene, Vitroso, Jour, Herodes, Pierrette and Olendesa. The first three are part of the series one group and have stayed in work. Just did 15 minutes trots with them as a stretch the legs/work-out day. Jour and Herodes have been out of work almost the whole twenty five days. They did 20 minute trot with a tiny bit of canter. It will be a bit before they are back in full work after that break. But its good for them to get some time off I think. Olendesa was a first for me. Shes a Baral horse who is being put back undersaddle after a short stint as a broodmare. Shes been worked a few times since the great rain storm started but not consistently. Shes another one whose just in the get fit program now. A little up but I liked her. Favorite ride of the day though was Pierrette. Pierrette is a new mare we have in to be fitted up so she can be tried and hopefully sold in a few weeks. Ive seen her go before since she was in the 1.30 group when Bernie Traurig was here. Super nice mare. Shes been out of work for a bit so need fitness and a tune up but shes still very fun to ride. Sweet and easy. Plus just being able to ride a horse that is capable of doing the 1.30 classes is a treat. Geologo and Picaro have done 1.30 classes in the past but Ive never seen them jump it. I saw Pierrette doing that height just a few months ago. Keeping my fingers crossed Ill be able to jump her before she leaves. Just for the experience.
The weather is suppose to stay about the same as today all week so we should have a ring for awhile now. Just need time to get everyone back fitted up and in the swing of things!

August 26th - 9:05pm

Another lazy Sunday. Id say I was lazy because I was tired but honest weve done next to nothing this week. Maybe sleeping the day away in prep for this next week when we'll actually be able to ride? So excited to be getting back in the saddle!! Todays weather was lovely and with spring starting to move in hopefully it will start staying consistently nice. Fingers crossed about that because in addition to riding Ive also come up with a few things Id like to do on the weekends here. Going into Capital and learning to tango being at the very top of that list! Dancing is one of the few non-horse related things I did back in the US and have missed it a bunch since coming down. Cant wait to be back in the saddle and in a bit back on the dance floor!

August 25th - 7:34pm

The day started bright and early at 4:30am. Which means it wasnt even really bright. Just very early. Did the grooming, packing, wrapping thing with the horses and their stuff. Put the first six in the trailer and were on the road before dawn. Once we got to the Aleman, we hacked a few, grabbed some coffee and waited for the show to start. All the morning horses in the smaller stuff were very good but it was the horses in the 1.15 classes that rocked it. All of them were awesome and got bumped up to 1.20 to finish off the day. It was Luli's first 1.20 go and she was the rock star of the day. Fantastic clean round. Puccini, Benito and Nixon also put out lovely trips over the highest jumps of the day. They are all coming along so well. After the classes we did the cleaning, wrapping, packing thing again headed home.
The weather today was also quite nice and apparently it is suppose to continue like this for the next week. So fingers crossed well be back in our ring next week! The last time we went in the ring was August 2nd. More than twenty days ago!! So excited at the potential to get back on our schedule and have life get back to normal!