First Lessons

Whewwww am I tired.
I'm a big sleepy combination of jetlag, over load of information, and sore muscles. But here we go!
(P.s. I'm currently writing about yesterday, but I'm hoping to catch up on my day off)

Day 1 was pretty cruisy. I helped muck the yards and feed, tacked up a few horses for clients and then had my very first lesson.
Romeo was my ride, a Gelderlander, which is basically a heavy Warmblood breed. And he IS a giant. From the saddle I couldn't reach his ears!!

Full size boots baaaareely did up around his seriously thick legs, and thank God for mounting blocks.
In his last career he was an international carriage horse, and he looks like one. Just blows my mind the size of some of these horses!

My jacket for scale

Every time someone asked who I was riding, they groaned sympathetically when I named Romeo, and wished me luck keeping my position on him.
Just fabulous! There goes any hope of making a good first impression.

As promised, he was more than bouncy. I thought standardbreds had a big stride. Nuh uh!
I can see how he is useful for improving seats, though. I had to really REALLY work. He was super willing and sweet, I'm just not used to such a long, tall horse and that gigantic stride.

After getting to know his buttons a little, (note to self, riding a super sensitive, zippy Lippi is polar opposite to Warmbloods. Dear Lord, my legs and butt.)
We did an exercise called 'Satellite Circles', which starts on a 20m circle. At certain points of the circle we would change direction into a 10m circle, then change direction again back onto the 20m circle. First in trot, then doing the 10m circle in canter. All while keeping rhythm, bend and position, making neat transitions, and clear changes of bend.

Remember how I said Romeo is really long and big? Yep. 10m canter circles. I did it, but I had to ride my pants off. I honestly didn't think it was possible for me to get that giant balanced  on such a small circle, but there you go! What a champ.

After the lesson I watched an advanced client being taught by Tina. It is SO useful to watch others coach, particularly a coach as impressive as Tina. She sees things that I hadn't even thought about!

The afternoon was spent doing more stable chores, turning out, bringing in, rugging, feeding, mucking, brushing, washing, sweeping etc. Etc. Work never ends with horses.

I don't think I can write more right now. I'm falling asleep and should get to bed. The weekends are apparently manic!
Until tomorrow!

Time to Travel

Here starts 6 months (yeah- that's a long time!) of training in England.
I will be riding my little pants off trying to learn as much as possible, and advance a few levels in my coaching and riding skills.
I am training at Contessa Riding School with Tina Layton and her talented team of staff who will be guiding me through the intricacies of Classical Dressage (and maybe some sidesaddle and vaulting too!)

The flight over was long, as you'd expect travelling halfway across the world. Flying from Sydney to Abu Dhabi was a 14hr and 50min flight. I was lucky enough to travel on Etihad airlines, which is pretty ritzy...if you're in Business class and up. Economy was just as horrible as any other flight service, made particularly horrible by the eight children sitting next to and in front of me. You can probably guess how much sleep I had. Very little.
Tired, cramped and very hungry (the airplane food was worse than I remember) I made it to Abu Dhabi and found myself a packet of chips to eat while I waited for my connection. Best. Chips. Ever.

The second flight was only 7hrs long, and much more pleasant, although still uncomfortable. I managed to sleep in half hour snatches and made it to London at around 1pm, after a good 30hrs of airport 'fun'.

As I have no concept of London public transport, and only the faintest idea of where I was ACTUALLY going, Dad suggested, and I agreed it would be best to catch a taxi, even though we knew it would be about an hour's drive from the airport.
Bad idea. Note to self- don't catch taxis in England. It was a 200 pound trip. Ouch. Sorry, Dad.

Still, I arrived safe, and the only casualty was a jumper which is floating around Abu Dhabi somewhere.

London is cold, yo. 12*C and overcast as everyone had promised. I was shivering my little butt off, even with my warmest jacket on!

The facility is gorgeous. A proper English yard. There are 35 stalls (of which 32 are filled) split into 3 main blocks. The courtyard, the 'new' yard (full of ponies!!!) And the Gallery, which houses the stallions. Two 40x20 arenas, one which is indoor, and big rolling pastures that the horses get turned out in sparingly (apparently most of the year it's too wet to turn out)

For the rest of the day I watched some advanced lessons (super cool!) And settled into 'the Bungalow', which is my abode for the next 6 months. I'm living with four other girls who either work or train here. All have made me feel very welcome!

Amazingly I slept well. My bed is comfy, and the house is well heated. Even better this is the view out my window:

Until tomorrow!!