Day 1 - the test!!

Today we arrived at around 8am for registration - we weren't the first but were before the hordes. There were horses and people greeting and directing as on The Horseman's Apprentice.

The USA floats are amazing - I no longer think mine is big!! it would be small over here. Many of them are 4 horse or more with living - they seem quite small inside though for the horses - the horses generally aren't that big. Lots of different types of horse, every colour and shape you can think of. It is amazing the distances some people have travelled - e.g 12 hours one day is very common...makes me think about Waerenga really not being that far!
Most horses arrived LB, but there was one very worried horse and the instructors helped out, taking more than an hour to take him off. Unfortunately mine was about the only other rb horse - he wasn't too bad - not nearly as complex as the other horse and I had some idea what to do but would have been better to get him more LB on the float - idnm't realise he was so RB til he started coming off!! The instructor that was supervising left me to it after a short while as she needed to go elsewhere but said she could see I was delaing with it ok so that was reassuring.
Pierson was quite RBE, and took a while to settle - but within half an hour just wanted to eat. He is actually quite pushy, or was when he was worried. I taught him very quickly he could only put his head down and eat when I said so.

We had orientation for an hour and a half with John Barr, talking about what we could and couldn't expect from the course, logistics etc. All interesting. This took place in the lodge. Oh, the good thing is I can put pics on the blog so I will take some and do so tomorrow. he also let us know that the rumours were true - we DID have a test the first day - theory with over 150 questions then practical, but without horses, which was a bit mysterious. Then we had lunch and my worries of starving disappeared!! I cannot cope with a massive meal at lunchtime and thought I'd never eat again!

I obviously can't go into any test details here but the theory I think wasn't too bad but time will tell.
The practical was ok but I had not much idea on a couple of things. That took us til 6pm, so quick visit to the horses then we ate. As the rain and thunder had cleared by then (forgot to tell you it rained most of the morning, with thunder, and the footing was v slippery). Supper over, time to play with the horses. I just spent undemanding time with Pierson as think thats what he needed. The others went out and had really good play til dark, just after 8pm. Tomorrow I'll play with Pierson more - now he has settled and thinks I'm not just going to do stuff to him.

Think thats about it - thanks for your comments, thinking of you all too. Unfortunately I can't get into hotmail so have started using my yahoo address - jane.cook68@yahoo.com so if anyone wants to email me feel free!!

Time wise - it is 10pm here and 4pm with you so time I went - we will get there before 7am tomorrow and I'm sure will not leave until after 8pm again...take care all!!