Rain and thunderstorms and my first real ride

Just thought I'd include a few pics from the weekend first before blogging about today. Below is the view from the lodge where we take our meals (which are great!) and theory sessions looking up past the co-ordinator office towards the Big Top and the San Juan national park (I think!)
This is how the weather has been most of the time apart from our first day, and today.

This is Eveline who I got to know through the forum looking after Dixie (buckskin) and her horse Connie (grey). Both horses are lease horses and fabulous.... Eveline is sitting on the log next to the pond and Arena Grande is behind her.

This is looking down towards the ranch buildings (and Big Top) from the top parking area. will get some more horsey pics soon!

Today we were to do our first real lot of riding....(I've only pottered about so far getting to know Pierson) so of course it was raining most of last night and pouring this morning. The ground gets really slippery very quickly but then dries out quite quickly (like in half a day!!) so hopefully it will be dry for the Performance Summit. We get to hear more about that tomorrow - yay!!

This morning we had a session on horsenality with Carmen Zulaf (4* Instructor) which was brilliant - just love it - SO interesting. Enhancing what we already know.

Then we played with simulations for about 2 plus hours in the small coverall as it was still pouring. We got in groups of 2 and played with matching and mirroring RBE. Then groups of 3 where one was the horse, one the rider and one the hq of the horse, playing with lateral flexion, indirect and direct reins. The instructors wandered amongst us and pointed out where we weren't quite right. You'd have thought after about 2 hours of this I'd have 'got it' and I thought I had, but once we were riding and had individual coaching with John Barr I went totally to pieces and got my lefts and rights muddled up etc!

We had a break in the rain during the afternoon so got a chance to go out and play with the horses. The ground was terrible so we went up to the honeycomb where it wasn't quite so slippery. I was pretty sure Pierson would go RB again out in the open in canter and he didn't disappoint, but is easy to handle now in that situation - although he goes RBE he doesn't put pressure on the line. One of my BIG BFO this morning I knew but I finally 'got' was not to reward RBE behaviour, which is what I did in the first day on the test! This time I continued on with him until he was circling more LB. I find it really hard to keep 'pushing' a RBE horse but am getting there now, and he comes 'off' it pretty quickly. He is also taking things a lot less personally and I can get firm with him if necessary without him leaping away instantly.

We saddled up in a slightly more savvy way (- still have a way to go!! ) then off to arena grande for riding. 50 plus horses (some instructors joined in) in one arena is pretty impressive and most of us were soon following the rail either inside or outside the arena. A few decided to watch and not get on, and a few got off. Pierson stayed LB and I stayed on. We started off walking all in the same direction, doing some lf on the move, bending our horses to the outside but keeping our focus straight ahead to keep them on the rail and trying to keep a rhythm. Walter Zettle says rhythm comes before relaxation so we had to get that first. Thats one thing I got wrong in theory test - I thought relaxation came first...

Then we moved on to lf and indirect and direct ballet - you know the one. Then we introduced 5 strides of trot - not 4 or 6 or more, but 5, seeing how little it took. Piersons 'pace' was really weird. Then we moved onto 10 strides of trot, and those in the arena went outside and vice versa etc etc. Finally we all had to line up along the length of the arena and had an individual turn at backwards then indirect to direct rein to trot with John Barr., Thats where I and a few others fell apart with all sorts of weird and wonderful rein positions! Additionally the line of horses had to sidepass along the entire arena, gradually. That was a challenge for me and Pierson as we have only just started getting sideways on the ground. He did his best though and we got one or two good steps. Only about a 0.5 on Pat's scale though I think - at least a plus though!

That was it for the day - think John might have been slightly horrified at how poor certainly my rein positions were. I have practising a lot by myself since.

Then it was time for the Wednesday barbeque (under cover of the lodge verandah) as we then had a thunderstorm - thankfully rain held off until we had unsaddled. At 7.30pm we watched The Horsemans Apprentice - again what a huge buzz to be there with all those stars!!

So much I haven't blogged about - the great talk we had from Lee Palmer yesterday about all the opportunities available - basically any of us can apply to become working students and travel down to Florida via the WEG and help out there and not go home, or go home and fix things up and come back - we would have to arrange our own horse transport though. Of course I can't do that, but great opportunities for those that can....

More tomorrow - can't wait!!

Thinking of you all though and hope things aren't too unsettled in NZ with all those after shocks...