What's Up Wednesday: Vacation Edition

 

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all have a fun New Year's Eve and make safe choices tonight. They don't need to be good choices, just safe ones!

The vacation vortex is real, and boy is it confusing! I can't believe just a week ago I was at home freezing my bum off doing nothing but horse chores, prepping for vacation, and appearing cheerful and awake at various holiday events. But it was just last week. 

Christmas day I spent in the barn like normal. Did chores in the morning and I was really hoping to ride. The ring was defrosted and the weather man said it would be less windy than it was on Wednesday. (The wind Wed. was insane, with gusts higher than 40 mph.) But as it turned out, it wasn't really less windy. I did get on Shiny, determined to try to ride. But the jumps started blowing over while I was on her, and even she was a little spooky. So I opted just to ride her and took the boys for hand walks instead. They were perfectly happy with that!

I made sure to get the barn in perfect condition, so at least I knew it looked perfect when I left for vacation as it definitely will not be when I return. Which is not a reflection on my helper and horse sitter. They do a great job. But no one is going to take care of your things the way you do, ya know? Plus they've just been getting abused with bad winter weather. I left Friday, and that night 10 inches of snow fell. I was an anxious mess not being home for that. But from what I've been told, everything was fine. I'll report back when I see what the place looks like when I get home this weekend... Lol. Oy.

We arrived later than we should have Friday. There's a lot of air traffic into Florida this week, and because of a certain orange leader, less planes are allowed in this air space. We had to fly into an airport farther away than we normally do for that reason. And we were delayed four hours. But we made it! And we had a surprise waiting for us! My stepmom lost her dog not too long ago, and while it wasn't planned, she found a new puppy just before we arrived. So we get to the boat, and this face greets us:

I present to you: Buddy Finn Seidman
My new puppy brother

 Saturday we didn't do much. Got settled in, took a little tour of the community here where we are staying so we remembered where everything is, and ate a lot of food. They have a one night only carnival here that's pretty insane. It's just for members of the community and you pay a flat fee for all you can eat, ride, and play. And the food is provided by both food trucks and the restaurant here which is pretty upscale. So it's the best fair food you can imagine. I was full for two days after. 

This trip is fun because both my brothers are here; the older one with his family and my younger one with his girlfriend. We're kind of spread out for sleeping arrangements since there are so many of us. I'm staying with my younger bro and his GF at the condo which is a one minute walk from the boat where my older brother and his fam are staying. Dad and stepmom are staying at their house. But we all congregate for meals and certain adventures. 

My little brother talked my dad into a side excursion to the other coast for an overnight. My older brother and I opted to stay put but everyone else went, leaving me with a free day and a half to do whatever I wanted. I had hoped to head south to Wellington for the day to see all my friends, but most of them weren't back yet from holiday travel. Instead I did a little shopping and spent some time at the pool. It was lovely! And still was also fed more than enough food. 

Tuesday is where it gets fun from a horsey perspective. My dad has some investment horses, two of which are down in Wellington getting ready for show season. Dad arranged for me to have a lesson on Faith, so I got to do that on Tuesday. 

I wasn't sure it would be my ride because I'm not usually a mare person for one thing, but also she's a pretty spicy jumper. I have seen videos of her and she always looked like a little rocket ship. But turns out, she doesn't really ride that way. She is sensitive, but a really good listener. She doesn't bid at the jumps, and she doesn't land and take over either. I think if you really fired the turbo boosters you'd have a lot of horse, but I also think she'd come back to you if you asked. 

I didn't realize how terribly out of shape I am, but jumping her was took a lot more strength than I had apparently... I mean it went fine, and was SO FUN! But I was getting jumped a little loose and I'm definitely sore today! Totally worth it though. It was nice to know that even though I'm weak and definitely rusty, I'm still semi capable! It was really fun to ride something with her own motor and that paid attention to the job at hand. The only thing I had to think about was what we were doing. Not if the leaves moving or if someone was walking around outside the ring. She didn't care about any of that stuff. 

Just casually getting launched out of the saddle here... 
As one does.

Then the trainer was like okay we'll get Verona ready next, you can ride another one right? SURE! (But guys I was so pooped!) Verona is the big jumper. Faith, the first one, has experience to the 1.3M and I think that's about her max. But Verona is expected to be a real 1.6M Grand Prix horse. And she is definitely the hotter one. She's not so good in the mouth, and all she wants to do is get moving! The trainer had me serpentining through the ring at a trot with a walk transition at the change direction point, then back to trot. And it definitely took a few times through to realize just how little leg I needed. Then we cantered, and it was actually adjustable, but there was for sure a lot of power in there. I wasn't planning to jump her, because my legs were spent, but I generally cave to peer pressure and we popped over a couple cross rails. She was a hard ride for me, because she was taking a good look at the jump, but if I legged too much in response to that, I had too much horse. Fortunately, someone wanted to come try a pony right away (Florida is so weird guys) so I got to be done with just those exciting cross rails. I liked Verona, she's definitely a quality big jumper, but also definitely more horse than I like to ride. Faith though? I'm a big fan of that one. If only I could collect horses.... And had more help. Ha. If any of you know anyone looking for a jumper, send them my way! She needs her own human,

Today I went back down to Wellington to visit my trainer and Shiny's kid. And also another friend of mine. The family all dispersed in different directions so I had the whole day to play. My trainer has another rider helping her do some riding, and he had a puppy too! Puppies everywhere! This one is a CORGI!

Not much cuter than a corgi puppy

Shiny's kid has a new lease for the winter, and it's a large pony! He's so cute, and ridiculously scopey. She was jumping him around at 3'6" and it was so easy for him. Even if the distance wasn't perfect, he just popped right over with no shenanigans or opinions. I'm excited for this pair, he's exactly what she should have to learn on. I'm hoping to go back down to see them again Friday and my trainer said I could ride her horses, so that would be super fun. She mostly has hunters right now but she prefers jumpers, so she's happy to hand them off. Ha! I love a hunter. 

I also got to visit with a good friend, and watched her have a lesson. She's been with this trainer for a few years now, but I haven't been out to their barn. Her new trainer is LOVELY. She's stern, but never mean. Even if someone makes a big mistake or worse, repeatedly makes the same one, she never insulted anyone. She didn't even get mad. She actually asked the rider why that was happening, like maybe there was a good reason that she couldn't see from where she was standing. And then she just explained what wasn't working and how to fix it. It as very refreshing to see. My friend and her horse are doing so great, and I'm so happy for them! 

I'm here until Saturday, which I'm really enjoying such a long trip. But I miss my horses and Rita, and can't wait to see them soon! The cold weather I'm less enthused to get back to. That and having to deep clean the barn aisle. I know that's going to be a thing. But all good. Definitely very lucky to have an aisle to clean! 

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday and enjoy New Year's Eve!