Well, when I started this blog I fully intended to cover all the lead-up time, interviews, and preparation. But as everybody well knows, life often gets in the way of even the best laid plans and so, such a blog did not ever happen. But now I’m here at Windchase, and I plan to keep this thing pretty damn regular!
So here’s the brief run-down of my interview, for those who are curious:
It was about 98 degrees with about the same humidity when my mom and I got down here in June – and I’m a Maine girl, so that was a little much for me! I basically spent a day living the working student life, had a pretty tough lesson with Phyllis, all the normal stuff. Well, on my second day, we got caught in a big storm, and to make a long story short, lightning struck the barn and it burned down! All the horses were in so we had to rush to get them all out - but in the end, nobody was hurt or even injured, and we got most of the tack out, too. It was pretty intense!
Well, needless to say, after the trials and tribulations of my interview, I got the job! I then spent the rest of the summer just working on the basics with Danny and doing some “fun stuff” because I knew we’d have to buckle down once we were here!
And here we are. The number one thing I’ve learned in my week or so of being here: being homesick SUCKS. I’m seventeen and this is the first time I’ve ever left home – and I never realized it would be so hard! It gets so bad sometimes that I find myself thinking, “I just want to give up riding and go home.” Of course I’ll never ever give up, and I really hope I won’t run home, but we’ll see! Anyone got any tips for making this transition easier?!
Anyway, our trip here was fairly uneventful; East Coast Equine Transport (out of York, Maine) hauled Danny down and although the loading was interesting (he got on fine and stayed on, but tried to do a little inventive climbing to get out when I left the trailer), we were all soon on our way and everyone arrived in one piece. At first Danny was a little stiff and spent a day or two in an individual paddock, but he decided pretty quickly that that was WAY too boring, so now he’s out with a bunch of other geldings who all have a ton of space to roam – we lead them out in the morning by their halters and turn them loose in a little “holding area” in front of the barn, from where they gallop up a chute and into one big field which is connected to part of the cross-country course. Of course, that’s where they go most of the time - so getting my horse in for a lesson always involves quite a hike!
Speaking of lessons, we’ve now had two with Melissa Hunsberger, the assistant trainer here. She rode at Rolex Kentucky a couple years back and is a really nice person, and fun to have lessons with. The first lesson she took away our Bitless Bridle (our security blanket!) and made us work with the bit, really making me use a lot of leg to keep Danny on the aids. After just two lessons I already feel like he’s going way better! She got on him today briefly and he looked awesome, and then while I was riding, Phyllis came in and remarked later in the day that Danny looked really nice. Melissa also mentioned that Danny’s a good mover, which made me feel good, because I must be honest – I was a little nervous that my twit, 15.2hh, conformationally-challenged horse wouldn’t exactly be accepted!
Other than that, I’m still trying to get over my missing-home funk. I have tomorrow off so I fully intend to watch a movie (I picked up Rocky Horror and Donnie Darko the other day – yay!) and catch up on rereading Harry Potter so I can finally start reading the Twilight books! Today was a really, really long day and my feet are sooo sore. I’m hoping that I can get a little work done on Danny’s jumping before it gets too cold – I’ll keep you updated and try to get some pics soon!
See ya!
