Tag Archives: Fun

Stories from the saddle

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All rugged up on a cold morning riding William Penn

Good Enough – one of my absolute favourites… He’s a lot more special than his name suggests!

Amongst all the craziness of preparing to move south, we’ve still been getting in plenty of riding. I had my first jump lesson with Phillip last week, on a sweet gelding named Vandy. I was super rusty and a bit nervous riding under scrutiny after not having jumped in over a year!
We worked on some basics and some more challenging grids, and even though I made my fair share of mistakes, I learnt lots of things that I’ll be able to take away and work on. Hopefully I’ll have another lesson soon, and might be able to redeem myself a bit now that I’ve got my starstruck nerves out of the way.

One of the more challenging grids from my lesson

The weather has been much more mild in the past few days, and we’ve actually been able to head outside and use the gallop track to do our hacking and jogging. As much as I love the amazing indoor here, it was so nice to get outside and ride in the fresh air! The indoor has been really busy again with people trying to cram in last minute lessons with Phillip before we all leave, so being able to escape peak hour in the arena has been great.

One of the “quieter” moments in the arena, with only 4 other horses – Fernhill Fugitive checking out the action

The horses certainly enjoy it too, and it’s much easier to get those lazier ones moving actively forward during their trot sets out on the track rather than just going round and round in circles.

Penn checking out the scenery

Hacking out with Vandy and Fernhill Fugitive

One of the great things about being here is the opportunity to just observe so many great riders and great horses working together. I love the chances I get to set poles for jump schooling or lessons, because you can learn so much from watching how each person handles each exercise on different horses, and from the feedback they get from Phillip. There is definitely just as much knowledge to be gained from the ground as from the saddle.

Fernhill Flag during a lesson – too speedy for my poor little phone camera!

Days off and hockey games

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With all the long hours and physical work we do here, our day off each week is always well appreciated. I spent the first few lounging around in bed watching movies, but now that I’m well settled in and used to the workload, I’ve begun to venture out and explore a bit on my days off. One of my workmates kindly lets me borrow her car so I can go out and catch up on all the important things like shopping, as well as checking out a few of the local sights.

I had Wednesday off this week, and after a lovely long sleep in I set out for a bit of a girly pamper day. I started off with some shopping and found myself lots of bargains… I really can’t believe the difference in price between things here and back home! After a sneaky ice cream stop I decided to treat myself to a massage… It was definitely a very welcome indulgence for my tired muscles!

When I got home, it was time to head off to the Philadelphia Flyers v Montreal Canadiens ice hockey game with a few friends from the barn. It was my first taste of live American sport and it was soo much fun – the place was packed out and the atmosphere was amazing – definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far! I befriended a few Flyers fans and bought myself a Philadelphia hoodie.. The Flyers ended up winning 3-1 which was pretty exciting. I’m practically a local now!

I don’t think any of us will end up having a day off next week because we’ll be so busy preparing for the big move south, so it was great to have such a fun day off this week. I can’t wait to get settled in in Aiken – I’m sure there are lots of other great places to explore down there!