I have the day off today and slept in until 11:30. Yes!!! I didn't get to bed until 3:00 am though, since we went to Gainesville again last night. We had a going away celebration for Anna and went out for some sushi (yum!) and then went to a club to dance. We danced the night away and it was a lot of fun, even though it was extremely packed and really hot in there. I am so glad that I do not have to work today, and I don't know how the others are doing it. Tonight we are having a cook out as well.

Camille came to visit this weekend. I rode Glory for her on Friday, and Glory was really naughty so I had to work through a few things with her, rather than just show off what we have been doing, which was kind of frustrating. The horse was mad because I usually ride her right away in the morning, but that day I rode her last and the feed cart passed by us as she was standing in the cross ties. She was thinking about food the whole time we were working. I guess I learned to mix things up a bit more! On Saturday she was much better though. Camille rode her and thinks I am doing a very good job with her, which is really nice to hear. Camille gets to ride a lot when she comes to visit, so it is really good for her as well.

My other training horse, Luc, is coming along nicely so far. He is a really cute little guy, but he is totally green. John got on him for me the other day to give me another perspective on him. I just love how everyone helps each other out here, and John actually thanked me for letting him ride him! My understanding is that Luc's owner is a timid rider, so she has been holding him back. He tries really hard to take care of his rider, but he is also young and green, so sometimes he acts out in frustration. Hopefully we can get Gilda to enjoy Luc as much as Camille is starting to enjoy Glory.

Every day is eventful around here. Yesterday the dentist showed up in the morning, and none of us were even aware she was coming. She ended up having to do 14 horses, which really throws our day off, since someone has to help get the horses and hold them for her. In the case of badly behaving horses, it takes two people to hold them. The horses also take awhile to wake back up from the drugs, so they cannot be turned out right away. Jean will also throw me a curve ball every now and then, and I am afraid that she thinks I am not paying attention to what is going on around the farm. However, I have been riding more consistently lately, and Erin has been really supportive of my riding. I have had a few really good rides with her this past week, so I think she is starting to put more faith in my abilities. On days when she is not in, I end up having to lunge and free jump a bunch of her horses for her when I would really rather be riding. On those days I just remind myself that I am a professional equestrian, not just a rider, and put my efforts into doing the best job I can. For the first time in my life I feel like I am fully engaged in every moment of my life, and it is a great feeling!

Today I got my second training horse! His name is Luc, and he is a Trakehner/Quarter horse. He is 6. His owner has not been riding him consistently, and has had some trouble with him. I lunged him today and rode him a little bit, and she said that he was doing very well with me. It is nice to make a little extra money, and I am starting to really feel like a professional equestrian! It feels really great to have been here less than a month and to already have two paying clients.

Glory B is doing fabulously. She seems to have some allergies, so sometimes our work is interrupted by coughing fits, but now that she is starting to have some fitness, we are starting to get some really good work. I am having a little trouble bending her to the left, she wants to throw her left shoulder in, but otherwise the transitions and the lateral work are really coming along. She has a really cute medium trot and really tries hard! I have started wearing spurs when riding her, just to get her a little quicker to the leg, and have had good results so far. I am actually thinking about getting a new pair, since the ones I have are a little more than I really need with her, and are too much to wear with any of the others.

I had Sunday off and went to Jacksonville beach, to see the Ocean. I had a really nice time and acquired quite a sunburn. But, it was a little empty, since all of my friends were working and I had to go by myself. I really don't mind doing things by myself, and stopped for a nice slice of pizza, but when I think about it, I do feel a bit lonely from time to time. I have been talking to John, and he has been saying that we need to go on a "date" some time. Tomorrow night we are going to watch a movie if we get done with work on time. Otherwise, though, the group of us do tend to do a lot together. Anna is going to be leaving next week, so we are going to go out one night, as well as have a cook out. Fairly regularly we also go out for breakfast at the Whistle Stop. I am really looking forward to going out on Saturday. We are meeting Luke again in Gainesville.

Today was a great day! We started at 7:30 instead of 6:30, and got done before 6:00! I told everyone that we have to figure out what we did right today that we have not been doing right on the days where we start at 6:30 and do not get done until after 7:00.

I rode 3 horses today, which is pretty typical at this point, though I always want to ride more. I took Glory in a hack in the 40 acre field. She has been working really hard in the ring, so it was a nice change for her. The peanut hay is blooming right now, so it's really pretty out there, and we will probably get some riding pics out there since they always turn out nice.

I had a good lesson on Adeline. Her feet have been sore lately, and yesterday she did not want to move forward at all. Today we tried some boots on her that are designed for horses that climb in the rocks! They worked well and she was much happier. Erin was working with me on riding more from my seat and legs and less with my hands, which I have noticed a lot lately. I am also tweaking my posting trot, and trying to get my heels down more, as well as starting to use my entire leg as an aid, rather than just my calf.

I also rode Mocha II. Erin is having me ride him much more over the back, more deep and round than I typically ride, and I am interested to see the results from that type of riding on this type of horse. He wants to run around inverted and throw his head up in the air. I am teaching him that throwing his head up means that he has to bend more, which he never gets mad about, he just accepts it. He has a really great disposition and is very athletic. I think he is going to be a great horse, so I can't wait to see the improvement in him.

Florida is great (except for the bugs) and I have the day off tomorrow, so I am going to try and do some sight seeing. The unfortunate part is that none of my friends have off on the same day as I do, so I will have to do it by myself, unless I want to do something with Erin, but she just started seeing someone, so it's hard to get her to break away.

I think it's neat to see the affect I am having on the people at the barn. Everyone says that I am fitting in well, since we are all friends and like to have fun and joke around, but I am also encouraging them to take care of themselves. For example, before I got here, they would all work through their lunch, unless they were "lucky" enough to get a lunch. Personally, I think it's crazy to work 12 + hours without eating, so I told them to just take a lunch when they were hungry. Rather than ask "Can I take a lunch?" say "I am going to grab something to eat, and when I get back I will do x, y, z." John told me the other day that he is so glad that I am encouraging them to do that because now he has the energy to make it through the day. Well - duh!

Here are some pics from salsa dancing the other night.

Last night, John, Tiffany, Anna, Cameron and I went into Gainesville to meet Luke for salsa lessons and then to a salsa club. Luke is an advanced dancer, but the rest of us were in the beginner group. We had a lot of fun, and we are planning on going back for more lessons.

The salsa club was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. First of all, there was zero alcohol involved, and I quickly discovered that I am quite shy when it comes to dancing, especially when I don't know the steps. However in salsa dancing, the man is really supposed to lead the way, so if you are dancing with a guy that knows what he is doing, you can fake it pretty well to onlookers, though your partner is likely to know that you are clueless! Most of the dancers there were really good, and it was like being in the club scene from Dirty Dancing. It was really fun to get Tiffany out dancing since she doesn't tend to go out very much.

We stayed out too late and got a late start this morning. The family that does our hay and cleans our stalls is also on vacation this weekend, so we have to do that ourselves. Being down a couple people (Laura and Andrew) means that the majority of our days this weekend will be spent doing those things, with little opportunity for riding. However, we also have clients coming, so that throws our routine off further. I like having variety, so I am really not complaining, and it is sort of nice to have a break from riding.

Jean has also started talking to me about a potential new training horse that she would like to bring in for me to work with. This would mean a little bit more money, which would be great!!!

I find that when I let more than a couple days go by between posts, I have so much to catch up on that I am bound to miss something, which will be the case with this post, I am sure.

Thursday night, John, Anna, Laura and I went to Applebees for karaoke. Anna brought her boyfriend and his friend. It was nice to get away from the farm together and let loose a little. In fact, we were rehashing a story from the day over drinks and I guess we got a little too rowdy because the manager came up to us and asked us to stop swearing. We had a good time that night, and it was worth being a little tired at work the next day.

Camille came to visit on Friday and Saturday to see how Glory was doing. Glory has lost 100 pounds already! Camille seemed to be pretty happy with how Glory was coming along, which I was very glad about. Glory was actually really great on Friday, but then seemed to be pretty tired on Saturday, so we gave her Sunday off. I gave Camille a lesson on the lunge line, and when Camille remarked to Erin that I seemed to have good skills at a teacher, I made my usual remark of "I would like to teach lessons someday," to which Camille confirmed, "You are!" Oh yeah, that's right, I am an equestrian professionally now. Thanks for the reminder =)

Laura was bringing horses in this morning, and Honorbound was acting bratty. She took a moment to take him aside to teach him a lesson about being respectful, and he unexpectedly kicked her. I saw the horse run off and heard Laura moaning, so I ran up to see her lying on the ground. I really didn't know what to do other than ask her what happened, what she thinks she hurt, and to tell her to not get up until Tiffany came to assist. She went to the ER with Jean where it was found that she broke her elbow in 3 places. She has to go to Gainesville on Friday to have surgery and have a pin put in. Now we have Laura, Anna, Tiffany, and Andrew all leaving. Anna and Tiffany have a couple more weeks, I believe, and after that it will just be me and John, so hopefully they will get someone else in right away. Luke is helping out riding some of the horses, but he does not do any of the chores.

I am working on expanding my "list" of horses that I am going to be working with. I had my first ride on Mocha II on Friday, and then showed him to clients on Saturday. Today I rode Scooter for a group of clients for the first time as well. He is so trustworthy that I even went over a little jump with him. Scooter is an Arabian gelding that got left here by one of their previous working students. He is a really sweet horse and is a little sad because he doesn't know where his owner went. I don't think she is coming back for him and Jean is trying to sell him to cover the board that she owes for him. I am going to try to get Scooter on my list even though he is not as fabulous as some of the other horses - just because I like him. So far I have not been riding as much as I expected to. I am riding typically 2 or 3 times per day, and I was expecting to ride 5 or 6 horses a day. I made it clear to Erin today that I want to ride more, so we will see if that happens with her, otherwise I will talk to Jean about it, since I know Jean really wants me to ride as much as I can.

I am acclimated to the weather already. I have been remarking for the past couple of days how it hasn't been so hot and it has been more comfortable. However, I just checked the weather and it has still been in the mid 90s. Yesterday we had a tropical depression, but did not really get any rain. It is the end of hurricane season, and we are expecting a couple tropical storms, but I don't think any of them sound too bad. I am a bit skeptical, actually, because I have noticed that even when it storms really hard here, it only lasts for a little while and then it clears up and is nice again.

Here are some pics of Glory B that Camille took when she was visiting this weekend. Glory was really great on Friday (when the pictures were taken) but was really lazy on Saturday. I think she was sore and/or tired, since she is still pretty out of shape. However, she has lost 100 pounds already in 2 weeks!

Today is going to be another 14 hour day. However, I was able to break away after my morning chores and renew my drivers license, and I am on a short break right now. Now I have a Florida drivers license! Yay! Unfortunately, the picture sort of illustrated to me that I really need to get my hair cut. I was trying to grow it out, but I really don't think it does anything for me, especially since I don't have time to deal with it most of the time. And I really like it short, and it's way too hot for long hair, it's typically in the mid 90s during the day, with it reaching 90 by 10:00 am.

I took Glory out in the 40 acre field for some conditioning work. She had a really good time and behaved nicely. Everyone at the barn thinks she is so cute, and her owner is coming this weekend to see her. I am going to try to get some pics of me riding her as well as some of the others. I also had a lesson on Arella. Arella is a tense and nervous mare, but has a fair amount of training. I tend to do well getting the tense ones to relax once trust is established, and as long as I stay balanced mentally and physically. It was my 3rd ride on her today, and I had some very nice work, but she does want to swing her haunches in when cantering right.

I rode Honorbound today! He is so cute, and I think he is going to be my project horse. He looks so dapper in my black and white tack. He has not really had any consistent work, so I am excited to see how he will respond to the training. He does get a little strong and wants to pull and sticks his head up in the air. I am working on not letting him pull me out of position while asking for bending. We had moments of very nice work, and he even started to stretch down at the end of the ride, which Erin said he never did before.

After my break I am going to work with John and ride Wassail. Wassail is a youngster that John started, who is now at the point where he is ready for some more dressage training. I might end up taking over riding him as well. I am averaging riding 4 horses per day right now, which I think is very good, given how hot it is. Once it starts to cool down, and I am in a little better condition, I hope to increase that to 5 or 6 horses per day, but that is hard to do when I have to groom and tack up my own horses as well as helping Erin with hers.

Today was a pretty good day, though I was exhausted for most of it. It was really hot today, and I had to work outside in the sun a lot. I also had to feed the outside herds again this morning, but John helped me - and thank goodness for John! He actually made it fun and we did not have too many problems with the horses.

Erin took the day off, and I ended up working 8 horses myself today. It felt like quite the accomplishment! Glory is getting better at the lateral work. Her owner is coming to visit this weekend, so I should be able to get some nice pictures this weekend.

I had a seat lesson with Anna on Wyanette (who bucked again on the right lead canter) and Anna said that I am a very pretty rider, which was very nice to hear. But hopefully I am also effective! The other rides I had today were not memorable, but I had some really good ground work today. Herzi, a 4 year old chestnut that I told Erin I want to help start, was very good today. The other day I put a saddle on him for the first time, and he bucked a little bit, but today there was no bucking at all. He is so sweet and very sensible, so I think he will be a good one to work with to get experience starting young horses.

Honorbound is another young horse that I have been working with. Today I free jumped him. I think he is 5 now, and he used to be a stallion, but they gelded him because he was too much of a handful. I saw him ridden the other day and he was just lovely. He is black with a stripe on his face and 2 socks. He looks so dainty since he is really refined, but he has so much presence and confidence. I hope to start riding him this week.

Today is my birthday! I am 31 today, though I hardly feel it. Yesterday, we got out of work on time, and all decided to go to Applebees for food and drinks. We played "what if," which is a fun game that allows you to be a little silly. I had a piece of chocolate cake at midnight, which we all shared. When asked what I would be doing on my birthday if I was back in Wisconsin, I said that I would be out with all my friends, and started to cry. It was then that I really, really missed everyone!

This morning, Erin and I went to Alachua to go to The Temple of the Universe. The name sounds a little strange, and there are some odd rituals that they go through, but the lectures are very interesting and the people are very nice. Today they talked about the mind, and how "you" are not your mind or your thoughts. I am to the point right now that I realize that I can observe my thoughts and choose to listen to them or not, and sometimes I will consciously choose to think a different thought if the one that is in my mind does not serve me, but the lecture took it one step further and suggested that we start to question "who" is being affected by these thoughts to begin to see who "I" really am. At the end of the lecture, there was some singing in sancrit. I did not sing along since I did not know the words, or even understand what they were singing about, but some people were really getting into it, and some people were even crying. After that, we all stood around in a big circle and held hands and had some time for announcements. Erin announced that it was my birthday, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. It was the most people that I have ever had sing me happy birthday.

After the Temple, Erin, her friend Shannon, and their friend Ashley (a guy) and I all went to lunch. I was a little nervous, since I was supposed to only take a half day off from work, but I checked in with the barn manager and she said that this would be my day off this week then. That actually means that I will have to work more than a week without a day off now, but I think it will be ok. We had a very yummy lunch, and some good conversation. Erin was very thoughtful and gave me a gift. Their friend Ashley is very attractive, is an accupuncturist and runs a meditation class. He is from the Midwest as well, Monroe, actually. I thought he was interested in me since he kept finding reasons to touch me, but he did not ask for my number. I didn't exactly make it easy for him though either, which he is probably used to, so we will see if anything happens in the future.

I found fleas on Boscoe and I freaked out. He had a flea and tick preventative on, so I don't know how it happened, but apparently all the dogs and cats out here have fleas. I have never had to deal with fleas, and I could hardly sleep last night because I was afraid that they were going to get on me somehow. So, today I went to Wal-Mart and got a flea collar, a flea spray, and a room spray as well as a flea shampoo. That should take care of it, but it will be an ongoing process. Gross!!!!

My friends at the barn were talking about taking me to the springs for my birthday yesterday, so I was a bit surprised when I got home and saw them getting into the car to leave without having called me to let me know they were going. I think they are mad at me for ducking out of work today, but that is not a good enough reason to ruin my birthday! Ah well, I hate to be disappointed by people, but at least it is sooner rather than later with this bunch.

Today started out pretty rough. I got to the barn as usual at 6:30 and started bringing in horses. However, shortly after I got a call from the others saying that they decided not to start until 7:30, since we had a long day the day before. I went back to the house and decided to work out, which was fine since I had not really had much chance to do that since I got here. I got back to work feeling great and I decided to tackle the job of feeding the outside herds on my own for the first time. That is when it started going downhill.

Feeding the herds is a big job, which involves driving around the entire property on a golf cart loaded with huge a bucket of oats, various smaller buckets with particular feed for particular horses, and 3 different kinds of supplements. You have to know which horse gets which feed, how much, as well as what supplements. That part went fine. However, another part of the job is herding various herds of horses into stalls to feed them. There are mares and babies, yearlings and two year olds, and tease mares. When I brought the yearlings in, I was missing 2 horses, so I went back out to the pasture (which is huge and has 3 sections), almost got stuck out there in the golf cart, and could not find them. Come to find out that 2 had been left in to show clients. Would have been nice to know! Also, herding the horses into their stalls is really a two person job, since they are all trying to get into the same stalls, and every time you turn around a horse is trying to get into the oats, and one of the stalls does not latch well so that causes problems as well. After I fed those horses, I brought in the tease mares, and had too many horses! I had to have someone come out for the extraneous mares.

Working horses went a little better. Today was not dressage intensive, as we had the vet out treating horses all day. I free jumped some horses, including Glory, who is a really cute jumper, and also went on a trail ride. I did work one horse in the ring, and she wanted to buck every time we went into the right lead canter.

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I am taking the morning off to go to the Temple with Erin. My friends (the other working students) also want to go into Gainesville tonight for a bit, so that should be fun.

I had my day off yesterday. I was very productive and went to Starbucks for breakfast and did some studying. I went to the grocery store, did some more unpacking, and buckled down again for more homework. I have completed nearly everthing for both of my classes and now just need to take finals.

Iris, one of the trainers and my roommate, left for Brasil today to visit her boyfriend for a month. So last night a group of us went out for dinner to wish her well on her trip. It will be nice to have the place to myself for awhile to get settled in, and we will have a few things to work on when she gets back to see if it's possible for us to continue to live together. She does not like my dog, for one thing, and says his nails on the floor in the morning wake her up, so I have to pick him up and carry him outside. Also, I confronted her about taking some of my food without asking, and she got really upset about that. Everyone else out here has been really super though, and I feel like they are starting to be my friends.

Today I worked 7 horses and rode 4 of them. I had 3 good rides and one not so good ride. My last ride of the day was on a 5 year old that had only been under saddle for 2 months. He has some clients coming to look at him this weekend and I am going to be showing him. He has a tendancy to curl his neck, so we work a lot on getting him to stretch out, but his steering is not so good! Young horses are so funny in that when working on a circle in the arena they will cut in on the side of the circle away from the barn, and bulge out on the circle on the side that is towards the barn. Keeping him out on the circle is not a problem, but I had difficulty getting him to stay in on the side he bulges out on, since he would just curl his neck in, get heavy in the hand, and escape through his shoulder. I had a problem with him a couple times in the canter where he actually went left instead of staying right on the circle. The answer in that scenario is to let go of the inside rein and gaurd his shoulder with the outside rein in addition to using the outside leg - which is easier said than done when careening towards a wall! We will try it again tomorrow.

Yesterday we had a barn meeting, and we decided that we would start work at 6:30 in the hopes that we could get more horses worked before the heat of the afternoon, and then end early. So today we did it. We started bringing horses in before it was even light out, worked all day, I managed to get a nice break for lunch, and then we fed early. But of course, right as we were about to start turning out, it started storming like I had not seen it do since I got here. Those of us that were in the barn were stuck in the barn for nearly an hour, while those in the arena had to all huddle towards one end to avoid getting wet. It started to clear up after that, but it was still raining so we decided to ride another round of horses (which includes hosing them off and cleaning up all their tack afterwards) before starting on turnout. We did not get done until nearly 9:00. It was a long day, but I did not feel rushed, so I surprisingly am not too tired. Though, I am glad that tomorrow is my day off.

Today was the last day of the clinic. It was amazing to see some of the horses and riders working on tempi changes, piaffe, and passage. It makes me feel like I could really get there some day, and I don't see why not with the caliber of horses and instruction that I now have at my fingertips. With all the discussion in the dressage world regarding the position of the horses's poll, and whether or not their face is behind the verticle or not, I was surprised that the clinician (from the Spanish riding school) did not mention it once. The horses were not worked "deep," but there was no mention of when the horses came behind the verticle. The focus was on completing the exercises correctly, and keeing the horses soft and straight.

I rode 3 horses today. Glory is really coming along. We are focusing on getting her to work through the back, and to make sure she does not use that big neck against us. So far she has been very willing to do what I ask of her, even though she is very out of shape. We cantered today for the first time under saddle, and it was very comfortable and not too unbalanced. I think it helped that the farrier trimmed her feet yesterday and moved the breakover point more towards the middle of her foot, rather than towards the toe where it had been previously. There is still more work to do on her feet, but they are already looking much better.

So far I love Florida! It is hot during the day, but I have been managing pretty well so far. And it cools down after it rains, and the mornings are pretty cool, so that is nice. However, the first person to walk down the barn aisles has the job of clearing out all the spider webs that grew overnight. Some of the spiders down here are pretty scary looking, but I am trying to turn around my attitude about them. However, Erin told me about a spider with 14 legs in one of the bathrooms the other day, and will not go in there now.

Tomorrow I get to sleep in, catch up on homework, do laundry, and grocery shop. If I have time I might go to yoga, or take Glory on a trail ride.

The clinic is still going on, so we are working long, slow days. I rode 3 horses today and worked 12 hours. Once the clinic is over, we will have a more normal schedule and I will get to ride more.

It has rained every day since I got here, but the rain is warm, and blows over very quickly so it is not too much of an inconvenience unless a storm comes around turn out time (like today), because then we have to wait to turn the horses out. It has been in the 90s every day, but we do not typically work directly in the sun, and the covered arena is very comfortable, so I have been adjusting to the heat quite well.

Erin has given me a few lessons and thinks I have a lot of talent. She thinks my position is good overall, but I am working on shortening my reins and getting my hands more in front of me, and to bring my right leg more forward.

I rode Glory B today for the first time today. For being a draft cross, she is actually nicely forward and bends easily. She is really cute under saddle, and is going to be a lot of fun once she gets into shape. For now though, she is about 150 pounds overweight, and can only do a little bit of work before she gets out of breath.

Boscoe is very happy here and is making friends with all the farm dogs. Got to run, need to get some sleep before starting it all over again.