Dec. 2nd “Tea in a Castle”

A long day of hunting with the “Westmeath Hunt”. It was really slow, but I must say the hounds got on one line that was worth it all! Never before have I seen hounds so certain and spot-on; unfortunately, when the fox went into the castle ruins we had to stop the chase, but all is well. My horse, Kiber, a 16.3 hand dark bay with a star was really good, though I was told he was going to be really bad, but he knew his stuff, was smart with his feet, and we even jumped a cattle grate. There is nothing like hunting right along the sides of old castles. We even had tea in a castle!!!! It was amazing, almost made me feel like the story I wrote in 6th grade, about going back in time. Thanks everyone, for all your hard work at the barn!

Dec. 1st “Irish fun!!!”

Because I rode all day yesterday I shared a horse today. His name was “Bud” and he was a lovely black 17.2 hand Irish Sport Horse with a big elegant blaze. It really rained hard with howling winds that made even the horses shiver when they were walking. Being on a big horse that used to be a super clean show jumper is not the best thing when you are ducking down under trees and jumping. I nearly got my helmet caught on a tree but luckily it was a small branch and broke off giving me a little souvenir. I will tell you that “Bud” was absolutely amazing despite his height. There was one jump that was a huge drain with an up bank and brush and he easily cleared it! He was a really sweet horse that was always trying to do what you wanted. One man even got snagged off his horse by a tree when he was going over a bank and got a concussion. Anyways, after the meet, we loaded the horses into the trailer and they closed up the ramp. This was fine as we were still getting the horses tied in... and then suddenly, the van to move and went on a short little trailer ride 2 minutes max as we were waving at people trying to get them to stop the driver. But being the kind folks they are, they waved right back! We all got a huge kick out of it. For dinner we went to the “Celtic pub” and then started our Irish night! There was one lady who taught dancing and 2 younger musicians that played the whistle, violin, guitar and drums. We learned how to play the drums and Irish songs, we even learned and performed 3 Irish dances.... we all had a blast! I don’t think a smile ever left our faces! I'm all danced out now - good night. Thanks SCRPCRC for taking such good care of everything! I can’t wait to teach you the dances at next meeting!

Nov. 30th “That’s one way”

Today / yesterday, I was on this lovely chestnut horse named “Mr. Floss”. He was so good about footing and being smart with his feet for the most part. Jumping a jump with a ditch on the other side was not his forte; no matter what you did he would jump very upright coming down right in the ditch but being a resourceful thinker, he decided all on his own that he could jump it but twist in the air landing side ways in the ditch then jump out! So, because I was in the very back we did manage… (as long as I sat back and let him be very light on his front end. He was really sweet and very good at dikes/ drains, I had a Blast! We jumped loads of banks and brush and drains. One jump was literally a large drain going up hill landing on a 1 foot ridge with brush where the horses bounce off over another drain. Hunting with the Meath is definitely a different style; you will be sitting on the top of the hill, then next thing you know your doing a full blown gallop down the other side. Mr Floss was a neat horse with a cute personality. Ok, I can hardly hold my eyes open, must mean its time for bed, good night! Thanks a million for all your work at SCR!

Nov. 29th “Are we there yet???”

Ok, today we set out on a road trip to move from Southern Ireland to Northern Ireland where we were scheduled to meet our new host families. It seemed like we drove and drove and drove, but it was nice that ¾ of the way through we stopped at an activity center where they had set up a group for all the pony clubbers! Now we hadn’t any idea what we were going to do but they told us to put on the rock climbing harness and helmets. (At this point you might be thinking rock climbing but mind you there are no rocks other than what were laying in the pond). We set out on a hike over a bridge and through the forest, where we found our play ground, but it was not on the ground.......... it was way up in the sky from tree to tree! You started by climbing a rock wall, then once you got to the top you had to go a crossed a swinging bridge where you arrive at the vines, you walk a crossed a rope and grab vines (random ropes) to balance yourself, once you crossed that, you came to the broken bridge.... you had to jump from panel to panel you then came to another rope that you walked a crossed then last but not least the zip line perhaps every ones favorite. Although most of the kids weren’t thrilled by the experience, I had a blast! When we arrived at our final destination for the day, we were shocked! It was literally a mansion right out of “Pride and Prejudice”. The house was absolutely amazing and HUGE!!! Ok, off to bed, early start in the morning, good night! Thank you so much for all your hard work at home!

Catching Up: Nov 28th “My ‘Oh Crikey!’ moment...”

For possibly not hunting, we have gotten a lot in! Today we hunted with the Kilkenny Hunt and I rode a dreamy “Cleveland Bay Irish Sport Horse” that was 16.3 ¼ hands. I couldn’t have asked for a better horse and can’t begin to tell you what a privilege it was to ride him! It all started out really slow. The hounds were hard at work, but we were just trotting along the sides of the fields... until we came to our first dike (big ditch with water in it) it was a smaller dike averaging about 6 feet a crossed but was very muddy on both the take off and the landing, my horse named “Bornvill” was just a pro; easily trotting right up and hoping a crossed the dike that had already unseated several riders. Next was a huge bog! I had never seen a bog like it before, think of a small pond that went up to the horse’s chests and was (instead of water) was gooey mud, several horses really struggled and one went down, but all were fine. Our next obstacle was a 5 bar Iron Gate, “Bornvill” jumped right in stride and was absolutely wonderful. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of Irish hunting we came a crossed a nearly 8 foot vertical down hill that you had to duck down under trees and bushes to a massive drop in to a deep bog in the river, in between trees. My horse was truly a seasoned hunter even though he hadn’t been out in a while he just waited for me to encourage him then he steadily slid down the hill and leaped down in to the bog as I held the back of the saddle and gave him the reins. It got to the point that some people sent their horses down and came down after them. I must say it was a very good day! We didn’t stop hunting until it was dark and on the way home it looked like a mini fire works show as the sparks flew when the horse’s shoes hit the concrete. We then had dinner at the lovely home of the Irish pony club headquarters, where she let us clean our boots like little kids before a rally on the kitchen floor! On our way home it started to hail and it came down hard though only for a short while, it was -6 degrees Celsius. Ok, that’s all for now, g’night! Thank you so much for doing so much at the barn!

Catching Up: Nov 27th “The tour of Heaven”

Today we went to the “Coolmore Stud Farm”. (http://www.coolmore.com/farm.php?country=ireland) It’s quietly nestled on only 4,000 acres and is the most pristine farm in the world! It is home to over 600 mares and up to 50 studs during the breeding season. We were fortunate enough to see the three most winning producing studs in the WORLD, “Milaka”, “Rock Of Gibraltar” and of course “Sadler’s Wells”. Coolmore Stud Farm was also once the home of the great “Northern Dancer”, and also relative “Danehill”, a leading sire in Australia nine times, Great Britain and Ireland three times, and the leading sire in France. We then got a tour of Balykilen which works along the side of Coolmore. It is a training yard for the best race horse trainer in the world! The farm is over 3,000 acres, with tracks of all different surfaces, some went through the forest, others along the pond, strictly on flat or man made hill to have just the right amount of climb. They had separate barns, turn outs, parade paddock, semi indoor schools and small training tracks for the colts and fillies. In addition they also had a swimming pool, water tread mills, heat saunas and drying lights. It is no wonder last year they had 76 “grade 1” wins! (I will add the pix when I get home.) Thanks so much for all of your help at the barn! Good night!

Kiersti phoned!

We finally heard from Kiersti, Monday...She has not be able to get to a computer, nor buy a phonecard. The Irish chaperone let her make a call so she kept the call brief, so as not to run up the bill and the phone kept cutting out...I was glad to hear she was ok...Sounds like she has been journalling and intends to catch us up on the events. Currently she is staying in a mansion (like in Pride and Predjudice) near Trinity College and has been having a blast.... She has ridden some very fine horses...and that the riding is "extreme" riding...something about jumping down an 8foot bogg....???She has been fine but many people and horses have taken falls... It had snowed where they were...but I believe they are still getting in quite a bit of riding.... If we hear more, we will post it....Crystal

only have 5 minutes to write...

Hi I only have 5 minutes right now, but I will try to get on the computer again later. Thank you so much for all of your work, I’m sorry to hear that my mom is so sick..... So far I have been ok. I’ve been taking loads of the “Emergen-C”! One kid went home REALLY SICK and another has a broken collar bone but I'm having a blast! The kids from IRE and UK kids are so much fun & their chaperone is awesome. We actually did get a lamb dinner that was wonderful! It’s so cool, they must like my riding because I went out on a man’s personal horse and came back on his 1month under saddle 4 year old point to point filly. (Point to Point = Steeplechase). Love you much! More to come later (I hope).

Day 2 in Ireland - I looked like a Dalmatian!

After waking up, getting 8 1/2 hrs of sleep (the most I've gotten in I don’t know how long) we had a delicious breakfast and went down to plait (braid) the horses. Although it was still 6 degrees Celsius, gusting winds & accompanied by showers, when we got to the meet the showers had stopped and we met loads of nice people at the pup. I rode a lovely ex-dressage thoroughbred named “Avaunta” (German for “forward”). We had little jumping, mostly creeks and little logs, we were out for hours......slightly over 6 hours - I believe. The countryside was absolutely wonderful, but the mud was very very deep I got covered and looked like a Dalmatian. When we were driving to the meet there was a huge pond but as you moved, it continued and what was behind us faded.........It was all farmland that had flooded! One man said that it was about waist deep! When we returned we had a coke and some crisps at the pub and then headed back to the house where we put up the horses and went to the house. At the house we had a lovely dinner - my first lamb (don’t tell “Sweetie”) and another fantastic dessert!!!
The son left back to Dublin for a day, so tomorrow we have to get all of the horses ready ourselves. I think they liked my riding because I'm riding the owner’s horse. A lovely gray! More tomorrow! … We are going to be out hunting just for a short day but it will still be fun! Thanks to all the grand helpers!!!

Arrival & 1st day in Ireland

Let me start by saying: taking time in between flights only makes it take longer.....way longer!!!
This morning we left for Paris, and the little monitor that shows the map on the plane was so disturbing! Every time we looked at the little plane on the map it seemed as if we were only going in reverse. Other than that the plane ride was good, and the only glimpse I got of the Eiffel tower was what I saw as I shuffled past a gift shop. We sat in the airport for 4 hours waiting for our connecting flight, then when they started to board the plan our chaperone had gone to the restroom or should I say the “lue”... I had to go and tell the gate that we were ready but were waiting for our chaperone, his response was : O,,,,,O, ok, well I see, ok o we are just waiting for you; are you coming or not? At that moment we were able to spot our chaperone and signal her to run, then the man at the boarding gate acted as if he had never seen us, greeting: “Bon Jour”, how are you? are you enjoying your trip? Haha flash back to the movie “Meet the Parents”. Then I sat by a couple that would not stop making out! So I read 87 pages in my book "Sea Biscuit".
When we landed, we met the organizers of the entire exchange and they were so welcoming and kind! Then we went to the cars and had a small seating problem so I volunteered to go with the UK team. We were only 3min out when we stopped at a Mobil station and discovered we were lacking at least 10lbs of air in each tire! The driver got out of their car and went to tell the others what we were doing and at that instant a van backed up and luckily managed to stop, literally 1 inch away from our little car!
Finally we were on our way, after we humorously figured out how to get the car to start. That’s when I realized even if I can’t hunt, the trip was worth it! We were cracking jokes left and right and even though we hardly new each other it seemed as if we were the best of friends. We got to Puncherstown where we had a lovely lunch then went for a tour of the kennels. You might have said that it was a great day.... but it wasn't over. we next went to RACE (Racing Association and …)
There we got a tour of the school and the yard. It had a huge indoor ring, a track, starting gates, and computer labs bigger than most schools. It was immaculate, with banked stalls and huge classrooms......o and one more thing.........racing simulators! I got to ride a horse, a fake horse but I'm going to count it! It was fully tacked with mirrors all around and he gave me a small lesson, 2 other kids and I went first and the others didn’t all think it was a great idea. I think it was great fun and one person nearly fell off, imagine if it was a mechanical bull. haha
The host family that I'm staying with is truly amazing. They are so kind and I must say they also made a really good dessert!!! And to top it off, they said even if there is no hunting they will take us out and let us jump some drains.... we’ll see what happens, we had a long hard rain today but they really want to see us get to hunt.
I have made great friends already, especially with the other girl my age, we are staying at the same place tonight and already pulling mini pranks on each other as if we were sisters. I believe there are 4 boys that are on the exchange and 2 are staying tonight with our same host family, one is their son, they are both very nice.
That’s all for now its only 9:30pm here and I’m still running on more than 48 hours of no sleep. Thanks to all the helpers at the barn, I greatly appreciate it!
PS. the computer keyboards are so different here.

Almost!!!

We are about to leave for the air port, from the organizers cozy house. I met our chaperon last night and she is lovely! Today I met the other to kids from our team and they are very nice too! This morning the one of the other girls and I we went to the organizers wonderful barn and helped with morning chores. Then watched some of their hunt by hill topping in a car, We couldn't’t see much but we did see 2 bald eagles!!! I don’t know if there will be a computer where I stay but I will keep you up to date when I can, we where informed late last night that there might not be any hunting the first week if at all because Cork is completely under water. If I'm in horse country for 2 weeks and cant ride I might just die....all right just suffer. that's all for now, and thanks to all the helpers at the barn, you rock!!!

Count down....2 days!

It's 2 days before I leave and I'm still not packed, Nor do I have all the school ponies tack set up for the lessons when I gone. I'm a member of Sandia Creek Ranch Pony Club Riding Center and the Santa Fe Hunt, I was selected thought US Pony Club for the International Foxhunting Exchange along with 2 other kids from the US. we will be fox hunting with 8 different packs of hounds around Ireland, staying with host family's, and touring Ireland (hopefully most of the time on a horse). I can't wait to meet all the other members! That's all for now,I better go and get packed!