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