Unfortunately, I did not get to go watch jumping Amsterdam because all the tickets were sold out. I guess I should have planned it a bit better. Oh well, better luck next time!
The weekend went by fast. I went out to the local pub with the girls from the barn. We had a lot of fun having a few drinks and playing pool and just getting to know each other. Everyone is so out going and easy to be around it’s a nice feeling.
I also ran into a fellow Canadian. Wherever you are in the world, you always manage to find another Canadian. The farrier was at the barn on Friday and yelled at me “Hey Alex, you’re from Canada?” I looked at him like ya. Well, it turned out the guy working with him was too. He’s from Ontario and we had a good chat and ended up knowing a lot of the same people. It really makes you realize how small the world is. He had worked in Holland and learned for the last 4 years and has now just returned home to start his own business.
Vitall was good over the weekend. I rode him outside on Saturday when it was a nice and sunny and very peaceful. Sunday he just rested I hand grazed him and gave him a nice brush. Oslo on the other hand decided to take a nice polar bear dip into a smelly ditch. He had been playing with Anky’s dog and I guess he just got too hot with his jacket on but he forgets he can’t swim. But he jumped into the ditch and came back out all proud of himself. Little did he know that he had to go have a shower because he smelled so terrible. The girls were laughing because I had him in the cross ties for his shower. The commented that he was our new star grand prix horse and we all had a good chuckle. Now Oslo is all silky clean and smells good. To dry him I brought him back to the hotel and grabbed my hair dryer. I thought he would have hated the hair dryer but he ended up loving it and just lay there for me, it was pretty cute. I wish I could have had someone take a picture.
Taining went well today and Anky managed to squeeze me in for a lesson as it was a very busy day. They had all the buyers from different stores coming to see the spring line so there were tons of people everywhere. You could definitely feel it was Monday. Vitall was a bit stiff and tight so Anky just said to take it easy and work through getting him light and not to worry about tricks today. I love the fact that she works on making things simple and easy and not jumping the gun to the difficult stuff. After 30 min of supplying work and transitions Vitall was swinging through his back and nice in light in the contact. It was a big difference from the start of the ride.
This week we will train until Thursday then she is gone for 8 days to Florida.
I’m off to the gym then tucking Vitall into bed. Anne Rita, the Swiss girl, and I are going to go try the Chinese restaurant in town. Hopefully its good.
