A Perfect Day

It isn't often that I can use the word "perfect" to describe a day. Today, though, was totally perfect. I know I haven't posted for awhile, so here is a quick summary before I tell you about today: Now that the clinic has started, my day is basically breakfast, clinic from 9-12:30 (some classroom and some in the arena riding horses), lunch, a little break, a trail ride from 2:45-5:00, a little break, and then dinner. After dinner, we all hang out at the lodge and talk (except for last night when a few of us went into the little town of Dubois for square dance night--no, I am not kidding!). The clinic started yesterday. Our teacher is named Donna. She is amazing! There are eight of us in the clinic. I have met lots of great people here at Bitterroot Ranch--other guests, the wranglers, the owners, and even the chef. The ladies in the clinic are especially wonderful, and Donna is an awesome teacher. We are all learning a lot and are helping and encouraging each other.

Why was today perfect? Our class today was very good. Donna made us work hard today on trotting and posting better, but hard work leads to improved riding. She is really helping me with some of the things that I am "stuck" on. After class we had a great lunch. I am getting very spoiled by having the chef cook all these fabulous meals for us! Today we had homemade pizza, salad made with greens picked from the ranch's garden, and a pasta salad. For dessert we had a delicious orange sorbet. Sorbet is kind of like an Icee or snow cone, but it's fancier and served in a bowl. During our break I sat on my porch by the river and finished a book. Then it was time to ride again. My riding group asked for a little shorter ride today because we wanted to spend some time with the foals. Our wrangler (her name is Chilly) took us on a great ride that she designed just for us. After we got back, a few of us went down to the pasture where they keep the mares and foals. We are allowed to go in and pet them. That was so cool! I took lots and lots of pictures. After that, I went up to the lodge to sit on the comfy couches and work on editing the photos I took today. I ended up spending about an hour talking to Donna, the teacher of the clinic. She is a really neat person with lots of funny stories. She also gave me some good advice about how to find a good riding teacher when I get done with this project. After another fantastic dinner, we all hung out at the lodge and talked...mostly about horses and riding. Donna joined us. It's pretty neat that we get to sit and chat with our teacher when we're not in the clinic. Like I said, there is an amazing group of people here! As I came back to my cabin to write this blog, I thought to myself about what a perfect day it had been. Perfect weather, awesome clinic, beautiful trail ride, spending time with the babies, and being around great people. There's nothing that I would change about today. Here are some photos from my perfect day:

This is the type of scenery we see on our trail rides. I can't get enough of it! 

Today's trail went high up on a ledge that overlooked the river. Amazing views, but hard to
photograph while riding a horse and having a steep drop-off right beside you!  

taken while riding Bashara today (one of my favorite horses here)

I love watching the foals run with their moms. 

The foals were very friendly once they learned that they could trust us.
This one, especially, loves attention. 

Attention from two people is better than attention from one! 

On our way back to our cabins, we could see the herd being turned out for the night.
Even though I see it every day, it is still spectacular to see them all galloping up the hill to go to the pasture. 

Trail Riding

The clinic that we all thought started today actually starts tomorrow. That meant that we could take both the morning and the afternoon trail rides today. No complaints from me on that! Right after breakfast, everybody was assigned a horse. Mine was named Kalifi. Many of the horses here have themed names (like many of the Iditarod mushers do with their litters of puppies). The Arabians, which Kalifi is, are named after towns in Africa because Mel, one of the owners of the ranch, travels to Africa a lot. I learned that Kalifi is a town in Kenya. After we all got our horses, we had to ride to a small outdoor arena to take a riding test. The wranglers wanted to make sure we each had a horse that was a good match and that we had been put into the proper group of riders (not too hard, not too easy). The test was a little bit hard because this week I have to ride Western, and for the whole time in Colorado I was learning to ride English dressage. They are very different. Many of us had a hard time making the change. I was very proud of myself because after my test, I actually got moved up to a little more challenging group which meant that we'd be doing walk/trot rides instead of just walking. The rides were a lot of fun and really pretty. There are lots of wildflowers blooming right now, so we saw lupines (pretty purple flowers), the bitterroot flower (which is what the ranch is named after), wild roses, and the Indian Paintbrush. We also got to ride on a really high trail along a ledge that went right by the river. It was beautiful to watch the water flowing over the rocks and boulders. In the afternoon, I rode a different horse named Bashara. It was another really great ride. I didn't take any pictures today during the rides because there was no saddle bag to pack a camera in. I asked for one for tomorrow, so I hope I can take some pictures during the ride. Here are some photos I took before dinner:

Every night, the entire herd of horses gets turned out to the pasture. It's amazing to see them all galloping up the hillside. Their hoofbeats are loud and there is a big cloud of dust. 

wild rose

At the end of every ride, we bring the horses to this part of the river. They get a drink and they stand in the river for a few minutes. Our wrangler explained that the cold water helps soothe their muscles and prevent injuries--kind of like how some runners take an ice bath after a long run. 

A view of part of the ranch--what a lovely setting! 

We saw a lot of scenery like this during our rides today.

I walked to the pasture where there are four mares with recently-born foals. The wranglers told us that the owners like for guests to go in and pet the mares and foals. Guess where I will be going tomorrow! 

Greetings from Wyoming

I am posting from my very rustic log cabin at the Bitterroot Ranch. It is very quiet because I have no TV and there is no cell phone service. The only background noise I have is the sound of the Bitterroot River flowing right outside my cabin (along with a few random flies, but I'm trying to ignore them).

Today I flew from Indianapolis to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I have never been to Wyoming, so I was really looking forward to coming here. The Jackson Hole airport is a teeny tiny airport that is really not very exciting. The exciting part about coming to this airport is the flight in because you get to see the really tall, snow-capped Teton Mountains. There was a perfect blue, cloud-free sky, which made them look extra beautiful. We also flew over the Snake River and saw several lakes hidden among the mountains. It was awesome! Unfortunately, I couldn't take any photos because the only camera I had handy was my iPhone, and I wasn't allowed to turn it on. I hope that on the way home I will get a window seat and have a real camera ready so I can capture some pictures.

At this airport, you have to get off the plane using steps and walk into the airport. As you walk to the door, you have to pass under an arch that says "Welcome to Jackson Hole." What's the big deal about that? The arch is made out of antlers! There was a small park in Jackson Hole that had an arch just like it. Here's a photo:

An arch made out of antlers...pretty creative!

I had a long drive that took more than two hours to get from Jackson Hole to the ranch. Most of it was a pretty drive because I had lots of mountains to look at. I even got to see some wildlife: antelope (I think; they were moving pretty quickly) and buffalo. 

The ranch is in a very remote location. That means it is all by itself, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The nearest "town" is Dubois, and it is 26 miles away. There's not much in Dubois except for a couple gas stations, a small grocery store, and a couple local restaurants. No Wal-Mart, Target, Marsh, McDonald's, Pizza Hut...you get the idea. I don't think I'll be going to town much because 16 miles of the drive is a dirt road. It felt like it took forever to get down that dirt road today. With absolutely nothing around me, and no other cars on the road, I was wondering, "What in the WORLD have I gotten myself into?!?! What is this place going to be like?" Here is a picture of the road. What would you have been thinking? 

This is the 16-mile long dirt road. I took this from inside the car so you could see
exactly what I was looking at. 

It turns out the ranch is really nice. Rustic, like I said, but it's kind of like being at camp. I'd guess there are about 25 people here. Mostly adults, but there are a few (maybe 5) kids. There are lots of dogs, some sheep, and chickens. I haven't seen or met the horses yet, but I've heard there are about 200 of them at the ranch. We had a barbecue outside tonight and a little campfire right by the river. It was really pretty and peaceful. I sat with some nice people at dinner, and a few of them are going to be in the same clinic (that's another word for class or workshop) that I am taking this week. It starts tomorrow morning. We have class all morning and then a trail ride in the afternoon. It will be a long day, so I am going to get some sleep. Before I go, here are a couple of pictures of the ranch. I will post more as the week goes on. 

This is the Bitterroot River that runs right behind my cabin. I can watch it and listen to it while I sit on my
porch and read or work on my blog. 

This building is divided into two cabins. My door is hidden in this picture. I was quite happy to see two nice dogs laying by my cabin!

Saying Goodbye to Colorado

Sunday and Monday were busy days. On Sunday morning, I had my last lesson at Anchorage Farm. It was really sad to leave. At my lesson on Sunday morning, I could tell how much progress I had made, but I wished that I had more days to train with Kris so that I could improve even more. She is such a great teacher! We talked about all the things I had done and learned during the week so that I could remember them and write them all in my journal. It was a very long list! Before I left the farm, I took some photos and Kris gave me a DVD with pictures she had taken. Here are a few of them: 

practicing 20 meter circles in the outdoor arena (I had to go through the cones)

practicing posting while trotting

taking Seemo back to the corral after my last lesson

Kris with Marley, who I rode on Saturday. Marley is one of the biggest horses at the farm.

Kaseem (Seemo) and I spent a lot of time together during the week! This is one of my favorite photos of him.

After getting back to Jewel's around lunch time, I had another goodbye to say. We drove to the barn so I could see Kahuna one more time and say goodbye to him. What a big, beautiful boy he is! 

Kahuna was a very good boy for this photo shoot, so I made sure to give him some treats
after we were done (along with a big kiss!).

Along with all the horses and people I had to say goodbye to, I had to say goodbye on Monday morning to my two new Border Collie friends at Jewel's house. We had many hours of fun playing! 

Keegan

Kayak

As my plane took off from the Denver airport on Monday afternoon, I asked myself how 12 days could have passed by so quickly. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.  

Lessons: Day 5

Bittersweet is the word that best describes today. "Bittersweet" means that something is a little bit sad while being a little bit happy at the same time. Why was today bittersweet? Well, the sad part is that today was my last full day at Anchorage Farm. I only have one lesson left tomorrow morning before I leave. I'm thinking about all the things I will miss here: getting to ride three times each day and all the great teaching and learning that happens during those lessons; waking up each morning to a view of blue sky and mountains through my bedroom window; having fourteen beautiful horses right outside the doorstep of my room; and the peacefulness of Anchorage Farm that I wrote about yesterday. The happy part about today was thinking about all the things I can do now that  I could not do when I arrived on Monday evening.

We had a really bad storm this afternoon, and I was stuck in the viewing area by the indoor arena for about a half an hour waiting for it to stop raining. Kris has posted four words that are important to what she and Jim teach at Centaur Rising. The first word is confidence. As I looked at that word, I thought about how much confidence I gained this week in being about to go get my horse and get it ready to ride. I am also more confident when I am riding my horse and feel like I am a better partner for my horse. The second word is communication. I have learned so much this week about how to communicate with my horse. Not only have I learned the right things to do with my body to communicate with my horse, but I have also learned that if I am not careful, I can send the wrong messages to my horse and he won't understand what I want him to do. Sure, I still mistakes (lots of them), but I have a much better understanding of the right things to do. The third word is compassion. Of all the words, that's the one I didn't have to work on too much this week (you all know how I feel about animals)! However, Kris has taught me that there are many ways that I didn't realize for people to "read" how a horse is feeling, even while you are riding.  So, compassion is more than just "I love and care about horses." It's about reading the horse and understanding how my actions are affecting his body and responses and what I need to do to make him happy. The final word is commitment. Even though we teach very different things, Kris and I are both teachers. We both think that a student needs to take responsibility for learning. Your parents and I ask you to do that all the time, don't we? We can help you along the way, but YOU are the one who has to make the effort. I have had to do the same thing this week, and I will have to continue to do that in Wyoming. Even when things get difficult or frustrating, it is important to be committed to learning so that we can get through the challenges and improve.  It was not an easy week for me; it was a lot of hard work, and there were lots of challenges and frustrations. But in the end, it was totally worth it! I am pleased with what I have accomplished and I am looking forward to the new challenges that are ahead of me this summer (but I do wish I could stay here just a little bit longer!).

Lessons: Day 4

"Peace" is the P word of the day. Things were a little different around the farm today. None of the three high school girls who have been here every other day was here to work. Other than one lady who brought her horse for a lesson later in the morning, there were no other students. A little before 9:00am, I found myself alone with Kaseem in the tack room getting ready to ride. All was quiet, except for the occasional horse's whinny or crowing of a rooster coming from the barn. It was so peaceful to groom Seemo and be all by ourselves, with just the animals' sounds and the smells of horses and leather surrounding us. I realized that I have accomplished one of my goals, which was to be able to get a horse ready to ride with no one helping me. At the beginning of the week, I'd always have help or have someone supervising me. Now, Kris just tells me to go get Seemo from his stall or corral and get him ready to for my lesson, and I can do it. When today's lesson was over, Kris just said, "You can take care of him, right?" and left me alone to take off his bridle and saddle, put everything away, and return him to his stall for the night. I am pretty proud that she trusts me after just four days, and I'm also proud that I can do so many things that I couldn't do on Tuesday.

The second reason I chose "peace" as my word for the day is because Anchorage Farm is such a peaceful place to be. Until this afternoon, I hadn't left since my arrival on Monday evening. Today I left for about an hour to go to Conifer, CO to go get a late lunch and run in to the grocery. It felt so strange to be out in public after four days of being hidden away at the farm in the mountains! I was kind of glad to get back to the peace and quiet of the farm when my errands were done. Of course, my favorite place to be at the farm is with the horses. During my down time, though, this is my second favorite place to relax, read, and/or work on my laptop:

There is a little pond with a waterfall right next to the patio in the above picture. I love sitting and listening to the sound of the water and watching the goldfish swim around the lily pads. If I look up, I can see three horses in the closest corral. The weather has been absolutely perfect all week, so I have spent much of my free time right here. 

Lessons: Day 3

My favorite horse so far, Kaseem (also known as Seemo), was my horse for the first two lessons today. My second horse was Bonnie. She is 23 years old, and still going strong! Here is a photo of her:

In another post, I talked about work on the lunge line. Sometimes the horses are worked by themselves with no rider. Other times, we are on the horse and Kris has us do lots of exercises to help us ride better. I took a photo of Kris working with Montana (his 12 year old owner, Selma, was here for camp this week) on the lunge line so you could see what it looks like: 

Today's lessons were filled with practice, practice, and more practice. One thing I have learned is that people who say that riding horses is only exercise for the horse are very wrong! Riding--at least riding correctly--takes a lot of effort on the part of the rider. There is mental effort because at all times you must be concentrating and focused on what you are doing, what the horse is doing, and what your trainer is telling you. There is also physical effort because all parts of your body are working hard to ride properly and tell your horse what you want it to do. I did a lot of trotting with posting today. Already, I can post the trot much, much longer than I could at the beginning of the week, which I am really happy about. We also started working on cantering a little today too. It's faster than trotting. I'll talk about that more tomorrow because I know Kris will be having me do more work on it during tomorrow's lessons. Until next time...happy trails!

Lessons: Day 2

Today I have two more "P" words to add to the list: practice and progress. In today's lessons, Kris had me review and practice all of the things we worked on yesterday. By then end of today, I had made some progress:  my riding position was better, I did a little better at communicating with my horse, and I was doing better at posting while the horse was trotting. Today we worked a lot on turns by going in different patterns like half-circles, circles, and rectangles. We did a LOT of them. Kris said something I think is really important. She said, "It might seem boring doing this over and over, but it is important to do these things well before moving on to more difficult things." Your parents and I ask you to practice things like your math facts and spelling words over and over, which you might find boring, but you have to be able to do those things so we can move on to learning harder things. I can already tell that I am doing better than before. Even though I still make mistakes, things are improving. Am I a good rider yet? Definitely not. That will take lots of time and practice, along with the three Ps from yesterday: paying attention, patience, and perseverance.

Here are a few pictures from today:

The long part of the building on the left side of the photo is where the indoor arena is.
There is also a space by the arena with benches and stools where people can sit and watch lessons. 

This is Sabre. I rode him for one of my lessons today. 

No, I am not responsible for Sabre's beautiful braided mane.
One of the high school girls who volunteer here braided it right before my lesson. 

Lessons: Day 1

Today can be summarized with 3 P's: paying attention, patience, and perseverance. I had my first three riding lessons today. You might think that my body must be really tired, but actually, it is my mind that is more tired this evening. Kris and Jim are my two trainers, and they are teaching me a lot of things. I am taking dressage lessons. The best way to explain dressage is that it is basic training so that I can learn how to correctly sit on, communicate with, and control my horse. I learned quickly that it is important to work as a team with my horse, and that if something doesn't go quite right, it's my fault (think "user-error"). There was a lot of that today! I got to ride two different horses for my lessons: Bonnie and Kaseem. Before each lesson, I had to go get my horse from the corral, lead it to the barn where the indoor arena is, groom it using a curry comb and brush (dirt under the saddle would be very uncomfortable for the horse), and put on the saddle and bridle. Jim was my trainer for two of my lessons, and Kris taught the other one. She started the lesson by teaching me how to work a horse on a lunge line, which is a really long lead that you use to make the horse walk, trot, or canter in a circle around you. I am also learning that you have to be ambidextrous, meaning that you have to be good at using both hands to do things. I had to hold the lunge line in one hand and the lunge whip in the other, all while paying attention to the horse.  I will try to get a photo of lunge work tomorrow. There is 12 year old girl here this week taking lessons, too. Her name is Selma. She just got a horse named Montana six weeks ago and they are learning to work together. I got to watch one of her lessons, and we took one lesson together. During riding, we worked on walking our horses in different formations like half circles and full circles. We also did some trotting and practiced posting, which means you kind of stand up and sit down so you don't bounce around in the saddle (ouch--for the horse AND rider). So why is my mind so tired? There is a lot to think about and learn! I have to be very focused and listen to directions that the trainer is saying nonstop for a whole hour. I made lots of mistakes, so I had to be patient, not get frustrated, listen to suggestions for how to correct my mistakes and try to do better. And sometimes, I still didn't do it right and had to try again...and again...and again. Perseverance...just like we talk about in school all the time, right? Tomorrow I will have three more lessons. I know it will be a lot of hard work, but I am enjoying the challenge!

Here are some pictures of the place where I am staying and a few of the horses that live here:

This is the building where my room is. I am in the Bird Suite. Guess how it's decorated! 

Kris teaching a kids' lesson in the outdoor arena. The black horse is
Kaseem, who I rode today. 

Meeting Kahuna

You may be wondering what I have been doing since there have been no posts in the last few days. I have been really busy doing lots of "horse things" and some fun non-horse things, too. Instead of making a really long post to catch up, I am going to do a series of separate posts until I get all caught up. This post will be for Saturday, June 9.

On Saturday, I finally got to meet Jewel's beautiful horse, Kahuna! We drove to Castlewood Equestrian Center, which is where Kahuna lives. I spent the first few hours at the barn learning about some of the important chores and responsibilities that go along with having a horse. Kahuna needed a bit of a "spa treatment" on Saturday. The first tools Jewel got out were electric clippers. Kahuna needed part of his mane clipped so he can wear his bridle correctly and comfortably. He also needed to have the hair growing near his hooves clipped. Jewel expertly did the clipping and I took pictures...for his first two legs. Then, much to my surprise, she handed me the clippers and told me it was my turn. I was more than a little nervous since I had never in my life used electric clippers. I knew they were pretty sharp and I didn't want to do anything to hurt Kahuna. It was especially hard because I had to hold the clippers with my left hand (I am right-handed!) and hold up his foot with my right hand. Jewel was a good teacher, and Kahuna was a very patient horse. I was pretty proud of how well I did for the first time. Here are some pictures:

My turn! 

Lovely!

Then it was time to get Kahuna ready to ride. Jewel put wraps on his legs. It kind of reminded me of what we saw the mushers do for their dogs during the Iditarod. Then on went the saddle and bridle and Kahuna was ready to go! 

Kahuna is such a big boy that it was nearly impossible to get a picture of all of him from my spot in his stall!

Hmmm....I wonder what question many of you are asking right now. I bet it is, "So did YOU get to ride him?" YES, I did! Jewel gave me my first lesson of my trip. Of course, I loved every moment, but I also know that I have a lot to learn. But that's what this summer is all about! 

Once we had both ridden Kahuna, there were more chores to do. There is lots and lots of responsibility involved with having a horse. Remember how the Iditarod mushers always take care of their dogs first after a run and how long it took them to do all the chores? It's the same thing with horses. We took Kahuna back to his stall and gave him some carrots to thank him for being such a good boy. After taking off Kahuna's saddle, bridle, and wraps, he needed a bath. Once that was done, it was time to take care of the saddle and bridle. If the tack isn't taken care of properly, it will be ruined. Jewel used leather cleaner and oil on her saddle and the bridle, dried it, and put it away in Kahuna's tack locker. 

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Kahuna. I was surprised when I looked at my watch and saw that we had been at the barn for more than four hours! Time DOES fly when you are having fun--and working hard! 

I have many more things to post about, including going to a horse show and taking Kahuna to the farrier. (What is a farrier? See if you can find out by the next time I post!). However, I am now at Centaur Rising and Anchorage Farm Bed and Breakfast in Pine, Colorado, and my first lesson is tomorrow morning! I need to get some rest now, because I have three hours of lessons throughout the day tomorrow. I can't wait to meet the horses and get started! 

Exploring Denver

I arrived in Denver yesterday on schedule and have been getting to know the city. My friend, Jewel, picked me up at the airport. I am staying with her and her husband through Monday. This is wonderful because she can show me all the good places in town! The first order of business last night was to meet Keegan and Kayak, their two Border Collies. Keegan is 10, and Kayak is only 8 months old. We have already played frisbee and lots of fetch. Keegan is a very funny dog. He likes to watch TV and attacks the TV when animal commercials are on. You can't even say the word "commercial" or he goes crazy barking! He also barks when you spell things. I am glad Keegan and Kayak are here because they help me to not miss my dogs too much.

Today, we went to Lafayette, Colorado to go shopping at a tack store called The Tack Collection. They were having a sale ("sale" is a magic word..when there's a sale, I'm there!). A tack store is a shop where they sell clothing, boots, and all kinds of supplies for people who own and/or ride horses. Of course I found a few things to buy. Yes, I did have to remind myself of our class discussion about NEEDS vs WANTS to make decisions about my purchases! It was good to have Jewel with me, because she has her own horse, rides a lot, and could help me make decisions. I haven't met her horse yet, but we'll be going to the barn where he lives either tomorrow or Saturday.

So far, I have only met one horse, the one at The Tack Collection:

I bet that's not what you were expecting, but it is pretty cool, isn't it? Two things were really neat about this horse. First, the owner of the store painted it herself. Second, it had little labels all over it that told where certain muscles were located. I was surprised that many of the muscle names are the same as the ones humans have even though our bodies are very different! Here is an example of one of the labels:

Has Ms. Vetor taught you where your triceps are? 

I made just a few purchases today. The big box has a pair of rubber boots for mucking stalls and bathing horses. 

I am finding out that Denver is a really nice city. It's really pretty here, especially being able to look at mountains almost all the time. I have found only one problem with Denver. Today on the news, the sports reporter started talking about the Denver Broncos and the start of the PME. Can you guess what PME stands for? Yep...the "Peyton Manning Era." That made me kind of sad. Otherwise, I had a great day and I am looking forward to doing more exploring tomorrow!

On My Way

I can't believe that the time has finally come for my summer adventure to begin. When I received "The Envelope" with my award letter in it at the end of February, this day seemed a LONG way away. I am now sitting at Gate B4 at the Indy airport waiting for my flight. I have been so busy shopping for supplies, packing, cleaning the house, and taking care of all the little details involved in preparing to be away from home for almost two weeks that I haven't really had the chance to think about the summer ahead of me. As I sit here waiting for my plane to arrive, I finally have a chance to start thinking about the great adventure that begins TODAY!

I'm feeling lots of things. I am definitely excited about all that I will learn and all the time I will get to spend with horses. I am also nervous about many things:  Will I get a nice, kind, patient, and obedient horse? Will my teachers be nice, kind, and patient? Will I be a good rider? Will I mess up?  Did I buy the right clothes? Of course, I feel worried about my three "babies," even though I know their "granny" will take good care of them. Boy, I am really going to miss those three! Finally, I am feeling very grateful that I get to have this experience. Only 120 teachers in the whole state of Indiana get to do a summer project like this. I know that hundreds more applied and got a more disappointing envelope in the mail in February. I am so grateful that the Lilly Endowment made this dream come true. I have many people in my life to thank, too, but we just got the call to prepare to board. I will save those thank-yous for another post. On my way to the boarding line. Let the adventure begin!

Getting Ready!

Today was the big shopping trip to buy supplies for my adventure. Since I have never taken lessons or done serious riding before, I had a lot of things to get. I also found out that I have a LOT to learn! The number one most important thing on the list was a riding helmet. Every place I am going requires a helmet. That turned out to be the easiest purchase of the day: basic black, not too expensive, nothing fancy since I'm not going to be doing any jumping or showing. Then it was off to Grand Champion Saddlery in Indy. My mom came along with me and was my clothes-holder, size-getter, and "how do you think these look?" answer-person. We spent a loooooooong time in that store. Luckily, the ladies who work there were super nice and were happy to answer all of my questions and tell me just what I needed. I was glad, because I learned that I didn't know much! I am now the proud owner of paddock boots, half-chaps, riding gloves, and several pairs of riding breeches. Breeches are special riding pants. I usually wear jeans when I take a trail ride, but jeans can be really uncomfortable when you spend a lot of hours in the saddle. That's because the stitching on the inside of the legs rubs against your skin when it's between you and the saddle. Ouch! My new riding breeches have no seams on the inside of the leg and they have some really nice patches that will help protect my legs. The half-chaps will help, too. I will post some pictures of my supplies when I start packing everything tomorrow. I'm getting excited about my trip, but I'm a little nervous, too.  I am a novice (that's your vocabulary word for the week), which means I am a beginner. I know I have a lot to learn, but I think I have chosen some great people to be my teachers. I guess you can look at it this way: for my summer vacation, I am going to be a student instead of a teacher!

Counting Down...

Only 4 days until I leave for my adventure!