Bittersweet

We woke up this morning to ready our horses for the show after a quick breakfast. Jordan and I had Prince looking perfect! All of group B did really well on their dressage test, and I was so excited to compete in this little summer school showjumping competition. Prince went so well over the jumps, and we made it into the jump-off with a clear round. After the jump-off, we got our scores and I got third! I'd say that's pretty darn good for a silly old man! Afterwards, we got all of our scores and ribbons.

Jordan and I won the horse presentation bit for grooming prince immaculately. He wasn't too hard to make look handsome! Jordan got fourth in his dressage test, and as I mentioned earlier, I got third in showjumping. Prince was a very good boy and I didn't realize how much I will miss him until I was feeding him minty treats after our show. He is the kind of horse I want to have.

We went directly to lunch after the show, and at lunch, we heard that our linens and towels had been taken from our rooms because the maids had thought we were leaving today. We had to ask the maids to give us linens and towels again, and it always seems like such a hassle for them to do their job!! After lunch we all tried to pack all of our stuff, and Sharon gave us a scale to make sure our bags are under the maximum weight for our airlines.

We then went to a movie, had dinner and went to the pub for a final night out together. I just finished the slideshow and it is finalizing as a movie right now! I am so ready to sleep, and I will sleep well on the plane I am sure.

This has been such a great experience!

The Highland Show

This morning I woke up hoping to be able to take a warm shower, since there was no hot water last night. Unfortunately, I had about 3 minutes of lukewarm water. I had a short spongebath and washed my face... I was very upset, but hoping I would get hot water later after the show.

We left bright and early to get to the Highland Show, which is a great variety of classes. There are hunters, jumpers, and even livestock shows! Unfortunately, it was raining again, but I wore my new Oatridge College equine jacket which worked perfectly. I also bought a leather pilot-type hat with fur inside to keep my ears warm and my head a little drier. We watched a hunter class when we first arrived. In Scotland, their hunter classes are a bit different - there is a course of natural fences, then walk/trot/canter/gallop on both reins, then the judge picks the top two or three horses and ride them around the ring to see how the horse goes. Next, Cheryl Jordan and I found a coffee stand and some covered bleachers to keep ourselves dry. We sat and watched halter showing of mini horses, welsh ponies and even Clydesdale yearling and 2-yr old mares. They were all so gorgeous and fit!

We ran out of coffee and began to get cold - so the next obvious choice was to find the beer tent. Cheryl, Jordan and I got some plastic bottles of Stella Artois and bitched about the rain, etc. We soon decided to move on and we looked through the livestock tents at all the sheep, lambs, piggies, and calves. We saw the end of the showjumping competition and found our way to a honeybee tent at the front of the show grounds. We saw different types of honey, bees making honey, and carved-wax candles and figures. Finally, it was time to head back through the rain and mud.

We got back and I ran into my shower, praying for hot water. I finally got an awesome shower and I feel so clean! We worked on the slideshow that Adelante wants to use for advertisement of the program, and it's really tedious! Tomorrow we have to wake up and ready our horses for the show! I am so excited!

Finally - to sleep!

Princey!!

Yesterday was an amazing and long day! We got to ride twice!!

In the morning, we chose partners (one from Group A and one from Group B). Jordan and I will be partners and we will be riding Prince in the show. Group A (me) will be doing a show jumping competition, and Group B will be doing a dressage test, so in both the morning and the afternoon group B practiced their dressage tests and warmed our horses up so group A could hop on and jump around after them. Both lessons yesterday we got to jump courses. Prince is the perfect horse! He may be a little old, but he is such a gorgeous color and such an honest jumper. He is very silly, however, when he jumps because he tries to fit as many strides into a combination as possible, even though he is a very long warmblood. He has a steady canter and is just such a sweet man! We got a lot of good pictures of us over jumps yesterday too.

Today we did our practical exams in the morning, on Prince no less! Sharon asked us to point to parts of the horse that she named. I got all of the questions correct, which means I officially passed A&P with an A! Later in the morning we got our fitness plans back from Louise, and I learned I got an A in Equine Fitness as well!

We rode again today and did gymnastics (not vaulting). We worked on the spring in our horses' feet by going through bounces (no strides between jumps) and combining two bounces with two one-stride doubles. A couple of the smaller-strided horses put an extra tiny stride in the bounce, which caused some grief, but it was a lot of fun to do.

After riding and a big dinner of hot chili (finally a good meal), we waited until just before the sunset to walk up Binny Craig again to see the sun disappear behind the rolling Scottish hills. The lambs on the craig have gotten a lot bigger this past month and they were less frightened of us, and their mothers were less protective. Many of the sheep are lame though. Personally I believe it comes with living on such a steep hill and running up and down all the time. They are really cute little lambies! I will miss them too.

It all seems to be quickly winding to an end.

Stress-free!!!

Saturday we left Cromarty in the Scotland drizzle, heading to the Balcarres International Horse Trials. When we arrived, we found ourselves plodding along through the hoof-torn mud with the icy wind and relentless rain hitting our bare faces until we found Gillian watching Grant and Shady in their hunters class. We huddled like penguins to keep warm, peeking up occasionally to guess the judge's thoughts on Shady. He ended up winning his class and taking reserve champion on the day. Unfortunately, it was so miserable, we only managed to stay outside long enough for a couple rounds of cross country and pony show jumping. Once Sharon came to pick us up, we gladly huddled in the warm-ish minibus and snuggled up in our warm, dry clothes in the common room once we returned. We had business to take care of: homework.

Sunday, I finished my fitness program for Louise, and got a good amount of studying in for A&P. For a good break in between those two tedious tasks, a few of us went to SNEC - the Scottish National Equestrian Centre, which is where we ride - to watch a pony show jumping competition. In the high level jump-offs, these pony's were jumping a meter 10, which is 110cm and basically grand prix height for a >14.2 hand pony! We saw many fit and adorable ponies. After a wee bit more work, we went to an Italian restaurant in town so as to not suffer through the cold dinners served to us on weekends. We ordered a nice karaf of wine for the lot of us - perfect with our array of Tartan-infused and under-portioned Italian cuisine. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely pleased with my meal, considering my other options. However, we still ended up ordering Aldo's delivery later that night anyway. The Scottish have created a fried Mars bar addiction in all of our fragile American souls.

Today we turned in our fitness papers, and took our A&P exams. I felt like I did well (I am feeling an A), but I'm entirely uncertain about the endocrine diagram that popped up on the test out of nowhere! I just took what I knew about the human endocrine system and transposed the glands onto the horse's body. It should theoretically work! I had such a great time writing up a fitness plan and learning about different styles of fittening that correspond to different types of competition goals. All of the classroom and practical training we have experienced here will be absolutely beneficial to not only my vet degree, but my real life! It's finally something that I can apply! (Tell me why I need chemistry again?!)

We found out we are riding twice tomorrow - can't wait!!

And so the studying begins

Yesterday - Thursday - was our first actual jumping lesson! For my first time jumping since I tore my ACL, I rode Prince! He is such a good boy, but loves to put in an extra stride in combinations when he can, although he is a long/tall Irish warmblood and could jump the baby course we did in his sleep. We did a course of crossrails first so that our trainer Gillian could see what she was working with, and those who felt confident redid the course with higher fences. It was so great to finally jump!

Today we went to Sarra Mayberry's eventing yard to see her horses and learn about their fitness programs for our project. Louise extended our due date to Monday, which gives us the whole weekend to work on it! That is especially helpful, since I definitely want to write about two of the horses we learned about today. Sarra has some amazing horses, and her own yard, and a HUGE laurie! A laurie is a giant horse box that is connected to the back of a motorhome. And get this: Sarra is barely older than I am. If only I was UK young rider eventing champion...

Sarra (or her neighbor, we're not sure) also had some highland cows! Finally, we see them in real life! They are just as fuzzy and cute as they are on all the postcards and souvenirs.

I can see a long weekend ahead of studying and writing - our exam is on Monday for A&P and our fitness programs are also due! Eeeep!

I might take a couple of days off...

Week three?! Perth and the olympic torch

Sunday, we took our minibus, affectionately named "Betty Sue," to Perth to watch the Gold Cup Event. This consisted of quite a few different races over natural jumps called hurdles, which is a very common type of race in the UK that combines speed and strength. Many of the lower stakes races had only a few horses racing, usually 4 or 5, but the 3-mile Gold Cup had seventeen contenders. You can imagine how dangerous it can get when horses are cutting each other off for a higher position, while jumping, and running on muddy turf no less! Of those who started the race, only six finished. Quite a few fell so far behind that their jockeys pulled them out of the race, some got injured, and others had terrible falls after the jump - almost getting trampled. All of the fallen horses got up, and everyone walked themselves off the track. It is obvious, however, why this is such a controversial sport. All the horses were in impeccable shape. Long lean muscles and a bit of rib showing, which is ideal for a racehorse. Their hind quarters carried a bit more muscle than the average flat racer because of the jumping aspect. These horses could be turned into great eventing horses after their racing years are over. 


We all overdressed for the occasion, except for Willie, whose nicest clothes were a dark pair of bluejeans, a cowboy button-up and some round-toe cowboy boots. Cheryl, Rebecca and I, on the other hand, wore heels - Cheryl and I had stilettos. In California, when we go to races we usually walk on asphalt to get to concrete beside the track, whereas in Scotland, you walk on grass to get to mud. We all looked super cute though and we got some great pictures of all of us in our cold, but fashionable outfits!


Monday and Tuesday were normal class days. During A&P we labeled horses to get a practical understanding of where the muscles are on the horse. A very helpful tactic for learning anatomy. Monday evening, we watched a show jumping clinic run by Andrew Hamilton, a great showjumper himself! Shady and Grant came for a lesson, and it was great to see Shady in action other than testing his fitness at the gallops. We will hopefully be able to see him at the Balcarres Horse Trials later on this week.


Wednesday was an exciting day, and we had been looking forward to it all week. I rode Prince for the first time in a lesson, and he is better than everyone had said! He is very responsive and knows what to do, but he goes around the arena like a 2x4 without any bend or frame. Its hard to get him to loosen up, because he is on the older side, but once he gets going, he is quite happy to do his job. After riding and a quick shower, we took off to the train station and rode into Edinburgh once again, this time to watch the Olympic Torch be run through the city up to the castle. We went to the Filling Station (yes, an American restaurant) for dinner first, and I had a delicious margarita on the rocks and some juicy fall-off-the-bone ribs. Then we rushed over to the royal mile and squeezed and maneuvered our way through the crowd to the front of the barricaded torch pathway. I got a good bit of the torch passing on film, and afterwards, a man who looked eerily similar to Ryan Gosling took a picture of our group for us. 

When the torch festivities subsided and we started to make our way back to the pub in Uphall, near Oatridge college, we seemed to run into many more creepy men than usual. A toothless man in Edinburgh came up to us with arms extended (as if to receive a hug) saying what sounded like "mangy rhino!" Another man "fancied" Chelsea's tattoo. At the pub, one man kept coming up to our group (a drunk man of course) and telling Willie to take care of all the ladies he was with. We called taxis and left asap! I guess that's what happens when you go out on a Wednesday night!

We will definitely be going out of our way to avoid the drunk pub men in the future.

We are all safe! No worries!!

Two Princes and a bunch of Princesses

Today we found ourselves roaming the medieval streets of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh. After last weekend's aimless wandering about Princess Street, and perusing the fashions of the one and only H&M, we thought it might be a good idea to actually immerse ourselves in the old city and try and find Paris from the highest point in Edinburgh.

Our first stop of the day was none other than Starbucks! After we, especially Rebecca, got our American-brand caffeine fixes, we took a look up and down the Royal Mile - which was full of street vendors and performers with hats or guitar cases outstretched in hopes of a generous tourist sparing a few pence. It was a great day for souvenir shopping, and there was a great variety of post cards to choose from. Obviously the princesses ran the show, and the princes came along. I know Jordan enjoyed the shopping at least. Willie was not in the greatest mood - he was running low on chew.

A few of the girls and I found a man who was selling what we affectionately call "spoon rings." These silver rings tell quite the story and have the history of the city to credit for their invention. In the days of Edinburgh Castle, when nobility kept servants to wait on their every whim, marriage and commitment amongst servants was an essential but often overlooked affair. When a marriage did occur, servants would steal expensive silver spoons and forks from their respective lords and ladies and bend them into wedding bands. Although the rings we bought do not symbolize marriage, they tell a story that is one of the most special (and economical) souvenirs you could find.

With shopping bags in tow, we walked to the end of the steep road to the castle of Edinburgh, where the atmosphere was fully directed to tourist attention - as expected. The castle was beautiful and very well kept up. It was the main boundary into Scotland, and it was often destroyed in battles - both partially and fully at different battles. It had been rebuilt and modified many times, especially in the Victorian Era where beauty and extravagance were essential. Parts of it are still being used by the Scottish military today. We managed to become a part of a free tour (after paying an entrance ticket fee of course) and learned about all of the different locations and buildings within the castle walls. The oldest part of the castle is a wee chapel that looks out over the sea - and when I say "wee," I mean like 4 foot tall people built this chapel. The newest building is the monument for all of the soldiers that lost their lives serving Scotland. The Scottish Crown Jewels are also kept there, along with the Stone of Destiny, on which the monarch of the UK is crowned.

After a long day exploring Edinburgh, we came home to rest our legs a bit and hope for good weather tomorrow at the Perth Gold Cup Event.

Can't wait to fill you in!

In the swing of things

This past week we evaluated both a fit and unfit horse for our Equine Fitness class. For our unfit horse, we used Shakira - a roan school mare - and for the fit horse, our instructor Gillian's husband Grant flaunted his horse Shady - a grey Irish sporthorse. On wednesday we went to Catherine Eardley's dressage yard, and she took out a couple of horses and demonstrated her work with them. Her horse Apollo was a big red chestnut who was just learning to piaffe.

This week I rode Jimmy and Anton. Jimmy is a sweet big grey Irish draft cross. He has such a smooth gait and and is so willing to work for you, but he recently has surgery and has a pretty bad cough, so he can't do too much work. Anton is a sweetheart on the ground, but a total butthead once you get on him. He is gorgeous and misunderstood, but I think I will leave him to Mackie (he behaves so well for her). We finally did some trot poles so hopefully we will be jumping next week.

Today we went to the common ride at Hawick. The common ride is a celebration of the capture of the British flag and the redefining of the Scottish borders. There are a wide range of horse and rider levels galloping in the common ride. Unfortunately, the weather was true to Scotland (even in the summer) and it was raining. The downpour took a break while we watched the ride and we spent a lot of time migrating back and forth from the craft tent and the beer tent.

It's going great here, I can't believe it's already halfway over!

XO

The City of Edinburgh

Today we took the train to Edinburgh and wandered our way around the shops. We found H&M of course and Primark Edinburgh: "Amazing fashion, Amazing prices." Our goal of the day was to get some shopping in and plan our next visit to the city. The gorgeous architecture and fantastic views, however, were obstructed by tall chain link fences and dump trucks full of buckled asphalt. The city is in the process of constructing an underground subway-style public transportation system, which, when it's complete, will be very efficient and could be a great benefit to Edinburgh. 

I bought two really cute shirts at H&M, and a lace-back teal top, neon socks and parrot earrings at Primark. We saw a few touristy shops, but I was unsure what type of souvenir items I should take home with me. (Hint: If anyone has requests please let me know). For lunch we found a small Italian restaurant, and let me tell you: the closer you get to Italy geographically, the better the food is. 

After a week adjusting to the long days that characterize the northern latitudes, our eyes collectively began to droop and we took the train back to Uphall Station and hired a taxi back to the college with our ideas in mind for our next visit. 

I'm looking forward to another long day of classes tomorrow, and at the moment, facebook is still extremely unreliable and skype doesn't have a chance. Miss you all!

A Day at the Loch

Last night we finally went to a local pub for some Karaoke and disco! The Americans sang "Call Me Maybe" as a whole for the people of the pub, and I'm pretty sure they liked it. We also did the macarena at some point! Obviously we were pros at it. The pub is about 20 minutes walk from campus, if you take the short cut across the rugby field.

Today we went to Loch Lomond, which is on the edge of the lowlands and highlands of Scotland. We first climbed a big hill to reach a gorgeous view out across the loch and all the islands, and even the majestic higlands. After the steep climb, it was nice to have a breeze from the top of the hill. We found a dog named trixie up there too. We are pretty sure she lived on one of the farms and was just wandering with the visitors.

After seeing the beautiful view, we took a boat out onto the loch and docked at an island named Inchcailloch, where we were released to explore about. We first explored the gravesite of a Church and abbey that used to be on the island. We ate our pack lunches there (I wish there was lettuce in the sandwiches at least!). We went on to explore the beach area and ventured out on the rocks to get a closer view of the loch and all the sailboats. It was a beautiful day today, so many people took their boats out, and families went to the beaches of Inchcailloch. 

While waiting for the boat to take us back to the mainland, we saw a wedding going on on an island across the way. What a beautiful place for a wedding!

Scotland is great so far, and I can't wait to have more adventures. Tomorrow we go into the city of Edinburgh! I am looking forward to the shopping!

Miss you all!

Getting Used to Scotland

So, it's Thursday and I finally have a wee break to sit down and compose a journal entry! 

The first day of classes was on Monday, and I've barely had a minute that I wasn't working, getting to know my classmates, meeting Scottish students, learning, riding, or trying desperately to get the internet to work! Tuesday night I got a bit of a chat in using facebook, but any social networking site is apparently blocked at the college here normally. At the moment there are 4 colleges merging, and all of their strict rules about facebook are taking over. Take a peek at the picture to see what screen I get when I try to log on! These restrictions also apply to twitter, pinterest, skype, iMessage, and whatsapp! So I apologize for the lack of communication to everyone back home.

Let me begin with Monday: Our first "class" consisted of us sitting and talking about what we might do to learn about the anatomy and physiology of a horse and what categories we will be covering. Our professor is Sharon Anderson, and she is also very in charge of the program. She is awesome, and very accomodating. She makes us feel so welcome (and a bit pampered). After ten minutes or so of going over the syllabus, we took a proper tour of the college grounds and watched a bit of a lesson in action to introduce us to the horses. Monday evening we met up with some Scottish students and they showed us the student bar, where we learned that you don't tip so much here. Ginge (pronounced "ginger" without the "-er"), the bartender earned three times his nightly wages, and needless to say he appreciates the American students. 

Tuesday morning, Facebook began to work!! So we all went crazy and wrote notes home in the short intermissions during the day to let our worried family and friends that we are all doing great and meeting a lot of awesome friends. Breakfast at 8, a meal of toast croissants and cheese, was a foreshadowing of the carbalicious meals we would be served each day while we are here. We all walked over to our first Equine Fitness class, taught by our other awesome prof Louise, who is from Liverpool England and is much easier to understand than the Scottish people we have met so far. We learned how to judge a horse's fitness at rest, along with checking their health, all in preparation for our hands-on class at the yard(stables) next class period. After lunch we headed to the yard to tack up and show off our riding talents in the school(arena). Though they are obsessed with health and safety rules here while tacking up and all else that goes on, we eventually got on the horses for a few good laps to be evaluated and separated into lesson groups by ability. Jordan and I rode Patsie - not at the same time of course - and she is a wonderful and gorgeous mare! I can't wait to get into the real lessons.

Now Tuesday night went a bit crazy! It was the "Welcome to Scotland" night, and both the ecology and equine students were greeted and invited into the party by a bagpiper playing traditional Scottish music. Once inside the building, we learned that the national drink of Scotland is whiskey - of which there was no shortage. Men in kilts sang and recited the beautiful poems of the Scotsman Robert Burns, some dressed in pajamas or as dogs to act out the poems, and the men who sang had such amazing voices. Unfortunately, I could barely understand a word. Before the haggis was served, we were part of the haggis ceremony (of which I understood even less because it was 100% in gaelic). I was blown away and greatful to have been a part of that!

Yesterday (Wednesday), we had both of our classes in the yard. After an overview of the points of a horse, we were given labels to stick on our horse of choice in small groups. Jordan, Cheryl, Tiffany and I chose Patsie, who was exceptionally ticklish in certain places because of the labels! Later, in Equine fitness, we met at the yard to assess two different horses' fitness levels at rest and compare them. We then managed to get a ride to a tack shop, where I purchased a blue velvet helmet, since the school helmets here are not even remotely up to par. I am quite fond of it, and plan on acquiring a pair of navy jodphurs to match for shows! That evening, we sat in on a show jumping schooling show, and we collectively found ourselves evaluating the fitness levels of some of these horses! Some nine-year-olds on small white ponies could put our riding abilities to shame!

Today we worked in the classroom for both of our classes and got a break to go to the store in between. I bought eggs to boil in the mornings, and fruit!! I miss fruit, and we are only given a small a little apple or something in the morning!! They had blueberries for one pound, and I think that's a bit less than back home? I am on my way to dinner, and hopefully it will be yummy and I have a chance to relax tonight (and maybe facebook will work!!!) 

XOXO

Arrival

I left my house for the airport Saturday morning and finally got to Edinburgh after 12 hours of flying and an 8-hour time change on Sunday (today) morning. It's so beautiful here!! There are rolling green hills for miles and a lot of "grape seed oil"(rape seed oil) and "nellies"(stinging nettles) to be found.

The 700-acre campus of Oatridge College is amazing. There is tons of livestock, and everyone has babies at this time of year! Calves and lambs shaking their little tails. We took a stroll up to the top of the highest hill on the property from which we could see for miles - we were lucky it was such a clear day! We want to get up there late at night so we can see all the stars away from city lights. We had to walk through the sheep pasture to get there and then through the horse pasture to get out. Three horses were in that pasture and they followed us until we hopped out the fence on the other side, after staying to pet them for a bit. 

People from the Equine and Ecology trips have been rolling in all day from the airport and we are just getting to know each others names. It's great to all have the same interests, so we're becoming fast friends. After dinner, we decided to stroll around and get to know the village near Oatridge. Bear in mind that I've had minimal amounts of sleep on either of the plane rides, and it's basically been two days in a row! It's too exciting to sleep, but I am sure it will catch up to me sooner or later!

PS there are quite a few southerners/non-california accented people here, so I might come back with some odd mix of a Scottish and southern accent!

Love y'all!

Hilary