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!!
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