Now comes the hard part

            First test down and five to go!!!  WoooHooo!!!!  I passed it too!!!  It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve met some really neat people.  Well, it’s a given that I’d meet some neat people at anything with PATH Intl., the organization is full of great people.  Today like every other day this week has been a really busy day.

            We did our practice dressage test which as far as I was concerned mine stunk.  I went off course, and then I stared at a cone I was trying to avoid which caused me to run it over.  We had to negotiate around the cones course when we did the dressage test.  Apparently I didn’t do too badly, my lowest score was a 6, and I got two 8’s.  One of my 8’s came from the horse’s submission, the comment was “you have this horse”.  Made me feel pretty good, but I didn’t see that until several hours after the test.

The cones course/dressage arena

            The cones course now, I felt really good about.  I owned that course!!!  It was so much fun!!!  I can hardly wait until I can get a chance to do more.  I’m thinking about getting to work on Jade and training her so that we can compete in the large pony division of CDE shows.  That’s Combined Driving Events for those of you who haven’t been immersed in the language for the last, um, oh my gosh only three days.  There has been a lot of information going around over the last few days.  It’s hard to believe it’s only been a few days.

            I have a favorite horse, her name is Annie.     Well, technically she is a large pony.  She’s super sweet, has an incredible work ethic, and is fun and easy to drive.  Annie is also a senior citizen being somewhere in her late 20’s.  Don’t tell her though because I don’t think she knows it.  Shes full of personality, and gave us all a big kick when she was sticking her head out of the barn window.

Annie didn't want to be left out.

Check out all those harnesses!

            This place is incredible!  The barn appears to be four stories tall.  The bottom floor has stalls in it, the second floor has all of the vehicles in it and is strong enough to bring the horses in to groom and tack up as well as store hay and have the offices in it.  It’s a beautiful place, and this is the area to find these really neat barns.   As beautiful as this place is, and as much fun as I’m having learning so many neat new things, I can’t help but get excited about getting home and applying everything I’ve learned to our program.  Just a couple of more days, and if I keep it together (i.e. don’t get too cocky) I’ll be coming home a certified driving instructor.

Check out the harnesses we used!

They have a goat!