Drömmen om ett liv bland hästar

Följ min resa till Kanada och min vardag med att få jobba med en FEI-ryttare. Följ min resa här på bloggen!

lördag 20 december 2014

A spoon full of sugar, Chistmas parties and sore butts

The last couple of weeks have been hectic, fun and just amazing! The Nations, as we refer ourselves to our originating countries, have become even closer and it's just great that we're turning in to this little barn family.

Today is the day of the annual Queenswood Christmas Party and we will be at a place called Dows Lake. If we're lucky the canal is open for skating but since we had some what of a heat wave this last week (only 0 degrees, yay!) it's probably not. Bummer! Although the last couple of days were pretty normal for this season with temperatures around -10. And yes, it's getting colder!

Today is also my day off! Can't decide whether I should wear a black laced cocktail dress, a midnight blue maxi dress or maybe my pink jeans with a cute top tonight. I've learnt that the fashion here in Canada, at least in Ottawa, is waaaay more laid back than back in Sweden. It's nice that you don't have to put such an effort in to your looks for a night out (if done so you might get some inappropriate suggestions...) but on the other hand I brought the fancy party outfits. That's another bummer!

This last week has brought me to my knees. Happily though but yet, I'm crippled!! I've been trilled by our barn manager and trainers until the point of madness. It's in a good way since I'm improving my riding skills a lot and since they pinpointed what my issue is I've started riding in a completely different way with my body. I have for most of my equestrian life/career/what ever I should call it, had the perception that when working with the horses movements you should imagine how your lower spine detaches from your pelvis. This mindset along with that I've been taught to never have tension in my gluteus muscles have made me fork up on my pelvis and torturing my back by using it as a shock-absorber.
The tension in my gluteus is some what necessary since i have to SIT on my butt (for obvious reasons lol) and by accepting that this tension is not a tension but a compression of the muscles my back is straightened and the tension I've felt in my arms have been released. And by NOT forking up on my pelvis my seat is more inviting for the horse to move forward towards the bit and I'm using my abdomen to follow the movements of the horse. All of this makes sense to most riders and for me this has been nothing but obvious but since I've had this voice in the back of my head forbidding me to feel any sort of muscle activity in my glutes I couldn't move towards that perfect vertical seat we equestrians stride for. But I'm on my way, reprogramming my body and loving every second of it!

Free lounging one of the poneys, Soleil, for a video

The new arena to the right and the back of some of the barns and the indoor arena

lördag 6 december 2014

And here comes a picture from a few nights ago

The picture doesn't really catch the Christmas feeling but here's a glimps of what the river looks like!

fredag 5 december 2014

Ottawa by night and what friendship is

Today was totally crazy with a lot of horses to be tacked and walked for Simone and Oz along with cleaning the stalls, haying, graining and turning in and out the horses. And the day started off with a power outage which ended up that we made a game that gave points to whoever bumped into something (10 pts), scared a horse with ones shadow (20 pts), 10 extra if you lose it, 50 if you find it and then a bonus if you get yelled at for it.

We ended up mixing up a few (more like four) horses by lunch. Linden Ein (aka George) and Sapphire got mixed up AFTER we had discussed whether George was Farley or not, well apparently it was Farley and Sapphire we were discussing. And then Dresden and Clouseau got mixed up in their stalls. I mean, they're all brown with a dash of white? Canada (Sam), California (Tara) and Germany (Hanna) agrees, they're all brown with a dash of white and they all have four legs!

After that chaotic day Dessia picked us up and we went to downtown Ottawa to see the christmas lights. First we went to Parliament Hill to watch the lightings there, later we passed over Rideau Canal and could see all the lights that bordered the river and then  we walked through Confederation Park. It was so beautiful! I've never considered myself a fan of christmas lights and decorations but I'm convinced. Christmas is awesome!

We went to Rideau Center as I needed to get to the Apple Store to change the darn battery on my iPhone. Gosh, I did NOT agree with my wallet in there... But I got two pairs of gloves and some makeup, since I left all my makeup in Sweden and wants to look somewhat human when not in the barn. While waiting for my phone to be repaired we went to eat Beaver Tails by the Bay. Best ever! Soooo good! It's like an over sized and ran over churro! We also, once again, conducted that 'Friendship is' to tell your friend she has Beaver Tail on her face (among many other things such as chocolate, peanut butter and so on).

Anyway, I'm absolutely in love with this city and I don't ever want to leave it! (Despite the cold)

I'll update with some pics as soon as my iPhone is restored!

xoxo