There was some confusion with the booking when I
got here (the stables operate quite a bit more independently of the hotel than
the website/booking agents would have you believe.) The riding instructors/barn staff were surprisingly reluctant to accept my pre-booked riding program. ("Perhaps once a day is better?" Doubtful expression. "That is a lot of riding.") Since, as noted above, it's all about me (and horses),
this sent me into a mild paranoid panic ("They can tell I don't know how
to ride! Whaa!" etc etc.) But then I figured out/learned three things, and
now it's all (basically) good.
#1 - The staff in the stable works for a set
number of hours a day. One rider getting a twice daily hour-long
"group" lesson for two weeks just adds to their workload, without any payoff. (I am thinking of gifts to get my two main instructors as thank-yous, since they've been great.)
#2 - The stud farm and hotel are both owned by the
state. Economically, things over here are just as bad as they are pretty much anywhere
else in the Western world. The hotel was brought under private management, and
now it isn't doing very well, although I personally think the lack of financial
success has as much to do with the general economic climate as it does the
management. (It could use a face-lift, a targeted advertising campaign, and probably less staff, but what do I
know about hotel management?) There is some uncertainty about keeping the
"lessons for tourists" side of the stud farm going, and there is
enough enough talk about scaling back the operation there that some people are
concerned about long-term employment. So I get why they aren't
super-excited about investing themselves into the program.
#3 - There was some genuine concern about my
ability to keep up with the program. I'm scrappy, and I work hard, and I'm a
nice person, so they've all genuinely warmed to me. And I'm getting a
tremendous amount out of it. Having said that, I grossly underestimated how physically
and mentally taxing it would be taking two lessons a day, every day. I should know that an
hour spent in the saddle noodling around on my own is quite a different kettle
of fish than riding in a lesson, and I am way underprepared for all of this.
But, in my experience, there are a lot of things in life that you
can't really prepare yourself for, and you just have to dive in and
flounder for a bit before you start to get the hang of it. (And yes, I do use
that logic to justify all sorts of possibly not-wise decisions.)
I've been learning loads and taking notes. The
biggest improvement is probably in my leg position. I've learned that keeping
the horse "between the aids" is not a figurative expression, it's
completely literal, and while I'm still not successful at doing so almost all of the time, I've had snatches of it, and just getting a picture of what that is like makes this whole
trip worth it. I did get a lunge lesson, and I totally rocked out on all of
the posting trot arm moving around exercises. My sitting trot is still pretty
wretched (mostly due to having to work too hard at moving with the horse, and
then getting tired. Yes, I'm pretty sure that I'm doing it wrong.) My seat at the canter
is improving, though I still pop out of the saddle a bit during
transitions (I think that more than anything makes my instructors die a little
inside every time they see it. But I'm working on it!) And I'm knocking off one
of the goals I set for myself in my training journal for 2013, which is
learning how to ride with a whip (though that is its own topic.)
We walked into the local town, Sežana,
a couple of times. I'm heading into Trieste to get a rental car sometime before the weekend, since we are miles away from anything, and the pubic transit situation is United States bad.
Culinary highlights so far:
The best gnocchi I've ever had in my life, no joke, with gorgonzola sauce that held its own.
Calamari stuffed with prosciutto and cheese. I find calamari to be pretty hit-or-miss, but this would've made a calamari convert out of anyone.
Okay, another day, another dollar. Off to ride!
-Beth
Love the levade! Do a capriole next.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the visit is going well and you're learning a lot. It will be worth the exhaustion.