Buck, FUCK, buck, FUCK!

The first day with the American girls helping was also the first I was trying to do things for myself - I needed to learn because G is going for eye surgery and I need to be the one to look after the animals while she is gone and then out of action.

My memory was a little hazy but she was still helping me so that was alright. There was one camel whose a bit snappy so I needed help with that but otherwise I did alright. We finished a bit later than normal but that just left room for improvement!

A teenage student and another girl about my age came to ride, and I hopped onto a horse for my first ride with G. She was still cautious about my abilities, as lots of people overestimate their experience, so I was on one of the easier ones.

We took the camels out to get some exercise in the big front paddock and it took just one turn out the front gate for me to make my first mistake. Granted, she didn't explain what I was meant to be doing properly, but I accidentally chased them too far away and they bolted up the mountain track they usually go on for tourist rides. So, as punishment, I was the one to follow them up - on foot because of the ice - and chase them back down. Good exercise!!

Once down, we pushed them up and down the paddock and after a short while I was told to go back and get Barack, one of the younger and less trained horses. During my ride on him, he was very nervous and bucked me 4 times but I stayed on and kept my cool. It showed how much I'd improved without realising it and was also good to remind me what horses were capable of. I hadn't had a live wire like him for a while!

So I guess I proved I could ride and I didn't have to do the night work with the animals, just went to the equestrian centre again, this time for dressage. But I didn't sit in the heated box cos, like most places in Austria, there was someone smoking in it (a pipe, no less!!) so my eyes could not take it. I can't believe a country like Austria still allows smoking inside. Urgh!