Woke up to a familiar pitter-patter outside my window and my first thought - shit, all our rides are going to be cancelled. It was meant to be a really busy day, with lots of cruise ship rides and even 30 horses needed on one hour. I knew all 5 guides were asked to come in, so I just held my breath and hoped the rain would stop in time.
Walked to walk in minimal rain, my hopes still lingering, and got there to find the horses already getting caught, tied up, brushed, saddled... there were so many used we had to take a dozen down to the secondary tie-up rack usually reserved for the lesson horses. The rain started more persistently, broken up by the odd burst of sunshine or brilliant rainbow... and we held onto hope.
Then, just as we'd pretty much finished getting the horses ready, the call came in. All cruise ship rides were cancelled. Bummer. So we still had a few privately booked tours to count on for the day, but it was in no way going to be as busy as first thought. On top of this, the day was rainy and increasingly windier as the hours passed.
The first bit of the day I had no rides, just had some menial tasks (most of the guys were given the harder yakka, me, I had to sweep the tack room....) and it was way too little to occupy myself. People kept asking if I was tired and after a while I realised I was, and it was quite preferable to rest my butt while the water filled the drums itself.
At one point they asked me to help N with the camp lessons, which she really didn't need, but they were kinda looking for things for me to do... In the end, I had a quick lunch break and took a 2-hour ride out in unison with J. He volunteered me for the lead horse while he took the back end... Was he sure he didn't want to take the front, really? Sure? Sigh. I was tired. But I perked up for the 10-strong American group.
Managed to get through the 2 hours with no dramas, J running about at the end like he does, on his favourite horse Fresita that's back from mating with the stallions on the French side. He has to be careful, that horse is pregnant now and he can't be bolting her around like normal... I worry the boss is gonna take him off riding her completely, and he really loves that horse!
They tipped a decent amount, considering it was mostly one group with an Asian/American honeymooning couple at the end, thankfully since the next (and my last) ride was a group of largely non-English speaking Germans who didn't bring any extra money with them. Couldn't even contemplate buying the CD of photographs from the ride.
Wasn't really surprised I got no tips, Germans don't seem to tip and I also had to translate everything through the tour guide. I've done this trip once before, it seems the cruise ships offer one or two week trips from Germany onto their vessels but don't seem to vocalise the need to contribute to local custom through tipping! I bet they'd be pissed if they were on my wage and no one person in a 12-strong group brought an extra few dollars! My last German ride pooled their miniscule tips and ended up giving me $13, which was unexpected but nice. This time... nada.
Was an interesting end, though, when only a few of them wanted to go into the water and while we were readying them, several more jumped in and we had 7 going in. Afterwards, one of the horses' girths was hanging entirely loosely as it had slipped in the water and another young girl's stirrup had fallen out and by the time I'd fixed the girth she was wiping tears away. How to console someone in German? Fuck knows!
Had a nice apologetic message from my boy on FB, we're done n dusted with that little spat from yesterday. It's just hard with the distance sometimes, trying to guess the other half's emotions. But I know, with every passing day, that he's the one I want to spend my life with and it is only a matter of time before we start our new life together. Don't get me wrong, I fully want to utilise my time left on the island so I will be doing all the fun, touristy things but once the clock chimes, I am on that plane.
The weather is getting stupidly cold for the Caribbean, even the locals are saying it's unseasonable. Today was the worst day for horseriding I've had so far, even though the rain wasn't torrential, it was SO windy and the spitting rain just made it more undesirable to get into the water. I had to do the water part for the big American group, I made J do it for the next ride. Fuck that, I'm changing back into my jodhpurs! Hello sunshine, where did you go??
And the shower at my apartment... it taunts me with its cold.
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