So sorry I have been MIA! Turns out my computer doesn't get along well with the internet in the lovely English house where I currently reside. After spending a few days driving around Germany and Holland last week with my Dad and my sister Frances, we bundled all my luggage into four bags weighing a total of 60 kilograms; hopped on a RyanAir flight (which was about an hour late as usual. I don't think RyanAir pilots pride themselves on punctuality); and flew to England.
My dad and Frances drove me to a horse show where they handed me off to my new British family, the Drea's. I met Jessie Drea, a successful British Young Rider, at the Olympia Horse Show in London last December and we quickly bonded over our shared love of the movie Mean Girls. I plan on riding with the Drea family at their "yard" in West Sussex for six weeks.
Upon my arrival at the show, Jessie introduced me to her dad and I stayed the night in their lorrie. After Jessie competed in and won the meter 1.40 classic (the "Silver Tour Grand Prix" in British terms), we drove back to the Drea's yard where I met Jessie's mom and her brother, Luke. Along the way we hatched a plan for me to pretend I thought Luke's name was Lucy and yell "TA!" after every sentence while speaking to Mrs. Drea. The plans worked splendidly and Luke looked horrified when I said, "Isn't Luke short for Lucy? Lucy is a boy's name in America." Mrs. Drea also thought I belonged in a mental institution, but after about ten minutes she realized what was going on and accused Jessie, Mr. Drea, and I of making jokes.
Monday the 13th of December was my first day at the yard. Jessie and I feed, water, and muck out the stalls ("boxes" in British terms) starting around 8:00 am each day. After finishing, we go inside for breakfast and then head back into the cold to ride the horses. The Drea's have a varied collection of horses, including foals; green hunters (for fox hunting, not American style hunter riding!); and experienced show jumpers. I have been riding four horses each day and my favorite is a gray four year old mare named Garner. She is about 15.3 hh and a lot of fun to ride! All the horses have been great so far, and my biggest challenge is understanding Mr. Drea when he instructs me in the ring (the "school" in British terms). He is Irish and I find his accent supremely confusing.
One of my and Jessie's favorite pastimes is comparing British and American words. When Jessie told me the password to the internet connection in her house, we discovered we say different alphabets! While reading off the password, she said a few normal American letters and then, out of the blue, the word "zed." I was baffled and kept saying, "zed? what?" After a minute, I realized she was saying the letter "Z." ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY and zed... That's the alphabet according to the British! Sadly, only last week I wouldn't have passed kindergarden in England because I couldn't recite the alphabet.
Tomorrow Jessie and I are heading off to London where she will compete at the Olympia Horse Show. I'm so excited about a weekend in London! Jessie is riding in a Young Rider class on Saturday afternoon. Wish her luck and I will send updates!
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