HAHS

As many of you know, I was barn manager for a 501(c)3 horse rescue and animal sanctuary in Ohio for around three years. Circle P Sanctuary is a wonderful horse rescue that I would have never left if it wasn’t for the fact that my family lives in the Chicago area and I was ready to move back home after being away for seven years. The things I remember most about Circle P Sanctuary is the rolling green fields, the amazing staff and volunteers that felt like family, and of course, all of the horses and animals! Circle P Sanctuary is a growing horse rescue  that focuses on education, rescue, rehabilitation, and adoption. The book I plan to self-publish this spring largely focuses on horses that I had worked with while at Circle P Sanctuary, so I don’t want to say too much more, but it is a wonderful organization that takes the time to rehabilitate horses back to their full mental and physical health and makes sure to take the time with potential adopters so that animals are adopted out to their forever homes!

Click HERE for their website!!

Now that I am back in Illinois, I am working with the Hooved Animal Humane Society! Whereas Circle P Sanctuary usually held around 30 horses, the Hooved Animal Humane Society (HAHS) currently holds 106 animals! Compared to Circle P, working at HAHS took some adjusting! It is really great to work at such an established society however, because I can look at Circle P and see the amazing potential it has to grow over the years. Circle P Sanctuary has currently been operating as a non-profit since 2007, while HAHS has been around since 1971!

Click HERE for their website!

Out of the 106 animals currently at HAHS, two are goats and five are pigs. HAHS is such a large organization that it takes in animals from all over the state of Illinois and has an essential role with statewide investigations and court cases on animal cruelty and the violation for the Humane Care for Animals Act. With animals waiting in impoundment as part of court cases, animals coming and going to training, and animals being sent to foster homes, it takes a lot of dedicated people to make such a large organization work! Despite the large number of animals on the property, all horses, pigs, and goats receive quality care during their stay at the society. Some of the older animals or animals with limiting injuries may never get adopted and instead are able to live out their life at the society. One of my favorite horses, Charlie, is a blind gelding that has been there for several years. Despite is blindness, he is very easy going and is never surprised by anything. In fact, he has learned the sound of the ATV we use to feed the other horses and knows that it carries hay and grain. It is not uncommon for him to hurry through his own portion of grain so he can then follow the ATV around for a snack as I quickly try to feed the other horses!

Peter Pan is a blind Appaloosa gelding that is best friends with Charlie!

It is amazing that any of these horses ending up at a humane society! Rita is a big, beautiful draft mare that used to pull carriages all around downtown Chicago. Years of pulling carriages around the hard pavement has left her with sore feet, but she still enjoys her time out in the pasture and may be able to do some light driving with special shoes. Diesel is a recent addition that we evaluated and found that he has had extensive training in reining and is responsive to the slightest change in seat or with the lightest touch of the rein! Nebulae is another mare, although almost 30 now, that won several stakes races as a racehorse and even qualified to run in the Breeders Cup! Her and her two daughters somehow ended up at HAHS.

Nebulae with her two daughters taking a nap in the sun

Minnie! How can you look a this face and not want to adopt her!

The majority of horses that end up at HAHS seemed to have been ridden in the past and although I am still learning about them (in some cases, I am still learning which horse is which!) they all just seem like horses that have fallen on hard times. One mare, Poppy, was an old lesson horse that must have outlived her purpose. She was saved from a slaughter truck bound to Canada. When she comes into her stall for attention as I am cleaning, I stand and rub her neck and think that I am so glad she got a second chance at life. Other horses come to HAHS young and untrained, but with great, willing personalities and learn quickly. Looking at how many horses are easy to work with or are already superbly trained, it is amazing how many of these horses ended up unwanted. Sure, there are definitely the so called “crazy” ones of the bunch – the ones that came in near feral or the ones that are still untrusting of humans because of their past. But even with these horses, patience and kindness can go a long way!

NaNoWin!

Now that November is over, it is time to celebrate! For those of you who don’t know why I am celebrating, you might want to check out my previous blog, NaNoWriMo, that explains in detail this crazy undertaking of pushing myself to write a 50,000 word book during the month of November. NaNoWriMo is a wonderful non-profit organization that helps people of all types to write a unique story – from kids to adults, published authors to first time writers.

Click HERE for NaNo website!

Now that November is over, I can officially declare myself a WINNER! Out of the roughly 312,000 participants, around 47,000 of those participants completed the 50,000 word challenge! Now that November is over, the question is: Would I do it again? Without having to give it any thought, my answer would be YES! I loved the experience! NaNo provided such a great atmosphere and support group for such a demanding challenge. Without the support of my local community of writers and the general support provided by the website, I don’t think I would have been motivated enough to go on. My favorite “Pep Talk” email was from none other than one of my favorite authors, Patrick Rothfuss, as he told us how he had entered NaNo the year before and lost, but had still gained valuable insights into his writing.

A cartoon from the Patrick Rothfuss blog - click HERE for the full, funny blog!

NaNo constantly kept you updated through emails and updates. The forums on the site were helpful, creative, and very fun. And the best part? When you have completed 50,000 words you not only get a pat on the back, a celebratory YouTube video from the staff, and a certificate of completion, you get what they call, “Winners Goodies.” In my opinion, these “Goodies” are really what you are thinking about the whole time you are stuck on word 49,999 (even though the other stuff still makes you happy). Winners goodies this year consisted of fabulous offers for discounted novel writing software, editing tools, and so much more!

My favorite offers came from Lulu.com, a popular self-publishing site. Once you submit your completed novel, you are able to receive a free book review and a free hardcover copy of your story (once you publish with them –which is free, by the way, they just take a percentage of the sales). After further research on how Lulu works with their print on demand service and their e-books, I was very impressed with how they did things and am seriously considering self-publishing through this company in the future. Although I doubt I will publish the story I wrote in NaNo this year, I am considering using this to publish my non-fiction story on horse rescue (perhaps this spring??). I guess this is why companies like Lulu have these offers in the first place! As part of their sponsorship of NaNo, Lulu is also picking 10 winning novels from NaNo through their “Wrimo Accelerator” to win the adventure of a lifetime with an all-inclusive book publishing deal – including editing, distribution, marketing, and book tours! I will keep my fingers crossed on this grand prize, I mean, my chances are pretty good, whats 10 out of 47,000??? To quote Dumb and Dumber on this one: “So you’re saying there’s a chance?”

Click HERE for their website!

Another company that sponsored NaNo and that I also am considering to publish with in the spring is CreateSpace. As part of their sponsorship, they are offering NaNo winners 2 free copies of their book. Once again, you have to publish your book through them first. As with Lulu, CreateSpace is a print on demand and e-book service and will take a small portion of proceeds on your sales. There is no money upfront unless you want to hire an editor, book cover designer, etc. CreateSpace seems like they have a lot to offer in terms of where they can distribute your book to and the website seemed like it would be easy to upload your book and work with.

Click HERE for their website!

The final offer I took advantage of from the NaNo sponsors was from Swoon Reads. Swoon Reads is a site in which authors can submit their manuscript onto their site and people can read the story and vote on it. I love the idea and although Swoon Reads is all about teen romance and my story does have romance, but it is on the light side, I decided to enter it anyway. Why go through all the work of trying to design a cover and submitting the story? Because the best voted books will be offered a standard Macmillan publishing contract with a $15,000 advance. That’s why. So if you want to read the story I wrote this November (and vote for it too – hint, hint) check out my book page at Swoon Reads:

http://www.swoonreads.com/m/nighttime-tales

So there you have it: One month, about 100 cups of tea, 3 all-day sessions at Panera, and 50,000 words later, I am so happy that I took part in this challenge! Not only did it make me write a story I have been thinking about for a while, it has forced me to research self-publishing companies out there, and it has offered me access to all sorts of fun contests and deals. The best part is that NaNo doesn’t just end in November! I am still connected to local writers through Facebook and I will even be attending a class at a local library that deals with how to write a query letter and tips for publishg a book. With all of this love and support, how could you not want to write a story? I will see you next November.

Alaska and Other Such Travels

The few snow flurries we have been having here in the Chicago area have got me excited about one of my favorite winter activities – snowboarding! I love to snowboard. In high school growing up, we had a ski hill five minutes down the road, well actually, it is more like an old gravel pit that they installed some ski lifts on, but my friends and I would go almost every night. The snow was usually icy or grassy or both and it took about 12 seconds to snowboard down to the bottom, but I loved it.

It is funny, because the first time I went snowboarding, I hated it. It was hard to stand, go, and steer, and falling really, really hurt. My parents must have been out of ideas on what to get me for Christmas that year, however, because surprise, surprise, they got me a snowboard! Now that I was obligated to go, I tried it one more time and guess what? I still hated it. My board got frozen into the lock thing when we went in to eat and my friend had a stupid rental board that had step in bindings that we couldn’t figure out how to lock. I don’t know why we went back for a third time, I honestly have no idea why, but for whatever reason, we did.

Third time really is the charm, because after that, I was hooked. Snowboarding in Illinois and then in Ohio is boring unless you become creative. Don’t go around that patch of grass – see if you can jump over it! That rail doesn’t look too hard, that random stranger just went on it perfectly – I bet I can too! Do you think I can jump that fence – watch me try! Something about the speed and the thrill of launching yourself into the air is just addicting. Sure, the small contests and big jumps were fun, but the most fun I had was when a group of us were just messing around on the hill being silly. Our favorites were spinning in circles for a while and then seeing how far you could go without falling over and playing tag with a big group.

Sure, I got hurt a few times (It was only a few times Dad, I swear!), but it was worth it. I once fell so hard on my butt that I got an enormous hematoma, which after a month of not getting any better, had to be surgically removed. The swelling was so bad that it hurt to walk and anything other than sweatpants put to much pressure on it. I only owned three pairs of sweatpants, luckily though, I was in college, and if anyone noticed that I rotated three different pairs of pants for a month, no one said anything. I would also take control of the common room TV so I could watch cooking shows for hours on end (and I don’t even cook), because it hurt too much to do anything much else. The girls on my floor probably hated me, but one dirty look from me was enough to send them on their way.

My stepsister and I at the peak of Whistler Mountain

My next foray into snowboarding was when I started to travel in search of better mountains. A trip to Colorado was the first vacation I took solely for the purpose of snowboarding, and after that first trip, I have returned several times. Colorado is always fun and you can pretty much guarantee that you will have a good time snowboarding. I remember when my dad came with me out to Breckenridge. Since he is not a big skier, he spent most of the time at the top of the mountain lodge enjoying the sun and drinking beer. What he failed to remember is that even though it is winter, that sun is fierce when it reflects off the snow and he was beet red after day one!

I love to snowboard because of the travel involved and the new places and new people you get to see. When we went to British Columbia I remember driving an hour out of our way on the way back because my stepsister really wanted to see the ocean. We were already cutting it close to catch our plane when we found a park that butted up to the ocean water. Deciding to risk it, we ran the length of the park to the pier at which point she stuck her hand in the water and commented, “Well, it feels just like any other water,” before we sprinted back. In Canada I got to see beautiful scenery and wildlife, when I went to Lake Tahoe, we stayed in Reno, Nevada and I got to gamble and saw some hookers. You just never know what you are going to find when you travel to new places.

It amazes me the variety of different cultures you can find within the United States alone. A college roommate of mine has family living in Alaska, so one winter break, we packed up and flew to Alaska for the month. We had no plans and very little money, but we at least had a couch to sleep on every night and we had our snowboards. We stayed in the Matanuska Valley, which consisted of the towns of Wasilla and Palmer, about an hour outside of Anchorage. We were there in the winter, so the sun rose at about 10am and went down around 4pm. As soon as we could, we would go out and look for places to snowboard or something fun to do. Sometimes we took snowmobiles (or snow machines as they called them) and sometimes we just took the car out and drove around. One popular place we went to had us park the car up top, snowboard down, and the hitchhike back up to the top.

View from the top of the world

My favorite experience was when we started as early as we could in order to climb this peak. The snow was so deep and the peak was so steep, you had to use your snowboard as a climbing tool: Jam it into the snow above you, pull yourself up, and repeat. I was very winded and the sun was already starting to set by the time we made it to the top. Finally strapped in, I started down the mountainside. Up to this point, I had never had much experience riding powder. My board just slid over the snow so that I felt like I was floating and all around me I could see the other peaks – I felt like I was on top of the world and had the biggest, stupidest grin on my face I am sure. But as I said before, I did not have that much experience with powder, or really deep snow. On around my fourth turn I must have turned to tight or maybe I did not have enough weight in my back leg because I was too busy ogling the view, but suddenly my board had about a foot of snow piled on its nose and I was stuck. Do you know how hard it is to get your board out of deep snow and then try to stand up and try to get going again? Every time I put my hand down to push myself back up, I sunk even deeper. By the time I got up, I was so angry and sweaty that I no longer cared about the damn view, I just wanted to get to the bottom of the stupid mountain. (I got stuck two more times before I reached the bottom, by the way).

I snapped this picture as we were leaving the mountain for the night

I got better with practice – thank god – and Alaska still stands out to me as an amazing place. It wasn’t just the snowboarding either; sometimes at night we would set up a tent and go ice fishing or tie up a sled to a snowmobile and take turns pulling each other around. Once a windstorm came through that was so strong that we were able to hold sheets together with rope and sit on a sled so that it would drag us around. We also drove out to the frozen beach once where an old air force base used to be. Once we found an old mattress and everyone got really excited. I was really confused until they tied the old mattress to the bumper of a car and we took turns sitting on the mattress and being dragged around – it was like water tubing behind a boat, but probably more dangerous and stupid. I was usually almost always cold, not so much in the day when you are moving around, but at night. I perfected the art of sleeping in a ball and pulling the blankets over my entire body like a tent. I don’t think I will ever snowboard in a place again that is so different and so beautiful and wild.

Me in the middle of the frozen ocean while out exploring one day

Another place I travelled to that I fell in love with immediately is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I first went to Jackson Hole to snowboard and loved the feel of the town of Jackson and enjoyed meeting fellow snowboarders. The mountain and the different terrain offered through the accessibility of the lifts provided amazing snowboarding. The first time we took the tram to the top of the peak, they jammed us in so we were standing like sardines and then the doors wouldn’t close because they were still kind of frozen. They told the people near the doors to just help hold them shut and then the tram started its journey for the top. Every pillar we went over caused the tram to first nosedive downward and then rise back up, like a ship going over a big wave. I would have fallen over, but we were packed in so tightly that I had nowhere to go anyway.

Stopping for a break halfway down the mountain in Jackson Hole

On top of the peak, the wind was blowing so hard you could not see. I loved it. There is nothing more exhilarating standing on top of a mountain peak, with nothing above you but the sky as the wind whips around you. I can understand the lure of mountain climbing. The journey down was full of 57-degree incline, cliff faces, and the most wonderful snow ever. Compared with where I grew up, I could not imagine living in Jackson Hole area and having this type of experience available to you every day. I would imagine that Chicagoans would be a lot less stressed if they could journey out to the mountains every weekend and just enjoy the wildness of it all.

Our last day we took a few turns through the trees and some freshly falling snow - there is nothing else in the world like it!

When Michael and I went back to the area during the summer, it was even better. People were kind and courteous and were never rushed. They did not have a strict agenda, but they got their work done and enjoyed life while doing it. One of the first nights we were out there, we went to the town of Moose (which consists of about 5 buildings) because the local bar was having a hootenanny. We got there around 8pm and listened to a lot of good music and everybody in the bar seemed to know each other. It was around 9pm and we were settling in for a fun night when the bar called last call. 9pm! I guess this was the real deal; cowboys and wranglers had to be getting up early the next morning!

It was kind of nice though, we went back to our cabin and realized that the stars were so bright and clear that you could see the Milky Way. On one of our rides, one of the chefs from the kitchen joined us and when we stopped for a break and sat out on this ledge overlooking the river we got to talking. She was originally from Michigan, but came out here to work for the summer and just revive and refresh. She told us how refreshing it was to wake up, do your job, and then take some time to enjoy nature. No worrying about deadlines or inter-office drama. She made it a point to not watch any TV or read the news. And then I realized, that is how it probably is for most of the people living out here. Sure, I’m sure there are still times of stress and trouble, but when you’re out here, it is easy to relax and recharge. It is hard to keep worrying about paychecks or bills when a bald eagle is soaring overhead or you just spotted a herd of antelope running through the plains.

Even though we don’t have in Ohio and Illinois the amazing scenery that Wyoming offers, I still try to keep that realization with me – that life is what you make of it. You could let the stress and worry take over, or you can take the time to just sit and enjoy the world around you for a second. And do you know what? This summer, right before I was leaving Ohio and stressing about the move to Chicago, I sat on the porch swing at the barn before I left for the night and took some time to just listen to the birds and the wind in the trees and watch the horses in the pasture. Finally able to let myself relax, I looked up and realized that the large bird sitting on the tree branch was a bald eagle. First one I have ever seen in Ohio.

TLAER

Back in October, I wrote a story about a horse named Maggie (Read Maggie's full story here). Maggie was a sweet old horse that had fallen into pond in February and needed our help to get her out. It was a rescue call, but we were a 30 minute drive away. The firefighters got there much quicker than we did, but they had not been trained on how to work with horses and could not get her out of the water without our help. A variety of factors went into her rescue and we were not able to save her. The weather, the 30 minute drive, her age, and the fact that the firefighters did not know how to rescue a large animal all were working against us.

I had mentioned in my blog that I had taken a Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue course (TLAER) in college. I found the course very interesting, but also thought that it was something that I would never have to deal with. After my experience with Maggie, however, I realize how important it is to be prepared and know how to deal with an emergency - you never think it is going to happen to you until it does. To have the knowledge and skill going into a situation like that can make the difference between life and death for that animal in distress. The firefighters that we were working with had not been trained in TLAER, if they had known how to work with large animals they probably would have been able to pull Maggie out right away and we would have just shown up to help warm her up and work with the vet. She would have been saved.

Click Here for the TLAER website

Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue offers courses that help you prepare for situations like barn fires and floods, trail riding mishaps, and everyday emergencies around the barn like loose horses off property or what to do if your horses somehow get into your hay loft (yes, that really did happen). Dr. Rebecca Gimenez is the president and primary instructor of TLAER, Inc and she has put together a wonderful program to help prepare people on how to deal with a large animal emergency. The program mostly tailors towards firefighters, police officers, animal control officers, and other such rescue responders, but anyone can benefit from these courses. When I took her class in Ohio, I was just a student in college and had no idea that what I learned that day would be put to use years later.

During the two day, jam-packed clinic, we learned everything from basic horse handling to sling techniques to discussing real-life rescue scenarios. At the end of day two, we even did some hands on learning with a few horses so non-horsey firefighters could get a hang of handling a horse safely. Even if you already are an experienced horse person, this clinic still offers a lot of new knowledge by the way of rescue techniques (and it is fun to watch firefighters try to work with horses. For being fearless in the face of a raging fire, they certainly were slow to volunteer to work with the horses!).

A picture from www.tlaer.org, showing a hands-on training course

Just off of that two day clinic, I learned so much and was able to take that knowledge and use it in real life. TLAER even offers another clinic that uses real horses (that they have trained) and dummies to re-enact real rescue situations and lets participants train hands on. If you are a firefighter or an emergency responder, work at an animal rescue, or even just own a horse, I strongly recommend TLAER.

This past week, I got the chance to share my story about Maggie and chat a little bit about horse rescue with Dr. Rebecca Gimenez and radio show host, Glenn the Geek on the radio show Horses In the Morning. Click on the link below to hear the radio clip:

                                                       Horses In The Morning

Chile

“Galope, Miss Ohio. Galope!” urged my riding instructor in a confusing mix of English and Spanish. Aiming my horse for the jump, I wondered to myself what I was doing here. I was in a ring with six other riders on a horse that took one look at a jump and took off like a bat out of hell before flinging himself over it blindly. I had tried to tell my instructor earlier that I had jumped some before, but I was mostly a dressage rider. If I jumped, it was over a hunter course – a type of jumping that judges you on how nicely and steadily you can go over a fence and how pretty you can make it look, not so much a true “jumper” that was all about speed and anything goes, really, as long as you make it over the fence the fastest. I had tried to explain that, but his English wasn’t every good and my Spanish was about as good as his English - he seemed to think I would do just fine. Without further ado, I was plopped on a horse (no release forms or any sort of boring U.S. type of paperwork) and off we went. One small jump in and he raised it about three feet. He had trouble pronouncing my name, but knew that I was from Ohio, so he just went with that as he urged me to try the course one more time. Was I having fun or was I just so petrified the adrenaline made it feel similar to fun? Looking back, I feel like my entire month spent in Chile felt like that. Petrifying and confusing and so unbelievably awesome.

A quick snapshot of one of my riding lessons in Chile

Me and Calafate after a lesson - he was such a great horse!

 I was halfway through college when I realized that I had enough time to try to minor in something. I had always wanted to learn another language and had enjoyed Spanish in high school, so with two years left in college I set out to learn as much Spanish as I could. About two classes into my Spanish minor, our professor, or “profe” as we liked to call her, announced that she was getting together another group of students to go to her home country of Chile with her for winter break. Profe was one of my favorites, she was easy going but didn’t let you fool around in class, she was always was excited and full of energy, and was genuinely a nice person. Later I came to realize, a typical Chilean.  Attending a liberal arts college, our winter break was actually a month long – starting for Thanksgiving and ending after New Years. I would have to get a loan and squeeze in some extra tutor sessions, but it sounded like an adventure. After class that day, I approached her and told her I would like to go, but I was worried about my Spanish speaking ability (I was pretty terrible) she said there would be no problem and she would make sure my host family knew English as well.

Two months later, one hell of an expensive plane ride to Santiago, one club-hopping weekend in the city, and a 12-hour bus ride that I could not fall asleep on at all, and I found myself in my new home away from home for a month. My host parents did not speak English. Not even a little bit. Talk about an awkward dinner conversation, I finally figured out that my host dad had asked what my parents do after about 4 tries and he kind of squinted his eyes and looked at me funny as I tried to tell him my dad was an architect. My host sister was younger than me and attending a school that taught all in English, but she had not been attending there for long. The idea was that I would teach her English and she would teach me Spanish. After that miserable and awkward dinner, I retreated to my room in which I fell asleep wondering what I had gotten myself into.

My host sister and I while out exploring the coast

The truth is, you learn to adapt. No matter how bad or impossible you think the situation you are in is, you always can adapt and go with it. I loved everything about that month in Chile. The second I stopped worrying about what people thought of my terrible Spanish or how the day was going to turn out, was the second that I could pay more attention to the scenery around me and the wonderful people I was meeting. I still remember the first night I went to the discothèque and was out until 4am. Some friends from the school we were attending during the week dropped me off in front of my host house and I cringed as I had to ring the bell for them to open the gate and let me in the house. Waiting for a grumpy and/or angry host mom or dad to open the front door for me, I was surprised to see my host dad swing the door open and spread open his arms, an enormous grin on his face. My rough translation of what he said was something along the lines of “Why are you back so early?”

Our group at the base of the active Volcano in Pucon, Chile

Everyone I met in Chile was friendly and seemed genuinely happy. The next morning I overslept my alarm and woke up with 4 minutes before I had to leave for school (luckily we only were a 10 minute walk away and everyone in Chile is always late – even to school! If a party starts at 8pm, we would have dinner at 8, go shopping at 9 and then probably get to the party sometime around 10. School started at 8am, and we regularly arrived around 8:20). Anyway, so I am terribly late (and quite frankly, hung over) and rush out of my bedroom, shoving stuff into my bag and frantically tell my host mom I am ready to leave. She is surprised and said she thought I would want to sleep more since I was out partying all night. But I had to go to class, I tried to explain. Shrugging at my crazy American ways, she put out some cookies for me to eat while I walked and told me to have a good day. And yes, Chileans, who are as a whole, way skinnier than most Americans, eat cookies and cake for almost every breakfast. After a few classes (in which there is a snack break in between), I walk back home with my host sister to eat an enormous and always delicious lunch, take a siesta and then walk back for a few more classes. Lunch one day was called “crudos” and it was a raw meat paste on toast, topped with lemon juice and tartar sauce, and you know what, it was am-ma-zing. Everyone in the family comes home for lunch – that is the big meal of the day. What a wonderful break it was to relax and talk and recoup before going out for the afternoon. Dinner was late, around 10pm, and was usually some more cake or sometimes bread. The one time I told them at 10pm I was going to go to bed they were so confused, they were like “for the night or are you coming back out later?”

Chileans definitely do not take life too seriously. My profe was from Valdivia, were we stayed for most of the trip, and she was busy visiting old friends and family, so she was basically MIA. It was up to us to figure things out. Its amazing how quickly you learn a language when you realize that if you don’t, you will not be able to do anything – no getting a taxi, no ordering food, no talking to anyone around you. They soon had us touring local elementary schools in which we were separated into classrooms and the teachers announced that we would be teaching class for the day. Wait?! What?! I learned quickly that Chileans aren’t really big planners and kind of take things as they come – so what do you do, adapt and attempt to teach this class or panic and freeze up? Teaching a class full of elementary students is way more fun! Did they learn anything from me? Probably not. But I bet I was pretty good entertainment. I had about 20 groupies during recess, a 10 year old boy asked me on a date, and I made a little girl cry tears of happiness when I read them “The Little Mermaid” in terrible, stumbling Spanish.

An overview of the last city we visited before heading to the airport for home - Vina Del Mar

By night I was getting a hang of the taxi system and learning where and where not I could walk to (Chile is very nice, but all the nice houses have tall fences around them with locked gates –I am only assuming there is a reason for that). The bars and discothèques in the area were over the top (one was seven levels) and always served up my new favorite drink – piscola: a mixture of Pisco (a type of Chilean alcohol) and coke. The other popular drink was the Pisco sour (which has now come to the U.S., but is not always made in the true Chilean way). My host family had this wonderful little cabin in the mountains next to the coast where we would go to have asada (meat roasted on a stick over a fire pit – in Chile you did not have a grill, you had an asada. It was a matter of pride between families on who had a better asada. It sounds simple, but these asadas were often inside the house and were a big deal to have. And man, was the food amazing!). At the cabin, they also taught me how to make a traditional pisco sour (lots of ice, lime juice, and some sugar and shake it in with the pisco). What a cool experience that was – hanging out with my Chilean family and all their friends, drinking pisco sours and eating asada in their cabin that overlooked the mountains!

Learning how to make Pisco Sours

I was finally comfortable and well adjusted when our profe showed up to take us on our promised four day trip to Argentina. Without further ado, we were shoved in a van and taken via bumpy dirt roads to the boarder. Passing through the isolated border station, we proceeded to make our way through the Andes. We started off with beautiful jungles, landscapes, and waterfalls and soon we found ourselves driving into snow coated roads and blowing winds. At the official country line, we stopped for a picture. “But I have sandals on,“ I told my profe as she told us to go outside and stand by the sign. “No, no that’s ok,” she said cheerfully as she shoved me out into the snow. One snowball fight and some slight frostbite later, we were back on the road and almost to Argentina.

Just one of the everyday views that greeted you in Bariloche, Argentina

My first experience in Argentina was at a snowboard shop that I had found while walking down the street. A nice girl came up to me and asked me if I need any help. I stared at her dumbly for about a minute and then walked away. It was only while I was browsing through the coats did I realize what she had said! An argentine accent was much different than a Chilean accent – especially since my Chilean wasn’t that good in the first place. Thankfully I picked it up fairly quickly after that and that night was able to order my first drink. I asked for something that was popular in Argentina, and the bartender gave me fernet. Fernet is some sort of alcohol made out of artichokes (I have only found it once in the states – in Baltimore and the bartender there told me that it was once used back in the day as a type of digestive aid or medicine, so you can imagine how it tastes.) It was very bitter and pretty disgusting, but I drank it anyway and when the friend I was with could not finish his, I bragged how much tougher I was. Which led to the bet that I had to drink fernet and only fernet all weekend long. I have to admit, I ate a lot of fruit and showered with my mouth open, but I did it. And you know what, I really like fernet now. My Spanish also gets exponentially better if I have been drinking.

Just down the street from our hotel, we found this sunken pier and I couldn't resist! It was a cloudy day, but it felt like you were standing in the middle of an ocean with the waves crashing around you and the towering Andes in the distance.

If there was a moral to this whole story, I am not sure what it would be. I guess the point was to share a few fun stories and show you that it is fun to go out of your comfort level and experience new places, people, and cultures. You learn so much more about people when you have to actually concentrate on the conversation and truly listen to them – and not just what they are saying, but what their body language is saying too. You will be pleasantly surprised when you go out of your comfort zone. I have always been petrified of boats and rafts ever since my uncle tipped mine when I was younger. I went whitewater rafting in Chile – I actually got willingly into the raft! Even after a 20 minute tutorial in Spanish on what to do if you fall out of the raft or if we tipped!

Found this bar in the airport before heading back to the U.S. and couldn't resist getting this photo!

I met so many amazing people and had the most wonderful time. It was something I will never forget and something I will always want to go back to. Even in my darkest hours of the trip, like on my 12 hour bus ride where I could not sleep or returning to Chile after drinking Fernet for an entire weekend, something so amazing would happen that made me question if I was even still in this world. During that long bus ride, I watched an entire lunar eclipse through my window. I watched the moon as it hung over the endless valley and distant mountains as it changed from white to orange to blood red and back again. Driving back from Chile, the car I was in got lost and we had to stop and wait. We were literally in the middle of nowhere, somewhere past the Chilean border. We all got out of the car and just looked up at the sky and you know what? The entire universe was above us. I had never seen the southern sky – the amount of stars was memorizing and just seeing the sky stretch out before you like that took your breath away. It is easy to get caught up in the little things, like jobs and money and relationships and wondering if you are fitting in. To just take a few minutes (or 12 sleepless hours) to stand back and appreciate something so much bigger than you, bigger than the world as you know it, bigger than simple comprehension, to come back down to earth and settle into yourself again after that is almost reassuring. We don’t have it all figured out, everything is not always perfect or comfortable, but always just take a moment to appreciate it – no matter what your situation is.

Robin

Back in early October I wrote a blog about a chestnut thoroughbred mare named Robin (And They’re Off!). You will be pleased to know that I am as attached to Robin as ever and she has really come a long way. Although we are still far from the finish line, we are taking strides every day. It won’t be long now until we are in the final turn and heading for home! (Ok, I’m done with the racetrack references for now! I couldn’t help it!).

Horses racing at Arlington Park

I have found that Robin does really well with routine. For example, if I ride her in the morning instead of in the evening it kind of rattles her a bit. I try to keep things really steady, but will occasionally try something new to see how she handles it. Generally, she has been really good with new things (like riding outside), but I think she will handle new things better when she has full confidence in me. The more she trusts me and looks to me for reassurance, the better she will handle new situations. We are not there yet, but she is definitely more friendly towards me and seems to genuinely like my attention now – rather than just putting up with me!

She may have to put up with me, but I have to put up with her too!

Robin has also had her teeth floated by a veterinarian so that they are nice and straight with no pointy edges. In the beginning, Robin was very sensitive about her face and really fought me when I tried to put the bit in her mouth. Now that her teeth are better they are no longer causing her pain and she now has no problem with the bit or me touching her face.

So we can walk and trot pretty well now – we can even do changes of directions and circles! Wahoo! I have also been focusing on getting her to trot straight lines off the rail or arena wall (so she has to balance better) and am adding in leg yields just to see how well she is listening. Before this, all she knew was go and whoa and some basic steering, now I am introducing things like going sideways, circles, and generally asking her for more control of her feet and where she is going. I can tell that sometimes she will get frustrated or confused with something, like the leg yield, but I just kept asking her gently and rewarded her for the tiniest effort.

Look! I really can ride her!

 Overall, she is turning into a nice mare. Occasionally still she will just stop dead all of a sudden or refuse to turn a certain way, but hey, at least we have made some progress. We have even cantered a few times! The transition into the canter is very ugly, but once she is in stride, it is actually kind of nice! She seems a to be weaker and less balanced to the right, but this makes sense because all U.S. racetracks run to the left. Her main problem is that if I leave the arena door open, she fixates on the open door so much that she stops listening to me. Her only focus when the door is open is to try to leave the arena. Hopefully with more time she will grow out of that little quirk as well. At this point, however, I shudder to think of what she would do in a dressage ring! At least having a goal in mind will help keep us focused!

This picture shows her crazy side

But this picture shows my crazy side

I also did some digging and found a bunch of Robin’s race records! I knew that her race name was Trix of Trade, so I searched her name on Equibase.com and found it really easily! All thoroughbreds on the track also get a tattoo number on the inside of their upper lip that you can use to look up records as well, in case you have a thoroughbred ex-racehorse and don’t know its race name.

Robin Before - On the Track

Robin After - In the Arena

Most racehorses can have a pretty tough life, but Robin seemed to actually have it pretty good. She was born in Illinois on May 21, 2004. Instead of starting her at two years old like many owners/trainers do, they waited until Robin was 3 years old to run her first race. I was able to watch a video of her first race at Hawthorne Racetrack – and it was hilarious! She was definitely not made to be a racehorse. When the starting bell goes off and the gates open, Robin flies out of the gate and bumps into several horses next to her. Once she settles in somewhere in the middle of the pack, she drifts to the outside. Robin runs with her head straight up in the air – something that a nervous horse will tend to do because they are worried about their surroundings and the other horses and are keeping their heads high to try to see everything. A horse that is running with purpose and focus often runs with his head lower. Running around the final turn for home, you can see Robin start to drift really hard towards the outside rail – you can even see the jockey waving the whip near her face to try to get her to go back towards the other horses and stop drifting so far! She finally gets the hint and straightens out for the homestretch and actually picks up some speed. Passing first one then two horses, Robin suddenly finds herself out in front! She is quite shocked that she is now leading the pack and quickly slows down so the other horses can catch up – you can almost literally see her backpedaling! In the end, Robin got 6^th place and her owners/trainers gave her the rest of the year off. Clearly, they didn’t think she was ready either!

Robin’s Career Statistics:

Starts: 12

Wins: 2

Seconds: 1

Thirds: 2

Earnings: $21,025

*$21,025 may seem like a lot, but if you factor in the costs for feed, farrier, dental, stabling, trailering, riding gear, stablehand pay, and entry fees for just her time spent on the track, I’m sure the owners did not even break even – probably not even close.

Equibase also assigns horses a speed figure that tells you how fast a horse has been running in its past races with a single number. Equibase says “Its sophisticated algorithms are based on the horse’s actual time in combination with other factors, such as the condition of the track.” Basically, this speed figure is a way to compare a horses’ speed to another – no matter what the track location, type, or condition. They also said that a typical horse running in a stakes race (highest level) will rate around 110, while horses running in claiming races (lowest level) may rate around 80. Robin’s highest Equibase speed figure was a 77…. So racing really wasn’t the career for her.

Year	Starts	Firsts	Seconds	Thirds	Earnings
2010	7	0	1	2	$4,705
2009	4	2	0	0	$16,320
2007	1	0	0	0	$0

Robin didn’t race again at Hawthorne until she was 5 years old. She had her first and only two wins during this season and then came back next year for a few dismal starts before she was retired from the racetrack. Robin had the speed to become a racehorse, but I don’t think she had the mind or the will. It seems like she had a pretty good life on the racetrack – she was owned and trained by the same people her entire career and she even had mostly the same jockey for every race. They didn’t over race her and seemed to give her plenty of time to mature. The video records of her races don’t show the horses loading into the starting gates (they only show once all the horses are in), so Robin may have put up trouble loading into the gate, but once she was in, she stood pretty calmly before the gates opened.

It is hard to tell why Robin is the way she is today – perhaps her trainer or jockey was rough on her while riding or perhaps her teeth and feet were sore so it was painful for her to be ridden (and maybe also why we have to sedate her for both vet and farrier to this day). Maybe it wasn’t the racetrack at all – who knows where she was during that year off or after she was retired. We will probably never know. Robin is a very smart horse and I have a feeling that she will never stop testing me or trying new things, but maybe we can get to a point one day where she will trust that she is in a good place.