After enjoying a week and a half in Australia the moms are now headed back to America. It was a fantastic week and Mom and Judy got to experience a little bit of our life and spend some much needed time kicking back and relaxing at the lodge as well. We met up with the moms in Melbourne and after spending last weekend there with them, we brought them back home to Mansfield, where they got to meet the boss man Michael, his wife Sally, and the natives (their brood). Up at the lodge, the moms got to explore our beautiful accommodations and the trails around us. Meanwhile, I immediately began catching up with an old friend- my violin. My wonderful mother brought her for me from across the world so that I could torture everyone within a 2-kilometer radius of the lodge or wherever I decide to play.
A couple days later, the moms came with us to camp Howqua to watch a day of work with the “kids” at camp. This week the kids were year 12s, the same as seniors in high school for us. I was amused at the fact that the school systems here send 17 year olds to school camp. Although their schedule is different from the younger students and includes study sessions and career lectures, the horse riding activity is the same as for the younger kids. I was a bit surprised when I walked over to the shed where we meet the kids and give instructions and found that I was looking up at everyone instead of down. I had to bring out my ‘tougher than I look, so don’t mess with me’ voice to get everyone’s attention. I could already tell this was going to be a long ride. Most of the group were roudy boys who were too excited and show offy to really pay attention even when you looked them in the eye and slowly told them what to do. After Em gave the demo and Alice assigned horses I made my way to the center of the round pen to give the lesson. I started drilling out orders and corrections to the students. Several of the girls were terrified and wanted to get off and most of the guys were screaming out to their mates on the other side of the circle exchanging taunts or bragging that their mount was more ‘badass’ than the others. As I was trying to maintain order from the center of the circle one of the terrified girls kept yelling out to me, “Miss! Miss! I want to get off, I am going to fall. Is this horse a good horse? Miss, I want off!” I informed her that if she called me miss one more time I was putting her on the horse I call 8 seconds. She wasn’t very amused but shut up and I was able to continue on with the lesson.
After a ridiculous 20 minute lesson, we had serious doubts about taking the kids out of the circle and onto the ride. There were about three out of the eighteen students that had even the slightest control over their horses and about two that took it seriously enough to try and learn anything. We decided to spend a little more time in the round pen and after some more screaming to pay attention and basic instructions we decided to head out. The ride was mostly uneventful and eventually we made it back to the holding yard and round pen and our moms.
The next day, moms got left behind to do some hiking of the trails around the property while we went to work- this time at Watson’s, just down the road. It was another school group, this time year 7s and they were the roudiest bunch we have had to date. This group was also from Melbourne and were completely deaf to us out of excitement about 90% of the time. When they first came up to the prep shed they were nothing but questions. No matter what age of the kids or where they are from, every single group is the same in that as soon as they get to us they start picking out horses that they want to ride even though we allocate based on size, experience, and confidence. It never fails though, that the kids always ask to be put on certain horses and for the most part they are excited and ready to get on. However, you always get a few nervous kids who need to make absolutely sure that we know they have never ridden before and need a very very good horse. I always respond to the “I have never ridden a horse before” statement with “well honey that’s perfect, for you I have the horse that’s never been ridden before!” Or the “I don’t like horses and really don’t want to ride” comment with “No worries! I will give you the horse that doesn’t like to be ridden.” Usually, this gets a few laughs and relaxes the kids a bit, but today the kids couldn’t even focus enough to get the jokes. Again, I knew this was going to be a long ride. We finally got everyone mounted up and headed out on our two hour ride.
I was riding lead as usual which is typically my favorite place to be. I always strive to get everyone’s name down before heading out. Directing orders and answers to individuals is always more effective than addressing the group as a whole when on horseback. Most of the time, kids respond when they hear their name. Unfortunately, with the majority of this group I was lucky if the kid responded to his name with a blank stare in my general direction. This group was impossible and although they might correct their reigns or get back in line for a second, the next time I would look back they were all over the place again- potentially dangerous for kids that have no clue what they are doing on a horse. I would look back and even see kids not holding their reigns or with reigns draped around their necks. Kids were trying to overtake, and annoying their horses by trying to make them go faster. No matter how much I stressed staying in line and controlling their horses, especially going downhill when horses could possibly break into a trot to catch up to another horse or to close a gap in the line, the kids would not listen. It got to the point where I had to hold up the line to wait for some slow pokes in the back before the gaps in the string got too wide. Typically, the horses are in a line and do whatever the horse in front does unless told otherwise by an experienced rider. However, if not kept in a straight line I have little control over the horses behind me and when I tried to hold up our “line” I was the only one that stopped. When the boys right behind me kept moving forward and tried to overtake me I finally lost it and let out a bellowing “Everyone stoooooooooooooooooooooooooop! Hold your horses back right now or you are walking. Stay in line behind me!” Alice heard me half the line back and helped out by yelling some more at the kids when some a few horses back still weren’t responding. We looked at each other with a mutual understanding and feeling of frustration before I took a deep breath and got the line moving again. An hour and a half of this and I was having to remind myself how much I love kids and how much I love horses. An hour and 45 minutes of this and I was ready to start riding back up the line and start shoving kids off their horses just to get the imminent falls over with and to blow off some steam along the way. I was seriously contemplating the consequences of these actions and whether or not I could afford them when all the kids broke into the theme song from The Man from Snowy River. It was so cute that I couldn’t help but laugh and my mood immediately improved, and so I survived another day.
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