The first of the month landed softly, and as wednesdays go, another ride another rain at Ölfus. Elisa and I took the morning tour so that Sabira could have the afternoon responsibilities--a relief to me as I really enjoy taking tours with Elisa. It feels more like riding together rather than ping-balling all over the place.
As we were getting our horses together, we were beautifully informed that the boss had woken extra early to take Stormur and Gáski away to the field. Elisa had planned to ride Stormur on the tour and had fun training plans so was particularly upset. Despite the claims that "the horses were tired" and "we needed to ride other horses" we both felt he was only trying to get us to have to ride his other guide horses to train them (I know the europeans hate me for saying it, but, ABOVE OUR PAYGRADE. We weren't signed as trainers, we were signed as riding guides, and it isn't our job to dedicate training time other than on the tours themselves--I printed my contract and double checked ;) I told Elisa that the duties above our pay grade (bc do you KNOW how much trainers make?! They're pros!) and potentially skill level we will not be doing today. All of this to say we *think* he just wanted her to ride Zorro (pic above) more, disregarding the fact that Elisa and Zorro don't vibe as a team (two schools of equestrian thought here. I am firmly of the one that you have to vibe with your horse's energy to make any real progress.), and ended the call with a huff. At least Zorro looks like a horse model though.
One quiet tour later, we cleaned the stable and coffee house quickly, and hopped off to the city for an ice cream to lift the mood with the knowledge that Sabira would take care of the afternoon. We took our ice creams away from the car and walked a little around the Selfoss river, sat on the Bankside cliff and watched the traffic move and lupines sway. It's nice talking to Elisa like this--I feel like she has so much she's always thinking about, and she really deserves the chance to just breathe. It was nice to just decompress the day as well. We decided to have a fun little paddock ride when we got back to lift our spirits, and I got to experience Angus (the pony couch) for the first time as Elisa begrudgingly begun her riding partnership with Zorro.
Onto today, Thursday (6/2), I had a morning tour, and will have an afternoon tour after I finish my lunch. On the morning tour I took Herkules, and despite it just being the Disney loop, we had our fair share of troubles, Herkules & I. I can officially say I have ground mounted on a horse tölting backwards, so much so that he backed himself into a ditch and had to climb out. Thank god Elisa was leading the front and kept the focus forward so I could deal with my situation somewhat privately.
I think his owner is getting him shoed today so he should be getting picked up sometime during the afternoon tour--I'll probably take Nota for that. I put him inside before taking my lunch break and it never ceases to humor me the absolute crazed eyes he makes. I don't feel sorry for him at all though considering the stunt he pulled this morning. What an absolute goon.
This ended up being more of a journal for yesterday than today, but I needed sometime to cool off before writing about the events.
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