We woke up, ate breakfast (btw I forgot to mention that the egg-yolks are an orangey-red color), instructed Ahmee what she should and shouldn't do, and then Poppy and I went off for my second riding lesson. Ahmee stayed in the apartment because she said that her throat the day before had been itching and that she was feeling like her head was filled with gunk and her throat was a river of snot. My prescription was for her to drink lots and lots of decaffeinated green tea, to drink lots and lots of water, and to get tons of sleep. She stayed back at the apartment to carry out "Doctor Rachel's orders".
Something else I've forgotten to include in my blogs is that recently I've taken up a habit. My habit is that any time I find a slippery spot in the concrete or a crack or a change in levels of concrete I make sure to give Ahmee a notice before she reaches it (I'm almost always walking in front of Ahmee and Poppy). I've also been taking up her other side when she goes down stairs to hold her hand and to keep her from falling down. When in Paris she just about fell down the underground steps, and in numerous places she's stumbled over seemingly obvious objects. My Ahmee's right eye is almost blind and her depth perception is off, and she breaks bones very easily. I don't know when I started giving her warnings and things, but she noticed them when we were in Rome, and I know she's appreciated them.
Moving on from Doctor Rachel's orders, Poppy and I went down to the horse barn without Ahmee and found that Andrea had the horse ready for us. He introduced me to Lulu, told me that she was a more advanced horse, and then told me to go get my helmet. I grabbed my helmet, walked Lulu to the larger arena (amazed and scared at the same time because I saw jumps in this arena), and walked her around the perimeter while Andrea and Poppy talked. With Ghost I'd had to pull to get him to go and to have him shape up, with Lulu I didn't have to do a thing. She moved with me and listened to me. She was a different horse and a much different ride. During this lesson I got to practice the trot again and a tiny bit of the jumping position. This time however I was having some major issues. I was having issues with my feet, which caused the rest of me to be thrown off balance and caused me to not trot properly and to have an even harder time with the steering.
The problem is: I'm a dancer. I'm using to going on the balls of my feet. The position of the stirrup just below the balls of the feet is not a good one for me because when I go up and down during the trot I put pressure on the familiar area of my feet: my toes and the balls of my feet. When I did this my feet would eventually go all the way through the stirrup (with my heel as the exception). I also had issues with steering and speed.
Going from Ghost to Lulu was like going from driving an ancient truck to a brand-new mustang. Lulu would turn at the slightest indication of my hand, while with Ghost I had to use a bit more force. With Lulu if I wanted to go faster I only had to tap my foot to her side (difficult to do when trotting but I'll get the hang of it), where as with Ghost I had to give him a jolt.
I wasn't very stable during this lesson and I had major issues with directing Lulu (the poor girl). This problem displayed itself once: my foot came out of the stirrup and Lulu changed direction at the same time (I about fell but I caught myself with my other foot and brought my other leg down). After the lesson was over I was hot, sweaty, sore, disgusted with my riding, and tired. Lulu was hot, and sweaty I don't know about the rest though. She was such a good horse. Andrea instructed me to walk Lulu around the whole perimeter twice (while on the horse that is). As I did this he told Poppy that I was a good rider. I apologized to Lulu as we were going around, and told her if I rode on her again I'd do much better.
I put away the reins and my helmet and then went with Poppy back to the apartment to eat lunch with Ahmee and to then go to the front desk so I could send off work. I'd literally gone through three chapters and a test and another study guide the day before and I had plenty to send off. While I sent these things and wrote to people Ahmee and Poppy talked to Aggie, who commented on my riding (she'd been walking by and had seen me and she said I was a very good rider), and who told Ahmee and Poppy about Fabio in Fabro.
Fabio was the manager of a terra cotta shop in the hill town of Fabro. We got directions to get there and then we went back to eat lunch. After lunch we went past the main desk, up the gravel road that was in had an 18% grade, and around the top of the hill to Fabro where Fabio had his gates open for us. We looked around outside as we waited for him to appear (we weren't sure where to go in).
When he did we followed him around the side of the building into his shop where he had on display many different pieces of terra cotta work that he'd done. Ahmee ended up getting several pieces and also ended up doing some major language magic. She worked with what Spanish she knew and what Italian she knew to talk to Fabio and to figure out the price of the items and how we were going to get it sent (Ahmee wanted it shipped, Fabio for a while thought she wanted it on an airplane). After a long conversation where numerous hand gestures and sound effects were used we headed out to go up to the town above the Casella and then to head back to our apartment. I understood 90% of what Ahmee and Fabio were saying, and not all of it was due to them making airplane noises and ship noises either, and on the way through the castle-town above the Casella I started getting very very tired.
Once back I looked at the work that I still had to do (write blogs and work on Spanish), looked at the beds that were in the kitchen, looked at the time, and decided that I was going to take a 5 minute break. I stretched out on the bed that served as a couch and I watched as Ahmee and Poppy made preparations for Happy Hour. As I lay there I decided I'd work after dinner and in the meantime have a relaxing break (my muscles in my legs were sore and I was incredibly tired). We ate a HUGE happy hour, chatting and laughing the entire time, and then Ahmee and I headed back to Ahmee and Poppy's room where I stretched out on their bed, told Ahmee I'd work after dinner, and then fell fast asleep. I was asleep by 6:30 and I only woke up once the whole night (had a dream where I was fighting with my mother-apparently I shouted in my sleep).
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