days off, a loooong walk home

The stables are closed today and tomorrow which means two days off for us and the horses. I took the chance and went to town. The one girl, Katie, gave me a ride, she and her boyfriend went to Edmonton. I went shopping (cell phone and grocerys). I decided to walk home. It is a nice walk along the shore of the Athabasca river. There is the horse and hiking trail. The other day we rode on this trail with two tourists. In the afternoon I washed my cloths and played around with my cell phone. After supper I went for a walk with my camera and took pictures of the river and the mountains. The sun is shining and it's a bit windy. It is so nice here. I love it. I look forward to the Canyon ride, it is 4 1/2 h. I know I won't walk straight afterwards but it is it worth. After a longer time in the saddle my right knee starts to hurt big time. I had this before.. I hope I will get used to long hours in the saddle soon.

first solo trail ride and a patients test for me

I had my first solo trail ride to guide today. Oh my god !!! I had two dudes with me. I rode Punch, a Canadian horse. He got so impatient when he had to wait for the two grandpa horses again and again. I kept telling the two tourists to try to get some more speed out of the horses but it didn't happen. So we were way too late in the end. And that on my first solo trail ride !!! Okay this wasn't too bad. We came back to the barn with everyone in the saddle. I had to jump on my guide horse, Heureuse and be the back guide for a group of 10 people ! Holy sh... ! Okay now I know when I have what to do on the 1 hour ride when I am in the back. There were two women who kept ignoring me when I talked to them. All I wanted was to ride to them an kick their ass ! I was sooooo mad ! Lynda keeps telling me we are responsible for the dudes !!! But I guess there is a point where this 'beeing responsible for the dudes' has an end. I also heard some very nice advices from a tourist to another tourist : if you wanna make your horse going faster lean forward... ! Bullshit !!! I did correct them. We give a simple explaination to the rider before we head out in the bush. This happens when people think they can ride.

second day of work, a trail ride with two new guides and dudes

It was my second day of work. We had to tack all the horses again and then off to the first trail ride at 9.30am. I was in the back and rode the young Canadian mare, Heureuse, I already rode in Brule. She was good only when she saw here friend Mokka in the string of horses she didn't wanna pass her and so we had a few arguments together.... After awhile she learned that I won't just give up and so she did what I wanted. The second ride I was guiding was in the afternoon. It was just Rachel in the front and me in the back. No boss ;) I rode Heureuse again. This time, Mokka wasn't with us. My beauty did good also when I had to pass the other horses to make sure they won't get run over by a car or moterhome. That's the job of the back guide to make sure when the group has to cross a road the cars wait til the group is away from the road. Heureuse trotted this time better and she was pretty fast ;D Usually she takes her time and just kinda moves like a snail. I can get her moving fast now when I need to :D She is a sweety and I hope she will be my guide horse for the summer. She is tall, has a wide back and is strong. Unfortunatly, she doen't listen so good to legs... especially when she wants something ! I could work with her a bit when I am the back guide. ;D

first day of work

I am in Jasper now. It was my first day of work as a trail guide. The stables are near the Jasper Park Lodge in the Jasper National Park. It was nice weather, sunny but not too hot and from time to time a few clouds. In the morning we got all the informations around the barn, how to feed, how to tack horses, how to dis/mount a tourist, what we have to tell them when we mount them... Then we tacked the horses and Dave took the guides for the first trail ride. It was the 1 hour trail ride. Dave explained us all the importent stuff we need to know out in the bush. All guides have a radio on the belt just in case we would need help. It was a lot to learn and keep in mind and sure we need to learn the trail.... 'cause in the afternoon was already the first trail ride with real tourists !!! I should be in the front and Lynda was my back guide... Oh my god !!! She told me I can ask her when I don't remember where to go. Good thing I remembered the whole trail only once I wasn't so sure and had to ask. My horse, Jack was a bit slow in the beginning and I thought oh my goodness, will I have to drive him one the whole ride... ! Thank god not, he only needed some time to warm up and then we travelled nicly and were just a bit fast sometimes. I don't like when a horse moves like a snail.... There should be a certain amount of speed even for a dude horse !!! In the end he had the idea to get fast to go back to the barn and I could stop him before he could take off.. Horses and their ideas sometimes... ! After lunch we had to clean the barn and put the feed in the stalls for tomorrow.

Moving to Jasper

We took 10 horses, two cats and my two suitcases to Jasper today. The two cats had to ride in the back of the truck in a cardboard box. Both didn't like to travel the black and white one was crying and the black one made a hole in the box :) Kitties... as soon as they could come out of the box in Jasper they were gone. The black cat looked at me like you don't catch me again ! And was gone... I put my suitcases in my room in the staff accommation, it's a nice room and we even have a fridge. At the moment I am alone in there, my room mate will move in at the end of the month I guess. It feels so weird to move again.. to get used to one more new environment. I like changes but at the moment it's getting a bit to much of that... Well, I think when I settled in nicely I will feel better. I will definetly move to Jasper tomorrow, it is my first day of work. I think we will take it easy at the moment... :)

normal farm days

The last two day were almost the same: the day starts with feeding the horses then farm work (collect baler twine in the horse pens), lunch and work with young horses in the afternoon and evening feeding. Raya, my young horse which I work with is making progress. We play some of the seven games first and then do driving from the ground. She is always so nervous when she has to be alone in the indoor arena but as soon as I get her to focus on me she is better. We had to work a lot on staying out of my personal space. Now she can stand in an open door/gait and wait for instructions from me. Yep, we are getting there... :)

first trail ride and a lazy day

We went for a trail ride yesterday. I rode a huge Canadian mare. She is the tallest horse with the biggest ears in her group. :) A good description to find her a group of all the black horses !! We had some troubles to leave the barn, my girl had other plans then to go on a trail ride. We ended up being ponied from Lynda for a while. Then we had a good slow time on the trails. It is nice to ride here, all bush and mountains around us. That is what I love. Today, is mothers day and we had a brunch. Everyone of us had to prepare something to eat. I baked muffins (black and white). And it was my day off. I could sleep as long as I wanted. As I promised I baked a Engadiner Nusstorte (a nut pie from the Engadin). And while I was in the kitchen anyway I baked peanut / oatmeal /chocolate cookies. Both turned out very tasty. It was nice weather today beside the snow we got in the morning. It was not a lot and it melted right away again. So I went for a walk in the afternoon with Kelly, the Lab-border collie. A great mountain view. I can not wait til I am in Jasper and see all the mountains there.