It's a little long, so beware, but anyhow... Enjoy!
(Week 4 Term 1)
So this week, me and Cassady organised a project for some people to go horse riding!
I had had the idea of doing something along those lines for a while, but I was never quite sure if it would work out; as well as the fact that Daniel would have to approve of it, but finally on Monday I told my near-impossible idea to Cassady and she said that we should try give it a go. Anyway, what could possibly go wrong?
We went to talk to Daniel at morning tea that day and after trying to awkwardly explain our idea, mumbling things like ‘we’d understand if you couldn’t let us…’, he leaned back in his chair with a little smile and said yes rather easily. Me and Cassady were so shocked, and grateful of course, we couldn’t say much but ‘Thank you thank you.’ He, however, went serious before also telling to us about the fact that horse riding was much different to running something like a disco - and, therefore, a lot of work would be needed to get it to work out correctly.
So Cass and I accepted the challenge. We rang up and emailed hundreds of different equestrian centres that day. Some replied, some didn’t - majority of the people who did respond, though, were the ones we’d called over the phone. I train at Maree Green Equestrian, in Kumeu,so I was really keen (basically begging to Cass and annoying the heck out of her) to get us to organise something over there, but sadly we never got an answer from them regardless of whether we called or emailed - until we booked with another place. Like, c’mon now, it’s a little too late!
It took a while, and Cass was on the phone every time while I was the one who organised what was to be said and all the other necessary information. Even one time, we rang up a number and then it turned out that it wasn’t an equestrian centre but in fact someone’s home phone! It was super awkward and Cassady ended up just apologising and hanging up. One of the places however, called Greenbarn Equestrian Centre (that was also in Kumeu), said that they could take SEVEN people, not just five, which was the maximum amount of people any other place would take! They asked us what date and time we wanted to book the lesson at but obviously we hadn’t arranged that with Daniel yet - so we just told them we’d call them back.
The next day, we went to talk to Daniel about how we could earn some money that we would need for the students to go, as it cost $45 each. Cassady and I tried to figure out some ideas of how we could possibly fundraise, and after a while Cass came up with the idea of doing a ‘breakfast and waffle day’, where everyone would come to school in their pyjamas, pay $5 and get some free waffles with additional toppings. Daniel seemed alright on this idea and even Julia the music teacher said she’d lend her waffle maker to us for the little event, but in the afternoon when me and Cassady had already begun making posters to put up for advertising, Daniel approached me.
He told me that maybe we shouldn’t fundraise, because it wouldn’t be fair to have the whole school pay for 5 kids’ enjoyment. It was a good statement to bring up but it annoyed me and Cassady because then, now what? What now if we weren’t to fundraise? It all came to the hasty conclusion of having to make those 5 students pay for themselves. We both got worried that now no-one would want to participate anymore because of the fee, but I suppose we just decided we had to take a risk.
The next morning we checked to see if we’d gotten any responses from the equestrian centres via email, but unfortunately we didn’t get any. Not one. It was SO frustrating. We finally decided to talk to Daniel about the Greenbarn place and how they were the only promising place we’d found, but all we lacked currently was a suitable date. Daniel seemed a little unsure but we managed to persuade him so we agreed that the March 11th, Friday, would be good. We were a little puzzled at first because that was supposed to be athletics day, but Daniel reassured us by stating ‘it’s been changed to another day’.
We tried to ring Greenbarn Equestrian Centre again but for some reason we didn’t get a reply. We’d been using the landline in the ‘cave’ in the common, and it’d worked fine yesterday, but not today. Me and Cass were starting to get super worried and Cassady said we should just wait and ring back later on, but I felt like something wasn’t right; in terms of the phone itself. I got my phone out and rang them from my mobile number and as though nothing hadn’t been working before, they replied! Cassady booked the date and time (10:30a.m.) and it was all sorted.
At the campfire before lunch, we advertised that we were doing to take 5 people horse riding (7 people including me and Cassady). Everyone seemed keen about it but when we said that people had to pay $45 for themselves, they immediately lost interest. Problem is, horse riding isn’t that easy and it IS quite expensive, but $45 is super cheap comparing it to the other places that would ask for around $70 to $100. We got around 7 names but we’re not quite sure yet so we’ll just have to see what happens next week.
- Whizzing through time -
First of all, me and Cass started out with only 7 unsure people wanting to participate, but for some reason - after the little campfire we’d had - people started wanting to join. Cass went around asking for people to join and I ended up having to chase her up and tell her to stop, otherwise it’d be too hard to pick! I’m pretty sure we ended up with a total of around 16. That’s seriously heaps. To make it fair, Cassady suggested we write down everyone’s names and rip them up, put them in a hat and pull them out as though it was a lucky dip. So that’s what we did.
These are the people we got out; Grace, Mea, Maddie, Maya, and Leilani. Those 5 were SO happy to be picked; you have NO idea how I felt. Around 2 minutes later me and Cass were writing down a little permission slip on google docs, printing it out, trimming it nicely, and handing it out. Everyone we picked seems so excited about the trip, and I’m so glad. I can’t wait till Friday! Time feels so slow lately, and it’s really bugging me. Hopefully we’ll have loads of fun and enjoy ourselves! One thing I’m definitely a little worried about is whether I’ll get a horse, or a pony. I’ve never really ridden a pony before - not unless it’s one of those 5 minutes rides, if you know what I mean. But I guess whatever happens, it’ll still be all good!
So now it brings us today, a while after the trip happened! If you're still reading, congrats; I have no idea WHY you decided to spend your precious time reading about my horse trip, but I appreciate it c: Anyhow, on the day, everyone was so pumped getting into their 'horse appropriate' clothes. We went to the car, all loaded in, and the trip to Greenbarn equestrian was mainly all of us being very loud and noisy, with music blasting from the radio. Honestly though, it was so much fun. Because of slight traffic from the construction going on the roads and us *being a fail* and missing the turn towards the barn, we were around 5 minutes late, but it didn't seem to be too bad as they were still tacking up their last few horses and ponies. When Leilani came, with her Mum in their car (we didn't have enough space for everyone so Leilani just came that way), this random goat just blocked their way on the steep driveway downwards, and it was just hilarious.
The people assorted us to each of our horses, and I got a pony (which sucked, because I wanted to ride a horse so bad instead but... Oh well!). Though I was upset, it was actually a very well-behaved pony. And yes... It was rather cute, with a pure white coat.
Afterwards, we got split into two groups, one group with them all riding mares and the other group (the one I was in) with all geldings. We went around doing some things like walking over poles, just going around the paddock, and doing some trotting. It was heaps of fun, and it was great to see everyone enjoying the horsey experience, though something that slightly irritated me as a rider and the other group members was how they frequently restrained us from doing things. I've only been riding for over a month now, but I take the equestrian thing really seriously, and so far I'm developing my canter and I've basically 'mastered' trotting, so it was annoying that when we asked to trot they just HAD to clip a lead onto the horse as if it was going to be super dangerous. Which, of course, it wasn't.
Overall though, it was loads of fun! I'd love to do it again, and Daniel did say that me and Cass could organise another trip this term, but if we did I would make sure to go to Maree Green instead. They have mainly horses and some ponies, but the ponies are very large, and they're all well behaved and they'd definitely let us do more than what Greebarn let us do. So yeah! That's my super long blogpost for today. If me and Cass DO do another trip, I'll make sure to blog that as well. Cya!
