Officer, Victoria, Australia - I made it!!

DIZKLAEMUR:  I'm typing this on the internet and not using spell check.  Things are probably (let's be real: most definitely) going to be spelled wrong and some sentences may be grammatically incorrect.  Fix it if you must, but enjoy the story for that and understand that I am not an English major, nor do I plan on becoming one.  Just had to put that out there so I don't feel the need to edit, re-edit, and ruin the fun of doing this.  Also, warning, these blog entries could end up being pretty darn long.  And, I was just kidding on how I spelled DISCLAIMER in the beginning :)  Hope y'all didn't think I actually couldn't spell that word!

I made it!  Right now it is BUCKETING down rain, which is good because it has been really hot.  Hopefully, this will cool the weather a bit without flooding the fields for the tournament this weekend. 

The family I am staying with is fantastic!  The dad, Peter Ridgway, is great and it turns out he is an Olympic athlete in Pentathalon!  He has given me some exercises to do to strenthen my hands and arms for Polocrosse as well as some running exercises.  They have a giant hill that I now refer to as the "Butt Kicker" and I run up it and walk down it 10 times.  It was certainly a stiff kick in the backside!  I believe I know how horses feel when they are tying up.  Ok, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but my legs are sore and I'm dreading the run tomorrow.

The mom, Trina, is very friendly and a fabulous cook!  She makes very healthy, delicious meals!  The two boys are 14 year old twins, Jesse and Cody.  Jesse plays polocrosse and Cody competes in shooting pistols.  Everyday Jesse and I ride when he gets home from school.  This weekend, I will be playing in the Moorooduc Tournament (which is the club that I will be playing for as well) on one of Jesse's horses Ozzy. 

Today, I rode a horse named Dash and ponied (or as they call it, lead) another horse named Dick up in the "bush".  Dick is Peter's first and best horse.  Pete says I should get two tournaments on Dick at the end of the season.  Dash is Pete's second horse, and I hope to be playing on her in a couple weeks, depending on her fitness.  We walked up lots of steep hills and then did trots around an apple orchard.  This is perfect because I got to have a snack in the middle of our ride. 

After working those horses, I met a man named Jay who bought a horse from Peter and boards it at "Old McDonald's Farm", which is the name of the farm I'm staying at - how fun!  Jay is an Indian polo player who is new to Polocrosse.  I gave him a bit of a lesson on throwing today and I believe he is starting to get the "butt-head" down (my polocrosse students will understand that one). 

Then I worked with three youngsters on picking up their feet and being lead.  Yesterday was the first day they had ever been haltered.  Today, I was able to rub feed sacks all over their bodies.  I'm so proud of how well they are doing!  Next, I conquered the "Butt Kicker" (just incase you forgot - that's the huge hill I mentioned early) 10 times.  After that, I swallowed a few Ibuprofen and then went for another ride on Dash with Jesse.  Jesse rode his horse Dusty, a lovely gray mare.  We did some trot and canter sets around the side paddock and then went to the field to do racquet work.  I was THRILLED to have my racket (will explain in a minute about lost bag) and then the ball went underneath Dash's legs I reached for it and she stepped on it.  The head is now a squircle - a hybrid of square and circle.  Peter said we can soak it in water and reshape it in the morning.  Cross your fingers, hope, wish, pray for my racket!  Any ways, then we fed horses a cool combination of lots of feeds, supplements, and chaf.  I'll have to write down all they feed.  It is very interesting. 

Ok, now that we finished what happened today, let's review what happened the last couple days.  When I arrived in Sydney (before catching my domestic flight to Melbourne) I only had 1 hour and 40 minutes to get off the plane, get through customs, and then make it to my next flight.  By the time I made it to baggage claim, I had an hour left before my plane took off.  It took FOREVER to get 69 rows of 10 people per row off the plane and lucky me, I was seat 69E.  Considering my flight went from Austin to Dallas to LA to Figi to Sydney to Melbourne, I figured that my bags would get lost along the way.  Sure enough, one did - the one with my racket and my whites - really ALL of my clothes (except one extra pair of undies, a sports bra, and a jacket which I had in my carry on). Awesome - not. 

Thank goodness, the family I am staying with has two kids and I stole a pair of Jesse's jeans to ride in the first day and some of Trina's shirts, socks, and PJs that night.  Boy's skinny black jeans and my tall brown cowboy boots made me a sight to be seen, let me just tell you!  A little embarassing this is their first memory of me... Any ways, yesterday, my bag came in!  yay!  I was in my own clothes today. 

For the last couple hours, I have been chatting with Peter about Polocrosse and just competition in any sport and I found it very interesting and helpful.  He knows quite a bit and I think I'm lucky to have been hooked up with such a cool family.  Going to get in touch with a racket guy to search out my next two rackets for the World Cup.  Also, going to contact a fitness lady to help make sure I am on the right track for the World Cup.  I am really looking forward to the next few weeks here in Australia.  I think this is just what I needed :)

Will write more tomorrow.

Dori

PS.  I'm new to this blog thing and quite tired now, so I'll have to figure out how to post recent pictures tomorrow.  I have pics of the ponies, farm, Butt Kicker, squircle racket, the dogs here (they are CUTE!), and so much more :)
PPS.  Don't forget to say your prayers for my racket...