Very Special Events

Beach Ride – March 29, 2008

Once again CMS hit the beach! 6 of us braved the cold temperatures and stormy seas and had a blast! Jai, Melani, Allison, Jolene, Cathy and  Alexis rode out with Cowgirl, Zippi, Jake, Skye, Jazz, and Loopy. It was cold and the wind was whipping – foam all over the beaches – but the horses were amazing despite the crazy weather and we had some lovely canters up the beach and on the sandbars. Special kudos to Zippi who had never been before and at only 4 years old handled it like a pro! We’ll be back in October!

Drill Team

 

Congratulations to the Century Mill Drill Team on a job well done! The performance on Saturday was excellent and everything looked great. A special thank you to Pete and Shana for capturing the Enormous Christmas tree, and to all the volunteers who helped us stand it up! Everything looked beautiful, and the show really went off without a hitch…I hope everyone is proud of that accomplishment – drill team is harder than it looks!! Katie Faraone thank you for your assistance and we wish you could have been there to see it all pull together! Thank you every one for making it a special day!

 

Costa Rica!

A good time was had by all on the Costa Rica trip! Jai, Kim, Becky, Theresa, Rachael, Linda and Cathy braved the wild Costa Rican adventure riding and survived to tell the tale! We flew into Liberia airport in Northern Costa Rica and were immediately taken with the friendliness of the people. We stayed in Northeast Costa Rica near the protected turtle beaches. It was beautiful and rugged and as Linda said “wow, this looks like nowhere else – I’ve never been here before”. The horses were amazing scrappy little Criollo horses – and it’s a good thing we had them! From riding in the crazy surf and getting hit by waves to jumping down and up lava rock 15 foot banks, crossing rivers where our horses were swimming (crocodiles anyone?) to galloping an abandoned airstrip – those horses were up for anything and saved our butts! Thank you, Erika, for having such fabulous horses for us to enjoy!

Thank you also Kay and Esteban for the lovely horses we rode on the off days on the backland trails. Some of us rode some gaited horses and wow is that different They were really beautiful fancy parade horses and they had all the moves! Kay and Esteban use natural horsemanship and are breeding Pinto Pasos that are beautiful and clearly very carefully trained. Kay is an expatriate and Esteban is a local vet. Together they are bringing good medicine and gentle training to the people of Costa Rica.

You know, we were all a little worried, okay, especially Jai was a little worried. My guide book said Malaria! (not true) Scorpions under the toilet seat! (didn’t happen but I promise you I checked every time) Water is undrinkable (ABSOLUTELY not true) Monster bugs (completely true) Terrible roads (no more complaining about Jai’s driveway). What the book did not say was that the frogs are as big as turtles (though the turtles are big as dogs so that makes sense) the local dog situation is a sad state of affairs, the fire ants are nasty (Jai & Teracita were clever enough to find out about those without help) many of the rivers crossing roads have no bridges (seriously!!) and no unmarried nice girls actually attend the local dances – (oops).

The beaches were wild with seriously surfable waves, and a big undertow that tried to take Cathy’s bathing suit right off of her. Theresa picked up the local language quickly becoming Teracita and ordering in Spanish. Linda went back to her Long Island dialect while meeting a fellow Long Islander – Jai is still laughing at the transformation. Kim and Cathy were brave enough to ZipLine – absolutely nuts in my opinion but they loved it. Mama Leenda took care of us all and kept us in line, but who kept Linda in line? Kim cantered down a 15 foot rock incline and then looked to see if she was in trouble with Jai for reckless riding – yes, she was. Go Kim! Rachael was our Tough Chick and came back battle scarred, sunburned and smiling. Who knew Rachael knows the words to every Rap song written? She really does. Kim found the only wireless on the island at Rudy’s Bar on the beach and Jai tagged along for an email to Katie and Ron and some great Quesadilla.

Let’s see, what else? Jai made everyone crazy by making sure they had no free time – adding in a shopping trip to Tamarindo and MORE riding, not to mention the Fiesta. What does it mean when people say – Oh, Jai, I’ve heard of you, you must be the BOSS. Is that a good thing? When Becky wasn’t trying to figure out how to move to Costa Rica, she was being the environmentalist vegetarian, rescuing a blow fish in the surf and boycotting Coca Cola products. I’m not sure she’ll ever willingly eat beans and rice again! Cathy was a medical PEZ dispenser – distributing, gauze, topical creams, bug spray, sunblock and every kind of anti-inflammatory available to man. Thank you Cathy for being so prepared. Teracita was the winner of every beach race with Jai – who was constantly challenging her anyway. And one day we went so fast we all came back covered with sand mud – yuck! Cathy, Jai, Becky and Theresa jumped a lot of driftwood on the beach (an activity also inspired by Jai) and HOW did Cathy get so many good pictures with the old school monster film camera????

The sunsets on the beach were beautiful, the riding was 5 or 6 hours a day, and we were usually in our beds asleep by 8, sad to say. The hotels were spectacular and everyone made us feel right at home. We also left our mark on Costa Rica. Now there are a handful of Costa Ricans at Luna Azul that know how to play the great American scrappy game of Spoons!!

Thank you everyone for making it a trip to remember. Costa Rica was fantastic, but it was even better because of the company. Can you believe we actually DID all that girls? Good times! Here’s to the next trip! Do I hear Tuscany? Greece? Get your vote ready… – heels down! -Jai

 

October Beach Ride

The beach rides keep getting better! 9 riders this time for a fabulous day at the beach! Jai, Becky, Kim, Jacy, Melani, Jen, Theresa, Dawn and Ron rode out with Cowgirl, Bailey, Jake, Mouse, Lindy, Fanny, Topper, Ladybug and Brie. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of first timers – horses and riders. It was so nice, we took our horses for a little bit of swimming! We stayed as a group for the length of the beach and then Jai’s group split off for some faster riding. Excellent job everyone! Can’t wait until the next one!

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Trip to Vienna, Austria and Hungary!!
 

Century Mill Adult Students made a trip to Vienna, Austria and Hungary this fall and it was definitely an experience to remember.

We began in Vienna at the Spanish Riding School, watching the beautiful Lipizzaner Stallions perform and then proceeded to Hungary where we rode Hungarian half-bred horses through the Hungarian forests and fields. We rode for up to 5 hours a day, then were pampered at the castles we stayed in – massages and meals to die for! We enjoyed meeting Lipizzaners up close and personal, drove some young Lipizzaner stallions through the wineries, and found ourselves on the last day surrounded at sunset by a huge herd of purebred Lipizzaner broodmares and babies – no fences – just guarded by their shepherd! Then a lovely carriage ride through Eger Park – or “Hungarian Yellowstone Park”. And of course there was so much more! We met wonderful people, lovely horses, and had a trip we will never forget!! Tune in for our 2008 Journey! Destination still to be determined. How will we top this one? Thank you Kim for sharing your room so Jai could go!!

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