Back in November I received an email from Pam Medlin, who said that her daughter Kaylin and Kaylin’s friend Katellyn are both working students for Rebecca Howard. Both girls are home schooled and they will be checking in with us throughout the spring about all things eventing, Ocala, home school, and training with Canada’s very own Rebecca Howard. I’m hoping that this series will help us look into the issue of pursuing a traditional education while growing as a young rider. Needless to say, these are our youngest ever guest bloggers on EN, so we will please keep comments at a suitable level of kindness, as always. Let’s check in with Pam, Kaylin, and Katellyn upon their arrival in Ocala.
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By Katellyn Padgett:
After the goodbyes were said and hugs were dispersed amongst family and friends before I knew it, it was time to finish exams and load up the trailer. I was lucky I had my lackeys aka my mom, dad, and boyfriend to help my cram 6 weeks worth of random items into the trailer at home before heading to the barn to try and fit my horse in as well as saddles and bridles……. Maybe? Luckily it went in successfully without any error. I turned and took a look at the barn and said “HA I’m out of here, see you and the cold later!” I have to say that saying by to my boyfriend was hard but I’m lucky that he is very understanding about it and wants to see me do well. Before I knew it we were on the road.
Starting off was of course easy because I was just so excited to be on the road. Soon it turned into the trip that would never end. I found it’s never a good idea to chug a Monster energy drink before a 9 hour drive. Sleeping took up most of the time and the anxiety kicked in when we crossed into Florida. We were making good time until we had to wait thirty minutes at the agricultural center so they could make sure that my horse wasn’t stolen. And then in a blink of an eye or few hours maybe, I was at the farm.
When arriving to the barn it was very dark so I didn’t really see the barn. We unloaded and made Andy all comfy cozy for the night. After we left the barn the next step was to get to the camp ground to unhook the trailer and set it up for our six week stay. It was defiantly weird knowing that I was going to be waking up every morning without my parents and in a trailer. At least I have Kaylin and Pam that I was already close with from the get go. When I saw the barn that morning I thought that it was nice. That day we cleaned and set up all that was needed for our stay to be a successful one.
The next morning I had to say good bye to my mom and dad. I have to say that my family keeps me grounded and I wouldn’t be anywhere I am today without them and I am glad to say that I’m very close to them. So when they left I had to suck up the tears but I hugged them and watched them leave and put myself to work to get my mind off of it. Later that day I hopped on Andy, got to work and made sure he saw the property and was comfortable. The next day we woke up and just hung around the trailer until we left for our lesson.
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By: Kaylin Medlin
We left The Fork around 9:30 Friday January 13th morning and started our long journey to Ocala. We finally made it to the barn around 7pm Friday night. I was completely over the long day so I just got all of Harley’s things off the trailer for the night and left the rest for Saturday.
The barn is nice. The weather was a bit cold the first few days, but now it’s warm and awesome! Last Saturday was the organizing day around the barn and at the RV park (The Wild Frontier) where we have the trailer set up. Last Sunday we went on a hack/tour around the farm and the adjoining farms. The farm we hack over to ride at is 60 acres with stadium jumping, cross country fences and a dressage ring. There’s a nice area for trot sets between the pastures and the cross country field is going to be a great place to do a gallop.
Jess (Meckes) has been teaching us a lot of tips and tricks of grooming this week. Today we tackled quarter marks. I’ll have to borrow someone’s bay or chestnut horse to practice on because quarter marks won’t show up on Harley.
We’re going to trailer out and do some cross country schooling. We’re also going to go to HITS and compete in a few jumper classes. Our first competition will be in February and I’m looking forward to getting our season started.
We have been working all week on getting the trailer set up for the six weeks. The horse part of the trailer is like our walk-in closet. The living quarters gets chaotic if we aren’t diligent about keeping things clean and picked up. We’ve turned the mangers into hanging space for our clothes. The Dollar Tree is a great place to go for buying things like plastic tablecloths to cover up dividers and mangers so your clothes don’t get dirty. I think we’ve been pretty creative in our set up.
