Day 4

11:53 pm

Well- we are halfway through the trip and though I am still really enjoying the activities here at the ranch- I believe missing home has set in. I've had anxiety on and off throughout the day and my body hates me! It's not the kind of pain I anticipated- It's sciatica/low back pain that's making me highly uncomfortable. The day started with sleeping in a bit and then a good soak in the hot tub. While in there- I looked up stretches for sciatica - and it seemed to help! We left our room around lunchtime and headed to the General store. Acilia requested "backwards lunch" (code for she saw ice cream and wanted it!) I gave in because if you can't splurge while on vacation, when can you? Acilia attempted another trot evaluation- she did not pass but she was truly so close! She rode Dunnit and finished the whole course. Got him to trot the first half but he wouldn't trot the second half. I teared up watching her- I was so proud! She will try again tomorrow and I truly believe she will pass-Dunnit was so sweet- I hope and pray her horse tomorrow is just as good or better! We got to our first trail of the day at 2:30- Acilia got Cody again. She did excellent keeping up a good pace- improvement from yesterday- remember "Pokey Cody"? :)
I road Skunky- I've had great horses- truly no complaints! We came back and waited half an hour then saddled up again for a 4pm ride. Acilia rode Moose- tallest horse she's been on! I rode Cherokee- apparently it's an "adult only horse" so I was honored and intimidated to ride him. I took him on the canter trail and he was great!! (They say he's an adult horse because he spooks on things and then will back you up right into trees, etc. to get away from whatever scared him.) I couldn't get over how cute his ears were- brown with black borders- I may have taken pictures of his adorable ears :) I want to jump back to our visit to the general store- we met a man named Brett- he introduced himself to me and asked me to play checkers. Brett has downs syndrome and was sweet as can be! He hugged me and told me I am beautiful :) Bless his heart! I played two games with him then Acilia played once. I am always working on pulling her out of her shy ways-this trip has been great for that! Back to the trails, we finished at dinnertime- I was starving! We came back to the suite and made PB&J sandwiches- we relaxed a bit and then I thought it would be nice to go see a movie. We ventured almost 30 miles away to watch "Mr. Popper's Penquins" we both really liked it and came out super tired. I made the trek home and then we settled in- Acilia didn't even write in her journal- too tired...atleast I got her to brush her teeth!