Tales from the Trail Part 3: Friends from LA

Oh boy. This group was quite the handful- I made myself a cup of coffee to reminisce the experience. We get people of all shapes and sizes, backgrounds, and experience level. But this group was really something special.

First of all, picture two of these women, and two very large men. They were visiting from LA, so now picture them dressed to the nines. The women had long fake extensions and long manicured nails, jewelry, high heels, and big sun glasses (They looked expensive just getting out of the car) and the men were in muscle shirts with backwards hats and sagging jeans.

The other guide and I just looked at each other like "oh man. This is going to be a long day."
I went and greeted everybody and they were super friendly but also very nervous because they had never even touched a horse before (surprise!) which is fine. I assured them the usual....that it was a walk only ride and everyone just follows in a nice little calm line. Nothing to worry about. 

A few more examiner.com links.... In case anyone likes to read about dog training =)

Here are few more training articles I've put up!

http://www.examiner.com/article/help-my-dog-is-the-devil

http://www.examiner.com/article/six-reasons-your-cat-isn-t-using-the-litter-box

http://www.examiner.com/article/training-fundamentals-teaching-sit

http://www.examiner.com/article/counter-conditioning-the-anxious-dog

That Voice in Your Head: I'm finally being completely honest with myself

So this post is a little more personal and probably going to be a long rant of stuff bouncing around in my head all day. I've realized I have a complex....which usually comes out when something is changing and I'm trying to adjust.

You know that voice you have in the back of your head? Normally it's telling you to make good decisions or telling you when something is off about a situation. Typically its the voice of good sense that you just decided to ignore. Well mine is just a bitch.
She is the side of me that is never satisified- she is extremely judgmental of myself and is always pushing for more. On some level that's good, at least I'm always striving for something, but she really just needs to shut up sometimes. She is also very quick tempered and makes me rather moody!

I've always had a plan for things. I have wanted to be a vet since I was five years old and had my whole life mapped out- until roughly my junior year of college. I started burning out and wondering if it was what I really wanted. Now I've completely changed directions, have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm being a house wife in Hawaii. Not that that is a bad thing! It's just weird to not have a plan.

I had a little bit of a freak out the other day because this controlling bitchy voice of mine took over my head. She always says "What are you doing with your life?" "What you're doing now isn't good enough!" "Why aren't you being successful at this?" "If you don't keep rolling and pushing for your goals you're never going to get it!" "Work harder!" "Push for what you want and get it now you're running out of time!" While I was wanting to go to vet school it was the same thing. "Better grades...work harder....why aren't you getting this? Why aren't you smart enough? Why can't you do internships, work, go to school, and have animals?" "You're never going to get in unless you pull it together" "Oh...looks like you couldn't do it...college burn out....let's just settle for graduation."

My dearest hubby snapped me out of it like he usually does. We don't need to have everything figured out at 22 years old and we are in fact very successful. We have accomplished a lot- just because I don't have my end-result dream job doesn't mean I'm never going to get it.

So today I started realizing my awful habit of things and how I really need to calm the fu** down sometimes. I'm a person that always needs to have something to do- which is why I have a lot of hobbies. I read, I write, I paint, I do stuff with the dogs all the time, and I love to work out. (In fact I need to work out...otherwise I start to get really bitchy. I think it's my sense of control and releasing endorphins that I love so much about it!)
But being busy isn't my issue- I need to be able to just be peaceful. While we were dating I was always looking forward to my next trip to be able to see him. While I was in school it was always the next classes, the next projects- and that after graduation something would fall into my lap and I would figure it out. Last year it was buying a house; decorating, painting, gardening, getting renters. Then it was the wedding; planning, shopping, making invitations, etc. etc.
Then it was moving to Hawaii; packing, graduating, shipping animals, etc. etc.

These are all great things but I'm always needing to move onto something else. Now that I'm here, there is nothing to reach for. Which is why I think I've been a little edgy. I did get a job on the weekends, which I absolutely love, but the guy is being really sucky about paying me. = makes me feel unvaluable= makes me feel like I'll never have a good job= I went to school so that I could be a house wife.

And then that got me thinking. What is it like to live in a society where what you do doesn't define who you are? Many countries in Europe are that way- they work to live, not live to work. Why am I defining myself by what I can get for a job? We are a young married couple, with a house we are renting out, and living in Hawaii. I have two dogs and a cat with me and three horses and rabbit back home. I ride horses on the beach on the weekends and he has a steady pay check from the Navy. We have goals and ideas and plans for where we want to be. So why am I being so hard on myself all the time?

Great question. Because that voice in my head is just rude. When I turn into this person I feel like I'm not good enough, like I should be doing something more or something better. I look in the mirror and think " Need to tone the butt.... need to get a boob job....need to get rid of these stupid bangs."

So as of today- I have finally been honest with myself. I'm way too hard on myself and I think moving out here, away from usual routine, my friends, my family, my old job....is to  change my perspective and really teach me a life lesson. We are only out here for a short time. When we move back and I do get that crazy amazing job I'll be thinking "wow I wish I had time to read. Why didn't I just hang out on the beach and write and paint all day long?" Because I'm always striving for what I don't have and that's just a shitty way to be.

So as of today....I'm going to get it together in my head and start enjoying things for being slow, and be happy for the present moment. I have much to learn and need to open my mind and allow that to happen !

That's why god invented wine <3

Tales from the Trail Part 2

The Beijing Family

(This is not them. Just a google pic that made me think of them and to develop some imagery haha)

So this family was rather interesting. They were all from Beijing and actually spoke a little bit of English (the mother didn't I don't think but the father and daughter were able to speak pretty well) During their initial check in the father said "You visit Beijing some day!" 
I said alright sounds good. Though to be honest I don't think I would handle their culture very well, so realistically, probably not.  I did however teach him the words "okay" and "sounds good" haha. 

So the father and daughter said they had a little bit of riding experience, whereas the mom was terrified and never spoke the entire time. The first moment struck me as add when I had all our horses tacked up and ready (two people plus myself) and I came over to let them know we were ready to go. The father said "okay she just has to go pick up my wife and daughter!" to which the travel agent who was with him, frantically jumped in the car. I thought ...okay. Why weren't they already here? Luckily we only had to wait about ten minutes, but then the daughter told me that her mother wanted to ride. So I went to get another horse ready and gave them the waivers to sign. 
We ended up starting about half an hour later than what we were supposed to since I was surprised by the additional person and horse, after they showed up late, and good god. Do you think we could get down that trail?
The mother's horse, who is a big paint named Clara and never does anything wrong, literally stopped to eat every single leaf on every single bush. I was trying to help this poor lady with pulling her reins, turning the horse's head, and using her legs. She was so weak and little, or completely afraid, she had no strength or control over her  horse. Plus she didn't understand me, so I had to try and get the daughter to translate what I was saying. Typically in this situation we "pony" the horses- except the horse she was on will kick someone behind her, so she has to ride in the back. It was a slow and painful process getting this lady to ride but eventually we got there.
It took us 35 min to get about a quarter of the way through the trail so I decided to cut it short. (Plus we had to go through a very dense vegetative area and I was afraid I would lose the mom) so we turned around and I brought them to the spot on the beach where we take pictures. I handed the daughter back her phone, and look over my shoulder, to see Clara (the horse) toss her head and the mother literally toss the reins forward so it falls over Clara's head and hits the ground. 
By now, this is the hundreth time I've had to help this woman hold her reins and she just keeps letting go. As soon as those reins hit the ground I literally bailed off of my horse (If Poppy ran back without me it wouldn't be the worst thing to happen) grabbed the reins, and tied them to the saddle horn. I repeated, again, that she absolutely had to hang on to them.
Thank god Clara is a good horse and didn't step on them or panic and end up in a tangled heap.
The ride back was a struggle since the mother had a difficult time keeping up. and the daughter kept asking me if she could make the horse run. I said "no. We don't go faster than a walk on this trail, and it is really dangerous to make the horse run home." She understands english by the way. She rode ahead of me about three times while I was trying to help her poor mother and I continuously had to call her back. (At least the dad was fine!) So we struggled along until we got back to the barn, and to my dismay, my boss was standing out in the paddock watching this girl keep riding ahead of me.
I of course got in trouble for letting the group get too spread out and let the girl go in front of me (I explained the situation and he said I should have made her get off the horse if she wasn't going to listen haha) and the father had signed the waiver for everyone, which wasn't allowed. I hadn't realized he did that, but he also didn't understand why he couldn't sign for the ladies in his family. So that was a whole thing.
A little frustrating but it was fine- they were extremely pleased with their ride and hung out for the next half an hour taking pictures with me and every horse they could find. Woo! The struggle is real.