Field Trip to Palm Springs!

Wow, where to begin...

It is only day two and already I feel like there is so much to talk about! After a long day of traveling, the sea kayaking adventure, and an evening ride at the Wylie's yesterday, we all thought today would be a little less demanding, yet here we are- it's 10pm and we are beat!

This morning we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to ride with Michael Cintas, the Modern Pentathalon Olympic coach, in Palm Springs. We drove about 2 hours out to Palm Springs, passing snow covered mountains, and about 1000 wind turbines! When we arrived at Michal's we quickly got situated with our horses (which were tacked up and ready for us!) and got to work! And oh did we work! We warmed up on the flat, and over fences, worked through a course, and then "drew" each other's horses and switched. We had ten minutes to ride the switch horse on the flat, and then three warm up fences before we did a course. Riding with Michael was such a treat, but after three hours of riding in the desert we were all exhausted (and thirsty!).

On the way back to the Wylie's we grabbed a quick lunch and had a short tour of Galway Downs Equestrian Center & Race Track (aka Southern California Equestrian Center). We were greeted at the Wylie's with a buffett of delicious food and a number of the Pony Club families. After a wonderful dinner and some socializing we escaped back to Mary's to be well rested for tomorrow, our last day in CA! We will be riding in the morning, getting some last minute "bush walk" necessities (whatever that might be!), and getting cleaned up for our midnight flight to NZ!

It's been a fast paced two days in California but I still feel like I'm on a riding vacation :)
-Kelsey

The Avocado Capital of the World!

With only minor travelling difficulties, the whole US team has congregated in Fallbrook, CA which happens to have the distinct status of being "the Avocado Capital of the World." We are being generously hosted by Sandia Creek Ranch Riding Center families.

Last night when Robyn and I arrived we were greeted by Mary Collier, a SCR mom and were taken to dinner in "Old Town." We found the most amazing and quite authentic Mexican restaurant. We got back to the Collier's house and met up with Susan Thomas who had gotten in earlier in the day. We were all exhausted from the day of travelling and the time change (east coast to west coast) so we promptly crashed! This morning Mary treated us to homemade strawberry filled crepes.... yum!!!

This afternoon we met up in La Jolla with the rest of the team that had flown in today- Kelsey Hamilton, Alexa Wolf, & Kaleigh Quinn. La Jolla looks over the Pacific and has some of the priciest real estate in the US. As a team building exercise we got to go sea kayaking in tandem kayaks. We saw a pod of dolphins, sea lions, and lots of really long strands of kelp. We got to kayak up to the entrance of the sea caves but couldn't go in because the water was too rough today. We even got to see Dr. Seuss' house which sits right on the cliff overlooking the bay.

This evening we rode horses at the Wylie's ranch so that I could get an idea of each rider's style. They have so many different types of horses so it was a wonderful variety and really gave me a feel for what horses to pair the girls up with in New Zealand. We had a wonderful BBQ to finish the night off.

Tomorrow we go to Palm Springs to meet up with the Modern Pentathlon coach and have a training session on his horses... should be fun!

Our Itinerary

We leave tomorrow for our training session in California. Have I packed yet? Nope! It is much more important to tell you guys about the incredible agenda that New Zealand Pony Club has lined up for us!

Our training session will be April 27-29 at the Wylie Family's Sandia Creek Ranch outside of San Diego, CA. We will ride their horses and will also get to go to Palm Springs and ride some of the Modern Pentathlon horses. While we're in San Diego we will be doing some team building activities- rumor has it that we'll be going sea kayaking in La Jolla!

We are scheduled to leave LAX late night on April 29. We fly into Brisbane (AUS) first, then into Christchurch, NZ, then finally into Welligton, NZ. The first week of our exchange was supposed to take place in Christchurch, which is on the South Island of NZ, but because of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that happened there in February we will be doing the entire exchange on the North Island.

Our first week will be spent at the Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre, Levin, about an hour and a half outside of Wellington. It looks like we'll be doing high ropes courses, hiking in the New Zealand "bush," climbing, abseiling (rapelling), and a high zip line called the "Flying Fox!" The whole exchange will be housed in a large lodge with bunk beds. Hopefully no one snores!

We will visit Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital which is New Zealand's vet school and looks to be the equine referall hospital on the North Island. We will get to meet their staff and tour the facility.

There is "horse trekking" from Makahika scheduled for late in the first week and Robyn and I are hoping that coaches and chaperones will be included on this excursion! (I had to "Google" "horse trekking" and it appears to be trail riding. Horse trekking sounds so much cooler though!)

We then go on to tour Nga Tawa School Equestrian facilities. The Nga Tawa School is an all girls school near Palmerston North. We will be assigned our team horses for the first competition, a gymkhana hosted by the Horowhenua Pony Club, and will then have a training session on the horses. At the gymkhana the teams will compete in games, show jumping and some flat classes.

The second week will be spent in Karapiro. We will be sightseeing around Hamilton and Cambridge. We then go on an overnight excursion to the Waitomo Caves in Rotorua. These are the Glowworm caves! While we're in the area we will learn about Maori culture.

Late in the second week we will draw horses for the Nation's Cup Show Jumping competition. We also get to visit a stud, and participate in a polo game! The Nation's Cup is on the 13th, followed by a formal dinner.

The last day we head to Auckland where we will be flying out of. We get back into LAX bright and early May 15- we technically get into LAX before we left because of the time zones!

It looks like an incredible itinerary and we're all looking forward to it!

Janna

It's Almost Time!

OH boy! About 2 weeks before we leave for New Zealand, and there is so much to get done at home before I can even consider leaving. My name is Kiersti Wylie, I am now 19 and have attained my HA. I live on a training and breeding ranch that hosts the Sandia Creek Ranch Pony Club Riding Center. This is where our team will have a few days to train on a variety of horses to prepare to “bring back the Nation Cup” in Show Jumping.

At my family’s ranch we start all the horses ourselves, so I have a lot of experience on young green horses. All most all the horses I show, we have started from the ground up, unless it’s a horse I got as a catch ride.

To better prepare for the Inter Pacific Exchange I went to Palm Springs and Jury rode for the Pentathlon World Cup qualifier. This gave me a great opportunity to ride a lot of horses and pick up some more interesting techniques for schooling each of them.

Being selected for this exchange was only a dream and I still can’t believe it is reality . Pony Club offers so many amazing opportunities for all ages of horse crazy riders. For this I am grateful , and I hope to encourage more riders to try the opportunities offered by pony club. I spent all last weekend helping a whole batch of our new little Pony Clubbers learn the ropes at their first show; a hunter pace and junior field hunter championship that I helped our local hunt put on . They all were amazing and not only did they take grand care of their ponies and have stellar team work but they also brought home the 1^st place in every division. I rode four of the younger horses that I am working with; the 3 on XC were brilliant! And the one in jack pot jumpers cleaned up with over 100 points in front of 2^nd place, what a super star she is becoming

I can’t wait to meet everyone. This is going to be AMAZING!

Ok off to bed for me, early day tomorrow.