July 29, 2013

It’s very late sunday night/Monday morning and I cannot seem to fall asleep. I can usually sleep anywhere at anytime through anything, but instead I find myself composing blog pieces in my head. So I am typing this now to post later when wifi is available.

We are staying at the infamous Cedar Cottage, the home of the Lockyer family. It is wonderfully nostalgic for me to be here. There have been some changes to the facilities, like the schooling arena Rob put in, since I was last here in 1998, but the warmth and kindness and feeling of welcome have not changed at all. Stepping into the kitchen, which has a virtual history of mounted games on the wall in photo fashion, I was tripped back in time by the same wooden table and friendly banter that left fond memories for me from some fifteen years in the past.

This family has lived the ideal of MGA founder, Norman Patrick’s goal of promoting friendship between people of different nations and growing the sport of mounted games. They have created countless opportunities and made a difference in so many lives in both the UK and across the world.

The Lockyers are a true mounted games family through and through and anyone that has the luck to spend any time with any of them are making contact with games history.

We have also been introduced to the two youngest Lockyers, Sophie and Sara, who are sweet girls. Sophie is lending us her pony Foxy and has been a true Lockyer by welcoming us to her home. I also enjoyed being a part of sending Sara off to her Pony Club mini day camp Sunday. She told me all about her pony Lilly Lockyer, while hugging the tiny white mare. And did I mention she was in her proper British Pony Club clothes complete with purple tie?

Rolling onto the team…

I am really enjoying these five girls. They are very diverse and unique people and each one of them is a fantastic person. I know it’s still early in this trip, and might want to string them up by their toes at some point, but so far I am charmed by them.

We spent this evening laughing, joking, being serious, being hilarious, making faces, and generally bonding. It was so nice to see them interacting so closely together. I am not surprised, but still impressed, with their maturity, honesty, openness and compassion.

They are coming together as a real team and seeing each others strengths and weaknesses and how they all fit together.

They have also done a fantastic job of making me feel a part of the group while also taking my direction. And odd for me, a person that only has ponies and dogs to think of herself as mom, they started to call me mom today. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. But I did laugh when I realized they had been trying to get my attention for several minutes by taking turns repeating “mom” over and over again. Silly girls.

I have been trying to take good care of them by making sure they eat healthy meals (I don’t think any of them would let me forget that part though) and having a good variety of snacks at their disposal. I think we might need to hit the grocery store again in a day or two!

I think I have also been fun. I bravely allowed Leah to teach me to “wobble” in front of them, while knowing cell phones were recording. And I have been enjoying learning about twerking, vines, and all their youthful stuff.

And so far they insist I am not embarrassing them, even in my less then cool fashion and general weirdness.

Although I did have to help relocate moths and kill a lot of bugs that found their way through leah and Julia’s open window and into their bedroom. There was a lot of screaming.

I do feel that I am quickly figuring out their coaching needs and learning to play to what will drive them best as individuals and develop the best team. So far the ponies are pretty well matched. We still need to meet our 5th pony for next weekend but it sounds like he will be a good fit for Leah in particular.

This team is pretty mature and independent when it comes to take care of their ponies and theirselves so I am keeping this in mind and letting them do their thing while keeping an eye on everything. I am also making sure I give them periods of time without me standing next to them so they can continue to develop as a team and be at ease getting to know each other better.

So far it is working well. And I feel like everyone is comfortable with each other and can express their concerns and needs adequately. Yea!

I also want to mention that we are all thrilled to be here making MGAA history. The whole organization has been honored to have this opportunity and we are proud to be able to take part in the greater world of this sport we are so passionate about.

So yeah, this trip is pretty much amazing so far.

*please keep in mind that I am typing all of these blog posts on my phone which means even more typos than usual. I would appreciate it if you could just pretend that there are none.

Also, because this is being done all on my phone, all of the photos have to come from my phone.

Feel free to share these blog posts and photos as you wish.

Thanks for following our adventure. Some of the riders are going to be guest blogging too. Yea!

Oh yeah, and I wish my team back at home – Old School – would let me know how the pairs went over the weekend!!!