Horses, Cheese and Dancing!!!

Our last day of lie in, so we made the most of it , getting up around 2 and then going shopping with Mario. We were having a BBQ with his family before dancing that evening and needed some supplies. After getting most of the bits at Walmart, Mario had heard our cries for 'real' cheese and took us to a place called central market which has foods from all over the world and so, naturally is quite expensive! We did however find some deliciously strong English cheddar after trying plenty of samples! We also came away with some chocolate from England...even the same bars over here taste different than at home...less cocoa and more milk, giving it a disappointingly unchocolatey overly sweet flavour! We got back to head straight out the door again to go to a ranch a few miles down the road. Mario's brother had heard I loved horses and arranged with a friend of his that works there for me to have a ride...something I havent done in over 6 month!!! Anyway we got to the very impressive Buffalo Ranch and were given a tour of the facilities. They breed 'cutting' horses, the ones you see that stop and turn on a sixpence to 'cut' a cow out from a herd with little direction from the rider on top. They not only have to have the right conformation for this but the right temperament too...very hot little horses with no fear!! We were shown round the AI unit, they have 3 stallions and use them to impregnate eggs from various mares which are then transplanted into surrogate mares to carry the foal to term. A very advanced, expensive process which they do all in house...dread to think how much all the equipment costs!! Then it was on to meet the stallions, all of whom were at the top of their field, TR Duel Ray having won over $353,000 already as a 10 year old!! Our guide's favorite was a beautiful palomino however who he insisted on taking outside to show off his glorious coat in the sunshine and allowing me to lead him round too. Next we went to see some of the foals in the fields which looked very advanced for their age, looking more like yearlings than the 4 months he said they were. You could sometimes tell which stallion had sired which foal, though so many looked practically identical it would take someone who knew the stallions well to tell them apart at a glance. Finally we met 'Candy Feet' (I think!!) the horse I was to ride a 14 year old bay standing about 13.3hh. These horses are small yet incredibly strong for their size, mainly bred for agility and yet have great stamina also. After tacking up we went to the undercover arena and I managed to hop on from the ground easier than I'd expected having not done it for so long! The western saddle and style of riding threw me for a while but once I got the hang of it I had a lovely half hour pottering about, walking, trotting, cantering and just generally playing around. Before long though it was time to go if we wanted to be in time for dancing and I said a reluctant goodbye to the world of horses that I hadnt realised how much I'd missed until now!

Back at the house we showered and changed whilst the BBQ was being prepared then joined in a pleasant family meal insisting people try 'real' cheese with their burgers. We got to the dancing too late for the class but caught the last couple of shows which were really good. Then as there were 3 rooms open tonight (Salsa, Bachata and KIZOMBA!!!!!) we headed straight to the small room downstairs for as much kizomba as we could cram in. I was lucky enough to get a dance with Ivan from Kizomba Kingdom, ½ of one of the 2 french couples who had come over to teach at the festival. It was a fantastic dance as he is an amazing dancer and after agreeing it with Andy we approached him about having a private lesson when he was free. We continued to dance the night away, alternating between all 3 rooms and both of us getting some great dances. We went back downstairs at 1am to see Ivan & Eva perform their Semba show which was incredible and explained why Ivan was wearing what looked like pyjamas when I danced with him...it was his costume!! Although saying that he seems to wear some pretty funky stuff anyway lol!. We left not long after this as on the way to dancing the car had started to make some extremely loud, worrying noises and so Roberto was going to tow us home to look it over in the morning. After slow driving as we were towing and ropes breaking we eventually abandoned the car in a car park and got home about 4am.