Lex's Journey

My youngest daughter, Lex, (of the blog  http://lexandhennysjourney.blogspot.com/) is in Florida for 6 weeks with her trainer as part of her working student position.  They left on Dec. 26th and will return on Feb. 3rd.  While I am sure she will post about it when she returns, she is allowing me to write about some of her experiences so far.  She did not take her lap top with her, but promises me she is keeping a log so she doesn't forget anything!

Lex and her trainer are staying at Daytona beach and the 8 horses they took down are boarding in Deleon Springs.  The horses are staying at a farm across the road from Michael and Sharon Poulin's farm -http://www.poulindressage.com/info/about_us.html.  Lex will be taking a few lessons from Sharon Poulin while there. 

I can't believe all the things Lex has already gotten to do while in Florida and they are only on week 3!  At least once a week, they take the horses to a nearby beach to ride.  For those bloggers who get to do this on a regular basis, this is not a big deal.  To those bloggers, like me, who live in Indiana...very big deal!  So far, Lex has ridden Emerald, a 4 yr old Warmblood cross, on the beach and Theo, a older been there done that Warmblood.  Both were a thrill for a first time riding on the beach 17 yr old girl.

Last Thursday, Lex's trainer made arrangements for her to have a lesson with Karen O'Connor...KAREN O'CONNOR!  Lex was beyond excited about this opportunity.  She and the trainer's daughter had a 2 hour stadium jumping lesson with Karen at the O'Connor's Ocala farm.  They had planned to stay overnite and have a cross country lesson the following day, but had to leave due to one of the horses they brought along becoming ill.  I don't have any pictures to share yet, but Lex's trainer will be sharing some with her.

Today, Lex was having a lesson with Kate Poulin-Neff of Poulin Dressage and was going cross country schooling later in the day at http://www.rockinghorseht.com/.  I have not talked with her yet today to see how the lesson and schooling went.

While spending every waking hour with horses is great, she has gotten to do some fun, new, exciting non-horsey things, too.  On New Year's Eve, she took a trapeze lesson in Tampa.  Yes, my daughter who is fearless on a horse is scared of heights.  But she did this!  In the video, she is the one on the right side of the screen:

She also went to Sea World and Discovery Cove.  At Discovery Cove, Lex got to swim with the dolphins.  Something Lex has always wanted to do...she had a blast!
Not sure what else is in store for Lex for the remaining time in Florida.  For all the wonderful things she is getting to do, there of course is lots of work involved - no different than everyone one of us horse owners experiences on a daily basis.  But what a journey she is having!  I miss her terribly but so very grateful for the opportunity her trainer is offering.