The price of volunteering

And now that the… democratic show has officially ended in Greece, it’s time to return to my daily routine, including regular blogging. I failed to blog so often, as I spent many hours watching live on news websites discussions and updates from the Greek and the rest of the political world. This is so irrelevant to this post, but, anyway, I would like to share it with somebody.

Two days ago I volunteered with the new equestrian club. Before I even got up in the morning, the day had been proved a disaster. There was a thunderstorm outside, I had to go on foot to the next bus stop (as the one I would stop at did not work), I was almost running late, I forgot to take with my my hair elastic (very big loss on a hot day at the stables), plus that I was hanging around like stupid. I was also saved a number of times from horses cantering and trotting through the arena, plus a horse stepped on me and still I can hardly walk. A lot of things are done differently here, but I don’t want to get into too much detail.

But I learned a lot of things. First of all, I learned how to catch a horse from the field. Actually, before I knew it, I was walking through the field with two of them. The more experienced volunteers put the face of each horse into a tied rope and handed the rope to the other volunteers. I also learned how to put on them the collar, plus how to muck out stalls.

Moreover, I had the chance to practice some skills, such as grooming, leading kids on lessons and helping them do their exercises, which was fun.

But on one of those lessons I was not so lucky! It was a first-time beginners’ class and I was leading a six-year old girl, sitting on a beautiful but stubborn horse, Woody. Woody decided to go silly throughout the lesson, fighting me every time he had the chance, only to behave later, as I always won the fight. Things got worse and the girl began getting nervous, calling mommy, who was actually very close. But mommy wanted her daughter to carry on with the lesson. So, I kept telling her that animals sometimes get silly. She would not try at all, would not pay attention to the instructor and would also let the reigns go all the time, giving Woody the chance to fight me more. One moment, when I glanced at her, I noticed that she was in tears. I told the instructor, who found mommy and spoke to her. I had to stop for this and wait for the decision about what to do with the girl. And then it happened; Woody stepped on my foot and forgot to let it go! I literally began to scream, as my foot was under the hoof of a 300kg, shoed horse. Although I had a lot of understanding from the people running the club, I had to carry on with the day, ending up standing on two toes. I could hardly walk home! And I’m still in pain! Urgh!

I think I should end the post here, as my brain is not functioning properly at the moment. See you tomorrow with more exciting blog posts!