Anna's Next Adventure: Food, horses, nature .....

The 'real' polo

Yesterday provided the Calgary area with its first glimpse of summer - blue skies, the sun shining, 23 degrees and a gentle breeze. Perfect weather for a girl to indulge in some of her favourite things - food, horses and nature. The morning began with the first Millarville market of the year. The market had quite some hype leading up to it and I wasn't disappointed. I began by walking a lap to check out the vendor's wares, stopping along the way for tasty samples such as gluten free chocolate brownies, digestive tea, Thai curry and llama sausages. Seeing that there were so many unusual products on offer, I made a decision to try something different every time. Yesterday morning's purchases included some mini cucumbers, some hot llama salami, a tray of frozen Ukrainian cabbage rolls and a frozen wheat free pizza topped with local sausage and cranberries.

Then it was my turn

On the move

After the market, which just happens to be across the road from the family's second ranch, we headed across to the ranch for the 'New Players' day at the polo club. As I watched the 'slow' warm up game, I began to get a little nervous about my turn, which was fast approaching. The game is so fast (despite this being a 'slow' game) and so frantic. There were horses going in all directions, mallets swinging around their heads, the ball was flying through the air. My time came and I nervously mounted Tara, who I rode in the cattle drive, so at least I was a little familiar with the horse. The riding is so different to what I am used to and it will take some time before my mind is able to comfortably ride in a way that for so many years, I was taught not to - grip with your knees, swing your leg back, neck rein your horse. My dressage schooled mind cringed at these instructions but I soon got into the swing of it and was able to connect (mostly) with the ball, both forwards and backwards. It took some time to get used to the feeling of the polo pony, who is trained to go, go, go and then stop quickly to change direction. My experiences of 'go, go, go' horses is that yes, they will go, go, go and quite often they won't stop. Once I learnt to trust the horse, it was fun letting her open up a little more. Thankfully, Tara was an incredibly patient horse who tolerated me hitting her under the chin, around the legs and on the rump as I attempted to control the mallet. So, after my first attempt at polo, I can easily see how it can become an addictive sport and I will definitely be giving it another go very soon.

Practising my swing

My coach, Hugo, explains how it is done

Polo took up most of the day, so it was late afternoon before I arrived home, but due to a combination of a successful first attempt at polo and the fact that the days here are so long, I was feeling on a natural high, so decided to keep going and enjoy an evening hike. Since the ranch is just filled with girls at the moment, we decided to head off on a girls hike in an area just bordering Kananaskis country, about 45 minutes from here. We chose the Fullerton Loop, a lovely 7 km walk through the beautiful forest, crossing over countless creeks before finally arriving on top of the hill with spectacular early evening views of the Rockies.

Creek running into Elbow River

A creek still filled with huge chunks of dirty ice

Arriving home at 9 pm, still with over an hour of sunlight left, I was too exhausted to sit outside and enjoy it. Instead, I popped my pizza from the market into the oven, jumped in the shower and then sat down to watch an old Australian favourite film that I found at the library, 'Muriel's Wedding'. Right now, the sun is shining (with the rain forecast to make a return tomorrow), so I am off to indulge in more of my favourites - nature, reading and running.