There is a snake in Remy's stall - and a reminder that not all is rich in Welly-World

While cleaning Remy's stall I noticed something long and black slithering around. That came just after Paulette had warned me in the morning about poisonous snakes. Great. I tried to pick it up with the pitch fork but of course it wanted to have nothing to do with it. Finally I was able to coaxed it out of the stall, all the while Remy was ignoring both the snake's and my antics being busy with his hay. Sarah, with several years of Florida under her belt, took a look at the snake and pronounced it safe, actually she said we should encourage it to invite its friends over for a party, as this kind of snake ("we simply call in Black Snake") eats bugs. OK, then. Learned something new again.

It's a very busy weekend at White Fences, they are running a National show over three days. Tents, trailers, LOTS of horses (some well mannered, some not so much), tractors, dogs, etc. Huge classes, even the Grand Prix tests have 10+ entries (in comparison, at Waterloo it's in the low single digits). Perfect for Remy and me to get a whiff of the show life again, and dip our big toes/hooves into it. Roz was the brave one, she got on Remy first in the warm up arena. Of course, as luck would have it, it was not very busy. Once I climbed on, of course, the people and horses showed up. I was so happy, Remy stayed focused and didn't get bothered by the other horses, which is HUGE for us. And, equally important, I kept my wits about me, too. Another positive deposit in our bank account!

Tonight I got a reminder of Florida reality - as we say in German "Es ist nicht alles Gold, was glaenzt" (Literally: Not everything that shines is Gold). With all the wealth on display it's easy to forget the other side of the coin. On the way back from the barn I stopped at a 7 Eleven as I had a craving for a Corona. It was like stepping into a different world: I was the only white women in there, and all the other customers clearly had a hard day's work behind them. Mainly day laborers it seemed. I saw a young couple with their small daughter, clearly very poor people. They bought the child a treat and the three of them looked so happy that they were able to do this.

When I got to my car a working girl was talking to the guys in a beat up car parked next to me. I was happy that I looked tired and dirty - and that I am a working girl at a barn!