It was finally time for me to do some horse things in Oahu. Karen and I were the examiners for two small national certifications: a two candidate Dressage C3, and a two candidate HB certification. The Dressage involves riding and the HB covers unmounted horse management topics. I was the “PIP” for the Dressage certification and Karen was the “PIP” for the HB. “PIP” is latin for primus inter pares which translates to “first among equals.” In Pony Club terms, this just means that as PIP you are the one that is in charge of setting the testing schedule and dealing with any unusual circumstances that may occur. We were to start off with the C3 and we had two adult candidates. This testing would take two half days and once it finished we were to transition to the HB which would also take two half days. Splitting the certification up over two days is more user friendly and candidates typically have better outcomes this way.
The certification didn’t start until nearly lunch time on Saturday, so Scott and I were able to get in a nice morning walk to and along the beach. This time we headed north from Kailua Beach and made our way to Kalama Beach. Along the way we were treated to a colorful sunrise and a stunning rainbow.
Both testings were about ten minutes away from our Airbnb at Maunawili Farms. Maunawili was a beautiful facility and Karen and I enjoyed testing there. The arena was picturesque and was shaded by giant “monkeypod” trees, which looked like an overgrown and more impressive sprawling Mimosa tree, with the same delicate and feathery pink flowers (and of course they are invasive, just like everything in Hawaii it seems). The property manager, who was also one of our Dressage candidates, told us that she and her son had planted them 30+ years ago.
It was fun getting to learn about horsekeeping in Hawaii. Seeing how horses are done in various places is one of the things I most enjoy about being a Pony Club examiner and clinician. In particular on this trip I enjoyed hearing how and where the horses had come from- many were imports from abroad and from the mainland, fewer it seemed were bred on the island. One of the horses I would meet later in the week had just been imported from Ireland and had arrived only about two months prior, and I was curious what was going through his mind as it must have been quite some culture shock.
On the first day of testing Scott planned to hike Mount Olomana or Three Peaks (the hike that the Airbnb owner had warned him about) and it turns out that its trailhead was less than a half mile from Maunawili Farms. In fact, I had a view of it from the farm while Karen and I were testing. He both survived and enjoyed the hike and thankfully only did the first two peaks, avoiding the third and most dangerous. It was fairly steep and slick with mud (so much that when he got back to the Airbnb he got into the shower fully clothed to wash off his clothes!) and there were permanently affixed ropes along the way to help navigate the trails, but the spectacular panoramic view of Oahu at the top made it worth it. At the second peak he was even able to hang his hammock and enjoy a siesta atop the mountain.
When Karen and I were finished testing we headed home to write up some of our test sheets and then we connected with Scott and we all headed to dinner. I of course had spotted the local brewery- Lanikai Brewing Company, and wanted to check it out. On the drive into Kailua we were treated to a blaze orange sunset as the sun dropped behind the moutains. When we got there we saw that it had a food truck outside and I gave Karen and Scott the option of going somewhere else. They were good sports about it and said they didn’t mind. All the brewery’s beers were their own and we each got something different. Scott wandered across the street and found a taco truck to order his meal from and while he was over there also found a local artisan selling bouquets and arrangements and he bought one to give our Airbnb hostess which I found quite sweet. Poor Karen had forgotten her reading glasses so we got a good laugh over me having to read her the entire drink and food menu though, and she somehow ended up unintentionally ordering a flight of spirits that she shared with us. Scott regaled us with stories from his Three Peaks hiking adventure.
The next day, Sunday, our testing continued on and when the C3 Dressage was finished, Karen and I changed gears into horse management testing and began the HB. We continued to learn about horsekeeping in Hawaii and the similarities and differences that are entailed with keeping horses on an island. Hay has to be shipped in from the mainland and because of that the cost is astronomical as you might imagine. We also learned that they do not have to vaccinate for rabies in Hawaii as thankfully it is not present on the island.
While I was busy conducting the certification, Scott was off scuba diving, so I’ll hand over the keyboard to him to tell you about his dive.
Scott here! After much research, I found a dive shop in Honolulu called “Island Divers” that was much closer to Kailua that had a dive charter package that worked with our schedule. It provided three dives on one charter, all in nearby Maunalua Bay. The first dive was at a crashed Corsair airplane at about 115 fteet. The plane had gone down in the 1940’s (the pilot was ok). The water was warm and the visibility was good so I was able to explore the decayed and coral covered wreck for about 40 minutes and saw lots of schooling fish that were attracted to it. The next dive was only about 15 minutes away and we sat around talking and waiting until we had an appropriate surface interval before we dove again. The second dive was called New Barge and was eventful because we saw a six foot long whitetip reef shark swimming along the ocean floor. It was another short boat ride to the next dive site which was a drift dive which means the boat drops you off and you let the current push you along. We drifted along a shallow coral ledge at about 40 feet and saw two moray eels and some puffer fish. We got back early afternoon and from there I headed to Waikiki where I did a little hammocking and walked along the beach. While hammocking, I called a small kayak outfitter that I had found and arranged to rent a two-person sea kayak so that we could kayak later in the week. On the way back I stopped at China Walls and jumped off of its cliff and swam. I’m handing it back to Janna now.
For dinner that night it was just Scott and I and we ended up just going to California Pizza Kitchen in Kailua because it was nearby and easy to get to. We typically try to avoid national chains as a general rule, especially when travelling, but we were both exhausted and the idea of researching to find an intriguing local place was more than I could handle because the HB testing that day had made my brain tired! It was about what you would expect but it hit the spot and we headed home.
