First Ride as Royalty!!!

Wow... yesterday was my first day as a Royal Ranger and man was it a blast. I took advantage of not having training and JI'd for J1, J2, and J3. I groomed Chief and rode him for my first class, my baby boy Stretch second, and Patrick for the third. It was JGE tryouts today so it was pretty boring but they really needed us to help keep some of the horses out on the rail. Then I had a little bit before my meeting at 12. We got bags of goodies decorated with the royal flag and customized bandannas. A few older riders came and welcomed us onto the team. I was so freaking excited!!!! We talked about expectations; no officers, no drama, one big family. Costume pieces, etc. My instructors said we weren't going to ride with flags this week but be prepared to next week.  It took the whole hour so I couldn't watch my teammates on nighthorse :( I watched the beginning of Crimson to see the girls who moved up. I don't think it really hit me that I was on Royal until I went to sign out my horse with my new teammates. I was surprised to find I still had Chey!!! She was in a class so I got to wait at the gate. Then off I went. I started to get really anxious and just tried to match my breathing with Chey's. For warm ups I rode with my trainer! It was super fun and everyone did great! Before our first drill and at the end of the ride we high five as many teammates as we can reach. Then we lined up our first drill. I was P2 (GPA 4). The caller yelled, "Ladies! WHO WE BE!?" and I finally got to yell," ROYALTY!!!!" I got so many chills lol. Our first drill actually went well. It was so different fro nighthorse because everyone was actually confident in where they were and where they were going. There was hardly any of the hesitation that I'd grown used to. We lined up a second drill and I was 3-6. 1 away from the outside of propeller!!!! Omg Royal has the biggest propeller with 34 riders instead of 28 and man do they haul! It was great! I hope one day to be on the outside. We were only supposed to get through two drills but we had time for a third!!! I got to be 1-2 for this drill. Riding team is so much fun but point isn't horrible because they are really involved in Flag unlike Kaleidoscope. Overall they weren't bad drills but we need to guide a little more to make the transitions easier and cleaner. Chey did amazing and it was nice having a familiar horse. I cannot wait until next weekend. After a few times the drill came back to me fairly quickly. I'm so proud to be Royalty and I nearly cried during the ride because of how kind and supportive everyone was. It blew me away. I unsaddled Chey and headed home :)