First ride with a buddy, the return of the May beetles, and more neighbors (long)

Finally Baasha's well - the vet came again yesterday to listen to his lungs and stain his eye again. Baasha has really had it with us messing with his eye! I heard him actually whimpering as I medicated him the other day. I never knew horses could whimper. A few more days and then the medicine will be gone, I promise!

I got him perfectly clean (tail washed too) and then made him stand in the stall for an hour waiting for the neighbor girl to come over for our ride. I filled my pockets with carrots and we were off to her barn, which is just behind our home, but you have to cut through many fields to get there, so it took about 20 minutes.

I'm always fascinated to see German barns. Mortar and brick, you don't see much wood inside. 100% of the time, concrete as stall flooring, with straw bedding. Agh, that's just painful in my mind. But the stalls were huge, to accomodate the warmbloods, and they had glass windows and whitewashed walls, and no solid walls between stalls so horses can all see each other. Automatic waterers, and little crappy-looking feed buckets. Most of the horses were Haflingers.

Finally: it's pasture time again. These horses were up to 4 hours a day, and eating up all the dandylions as fast as they could. I saw a gorgeous bay in a pen, and was told she had foundered, despite how careful they are with grass there. Poor thing stood on sand, shifting her weight from leg to leg. A cat was playing in her pen, but it was no help, she knew all her friends were out at pasture and she was the only one kept back.

I met Sahid, the 30 year old white Arab/Fjord cross that the neighbor girl rides. He has a Fjord forelock, cottony fluff, and a Fjord metabolism - round everywhere! Baasha was DELIGHTED to meet this old guy, Baasha was making his most charming face, and trying to be as close to him as possible. Tied side by side, Baasha kept trying to touch the old guy, and Sahid would glare at him and threaten to put Baasha in his place. Baasha was undaunted, and kept trying to touch him, almost constantly, and Sahid's girl kept moving him back, tying him further, tying him shorter, til the poor guy was snubbed to the rail. Baasha moved in for more "attacks", little nudges and sniffs and Baasha knew the whole time he was aggravating, but was having too much fun to stop.

We both worked on getting that pony clean, and honestly if it had been me, I'd have said "Sorry, I can't ride a horse this manure-colored. He gets a quick bath right now." But oh well. Why do white horses seem to cherish lying in their own mess?

His tail - I wish I had a picture. It had obviously never been washed in his entire life. At first I thought I'd just offer to wash it (regularly) but then I realized it was stained black from 30 years of poop, and needed to be cut clean off and started again. Poor thing, Baasha waved his newly white tail in the sun, as if he was demonstrating the difference. Baasha was like a dream, standing there making sweet faces and sparkling white in the sun, all dressed up workmanlike in his tack.

Wish I had a picture.

When she put the english saddle on Sahid, I noted the horsey license was last renewed in 1995. I laughed, "It's been 14 years since he's been legal on trails? Good heavens!" She laughed too, it's not her horse - it's a lease. I guess living in the country, people aren't as strict about this? HM!

We finally rode out (I could have spent way longer brushing Sahid, but oh well) and immediately Baasha went into his "LET'S GO!" state of mind. Oh crap, this is why I ride alone. He was side by side with Sahid on a thin paved road, and Baasha thought he could see some sort of Finish Line ahead of them, and he was yearning toward it. Sahid is 30, and has pony sized legs and wasn't about to take part in this nonsense. Head low, he trudged forward stoicly. Baasha chewed his bit in frustration and pulled the reins in my hands. I made it clear we are staying at Sahid's side, at his pace, and that's what we did for 2 hours. Baasha chewing the bit, growling every so often in frustration, and Sahid stepping forward rhythmically, unfased.

We came across a "Rider Trap" that I'd found last time I was at the watershed, and it almost caught me this time! It's a cable strung across the trail at the perfect height to catch a rider in the face and throw him from his horse. This time I jumped off and fixed it. I pulled it tight so it was way high, and then tied it in the tree to keep it there. No rider will be caught by this trap again!

Back at her barn, Sahid wasn't even sweaty, and Baasha was like an oven, I could feel his steamy heat rising off him. He had mostly walked, but his state of mind was giving him a workout. Will he ever ever get over that? Not if I keep riding him out alone most of the time! Maybe we'll ride together often, and Baasha can learn to just chill out and pretend he's hitched to a cart with Sahid.

We walked Baasha back home together after leaving Sahid in his field, and we got to experience a whole new obstacle for Baasha - roadmaking equipment. They are laying down asphalt on our street, and two huge semi-sized street "barbecues" were radiating the tar and flames were shooting off randomly. These two machines moved foward in slow motion, baking the street, and the tarry street edges were squeezing out at our feet as we passed. We were so close we were blasted by the heat, and you could see the white all around Baasha's eyes, as he barely maintained his ability to just walk at my side. Behind the street roasters were the street rollers, also moving in slow motion, and the whole event was so loud, we couldn't talk, we had to yell. I said, "Should we tell them their equipment is on fire?" (haha) as flames shot up randomly. Baasha was nearly beside himself. We were RIGHT next to this, I could have reached over and touched it. But on the other side of us was a huge field, and I knew Baasha could just dash over there if he couldn't take it anymore. I consider this one of his bravest accomplishments, that he walked next to street cookers and didn't lose his mind. Between me and the street cooker, even! All the street maker men were staring down at us, probably amazed that a horse was so close. Then the funny part - we passed a huge group of people and I realized they were not waiting for a bus, no, it was all my neighbors, standing in awe over this event. I said, "They're watching Street TV!" and giggled. Small towns, so different. The girl didn't laugh - my sense of humor is too odd for her.

After putting Baasha in his pasture strip, the neighbor girl took me to meet the barn owner of the barn directly in front of our house. I had heard rumors that he's not friendly, and he runs a self-care operation cuz he really doesn't want anything to do with the horses. Great. I was immediately aware of the accuracy of the description. Not a nice person. The way he looked at me, the way he talked to me, it was clear he considered me an invasion of his time, and a huge inconvenience to just tell me "No, I don't want your horse boarded here while you visit America this summer." GEEZ. He showed me his open stall, but said he needs to reserve it for someone who might come *permanently* - this is no horsey hotel.

How can someone with pics of horses all over his home be so nasty! Here may be the answer. In one of the stalls stood a gorgeous grey Arabian gelding. The one that always sees Baasha across the street and they stare at each other. Up close, I'd never seen such pretty, large eyes on a horse. I was in love. His mane was tangled like a Mustang's, and his back was ridged with fat from lack of exercise. His grey coat was filthy. I stood at the bars of his stall and said, "I'll take him!" The old man said, "I bought him for my wife 5 years ago. My wife died 4 years ago." That explains it! His wife must have been the horse person, and he doesn't mind running the boarding business as long as the owners do all the care. That gorgeous horse looked too small to carry me, and now that I think about it, I realize he never looked at us. He moved around in his stall, he ate, but he never once put his nose up to the bars or even looked at us. What could that mean?

Anyway, I was in shock from such unfriendliness from the old man. I was speechless leaving there, though I did tell him, "Nice to meet you, have a good evening."

The bad taste in my mouth was quickly fixed when 3 new neighbors saw me leaving, and stopped to introduce themselves. I was admiring the slate tile design on a house I'd never noticed, and the proud owners came out to say hello. The lady has a horse too (does everyone here?). I told them whoever did their slate siding, we want to hire him. The man said, "My brother, and he's in Canada now!" He was very pleased. I told him how much I like the slate siding that this area of Germany is known for, and how ours is old and patchy and needs repair. (The photo is just a typical slate house I found on the Internet - I think this slate is lovely and love that I live in a region with a particular architechtural style. Seattle just doesn't really have its own. Kind of like the New Mexico blogs I read, the homes have such distinctive style.)

The lady with the terrier (who brought Baasha a welcome basket) is the mother of the girl I rode with. She was out cutting stinging nettles, collecting them into a large bowl for ...eating (!!??) later. I said "They BURN!" and she laughed. Then she came to our house to see a Mai Kaefer that had terrified me the night before.

Mai Kaefer are ENORMOUS beetles that come every 7 years. They are a good sign, people say, and there are at least 2 folk songs about them. I thought those songs were about ladybugs. Boy was I wrong. This is the kind of insect that would make me pee my pants if it touched me. I thought it was a mouse, until it flew! HORRIBLE! Absolute worst thing about livin in the country. The bugs. I have to get over this fear.

It's raining now. Baasha's standing cozily in his stall, eating from an entire bale I put in his trough. I think he likes that no other horse is forcing him from the shelter in bad weather, and naked without his blanket, he's happy to just stand inside and eat hay today.

If I'm lucky, it will rain all day and keep me inside to do house work. If we're lucky, it will rain so much the ground will soften up and we can finish our fence. Pray for rain!

I didn't have any pics of our adventures yesterday, but I did take some photos of the changes in our yard and thought I'd just post those. I can't take any credit for what the previous owners planted, but I can sure enjoy it!