Getting ready to leave my horse in Germany

Tomorrow we fly to Seattle for a month. For the first time, I'm completely torn. I have no reason to be worried, but I can't help it - I'm leaving Baasha here 5 weeks. I can trust Isabel, and my man's sister is gonna stay here 2 full weeks, but for some reason I'm worried.

This is the first time I'm not boarding, that's got to be why. When you board, you have to trust someone to care for your horse 100% of the time. It's different now. I'm gonna probably call Isabel every couple days, "How's Baasha?" "How's he now?"


Trying not to worry - thinking about my beautiful home...










I would love it if Seattle is enjoying pleasantly cool weather, because I've had it with hot. It's been in the upper 80s all week, and very very humid. Ridiculous, my laundry stays wet on the line, and I sweat just walking outside to give Baasha his mash. He has stood in his stall for 2 days because he has no desire to go out there.




Today we enjoyed another ride with the pony party people (Kerstin, the wife of the firechief who saved Baasha's life owns her own pony party business nearby and through our bridge accident, I suddenly find myself with riding friends!).

On the way to meet up, we have to pass the donkey. Sweet creature just stands there doing nothing, perhaps flicking his ears, but the sight of it frightens Baasha tremendously. A family stopped their car today to watch Baasha freak out spectacularly as we passed. I thought he might hit their car and damage it so I jumped off the road into a gully just to keep them safe. I wonder when I'll actually be able to RIDE Baasha down this road? I think the donkey is adorable. Here's Baasha, looking blue in the shade (I love that) and giving the donkey the "What on God's earth ARE you?" look.



I think of that lolcats pic of the cat complaining, "WHO MOVED THE SUN!?!?" cuz the donkey needs to move just a little bit to get his sunbath back!











Here's the tail we have to look at when I make Baasha follow Merlin. Some tail huh!? I was surprised he can actually lift the thing to swat a fly. Merlin and Baasha have identical "must be first" personalities, so we take turns letting them, or forcing one to follow and everyone has to listen to lots of growly frustrated noises.








I didn't know that Irish Tinker (Vanner) horses have beards! I love it!













Don't you wish you had a tail like this? Aha, he can swish it! See the little red box? That's a typical German grooming box. I have the open-top American kind, which I find way better cuz my brushes are sometimes icky and I don't want them enclosed. (A German would never put an icky brush back in the box, a-hem.) My old grooming box is Koppertox stained, but now it's a rare item and I won't be parting with it.

Baasha looks fragile after standing next to Merlin.












The pony party horses (and boarders) noticed Baasha. "Hey, he's new!" and "Hey, he's foreign!"

Kerstin would like me to teach her to trim the ponies' bare feet. I have referred her to the German translations of ironfreehoof.com and barefoothorse.com. I think I could help her, as long as a professional comes in and checks my work, just as I have now with Baasha. I really wanted to just take a rasp to a couple of the horses there: ) Baasha's feet are doing great - no more thrush - really, as perfect as I can expect them to look. (There's no such thing as a perfect hoof.)


Well if I have to be tied here, I can at least scratch myself on it.












I had the vet out again yesterday (that makes every two weeks since Baasha has lived here) because Baasha's eyes are not totally well yet. He squints all the time. The vet said "He's reacting to plants - it's allergies - he's never been exposed to these plants and it's just taking a while." He gave me two new tubes of medicine and I'll show Isabel how to administer it today. Today his eyes look lots better, thankfully.


I got bit by something (I thought it was a toxic hogsweed plant, but we don't have any). At least I hope it's not hogsweed - they cause permanent scars and permanent blindness! Agh. I have so many bug bites right now I assumed it was just another bite, but this morning it was a blister as if I'd touched a hot burner. Scary and weird, and hopefully I won't go blind. If anyone has an idea what got me, please tell me! (Pic is small cuz it's kind of disgusting.)


What is that in the sky?















Can't wait to see Oregon again - we have two Oregon trips planned, and we'll be up in Canada too, yay! 4th of July with the family should be fun. They don't have the 4th of July here - it goes straight from the 3rd to the 5th: )

Take a look at that beach (Rockaway Beach). You don't see people cluttering up the beach - you see just endless sand and crashing waves that sound like white noise because there are so many crashing simultaneously. Any Oregonians reading this - you know how lucky you are, right: )

***UPDATE***As I was composing this, Isabel came over so I could show her the easiest way to medicate Baasha's eye. You place his chin on your right shoulder, and reach your right arm over his face, with the medicine on your right finger tip, and open his eye with your left hand. He can't get away, and he doesn't mind it because it's on your finger (took me a while to learn this!). He stood there dozing and I asked Isabel to give it a try. She did a great job and afterwards, Baasha nuzzled her and put his chin back on her shoulder in a very tender gesture. I said, "Oh my, he loves you!" And that really reassured me.

Looking forward to understanding everyone without any effort!