Making tracks

Last night Baasha was truly afraid. He raised his head and stretched his body back against my leadrope, and snorted his fear loudly. We were standing at the gate next to his stall. What was so scary!?




I looked in the direction Baasha was pointing and saw my man standing on the street, holding his Garmin in the air. Too scary for Baasha! I laughed and laughed and pulled Baasha thru the gate, to go say hi to my man.




I said "You're terrifying my horse! What are you doing!!!"


"Waiting for satellites."

(lol)






We proceded to take a nice walk, using the GPS to track our progress, because later my man would turn in our "tracks" to a new software service tracking roads and trails around the world. It was fun, walking up the street, talking readings at trail crossings, and then mapping our trails.

Baasha kept going to him and nuzzling him, hoping for carrots.

I fancy that Baasha is intrigued because I am clearly following my man, stopping when he stops, turning when he turns. It must be nice for Baasha to see someone else control my movements, cuz usually I am the one in charge. I noticed Baasha kept walking with my man, getting as close as possible without being rude. It was almost as if I were the third wheel. The annoying one holding the camera making annoying flashes every few minutes.



The moon was shyly peeking out from behind clouds. We were the only people out there, hardly a car passed. Nighttime in the country is magical. (Insert chirp.wav) Here is the moon just past his withers.




Choreographed they stepped together. It was a slow dance, because my man wants the coordinates to stay as accurate as possible. That means several satellites must feed us data simultaneously, continuously.





What a fun game we have discovered, these walks where we make tracks and upload them to the website later, helping the maps of our neighborhood become more accurate (my man can go on there and adjust where the roads are to match our tracks, after he has confirmed that his information is more accurate).




Keeping Baasha at hand

I did the meanest thing! I had to section off a new portion of our field, cuz Baasha has decided that it is not worth it to come in for breakfast, to get his eyes messed with. (sigh)



We were almost late to church, cuz I had to change my clothes after tromping thru the long wet grass trying to catch my horse to give him breakfast and clean his eyes. AGH!

But my guilt was alleviated when I turned him out last night, and he dug right in to the deep green grass, not even noticing that it is a bit smaller now.

The moon came up, making my shadow about 15 meters long on the grass. Baasha's coat was softly glowing. I looked up and saw the big dipper over Baasha's back, and to our right, Casseopia. Beautiful!

Neighborhood Friends

Today we rode out and said hello to neighbor horses, neighbor people, and a field full of ...antelope of some sort? I have no idea, but somehow people keep a herd of wild antlered deer near us.

Baasha greeted the friendly horses and the curious deer with no issue, but that darn donkey on the way home, he actually opened his mouth and brayed when he saw us. That put Baasha over the edge. He almost ran us into the barbed wire on the other side of the gravel road. I yelled For Pityssake! and made him face the donkey. I jumped off and rubbed the donkey's nose. He licked my hand. He then started shaking his head, wagging those ears, and jumping around in circles like a crazy donkey. That didn't help Baasha, but Baasha smelled the donkey on my hand and it made him think a while. I really don't know what the problem is with Baasha and this donkey. I thought it was about time I should be able to ride on by, but I was wrong.

At Aldi today with Baasha, I wasn't the only hick without automobile. A couple left their tractor running while they shopped, and while I fed Baasha carrots in the parking lot, they returned and filled that tractor with food, and then slowly chugged away. I was perplexed and amused. I am NOT the only shopper using untraditional means to get groceries home!

Most of Baasha's life he had to wear braids in his mane because I was not there often enough to keep his mane from tangling. Now that I brush his mane every day, no more knots! He doesn't get mistaken for a girl nearly as often anymore. Oh, I did this little braid for fun yesterday. I just love fussing over him.



German Culture

What a strange new land this is. My man came home from work and said, "Is your horse OK?" I said, "Why?" He replied, "There are hunters out, and signs on our street letting people know they should be careful." I said, "Don't worry about Baasha, gunshot does not bother him. But I wanna see!" So I went out and saw them. Sure enough, in every field around us stood a hunter or two with a shotgun. They had their cute hunter outfits on (very different in Germany, they wear green pants and typical German hats). This time, they had orange vests on. These are the same hunters we have chatted with, as they used to use our field to maintain a wild boar feeding station. Now they have to use another field to reach it. These are state hunters, they work for the government to control the population of deer and boar. I have complete confidence in them that they are professionals, and won't accidentally shoot a horse. In fact, as I drove by, I could see Baasha in the valley grazing, with 3 hunters in various locations staked out in the surrounding fields. The little signs on the street say, "ACHTUNG--Jagt" which means Caution, Hunting. Fascinating.


Eye Update


Baasha's eyes look much better today, actually the first time in months that he is not squinting. If you were to meet Baasha, you might not notice he has an eye issue. This is very encouraging to me, but the vet recommended surgery, and I won't argue with that.

Your prayers have helped, I believe, and wouldn't it be a miracle if he didn't need surgery?