Maddy's visit, part 2

We picked Maddy up at the Cologne Convention Center train station and I recognized her --- barely. She's grown into a beautiful young woman with natural Hollywood hair and the same sparkling eyes. She jumped in the car and we started chatting as if we'd never stopped our random non-stop conversations from 8 years ago. My husband was in for a treat (sarcasm).

I was in ecstasy, talking horse non stop for 3 entire days. We only stopped talking horse when we were actually asleep. OK some dog talk was in there too, but mostly horse. Horse behavior, training, nutrition, safety, trailering, and mostly, endurance.

She's got her finger on the pulse of endurance in the PNW, and I wanted to hear all about what I've been missing. Whew, had I missed a lot!

But I couldn't help asking about her life in Spain this past year. She's been studying there, staying with a host family, and I wanted to know EVERYTHING about Spain. I asked her more questions than perhaps she'd ever received from all the people she knows combined. I wanted to know how the oddness that is Germany compares to the oddness that is Spain. And it seemed fun for her too, comparing oddnesses.

First of all, horsekeeping. How is it different than Germany, how is it the same?

Well, she explained, the horses in Spain do not have water in their stalls. They are led to water twice a day. The bits are harsher overall. The stalls are the same as German ones: concrete flooring with straw for bedding. The paddocks are the same - concrete. But the horses - they are totally different. In Germany you have these big huge warmbloods. In Spain, it's Andalusians and PRE (Pure Rasse Espanol). Majestic cresty ones with Spanish steps and sensitive mouths, petite elegant ones pulling carts in the city, and her riding lessons turn out to be a real trick.

The cues are opposite of what she has been taught in classical dressage. Bending a horse, they use different leg/seat cues, and once she was clear on the interpretation of what the Spanish instructor was saying, she learned it. The horses helped - they would respond wonderfully if she just did "the wrong thing" to us Americans (and Germans). She said it was all prep work for that Spanish walk, and she can see how it leads to that (I cannot, I've never done it).

I said I have not faced a challenge like that, in Germany, dressage is virtually the same as back home.

Maddy and I share so many of the same philosophies about right and wrong when it comes to horses, although that's not coincidence, she's a Pirate afterall, and she spends a lot of time with the Captain (Aarene), my friend.

I thought, during the weekend, one of us is surely gonna lose her voice, all this horse talk. It isn't possible to talk from sunup to sundown, is it? Well, we did pretty good.

She went out to meet Baasha and actually had a carrot to share with him that she'd brought from Prague. I didn't have any carrots that weekend, doh! Baasha remembered her, I don't think horses ever forget a person.

As the three of us stood there with Baasha, marvelling at how muddy a horse can get, (and Maddy saying "I've never seen such a long coat on an Arab!!!), Baasha revelling in the attention, our cat Mercer came in the stall to rub on our legs. OH crap, I'd forgotten to shut the window - she's not allowed out at night! I panicked and Maddy said, "Oh, it's OK, I can just pick her up and bring her in" and I said, "I wouldn't, she doesn't like being held" but part of me was desperate for her to be successful at bringing the cat in (for Mercer's safety - other cats fight her at night). So I ran to the house to shut the window in hopes she'd succeed. Later I discovered Maddy had deep bloody scratches all over her hands and forearms. Not just red and thin, but multi-layered and thick, really nasty. She said, "Oh, it's nothing, you warned me, I thought I could handle it!" The entire weekend I felt bad any time I saw her horrible scratches. My fault, really, if only I hadn't been so distracted by having a guest I would have shut that window on time. Maddy kept saying it was nothing, and her love of all animals forgave our wild kitty immediately.

The cat came back on her own, thankfully.

I made meatloaf and again it was really hard to concentrate on cooking properly in the middle of such engaging conversation with Maddy. I kept stopping and then forgetting and Oh dear, what really goes in meatloaf anyway!? In the end it was OK but obivously lacking salt and pepper. Oops!

Also my man was gonna make a nice cucumber salad, but we had no vinegar. I had to admit I'd used it all on Baasha's feet. Again, oops.

We played a game of Dominion and get this - it's all in German, and Maddy doesn't speak German. She just listened as the cards were explained, and memorized them all! Then she went on to win the game.

After dinner I saw that she'd thrown her down jacket on our couch, and sat her teddy bear on it, and then I found that Mercer thought it was the best place in the house to lay. I said, "You hurt her, you'd better not damage her jacket!" But the cat was just enjoying the downy fluff.

We were up til 1:30 talkin' horses, and my man eventually retired to bed because he couldn't take it anymore. My poor husband!

To be continued..