Neighborhood walk and a very bad dog

Coming home from another odd barn, as always I need to spend quality time with Baasha, who is better than any horse Germany has to offer. I don't have any pics of our day so here are some of Mercer looking adorable (she has no idea how cute she is but we tell her every day).


First I gave him a hot compress on his eye which is runny again, and washed it out. He sure hates that. Then I washed his feet and scrubbed his frogs with Betadine. Then I washed his tail and it's a silvery sheet now, so pretty! Stains on his legs from lying in his stall every night come right out with his clipped coat.

Odd thing about his coat. As you know I shaved him bald the first week of January. He has not shed a single hair since then, but I find this odd...everywhere the blankets touch him, his coat is identical in length to when I clipped it. But his legs, face, neck and belly have longer hairs poking through, not evenly, like every 10th folicle was activated. Now I'd always thought horses' coats grow in relation to the light cycle. But there must be an element of temperature too, from what he looks like now. Also any  new mane that has grown is pure white (*sob*) but also totally clean because of that neck piece. He's a great big my little pony and I just love it. I admit, one evening he was shivering because I'd left him out on a sunny cold day, and wind picked up in the evening. I felt so bad I did not lock him out of his stall during the day since. Until now because it's unseasonably warm - Tshirt weather for me (40F).

So once Baasha was gleaming and perfect, I took him for our weekly neighbhorhood walk. I dressed him in that navy polarfleece snuggly thing that looks like velvet. He held his tail up; it was his "happy tail." ("No, he's not in heat, he's an Arabian!") I specifically went to a pasture that houses donkeys in the Summer, to find a neighbor and ask who owns them. Some nice neighbors said, "Oh those horses belong to Herr Braun. I was like, "oooooh, he puts horses everyhwere around here!" Herr Braun owns the one gas station in town, and is the one who drives those four matching ponies down our street on weekends. He also owns a boarding stable that I've never seen. (There are so many here.) He also owned that herd I photographed 2 years ago that all foundered and died from having no supplemental food and eating thawed out grass in Winter. So I have mixed feelings about the guy, but I'll have to go by that gas station and ask about those donkeys.

Bellis, the donkey. Her owner won't come down in price even though the ad said "OBO." *sigh* She also told me our fencing is too high, we'd need to add another strand of electric. This was almost inevitable so I'm not opposed to doing this, and it might actually keep tresspassers out if they cannot just stoop under our fence. It will be less convenient to mow under, though, but oh well. So I offered 100E less and said I'd need that money for my fence. We'll see. My mom is the queen of haggling and she'd be disappointed with me if I didn't even try.

BAD DOG: Right on our street this man was walking this dog that at first glance looked like a boxer. But as he got closer I realized it was way too big to be a boxer and its head was too broad. I have no idea what it was, but I won't forget this dog. He saw us and froze and then in slow motion, slower than you can imagine, lowered his head. I don't know much about dog behavior but that was so obviously menacing, as if he was planning an attack. I don't think his owner knew, I have no idea, all I know that as soon as we were close, the dog lunged and nearly knocked the grown man off his feet! The thoughts that went through my head - oh my.

#1: "I'm going to be OK, he just wants Baasha." 

#2: "I'll just let Baasha go, and he'll defend himself. He doesn't like dogs anyway, so he'll be OK." 

#3: "CRAP, on the other side of us was a barbed wire fence." The dog would come for Baasha, and Baasha would have nowhere to go except through that fence.

#4: "I'm glad I'm not ON this horse right now."

The dog lunged again and this time the owner fell to the ground but held on for all he was worth. That dog was strong. He yelled at the dog but he held on; he knew what would happen if the dog pulled free.

He got to his feet and yelled at the dog and pulled the dog the opposite directinon, right into the field on their side of the street. My heart was pounding and Baasha did not take his eyes off that dog. The dog lunged one last time but the man was ready for it and did not fall down. OMGosh I was so scared by then! I knew how much damage that dog could do to Baasha's delicate legs, and Baasha has never been outright attacked before (like Story) so I wasn't sure of his chances of avoiding a life-ending injury.

One thing good about Deutschland: dangerous dogs are not tolerated. Certain breeds are required by law to wear muzzles unless they prove they are not dangerous (how?). I see dogs in muzzles all the time and I just want to thank the people - of course it makes the dog look vicious even if it's not, but to me it makes the person look responsible. Also, you will lose your dog if it bites someone. There is no tolerance here. Also, dogs are all insured so any injuries they cause are covered. (Not that insurance payments help if you lose an animal in a dog attack.)

We made it but as soon as they were out of sight, I just stopped and caught my breath and spoke to Baasha for a while. I was staring at the spot they left our sight, and Baasha was as well. I will be on the lookout from now on for that dog so I can avoid passing him.

OK I'm off to go brush my already-pefectly-clean horse again: ) He's like a statue and the dirt has nothing to stick to, I love it. (But he must wear two or three blankets, not one or two.)