I said, "Well to my husband, when I'm upset, and to horses, all the time."
She said, "You say, 'GOOD BOY' to Coin!" and she laughed.
Yes, I do. And that is only funny or cute if you're German and think English is cute and you'd never heard anyone speak English to your animal before. Which apparently she hadn't.
We were doing just fine, and I was Good-boy-ing Coin a lot, having fun, when we came up to a bunch of cows next to the trail, behind barbed wire, with barbed wire on the other side of the trail too. Coin stopped, scared, and I didn't mind, cuz I was scared too.
She tried to get the Warmblood to proceed, and failed. In fact, several times he backed right into Coin, and Coin would shift, and then the chestnut would back right into my leg, making it useless to try to proceed.
Then this huge bull who was lying there 15 feet from us stood up. He was as wide as two horses together, and despite lovely long eyelashes, had an evil looking nose piercing.
I was happy Coin didn't go forward. I thought that bull would challenge us, fence or not, with three of his newborns right there with him and the mothers.
I shrieked, "OMYGOSH HE'S HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
At these moments, the German language does not even cross my mind. HUGE DANGEROUS BULL at 12 o'clock!
I think Kati must have laughed to herself, "Yes, excited=English."
I let her go by the bull first.
Then we came across some shirtless guys playing disc golf - what I'd seen on my first and only trip to the East Coast of America and I was excited to ask them what they were doing - is it a hobby or a sport, and worldwide, or what? They were only half interested in us horse people until Kati said, "She's American."
Then I got all their attention - I guess their hobby comes from my land. I wanted to tell them about CD-ROM golf we played in the office (golf, rolling CDs by hand through the office corridors to a particular goal. Very very fun! and SO NOT GONNA HAPPEN in a German office, no matter how casual we portray ourselves to be on our website.).
It was cool seeing disc golf again. It was fun altogether, yesterday.
Today my man and I geocached for 4 hours 45 minutes and my feet are happy we're done. I saw a chick ride by on a Haflinger and didn't feel envious bitterness, no, I'd ridden twice the last two days: ) I'm good for now.
.JPG)
7 comments:
Pretty cute calf there. Good to be wary of bulls, but I have never seen one come after someone for no reason, they are mostly lazy unless you get too close. But they are not like cows and wont protect a calf.
Hi Lytha, Cynthia here from A Donkey Diary blog and I just today saw your comments that you left! So sorry for not noticing before (somehow Blogger doesn't always tell me when there are comments.
How are you getting on with your donkey? They will always win a tug of war as they resist pressure - lol!
There's great video on Shoulder Yielding with Ringo on my You Tube channel: donkeydame09 -it should be helpful!
Are your slow feeder hay nets working out? Stay in touch! cheers ... Cynthia
There's a disc golf course in the park near Madeline's house--the first I'd ever seen.
Excited = English, totally makes sense
Mad as a bag of wet snakes = Pirate lingo, a learned thing
I'm so glad you're getting to ride. I kinda shake my head at the spookiness of these horses. Do Germans not think about de-sensitizing their mounts, or do they just accept it? I've been watching a lot of RFD TV and have really come to appreciate the work of people like Clinton Anderson and Chris Cox, even **cough-cough** Pat Parelli **cough-cough**
Crystal, I just don't know anything about cows and that thing was so big and too close!
rrlgrl, I'll check out your video. I've so far learned that Bellis does not like loud noises, so if I need her to move, clapping my hands will get a way bigger reaction than even poking her with a hoofpick. OK then! I had to return the hay net because the mesh was too small...a familiar problem I think!
Aarene, I've got the indoor version if you wanna learn someday.
Kitty Bo, you've just reminded me of the time I approached the riding arena with an umbrella - it was raining. I was quickly told to put that thing away, I might scare a horse. I thought, "Well, if you keep protecting the horses from anything that might scare them, you're in for it someday!" Check out that Parelli video I posted today.
Yes, I've seen that video. I had no idea Germans were so clueless when it came to handling horses. :-( I guess w/ our cowboy tradition here, it was an easy transition into the NH movement. I appreciate Pat Parelli very much, and I watched his programs of when he was in Germany. Now I realize what a mile stone it must have been. I guess Parelli bugs me some because there is a certain air of people worshiping him that comes across. But I do respect his understanding of the horse and his skills and even gifts. I really like Clinton Anderson also. He would scoff at the don't open the umbrella. He has often said that when we act like the horse may be scared of an object, they pick up on that and fulfill it. Several of those NH trainers are here in TX. Not surprising. You can watch episodes of Clinton Anderson's tv show online. That is, I think you can. Not sure if you can if you are in Germany. I'm still shaking my head over the perceptions of cruelty. Much cruel to all involved to have dangerous animals.
LOL! It must be weird to be the one with the accent and that speaks a foreign language. :) Too funny.
Most bulls around here (not sure about German bulls) are very skittish. They act all big and scary, but if you jump toward them or make a loud noise like clapping your hands they will turn tail and run . . . well unless they were bottle fed lol. You usually don't have to worry about them, especially from the other side of a fence.
Post a Comment