Ride on a neighbor's Standardbred

Saturday I got to finally ride Coin, the bay Standie that lives near us. He's 17.3 HH - maybe the biggest horse I've ridden, no, wait, not really. Germany is horsed with giants.


We had to walk to a field somewhere nearby to get the horses, Coin and the chestnut Warmblood whose name I've forgotten.

This young couple has a nice set up, in Winter their horses are at home (not a big stable, it's kind of like our place), but in Summer they have to find some pasture to rent. That their horses are several blocks away is typical in Germany - people rent and borrow fields wherever they can to put horses in Summer.

Coin was covered in fine grey mud on both sides of his giant body. In grooming him it got all over me - I couldn't see what time it was on my watch because of the film of dust. My black breeches had bright grey stripes on them where I'd wipe my hands. My nose was full of it, my glasses too. I guess it was better than having wet mud - I may not have been able to ride.

The warmblood wouldn't stand at the grooming area at all. He would fly backwards, his rope that was simply looped for safety would come undone, and he'd just keep going, backwards, full speed. Herr K would go right with him, and drag him back, over and over and over. Coin just stood there, but I was told not to tie him either. I didn't have to be told, the tie rail was pathetic and everytime the chestnut flew backwards, I thought the rope might tighten and the rail would come off and hit me in the head.

That didn't happen. Good.

Thankfully it was a nice English saddle and he fitted Coin and the chestnut with sidepulls. He said Coin is allergic to most metals bits are made of. That is odd, I'd never heard of that.

I had to stand on a wall to get on and it was a dizzying height up there. Try not to look down.

Herr K did that weird thing that Germans do - they ride their horse with dogs on leashes. Isn't that strange! I guess it's responsible, they don't let their dogs run free, but the entire time I was worried because the two dogs were directly at Coin's heels. Herr K made me ride up front, and I knew why. That Warmblood was crazy and could have had a meltdown if forced to lead. *sigh*

Coin is a real lookie-loo, and did a fair amount of snorting at things like puddles, logs, and signs. I had a hard time relaxing on him, because he was always looking for something new to worry about. He didn't spook, but he would stop and refuse to budge. That is the nice thing about Standardbreds. They just stop. But I didn't know he wouldn't spook, so I wasn't really having fun up there.

I heard a loud yelp and sure enough, Coin did step on one of the dogs. Coin couldn't help it, they were right underfoot. But Coin is not a very sure-footed horse. He really had a hard time on the technical trails with roots and inclines. He would go very, very slowly, and that was fine, but still he'd trip. Herr K said that one of the reasons Standardbreds are so cheap in Germany is that they're not sure-footed. I'd never heard that before but the last two I rode tripped a lot more than normal. (Star Island was directly off the track so he had a good reason.)

We came to a litle footbridge over a creek and I told Herr K about my bridge accident. I immediately looked for a way around but there was none. He told me that Coin is used to this bridge. I just took a deep breath and went for it. As soon as we were on it I almost panicked - this horse is SO huge and heavy, how could it be that the bridge can hold him? And two horses at once? My foot banged into the handrail, ugh. But it was no problem. I just have bridge issues from Baasha falling through.

We did some riding on paved field access roads (trails are often paved in Germany) and I did not like being on a shod horse on pavement. That's just me though, the German horses are very used to pavement, even going at speed on pavement.

I can see why people don't prefer trail horses that huge - the trails were not big enough for him. I had my head in the branches a lot.

Herr K asked if I wanted to take a longer ride and I said I was satisfied with our hour long ride.

When we arrived back at the house I looked down at the pavement I had to dismount onto and winced. OK knees, let's go. I kicked my feet out of the stirrups and jumped down in one motion (I leap off of horses, I don't slide down), and kicked a dog on the way, oops.

We did it, no problem. Not really fun, but no incidents.
I spent a long time grooming him afterwards and cuddling with him, he's really a good boy.

When we walked them back to the pasture, both horses didn't want to leave us. Coin just stood with us a long time as we watched the dogs play and roll in manure.

Herr K asked me to come back next week. I think I'll bring my own saddle, that always helps me feel comfortable.

A colleague at work who rides in Cologne has asked me to come check out a lease horse - a small one - at her barn on Friday. I would be able to take lessons there, that might be nice. It's that place I blogged about with all the people riding with their feet pushed all the way into the stirrups. I would ask for private lessons though to get the most for the time. We'll see.

Wish I had pics of Coin, he's really gorgeous - deep bay with no white, big as the Sears tower, but unfortunately sometimes I don't feel it's appropriate to bring a camera along.

I will have to just post some more Finally Farm pics of our peaceful little kingdom here.