20,77KM

I had my doubts, I admit, about whether this was such a hot idea, but finally I just did it. I had a goal in mind, and I packed my saddlebags with carrots and set out with Mara - on foot of course.


I figured I'd walk to my goal, and try to ride back. I just had no idea my goal was so far away.

Getting to the river took one hour, just like last time. And just like last time, she did not like the cows in the field by the river. Cows and sheep, her two nemeses.

I didn't realize how much deeper the river would be until I was halfway across, and my shoes filled with water. Great.

All 4 easyboots stayed on.

The thing was, it was a lovely day and this is a high-use trail. I didn't know this cuz I'd only been there a couple times to check on a geocache, and I'd never been further than that geocache, so I expected to get lost, despite having a Navi with me.

So every 2 minutes or so of a 5 hour ride, we encountered other trail users. Bikes, families with dogs, and nordic walkers. The bikers were great, really polite, and I got sick of answering why I was not ON my horse (4 times people asked!) but the dogs, oh man.

I really really hate loose dogs on the trail, unless they are the obedient kind that stay right with their owners. But out of the 6 or 7 loose dogs we encountered, only 2 were actually heeling, though loose.

At one point a golden retriever ran out of nowhere (owners were around the bend) and started attacking us. The dog was barking and feinting attacks at Mara's legs. I couldn't believe it. Mara tried to scramble up a cliff to escape that was straight up and down (so she didn't get far).

Then the owners came around the corner and got their dog. I said, "Your dog scared my horse, really bad!" and they said, "We're sorry."

We came to a point where the river split into several branches with islands and it looked inviting so I went in. A family stood on the bridge 10 meters away from us, the kids had large branches in their hands that they were waving like weapons above their heads. An elderly couple sat on a bench, watching us in the water. Mara had this look on her face like, "Inconcievable!" and "My life, this is my life?!"

The funny part was when Mara "fell in" to a deep end. I was just standing on an island and she was in ankle deep water, and she decided to move and suddenly she was up to her knees and hocks. I daresay that was the first time she'd been in "deep" water, she was so shocked. She kept dipping her nose in as if to confirm, "Yes, water."

Finally I got out of the river, tried to empty my boots, but apparently they'd become sponges. I left tracks when I walked as water seeped out.

I should have brought more carrots to compensate for the way yet another group of people would suddenly pop around a corner. Mara's really good at standing off the trail and holding still to let people pass, but it was getting tiresome.

I looked at my watch and realized 3 hours had passed and I hadn't reached my goal. Agh. Then we suddenly passed a couple of people that we'd seen before.

What the....how can that be - I'd stayed on one trail the entire time, it was called E10 and labeled clearly. How could that happen?

Then I saw a suspicious looking herd of cows - we'd seen those before. What is going on here?

We came to yet another Muehle (the 3rd so far!) I didn't even know existed. It had this steep hill behind it with goats on it and two horses at the top. The funny thing was, Mara couldn't see them cuz they were so high above her.

I tried to tip her head up to clue her in, but she had no idea what I was doing.

Finally she stopped gawking all around her (at all the groups of people who seemed to clog up this portion of trail) and she saw those horses that somehow defy gravity and don't fall down the hillside.

The look on her face - I got a photo of it. "How is that possible?"

We started our journey at Raus Muehle (where my friends Barb and Brandi enjoyed an awesome Sauerbraten dinner with us!), and then made our way to Neue Muehle, and then finally this Berger Muehle I'd never heard of in my life. How can there be so many watermills within such close proximity to each other? Weren't they competitors in days of yore? Or perhaps some were for grain, and some were for metal grinding? I wish I knew, but Mara is not at the point where she likes to stop and read the tourist signs out front yet. (Although there was a horse and buggy photo on one of them and I had to laugh a little, because Mara found it completely unnatural for her to be there at that moment.) Please visit this Wiki site to understand these historical landmarks/now history-rich restaurants. Maybe you have a watermill in your town in your corner of the earth? Tell me about it!

We continued on and someone told me we were heading back to Neue Muehle. That's impossible, we passed it an hour ago. Oh dear. It's a loop trail.

I intended on going back the way we came, so I could actually ride my horse on a trail she'd been on before. I was so frustrated I called my husband to complain and whine and ask him what the heck happened.

He said, "Well, some of those smaller trails are loops." Hrmph. Usually when I follow trail markers, I'm heading to the next state, not making a circle!

I wished it would rain, and chase all these people away. There was a guy pushing a stroller in front of me when we came to a terribly busy road with no shoulder, or, sorry, a shoulder about 3 feet wide.

This was a particularly dangerous, hilly curvy road, with a speed trap right there (the camera was literally right there) to catch people who careen down that hill at 100KPH. The thing was, the E10 trail crossed that awful road right there.

But no, it didn't cross the road, we had to actually walk along the road for 50 meters. I wouldn't have done it, not in a million years, except I was behind that guy with a stroller and the entire extended family was in front of him, including old people and tiny kids.

If they're gonna risk it, I'll risk it with them.

Just as we were edging along that terrible highway, a city bus roared by, and could not give us any room because of the traffic in the opposite lane coming toward the bus. That bus tried its best to slow down, and passed exactly 24 inches behind my horse. I was furious with the city for making the trail users skirt that road. No wonder there's a speed camera, but lots of drivers don't know about it and go too fast there.

After crossing, I stood Mara in someone's driveway/the trailhead and called my man again just to complain. Poor Mara had had it. I had asked her to stand still but once I got on the phone it was too much for her. She started circling me and snatching grass. That was fine. The entire 3 generation family moved on ahead and I just stood there on the phone, wondering how we survived that.

My man told me where the trail would go, and that I'd have to go along another road for 100 meters, but I knew that road wouldn't be a problem, so we continued.

I passed the big family having a picnic in the grass - they had to hold their kids so we didn't step on them.

I bitched to the family about the fact there is no sidewalk there where the trail users must walk along the road. They didn't seem to worried about it. NEVER AGAIN.

We had to walk through this field of person-height weed flowers and it was so narrow I stopped to get a picture of Mara "drowning" in flowers. There were two foot bridges in that flowery field and I said a prayer over both, that they can hold a horse. I prayed fervently that we would be able to get back to Neue Muehle, where we'd finally be on trail we'd seen before.

When we finally did, another family we'd chatted with and played leapfrog with for hours was there, eating in the beer garden. They teased me, "A leading horse!" (as opposed to "a riding horse"). In the photo below, I'm approaching the Muehle where they were sitting in the beer garden. I was very appreciative for that little plastic grid sidewalk.

Then I got on Mara for the first time all day. 4 hours, I'd been hiking (in wet shoes) and my joints were aching, especially my knees.

As soon as I sat into my saddle it was such an incredible feeling. The horse's motion erased my pain (until the next day).

She wanted to hurry, so I started that long exhale/straw exhale exercise and wow, that really worked! At one point I was doing a 12-step exhale and she spooked at something. The spook sent a little adrenaline through me, but it wasn't as big a deal as it would have been if I'd been breathing shallow, I could tell.

It wasn't hard to keep up the breathing exercise, cuz I could tell it had a big impact on Mara. She wasn't jigging home, although she was very nervous.

Then a big yellow lab ran out of nowhere and attacked us, barking and running around us. Owners nowhere. I yelled HEY!!!!! to get someone's attention and I heard kids calling their dog. He finally left but I never saw them. That was really scary.

Another man and his loose spaniel saw the entire thing, and as his spaniel approached Mara, I kept turning her to keep facing the dog, not letting it get behind her (which really annoys dogs). Then the owner called it and said I had nothing to worry about with his dog. I said, "But that other one!"

Never again, not this trail, unless it's pouring rain and miserable out.

Getting back to the river went so quickly.

When we got there I asked Mara to cross, and she said NO WAY. What? We'd been in it 3 times, more than that if you count upstream a bit. But I'd never ridden her through a river and she was not gonna do it.

She offered to go back down the trail, away from home, so I let her, and even told her to trot, trying to show her that there is no way back except that river.

Then we had an audience. Up on the bridge directly next to the horsey crossing area, an older couple stopped to observe soemone try to get a horse into water.

I stopped cueing her everytime she looked down at the water, and I gave her all the reins so she could touch it if she liked. At one point she put a foot in, but it was too much and she just couldn't do it. I was keenly aware of how often she'd lean toward the bridge, like "That's a way better option than getting wet!" (and I have taken her over bridges and she's fine) But you all know me by now - I will never take a horse over a bridge I'm not certain of, especially when it's safe to cross the water.

The guy said, "It takes time. Like with our dog." I wanted to yell at him, "Nothing like your dog!" but that was just how I was feeling about dogs at the moment. Of course all pets require patience.

I realized then that I could be very very patient and take 2 or 3 or more hours there rewarding Mara for thinking about getting wet, or I could get home before dark.

I jumped off her and walked into the river. I assumed she'd follow me immediately and was shocked when she didn't. I switched the reins for the lead rope (she was pulling back and I don't want to tug her mouth).

Then she stepped in and walked across it.

The couple should have thrown some coins at us.

On the other bank I turned her around and we crossed back to the other side.

I'm sure the couple wasn't expecting that.

Then I got back on her and exhaled, and said "Mara go home."

She did it. She walked through the river with me on her back. : )

But on the other side, a herd of sheep froze her in her tracks. She wanted to double back, but I just kept her facing forward and said, "Do you want to go home?"

We were both mentally done, so she braved up and passed those sheep.

(I can't believe she was not afraid of Bellis when she came to live with us.)

There was one fun hill to ride up after that river and I let her trot. Oh, it felt so good to trot! I had a handful of mane as I alternated diagonals, counting to myself.

Good that I did cuz she slammed to a stop midtrot when a bush/stump/leaf scared her. I had to laugh. She left long stripes in the mud from that halt!

At the top I got off and led her through the little village.

On the other side of the village, I got back on and rode her home. At the sheep house she balked but I just let her, in fact, I stopped her a few times to let her look at things, I want her to know that stopping to look is OK.

On that last hill, on our street, I asked her to jog cuz I knew she'd be good and I wanted to feel that rhythm again.

She jogged right up to our house, I jumped off, took her to my man's office and handed him the reins. I said, "You put her away. I'm too tired."

He said, "What, with the saddle, and...?"

I said, "Kidding."

It was only after I got back in the house that I looked at the Garmin and it said 20,77km. I stared at it in disbelief. I once walked 23 km and I said I'd never do it again. Well....hm. I also thought to myself, "There are endurance rides in Germany that are that long, even shorter! (13 KM)."

My shoes were still wet from that final river crossing, but amazingly my feet were not sore in any way. I have to say, Keens are the way to go for hiking shoes. Merrels, Ariats, they've all let me down.

Mara's galloping around her field as usual like nothing happened.

Someday it will be fun, less time on the ground, even, than in the saddle!