What Mara's not afraid of: Fire

I had the suspicion that Mara was stiff in her back because of the cold-to-freezing weather lately, and her having no coat left. Sometimes she stands odd. I blanketed her this morning and she seemed much less sensitive to grooming, and I tried to massage her as best I could.

I hadn't gotten on her in 2 weeks cuz her back is sensitive.  Being from Seattle, I kind of have a warped sense of "cold" or "cool" - and having a young healthy horse, I am thrilled to not have to blanket her in Winter. A German once told me, horses can handle cold, wet, or wind, but only separately. It's a pretty logical way to decide whether a horse needs a blanket, I think, if you're good at interpreting the "cold" aspect. Since horses handle cold better than heat (like me), I wasn't worried.

My man told me, "You're from Seattle, you don't notice bad weather." 

I put the new wool pad on her and the saddle and took her across the street to warm her up and perhaps ride her. I was wearing jeans, not planning on doing much. As I arrived, Herr S was making a fire in the "firepit" directly at the arena gate. Don't you love it when someone builds fires IN the entrance to your riding ring?

Herr S said, "Is she OK with fire?" I said, "I have no idea." We'll see. She didn't care. I led her around the fire to get to the arena.  Once in the arena, she was more concerned with the large boxes he was burning than the fire or the smoke that enveloped us as I lunged her slowly over poles.

Oh horse. The things that don't worry you.
 
I climbed on her back, and she was fine. Very fine. She is switching her tail a bit, which really disturbs me, but today all she said was, "OK yes, no problem" to every movement I asked her for. She was so compliant, I felt silly worrying about the 2 weeks of no riding, and expecting a rambunctious horse. She even backed in a soft manner for the first time. She's getting really responsive to my leg, it's exciting to see her getting all the different movements.

I like my new wool saddle pad, even though it's less easy to mount from the ground, I have to tighten the girth 2 more holes. Sorry girl! But I did not get the feeling I was moving downhill for the first time. Hm.

Herr S chatted with me a few times about costs of horsekeeping, which pleases me, because this topic is something he saves for me, another horsekeeper.

He asked me what a single Tpost costs. I honestly forgot, I couldn't tell him (now I know it's 7Euros per Tpost (~10$).)

As I exited the arena, talking to Herr S, I stopped next to the fire. We chatted a few minutes and probably, without thinking, he stoked the fire with a metal hay fork. The flames shot up twice as high suddenly. Mara looked, but did not jump. OK then.

As I was leaving, two teenage girls were there for the horse Nevisto, that naughty black pony in a horse body, who I'd never want to have on the other end of a lead. Nevisto's owner said, "Oh hey, your horse just walked by that fire no problem! Impressive"! I said, "Ya know, I have no idea what my horse is afraid of. Apparently not fire. *lol*"

Herr S stepped forward and for the first time, gave me a compliment: "Did you not see the big burst of flame that this horse walked calmy by?"

That felt good.