Fall break

I've only ridden twice this week because it's Fall break and my husband is home and we're spending time together geocaching and watching movies.

The farrier finally came for the donkey and my husband took the owner role, holding Bellis. She was much better - no body slamming. It's either because the last two trims have been done by that lady who sweet-talks her through the entire experience, or the fact that my man was shoving mineral bricks into her mouth. Or maybe, possibly, she likes having short hooves and she felt they were too long for too long? Who knows with donkeys, they're so smart you need to be a donkey yourself to understand.

I was taking a slicker to my wool saddle pad most of the time, listening to them talk. The farrier is a family friend of my husband's so this is why we use him for the donkey. Although I disapproved of his work the one time I let him do Mara, I love what he does with the donkey's feet.

I'll call the sweet-talking barefoot trimmer soon to check up on Mara's feet, even though they look and function great lately. I think honestly it's the work we do in the uneven, hard arena across the street. I lunge her on that coarse sand (not just sand, also aquarium gravel) and it ranges from slick to concrete-hard and I've just started to think this might actually be healthy for her hooves, if not for me when I fall off on that surface.

Speaking of my fall, I am still recovering mentally from it. I do a lot of mini sessions where I just do my dressage homework and then jump off and go home. I sometimes ride only 10-20 minutes. Well, arenas are not my favorite place to be, and I have a hard time coming up with ways to spend more than a half hour in there on my horse. Today I was on her for only 15 minutes, but she was perfect. I had my listening, focused horse back. She had one ear on me at all times, it was great. 

Last week KT said I was locked up in my back/hips and I could feel how that affected my horse - she would stall out while walking. Walking is hard for me because when KT says "Bend her, outside leg back, inside leg at the girth, vibrate the outside rein, outside shoulder forward!  F%$#&; I can't think of the English word for this!" We do a funny mix of English and German in my lessons, and I have to figure out what she means a lot because she uses the wrong words for things.

I focus and start to stiffen with concentration. She said my riding was particularly bad when I asked, and I said I'd been having trouble sleeping and as I lie in bed, I cannot relax my shoulders/upper back. It's like my back is resisting simply lying there, it's trying to rise. Since I have no stress in my life I have no idea what this is about.

KT said, "What are you looking at? Sometimes I wonder and I have to look to see - you're fixing your eyes on something and you need to have soft eyes. Look around. Move your head back and forth, don't keep it still at all. Now do the same with your eyes." Maybe I should find some chewing gum I like and chew a lot of it when I ride.

This week I continued trying to teach Mara the Spanish walk. It has a couple of benefits that I want for Mara. Mara thinks it's great fun, done with the clicker, but of course, the walking while stepping is the hardest part. She does a great step while standing.

KT had Mara frustrated with it last week. Mara doesn't understand why she has to continue stepping, and the whip continues to tap her, even as she's being praised for one good step.

From that frustration in Mara's face, I decided I needed to find an intermediate stage between standing still and walking. So I chose three good steps, with only a little forward movement. She's getting it and I have to be careful not to let her throw her leg up and hit me, because she is  enthusiastic and does it before I ask. Since it hurts when a horse strikes you with a foreleg, you have to be careful not to reward it when you didn't ask.

I'm trying to see this horse for who she is, and when I do, I see so much of myself in her it's almost humorous.

I greet her every morning happily, and tell her verbally what the plan is. "You wanna go see your friends across the street? Let's go!" And lately I've been resting my hands on either side of her face for a moment.

Today at Herr S's place, I was snooping around the barn, marvelling at the cow-to-horse-barn conversion, and Mara was snooping too, putting her nose into things and investigating every item. It was pouring rain and we were both soaked through, (happily not too hot today!) and we just hung out in that dark barn, having fun together.

When we came home and I took the dripping wet saddle off her, she walked immediately to the stall I'm using to keep hay in, and hung her head over the door, peering in. She never does that.

I thought it was odd. I walked over there and looked in. I saw a roll of TP on a bale of hay.

Um....right. *chuckle* Our water was turned off today (in the middle of me brushing my teeth, so I couldn't rinse, how rude!) and my man had to use the stall.

I ran into the house, "Hey, you used the stall! Have you ever done that before?"

"Yah."

"When was that?"

"Well, you let me use your horse trailer once."

I'm amused because, well, we've all done it, right?



I'm terrified of spiders so it's hard for me to do this, but I have to show you. This Kreuzspinne has been netting outside my bathroom window and one day I saw the good in it - she caught a horsefly. For size, both of them are about an inch long. After liquifying its insides she ate it, and I had nightmares. But she can stay. (In German spider is feminine, otherwise I'd be calling it a he or an it.)



Mara has eyebrows. Darn, I specifically shopped for a horse that was not in that Disney movie Spirit.



The hippies next door have a vinegar tree and I love it. In fact, if they ever finally sell us their land, I will not chop it down. Everything else, yes. I want a roundpen and more paddock area. The hippies didn't come around all summer this year, which is a good sign for us.



I tried again for an evening photo to capture the color.



Geocaching our neighborhood shows off the curves of the area. And the crappy horse fencing common in Germany.



A massive horse stable with fields streaming down a hillside for Summer use only.



This is their silage stockpile. It's the biggest I've seen.



Old fashioned tractors going down our street are common, and here too.



The big riding stable. A lady was doing dressage in the court outside the lower building. Most everything here is built into the hillsides like Hobbit homes. In America, we look for a flat spot to build something, if I remember correctly.



I'm not sure this guy liked having his photo taken, but I do a pretty good tourist impression.



Edible or not, Aarene? (Note creepy spider living on it.)


A nice scene from a movie I like.