Dortmund's Hund & Pferd Convention 2015

5 years ago I went to my first Hund & Pferd (dog & horse) convention in Dortmund, which is not far from here. I'm so glad S made me go again today. She actually said please when I said "I dunno, I have no horse, it might be depressing."

J told me later that he heard about it on the news today, that they expect 70,000 people and 13,000 dogs - way more dogs than horses, and truly, you cannot go there without getting a leash tangled around your legs.

Well it was fine. Just like Equitana with Tami, we sat there and she got me to join into her non-stop criticism of every single performer. Except for one - Mell was there. My old trainer who let me down twice (once, shame on her, twice, shame on me). Mell actually performed in a baroque riding presentation on her horse with the best name of any horse yet: Seven of Nine.

Afterwards we found her and I said "Best name ever, tell me that you've watched the show." No, her previous owner was a Trekkie. OK then.

We could see that Mell was nervous during her ride, her body was stiff and her face immobile. However, she rode in the Legerete style, completely soft with her hands so her horse was free to do what she liked with her head, and chewing her bit with no cavesson, spooking from time to time. Wonderful to see good riding in another convention where people don't seem to notice they're doing Rollkur right there on stage.

We saw this old cowboy doing Western Dressage in the "California Style" with a bosal, and his horse was the quietest, most half-asleep thing there, but when he urged it, it would spring into a lope, and then do some slow motion rollbacks, and then stand still as if asleep again as he spoke to us. I thought, "Hm, Quarter horses..." but then he said this young horse is a Hannoverian. I was reminded of Buck Brannaman as he rode and discussed his groundwork techniques with the audience. Here is one of his videos on a different horse, but if you scroll to about a minute in you can see a nice demo.

We saw a Haflinger demonstration and again I became curious about these horses. I know it sounds stupid but I don't think there's any breed of horse whose coat color goes from dark on top to pale underneath. And somehow their legs are white, from this pigment gradation, but they have dark hooves. I wondered, do any Haflingers have white markings on their legs, or is it just the color fade? I saw striped hooves today, and black. No pale. I pulled aside a young lady at the Haflinger booth and asked her, and she said, "In the breed standard no white leg markings are allowed. " Really. How many breeds of horses do you know of who are not allowed to have white legs? Friesians.... any others? There was also one that did not have a blond mane and tail, but she said was also a purebred. I asked about the breed called "Edelblut Haflinger" - half Arabian, but she said they don't have any with them today, so I couldn't see what they look like. I'm not in love with Haflingers, they seem like difficult horses, but it was fun to see  jumping over huge Italian flags held by two people as jumping standards, to see them doing reining, they are little sports cars. At Equitana I learned that the German army uses Haflingers.

We saw a Parelli trainer do liberty and then ride with a neck rope on her horses, and I was happy to see bridleless horses until I saw her spurring her bay so much he would buck occasionally. In fact, as the demo went on, I realized his sides were covered in spur tracks, big ovals of damaged skin behind her leg on both sides, which you can see in the photo below. As she rode, the announcer said, "Isn't it lovely to see the epitome of good riding, when you cannot see the signals the rider gives the horse. "I turned to S and said, "Is he trying to TEACH HER SOMETHING?" No, sadly, no, said S.




We saw two dressage riders in gothic black and white enter on their horses and prance around to....PETER HEPPNER. He's the vocalist of the band Wolfsheim that I loved so much 10 years ago I determined to learn German, and which led me here. They didn't pick a great song of his, but his voice is so sweet I don't care, I was in heaven. Then S asked if I'd ever gone to "discos." I told her that I used to be goth and go dancing every week. But now I'm a grown up.



We saw Icelandics and although they look like they're having a great time running around together, I cannot help but notice they mostly all gape their mouths at the bit, and travel upside down, with bulging under-necks. What is up with that? What would happen if they rode them around without bits? I don't know what they're putting in their mouths but I felt terrible about it. S said people who ride Icelandics don't have a capacity to learn dressage, so they just sit there and pull back as hard as they can as they tolt away. Truly, their hands were never giving. She was also critical of the lady whose butt seemed to overflow her saddle, but I said it's obviously more important to that lady that the saddle fit the horse instead of her butt. I wish people wouldn't criticize every rider who isn't slim, but that's Germany. After the group of riders left, one returned to show us a racing speed tolt. It was amazing! The announcer said it's 50 kph.




The Welsh ponies/cobs. Oh wow. They are firey little things that look like small Arabians. The bigger the get, the more warmbloody they are, but oh well, what fun we had watching them! They are the perfect dressage horse, the Welsh. They have a naturally balanced build, a lofty gait in front and hind. One of them reared up in fear, terrified of the audience. She worked through it with the help of the others. The best dressage I saw today was from a few of the Welshes, pushing properly from behind. Below, a  group of Welshes pulled a cart around at speed, and I swear, those Welshes were having the most fun of any horse I saw today. Warp speed, Captain!



We saw a Friesian demo which was nice, S kept saying, "I can never tell them apart - they're identical!" Oh, and did you know, there is a newly recognized breed that is a Fresian crossed with a Tinker? We saw their demo too. They look like spotted Friesians, but the results may vary. : ) Honestly I forget what the new breed is called, but I wonder if it makes the Friesian people cringe like those spotted Arabians make me. The spotted Friesian pulling the elaborate carriage had such slow-motion movement, it was soothing to watch him.

Then we saw the wonderful Marius Schneider. He's a natural born horseman. He had two rambunctious horses in the main arena, both frightened by every applause. They were never calm, but they did the in-hand work, counter bend, half pass, etc, agreeably. They cantered at his side as he walked at their shoulders. They did renvers, travers, while deeply stressed by the loudspeakers. S asked me if I'd come to his next clinic with her and her horse, and I said, "I have no horse." She said, "You will."  

Below is a little video showing how he rides:


Near the end we saw the Shire horse demo. It's amazing to see these massive horses under saddle, and you cannot help but wonder what the riders feel. Like children put on the back of a horse for the first time, experiencing the hugeness of a horse? And what they think when they relent to ride a lesser horse.

I enjoyed the presentations and as we were leaving, there was another demo in one of the tiny sand rings in between the dealers. It was a family - a mother, father, and little son (about 10) and they were doing liberty work, except it wasn't going so well. The lead mare was mad about being in such a tiny ring, and as the small boy tried to do liberty with 4 of them at once, just as he approached me the horses decided to mutiny and started kicking each other. I was so scared for the little boy, who seemed so helpless, his parents on the other side of the ring. But the child had been well trained, he raised his little whip and waved it and his other arm around so the horses' violence dispersed away from him. Respect for that kid. He may not know much at this point, but he knows how to protect himself in a herd situation. We saw this as we were leaving the convention, and I noted to S how lovely the hooves are of the 4 liberty horses. She agreed. In fact, they had the only good barehooves of the entire convention.

One of the booths got my attention. It had halters on racks for sale, and it said, HAMILTON halters only 10 euros. I ran up and inspected them. They were not Hamilton halters. Hamilton is my halter brand, since I got Baasha in 198. Nothing else will do, unless for a specific purpose like...well, the need for it to break free in a panic, because a Hamilton will not. Do you imagine that this seller was sly enough to put quotes around the brand name to make it OK to sell his look-alike?  Are people in Europe more educated about the use of quotes than Americans? I very much doubt it.



Since this convention is close and inexpensive, I think I'll go more often in the future.