Mag takes on the town

You know my little village by now from my photos. Today Mag showed me his good side, or as the Germans say, his chocolate side. Or, if you're from another region, it would be his cream side.

But first at 8 AM I trimmed all 8 hooves and saddled him and attached a few things to his saddle (surcingle, riding crop). (I can only do hooves early before the flies arrive. I have no idea how professional trimmers work around animals who cannot help but stamp at flies.)

I was excited because it's been 3 days since our last good experience on the lunging triangle and I was hopeful this would be quick again. It was. He never even had the thought to resist in any of the ways he does, so that's it, we're done. 10 minutes total.

But as I was taking him to the triangle he looked longingly at the gate and I knew he wanted to go out there into the world.





So we went, and I let him pick which direction. In this photo he's saying, "This lush delicacy, this bounty of green,  you refuse?" No Mag, we're not eating now.


We ended up going all the way to town and saw a big noisy construction site, and that was fine with Mag. He tried to bite a piece of construction but it was concrete so he couldn't eat it.


For the photo below, you must imagine the incredible noise of earth moving construction.

Inedible, he decides. (And no I cannot tie a rope halter.)

We went into the town center, and the sidewalks were full of people pushing strollers and the elderly getting their air. It was almost 90 degrees F at 10:30 AM, and I never thought to take a water bottle cuz I didn't really plan. This was Mag's idea.

A little old lady by the retirement home looked startled to see a horse in town as she was being helped along by a nurse. I took Mag to the side of the road and stood against him so I'd be between horse and lady, and she said Danke as she very slowly passed us. I said Bitte happily, proud of my horse for standing like a statue for people to go by on narrow streets.

Then up to the big bridge, which I'd been wanting to take Mag to for so long. It's a traffic bridge that goes over the fast road, with cars and semis going under at 80kph. How exciting! I went very slowly, approaching it step by step - but honestly, it disturbed Bellis last year more than Mag. He saw a bicycle go directly under us and thought, "hm" and then the same thing about trucks. OK then.





Here is Mag on the bridge. Up ahead was a field of cattle and that was more interesting.

Then came the cemetery and people were gardening the grave-garden plots but still nothing worried Mag. We paused by the garbage area because I thought it was sad that some graves were facing the garbage. Then I walked into a huge spider web and fruck out completely. Mag isn't as afraid of spiders as I am.



If you look closely you see the grave gardens that Mag and I are looking at, the individual plots. Like Frowein, a name that will follow me.

Then I thought oh what the heck, let's do it. Let's go down to the Eifgen and get wet. I've never managed to get Mag all the way down there, because last time there was a smaller creek in the way and it took an hour before Mag decided he'd get wet. The Eifgen is a big creek - 15 feet across, and I was ready to go in.

At that same water's edge where I had a huge fight with Mara, with an audience. So embarrassing.

Mag saw the water and slammed on the brakes. I kept going and as soon as I hit the water it was amazingly refreshing - I had no idea how awesome that would feel. Mag charged in too and drank and drank. He really loves water. I bet he'll be a good swimmer someday.


Below is Mag entering the water at the shallow end, it got deeper soon after.  It was heaven to stand in water halfway to my knees!



We both jerked up our heads when we heard the high pitched scream of a tiny horse or foal. She was calling to us. We left the water and there were two adorable ponies, one dun, one black, and the black one was a girl and she was in love. She started to push at the gate and it was very crappily built and she almost managed to knock the entire thing over in trying to sniff noses with Mag. I said "Go for it" and Mag and the black beauty nosed each other a long time til she erupted in squeals. Mag jerked his head up out of her reach as if to say, "Loud, annoying thing!" and then I let him graze there for a while. I'm really working hard on teaching him when it's OK to eat, and when he must abstain. The dun pony came over too but just chewed on the crappy gate. Both of them let me rub their faces. I don't know what kind of ponies they are, they couldn't be Shetlands, I don't think, because they were so proportionate. Shetties have such short legs. Maybe these were American Miniatures, but they are very rare here. If I were to ever buy a pony, it would be one like these. I also noted they had lovely little hooves. They were about half the size of my donkey.

And, as always, if there is a tree in a horse pasture, it usually has its branches trimmed perfectly horizontally, as much as the animals can reach. It is common here. Do you see what I mean, in the willow (?) below? So many trees have perfect haircuts from horses. I never saw that in Seattle.






Touch me,  love me!

Then we went back to the water and Mag tried to drink the Eifgen dry (and I was dying of thirst) and I taught him how to play in the water. I started splashing and pawing at the water and at first he was annoyed cuz he was getting splashed, but then he joined in and we both pawed the water in unison. What a great photo that would have been if someone had seen us.

Then we went up the hill toward home but soon encountered some sort of obstacle. I looked at it, saw no way around, and literally said to Mag, "Good luck with this" and forward march. There are times when you don't know if you can trust a horse to manage an obstacle, but you get lucky and nothing goes wrong. Like today.





At the top of the hill, not far from the cemetery, I just had to sit down. I found a tree with a stump next to it and wrapped Mag's rope around two trees and held the end as I sat.

And just like when I took Mara here years ago, an entire herd of calves came rushing over to investigate us. I remember with Mara I thought, "I won't make it home, there's no way." But Mag just thought, "How interesting!" and stood fake tied to those trees as I caught my breath.





On the path to the milk factory I looked up and there was this tractor directly in front of us, pulling a cow-poop trailer. I pulled Mag to the side and it squeaked by us. There was a guy weed whacking on the hillside above our head at that point, but he politely turned it off. I was so exhausted I was just dragging myself up.

Then a German Shepherd barked and ran at Mag and followed him, sniffing his tail, and I just shook my head. I hate loose dogs. But Mag apparently doesn't, he was OK. I got the impression the dog was a puppy as it happily trotted back to the milk factory.

It had been 1.5 hours and Mag had not spooked yet. I knew something would make him spook, but what.

On that 80kph road, a tractor went by full speed pulling another cow poop trailer and for some reason this upset Mag. I knew it because the rope suddenly jerked in my hands, as Mag slid to a stop. No rope burn, just a tug. I said, "What, THAT!" Oh well. Probably it made a strange noise that I couldn't hear.

On the way past the grocery store, past all the houses, I started swinging my rope around and hitting every fence or cable box along the sidewalk, to give Mag some auditory effects. Nothing bothered him. I sat on a bench, a no-eating-allowed bench, and he breathed all over my hand, willing me to get up and go on.

I got dizzy on a final hill and thought, if I fall down, if I pass out from this heat, will Mag stay with me or say Screw you I'm outta here? Hm.

Finally the hooves on pavement reached Bellis' ears and she brayed for us although we were still far away.

At home finally I took Mag straight to the trough and he drank and drank and I said, "I'm going in to get some water too, you can just hang out here saddled." (Something Germans never do)

My air conditioner making my house livable, I drank icewater and kicked off my damp sandals, enjoying the feeling of my still damp socks.

Mag got a fresh bag of moist hay (I am rinsing all hay now) but still he nickered at me when I finally appeared. Under his saddle was a perfect sweat pattern, although I had never ridden.

What a great horse he will be, I predict. I showed him the scariest things I could find, and he acted like Baasha (in downtown Seattle!). I know there will be challenges, but this laid back personality is why I bought him.

And if you are curious about his health lately, he walked fine on gravel today, but not totally fine - he slowed down and avoided the worst spots when he could, which is normal but not where he was when he arrived here. I'm still trying to get in touch with the Glove Backcountry dealer so I can make it easier for him on rocks. He walks sound on pavement, looks less comfortable to the left on the lunge, but fine to the right. I've been trimming his hooves every week a tiny bit, and will get my trimmer out soon. His scratches have almost completely healed with no change on my part other than diet (hay). I truly believe it was nutrition induced scratches. He coughed a few times as soon as I started feeding hay, so now I rinse it thoroughly, but the animals don't seem to mind. I can see how that might not be so fun in Winter, but for now, schlepping around a dripping wet bag of hay feels good on my legs and feet.

Here's a tiny video (battery was dying) of Mag enjoying the water.