Tie and run, etc.

I think tying a horse in the woods and a horse trotting with a person on the ground are mandatory skills. I've met a lot of opposition to the tying idea, if you can believe it. The idea of tying in the woods is reserved for special Long Riders Guild types. "You're not going to tie Galim (my Wuppertal lease Arabian in 2007) to a tree in the woods!? No, not my horse." OK then.

Today was the day, perfect conditions for the first hard tie in the woods. J offered to take a walk with the animals and me, and it's a gorgeous sunny Sunday, all of Germany is in the woods today.

Even though I've fake tied him several times, I've never actually knotted the rope and walked away. Yikes, that can go badly. But J was there, and Bellis too.

I wove a special safety knot and walked away, but J stayed there with the donkey for a while. It was my tying tree, this perfect tree, a large beech, so thick that a horse cannot walk completely around it and get stuck. Since Mag is almost always tied to a wall at home, and in Poland too, something he cannot walk around repeatedly, trapping himself against,  was important. This tree has a sturdy branch about 3 feet above my head that J tossed the rope over for me, which keeps the horse tied from above.

Mag's so good! Here's why - most horses when you tie them to something new at least check out how much rope they have, and perhaps even how sturdy they're tied. He never did that, he just thought, "OK I'm tied" and stood there nibbling the tree. Eventually he walked around the tree, found the end of the line and then circled back. Twice he got the rope over his neck, which could cause a problem (a very bad one) but he remembers that happening at home being tied to the wall and before getting twisted up, he carefully put his head back over the line. Good boy.

I rarely tie him anymore because he's gotten so good about me medicating his hooves every day loose. So I was pretty happy about his acceptance of new-place tying.

I took the donkey over to the bench and sat on the wet moss and marveled at how well this was going, giving Bellis a butt massage. She would have stood there all day, as long as I had my fingers in her thick hair.

Then this CAR drove up! We're in the woods! The only cars you should see belong to the rangers or are tractors. A FAMILY got out! Mom, dad, and two matching kids. Two baskets, obviously mushroom people.

Mag also thought, "Well this is new!"

Then we heard someone shout hallo and I thought who would that be, and it was the couple who own the fancy arena, the husband was happy to see us - he's the racetrack guy. The wife said she forced him out of the house away from his races. That's the guy who got his Ranger stuck in the snow by our house, he's so nice. His wife is the one who I helped at her horse show this Summer.

They both stared at Mag, tied to a tree in the woods, "What is this?" I said, "It's his first time - he has to learn to be tied in strange places." I can't help but think they disagree, but they both went to him "MAG! Hey you cutie!" and loved on him and he wanted to know where the treats are, my bad, too much clicker training this week, but it was so perfect.

I probably embarrassed them by saying "I've never seen you two in the woods before!" but it's the truth, they're not the walking type, and they don't ride their horses off-property.

Mag knows those people well, both of them have led him around their arena helping me. Both of them adore him and he knows that. How wonderful that his first tie had the gift of adoring friends cuddling with him. She actually asked me about how his hooves are doing - hm, she does pay attention to our troubles! I replied, "Trimming every 4 weeks, with me rasping in between. Hay and grass - so far, so good, he walked over those rocks there (pointing to the rocky trail we came up) as if he was on grass!" *sigh of relief* I'll still order him the hoof boots, but we don't need the for simple walks.

The wife said how good he is, how I must have been working a lot with this lately but I said, I'm ashamed but no. I will do more now that the weather is bearable.

Then the mushroom people came over, and the kids could not be ignored: "Lass uns am Esel!" WE WANNA SEE THE DONKEY!

I untied Mag and backed him away from the family as they descended upon Bellis, who didn't mind at all. Mag was fidgeting and as the kids came over, I didn't have to say anything, my friends both said, "It's a young horse and he might not like you." How funny, how perfect. The parents agreed, "Just because you like horses doesn't mean a horse likes you!" I was in awe of the good parenting. They did not let those kids near him. I didn't have to worry. J asked me later and I said, "I doubt Mag is kid-safe and he easily could break their feet by stepping on them."

Finally they went off in hunt of mushrooms and we said goodbye to our friends.

How perfect was that!

At home I decided to make a new grazing strip - I'm really enjoying opening up our pasture bit by bit this Winter for the first time (because for the first time we had no second cutting so there is way too much grass for me to just let them go for the entire 5 acres, or even half of it).

When I was done I was so thrilled, and I knew Bellis and Mag would be too. I opened the gate at the barn and said, "Bellis COME! Mag, COME!" and started running. I ran as fast as I could through our path, down the hill, and across the lower strip to get to the new strip. I had to be careful cuz it was muddy. When I first heard Mag's pounding hooves behind me, I got worried so I stopped, and he stopped too. Then I ran, and he trotted behind me. I could see our shadows in the evening light. I could see that he was matching my pace, staying a safe distance.

How fun it is to run with a horse free in a pasture! I'm sure someday he'll learn he can blast past me when there's enough room but for now he seems to enjoy being behind me. At one point we both stopped and looked for Bellis, but she was just jogging along, not in a hurry. When we finally got there, they dropped their noses into the grass and I didn't see their noses again for a while. It's a pretty thin strip, 10 meters wide that narrows down to 5 meters wide, and I can move it over 3 meters at a time. I'm careful when I open a new strip now, that they also must eat hay on the first days.

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Friday I went to my old riding stable in Wuppertal to see about an opening, but it was too expensive for us, unfortunately. (This is where I had a lease TB, if you go to the beginning of my blog - or was that my prior blog?) They have an indoor, outdoor, and roundpen, I understand the price is high, but it was hard because they are so friendly there. It's the only riding stable where I feel at ease, after 6 months leasing there. The owner showed up with horses at my wedding! They made my best day even better. They are just so nice there. As I was shown around, one lady exclaimed to us "Look how filthy my white horse is!" and I laughed, "I have one too, just like that!" and she started engaging me in conversation like, well, like Americans do. Way too friendly to be normal here. I'm going to have to call and say "Not yet, maybe someday."

Oh, the stable owner said she saw Mara recently! Mara lives near there, so I shouldn't be surprised. I guess Mara's new owner and her daughter were out with Mara to meet another friend to ride with at another stable (or was it just the owner?) anyway, I couldn't help but ask how Mara behaved. She said, "She seemed fidgety, but fine." Hm, well, I'm happy they're out and about with my trail-hater. I knew that in the proper environment she'd deal - in fact, Mara was just great with me on those very trails, for some reason. Proof:



Resting a hind leg, calm in Wuppertal next to the dam holding back the big water.





Mara behaved better than my host friend's mare, to my surprise. It was one of the very few times I enjoyed riding her on trail. The lady on that yellow TWH was probably the reason - her horse is the perfect helper for green horses. I stayed close to him whenever I could. Yet again I felt a TWH is in my future, after falling for the breed when I worked at a breeding farm in the 90s. Smoothest rides, quietest horses, is there any breed smoother and quieter?

***

On the way home from the visit, I dropped my application off at a place I'd like to work, perhaps if I can get work, I can afford to board Mag someplace this Winter where I can start to work with him intensively.

***


After visiting that old riding stable and its memory lane, I arrived home and loved ----as if for the first time--- having my horse in my backyard. Agh, if only there was a better solution!


If not, well, as Aarene said, it's not like he's standing around thinking "I wish I were being trained." 

This plan is also complicated by the fact that we do not want the donkey to have to live alone for 6 months. And we can't afford another animal, as people suggest to us. "Just get a Shetland!" Hey, the vet bill for a Shetland is not less.

So we'll wait and see, and learn patience, and enjoy good health while it's here for us. And my new Horze riding "jodpurs" are just awesome so far for hiking and moving fences and around the house, I even got a compliment from the photographer! No idea what they're like for riding, but no regrets about the purchase so far.

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Updates on hooves and blankets: Mag has gone from "Don't mess with my feet, they're mine" to "Oh je, every single day of my life. Here ya go." And his fear of blankets, is now, "Oh please don't hurt, don't hurt, OK, it's not gonna hurt?" He stands nervously but lets me blanket and deblanket every day. I am extremely careful though. I'm not tossing it on him casually yet. We'll get there. So strange that he's so good with tying and bathing and even clippers touching his ears, but if I try to rub him with a towel, "get it away, get it away!"

More than anything I wanted a conformation shot of Mag and am kind of disappointed in what I ended up with, It wasn't a priority to my photographer, she wanted action shot. She's right, when she said, "You cannot take him out and hold him in your front yard and expect him to look alive!"

I got one side view photo, so I'll post it.  He's really easy to animate, if only we'd tried.


Thanks to my sister for shipping me a bottle of Quic Silver (at exorbitant postage from US to Germany!). If you notice any purple tail highlights in any of these photos, it's cuz I left it in too long: ) : )