Another riding school visit

J has a colleague who runs a riding school for kids and she offered us a stall for Mag this Winter. She gave us a 3 pm appointment to see her place.

When we arrived I was surprised to see kids and ponies everywhere, and parents too. Everywhere you look, beautiful shiny ponies and school horses were getting tacked up for a lesson. The kids were pretty cute trying to reach up to groom them, and the parents seemed to be doing most of the work.

One palomino pony cribbed the entire time it was being groomed, so J got to find out what cribbing is. It's been a while since I've seen that, ugh.

I wanted to see all the stalls to see how safe they are - some of them were panel stalls, not safe if a horse kicked a leg through. Most were solid wall stalls so the only visual contact they have is over the dutch doors. The stalls stank of ammonia and seemed thinly bedded. Most of them were tiny, tiny stalls. I thought ours were small.

As I made my way past all these beautiful horses with neatly trimmed hooves and manes, I found the best one in the back - a large, well, horse sized chestnut in cross ties, with a W brand on its hip (Westfalen). It looked just like a Thoroughbred with a large soft eye. It lipped me as I stroked its face. The little boy grooming it smiled and chastised it. Boys - right, I forgot to mention, there were boys as well as girls! He was about 12, big enough for this smallish Warmblood, but such a fine horse shouldn't be in a school!

The owner, J's colleague, had to talk to some people first, and then she finally greeted us. She's very proud of her school. But then she had to run and change, leaving us alone again, to ponder Mag's possible living conditions.

A mother snapped at a little boy in a safety vest, telling him to get his act together as she girthed up his pony, a lovely, older looking bay named Obelix. The pony bit at her repeatedly as she girthed him but she just blocked with her elbow. It's just so far out of my realm of experience, mothers participating in riding lessons for their kids, doing most of the work! They must love it though, I hope.

The boy got up and immediately hit Obelix with his crop. Over and over. Then we realized this was the warmup-ring - the common driveway of 2 multifamily homes. It was nicely paved so no mud, and an elderly couple came out and greeted the kids, they literally live in a Pony Hof!

Obelix is a good boy and never complained about being ridden with whip only, legs an afterthought.

Then all the kids were suddenly mounted and circling that driveway, and we wondered what would happen next.

The owner said, "You can follow them!" and then she disappeared, going to fetch a tractor for some reason - wait, what is going on - weren't we supposed to have a barn tour?

We felt foolish as we followed, and to my surprise, all those kids (8?) rode directly into the suburban street and up the hill, cars passing them carefully. No adults, just these kids riding straight through town! One neighbor stopped a car to help them pass, this neighborhood must be used to it.

Finally on the hilltop we arrived at a large sand arena and the kids started tooling around, talking and having fun on their horses before the teacher arrived. Then we heard the tractor and she got out and started giving a lesson without even talking to us! I realized she wanted to show off her riding school, rather than show us her boarding options.

I was dismayed to see Schlaufzuegel (German side reins) on all the horses, but they weren't hooked up yet, and the kids were allowed to warm up without them. That's something. The boy on the beautiful chestnut said, "May I trot a little before hooking up my side reins?" and she said yes. That horse had the most amazing swinging trot, and relaxed manner.

Then it got fun for me, to watch the lesson begin and they formed the "Abteilung" where they all follow each other in patterns, which makes it easier on the riders cuz the horses just copy the horse in front of it and doesn't need to necessarily listen to its rider.

This tiny girl on a summer-itch pony grinned at us and shouted hallo, she was adorable and having the time of her life. The tiny girl on the cribbing pony was flopping around but also having fun.

When they all put on their side reins, one girl somehow got out of that. I'd noticed her before, she was a good enough rider to ask for contact and her dapple grey would lower his head and neck on request, and even do some leg yields for her. I was thrilled that this horse/rider team wasn't tying head to saddle for this lesson. She did a fair bit of yanking and kicking too, but smiled as she rode, and stroked the grey's neck from time to time.

The boy on the chestnut looked like a professional rider as he cantered without stirrups (oh yes, they had to drop stirrups and canter at one point!), and the horse was so cheerful, but then he'd resort to yanking back on the reins with all his strength.

At one point the teacher yelled something about a rider looking like Scheisse and I grimaced, "I couldn't take a lesson from someone who told me I was riding like S!"

I was sad when I saw the teacher ask them all to drop their reins and ask for a free walk and pet them, and the chestnut dropped his head as low as he could, but his nose was still strapped to the saddle so he couldn't reach forward like he wanted. *sigh* He was forced to stay just behind the vertical the entire time even in a free walk.

But some of the kids were so off balance they were literally hanging on to the reins to avoid being flung off! That was really hard to watch.

The worst was the boy on Obelix - he was sometimes nearly off the horse as he hung on by the reins and kicked and whipped with all his strength to keep he horse moving. I was amazed that the horse did not dump him. What horse would not? He was a vicious rider, ignorant of course.

The lesson then took a turn and some jumps were set up for the riders who wanted to try them, and it was really beautiful to see. One of the jumps was almost 3 feet, I think, and the horses happily sprang over it. Thankfully they'd removed the side reins for this part of the lesson!

Finally we were getting really cold standing there and we walked over to the side where we could get the teacher's attention. I told her I liked how the grey horse didn't need side reins, and how lovely that chestnut is. She proudly said it was her own horse. I asked about Obelix. She said, "We rescued him from the meat truck."

I told J how horses sometimes check out, when yanked and whipped so much, being told to go and stop simultaneously, and that it's Obelix's defense mechanism for his daily life, to just ignore as much as possible and endure. 

We didn't really get a chance to say goodbye, but we left. On the way down that street, another rider passed us. How odd, horses in the busy crowded streets.

J said he'll talk to her later about which stall Mag might have, and whether he could stay in a paddock close to the barn and not way the heck up the street by the arena, where the fields are. (Germany! You have to walk across town to get your horse from the field to the barn!) Also if there's a safe stall vs. danger stall available. I forgot to mention there is a nice sandy roundpen directly by the barn, which would be so much nicer than the neighborhood tour.

For Mag to live in a stable of school horses would be good for him, they're so calm. And to have so many people around would be great.

But I kind of doubt this place will work, from the  way the owner treated us. A riding arena *on* the property would be nice: )