Mag has fun and makes me laugh harder than ever before

Sunday is the busiest day at the barn. I swear, all 20 boarders are there as soon as the clock strikes 2, or 14:00 as they say here.

Birgit and Jasmin arrived at the same time as I did, and immediately Birgit said, "Do you plan to ride today?" to which I answered, "If there is someone willing to be there for me!" She was happy to help.

In fact, as I cleaned my paddock, both mother and daughter stood there at Mag's gate with Moritz, waiting for me, so in the end, we spent the entire day together. You don't have to stand there waiting for me to clean my paddock, I can catch up to you later, you are simply too nice!

As more and more people needed to tie their horses and wisely knew not to just tie up next to the great unknown horse Mag, Moritz ended up tied next to him. I was so proud of Mag. I know, he learned being tied to walls in Poland, but he was so good about horses and people and dogs and cigarette smoke everywhere!



The opening to the left is the entrance to the wonky 7? stall area where Mag lives. This is the main grooming area where all the school ponies are tied side by side every weekday at 4. Since this is Sunday, these are all grown ups and boarded horses. This fake horse thing, actually has a saddle on for kids' first time. The lady in the yellow boots, I don't know, but I can't imagine wearing rubber boots ever, so cold! The person in the middle is Jasmin. You can see Mag tied to the wall in the big "stall." The wreath thing on the ceiling is new. I wish so much they had actual Christmas lights (and music!) here, but no. The lady on the far right is the actual owner of Wolke (cloud) that Jasmin and Birgit also lease. (How complicated!)



What you cannot see in this photo is the tiny tiny horse next to the dappled gray mare on the left. By the way, during the week when I'm here alone in the mornings, I sit on the bench shown on the right and kick up my feet on a chair and snack on macadamia nuts and cheese and drink Coke Zero. I feel like I own the place. 4 days out of 7 : ) That is why weekends are such a shock. Note that Mag is standing, resting a hind, completely calm despite the activity around him.  He doesn't always stand still, and he hollers a lot, but he ties reliably. What a great feature in a horse.



This is Lucy. I promise to get a better pic next time. I asked her owner yesterday if she's a Mini. She said she wasn't sure. I said, "An American Miniature Horse?" and she said, "Oh, no, I thought you meant Mini Shetty (Germany has a breed of horse called Miniature Shetland) - she's probably that cuz she's not as delicate as the American Miniature Horse." Weird to hear how Germans say that. Anyway, Lucy has two hoof boots on front, and one bandage on back from an abscess. But still gets to go on walks with the big horses every weekend. And this pony must be royalty - I've never seen her in the same blanket or cooler twice. She has an entire wardrobe. Do you see the polka dot pink grooming kit beside her? And her rainbow colored lead line on the floor. Look, she's got a cooler on in this photo. Do you think she ....sweat at all on this mild day? No, she's just a princess. And everyone loves her.



Finally a pic of Birgit, looking fabulous in rubber boots. How do you keep warm in rubber boots?  Moritz is tied next to Mag, you can almost make him out, it's the first time Mag's been tied next to another horse here. The black horse in the foreground is Miss Willy, the shiniest horse on the place, but so cruel to all the other mares, it's hard to like her. Her owner Nina leased Tolima after I did and thanked me for the pic of Tolima I left for her.

That Mag has a hoof cocked tells so much, because this is a posture Mara never adopted. Mag is not calm here, he's alert, but he's also able to hold it together.

***

We made our way to the indoor and I asked if we could play with the "toys." Jasmin took Moritz to the foam pole section and to my and Mag's delight, she piled them up on Moritz's back! All...10? of them!

That's something I could do with Baasha, but Mag was like "Whoa!" We came over and Mag touched them cautiously and I was so happy to have this Haflinger here to show Mag what grown up horses can do.

Jasmin set up a complex pattern of the poles and lots of cones and as I warmed Mag up at a walk, she showed me what Moritz can do. She explained that horses can see the blue and yellow and it's important to alternate the colors so they pay attention. I couldn't help myself, I laughed at her, "You think that horses can see blue and yellow? I know that's what Geitner thinks, the man who markets these blue and yellow foam poles to Germany, but I don't believe we can prove exactly how horses see colors." Her mom jumped in, "But shades!" I said, "Yah, ok, shades." I must admit I'm annoyed at Mr Geitner for convincing people to buy his foam poles and that they must be in blue and yellow cuz those colors are important to horses. Cuz every month my horsie magazine has an article about these poles, obviously they sponsor him. At the same time I really love these poles cuz they're so easy to move around. Moritz agrees I'm sure!



Lead line thrown over his neck as Jasmin loads him up, she's smiling cuz I was saying "OMYGOSH" more than once.



Stand! Actually, the only English she uses with him is STOP IT! Which I find funny, cuz that's the only English she speaks.




Mag thinks well, I don't know what he thinks most of the time. I just love this stuff.




Moritz in position to deposit the poles to create the pattern out of them.




Mag said, "I can play too" and started moving one around, on purpose, in an idle moment. I think it was this moment when I observed that Mag found work fun. Because rather than just stepping over the pole, he saw it as a toy, or perhaps wanted our attention after Moritz had carried them all that way. Or? If he's as smart as Baasha,  he'll learn that he can distract humans from our agendas by being adorable. We'll see about that.


I copied her with Mag and then asked her if she can do a fancy trick that I've just started with Mag, where you send your horse around 2 cones in a small figure 8 but you hold completely still, just using your hand and whip to signal the horse through. She did it and then she said, "I bet I can do it at a trot!" and sure enough, Moritz complied. I told her he really, really knows her body language cues. Her mom said "She won a ribbon at a horse show for ground work and obstacles, before she'd even started working on that with him!"

Mag and I need some practice, but we're getting  that exercise.

Then they ran around and did liberty work together, it was really fun to watch. As I watched, Mag knew I wasn't focused on him so he stopped at the foam poles and started pawing them and moving them with his legs and picking them up with his mouth - I tried to get a picture, it was so cute, and Birgit said, "He's like a dog, Jasmin, look at Mag!"


Mag had the most contented expression on his face and I knew right then that I was not going to ask him to do much more today, that he deserved a play day. Perhaps you can see the expression in the video clip. Of course as soon as I grabbed my camera, he was done playing.

I got on him and Jasmin led me around while Birgit played with Moritz. Again I realized that Mag was better able to balance under a rider's weight than 3 days ago. So cool to feel the wobblies start to fade!

We did lots of patterns and figure 8s around the cones and over 6 of the poles at once, repeatedly, that's more poles than Mag has dealt with before.

Then Mag smelled that her pockets were full of cookies and he was just thinking about cookies the rest of the time. I told her how I asked my husband to help me trim his hooves once by offering him cookies to make it more of a positive experience, and Mag absolutely could not concentrate on two things at once. It was either hooves, or cookies but not both! I said, "I am beginning to think Mag is not very clever." (Later I told Gabi the same story and she said, "MEN! It's cuz he's a male! They can never think about 2 things at once!" OK....I don't agree about human males but I know Mag cannot handle treats while working, it's just too many things at once.)

But so far, our 5th time under under saddle on this place, Mag was willing, and most importantly, relaxed under saddle. The more rides I have where we are both totally relaxed, the more we will both associate riding with a pleasant state of mind. And I know things will go bad from time to time, but at the moment we are building up a backlog of happy moments in the saddle.

Today Mag and I both feel good about it, we've established a comfort zone and we are gonna play around in it for a while longer.

After I jumped off, which I always do away from the gate, I said, "Let's go the the outdoor arena and play with the podium!" Birgit was so kind and cleaned up the poop and helped put away the poles. I shouldn't let her do that, it's not her job, it's mine.

Then Jasmin put Moritz on the podium and he stood there in the goat on mountaintop position, cuz it's not that big. I told her how I cannot get Mag to do that, but that we'll probably just discover it by luck one day, that all 4 hooves will be on at once.

Mag observed Moritz offering Jasmin one of his forelegs while balancing on the podium. I said, "Yes, watch and learn."

Then Mag got on, no fear, but doesn't understand how to put all for hooves on it at once. Jasmin gave me her whip - "Hold his halter so he doesn't leave, but tap his hind end to get it on." Easier said than done, and we tried over and over. He got 3 legs on, but not 4. Jasmin said at a clinic, only 2 out of 10 horses would even get 2 hooves on, so Mag's doing great. Birgit agreed, "He's so willing, so great for his age, don't you think?" Wow, the compliments..

Finally Mag had almost all 4 legs on and then he just kind of flopped off sideways with his body twisted, and only 1 hind hoof remaining on it, and his expression was, "Is THIS what you wanted?" and I just ROTFL at the ridiculous posture he had, and the expression on his face. I know Baasha hated it when we laughed at him, but I couldn't help it. I was dying.

That was it for the day, we put our horses away as the rain started to fall and I said, "So much better than snow and ice" to which they agreed.

I got out the book from the kitchen that had an idiom I didn't understand, and as I started reading from the book I noticed other people stopping what they were doing and listening to my "cute" American accent. Then people came up to help me understand the concepts. Then Birgit flipped through the book, enjoying it, and I pointed to the section about Akhal Tekes where they said they raced them 1000 KM over 7 days and 2 days were without a drop of water. Why, who would do such a thing, is that true? Is it possible, but if so, why would you test that theory risking death? Birgit said for Arabians too, it's possible. I have never heard of such a thing. The book said that Akhal Tekes are the fastest horses over distances on earth. The book also said that Arabians and Thoroughbreds are the only breeds that can be called pure blooded. What? OK I keep finding strange things in books here, but it's fun to discuss with my new barn community.

My stomach was hurting so I made myself another cup of tea and enjoyed it, and again enjoyed the feeling of being part of a big barn. Not everyone wants to talk to me (horse people are anti social mostly, you know?) but at least they say hi and some say more than that, and have taken me and Mag on as their projects. I'm so thankful.

Mag showed me enjoyment in work today. He showed me a reason to hope. I am grateful that we are there, and look forward to tomorrow. 

It's so fun to just play with our horses together with all the amenities this place offers. I shouted to Jasmin as we brought our horses to their paddocks, "We forgot to play with the Hoola Hoops!"

"Next time!!"