A SCHWEBEBAHN in RONSDORF!

Before arriving at the barn, we had the news on and Duesseldorf is blocked off because of another WW2 bomb disarming. 8 thousand people were evacuated, and the trains  and airplanes could not help the thousands who wanted to go somewhere today.

I got stuck in 3 separate traffic jams today, but none of them had a WW2 bomb as their cause.

Hrm. If you've been reading my blog for long, you know that WW2 bombs are found around this country every few weeks. Seattle never seemed to have a bomb-disarming newscast, not a regular one at least.

***

I bought a precious sack of grass hay pellets and rushed to the barn to give Mag something warm and filling.

For a few minutes, he ate happily and I got a wave of maternal joy. Then he was done. What? You're starving!

Again, his stall was full of the hay I'd put there last night. That's two days of nearly no food. To be precise, normally both hay bags are empty. Today one was half full, the other untouched. Not good.

I cannot sleep when my horse is not eating.

I remembered Mara's choke episodes, how she also preferred beet pulp to hay pellets. Why? Is it the added sugar in the beet pulp? Or is soaked hay pellets the equivalent of someone pouring water on your potato chips and saying, "NOW enjoy them!" (*shudder*)

I've always had the opinion that horses like their food crunchy, and soaking ruins it. But they can learn to eat it wet and enjoy it, thankfully.

For the first time, I ate hay pellets and then beet pulp. OK, *choke* they both taste like not much, but the beet pulp did have more...I don't know, try it yourself please.

I agreed with your comments yesterday and said "Screw it" and made beet pulp with boiling water and waited for it to soak. With boiling water in an air-tight bucket, it was ready quicker than I thought.

I mixed some in with the hay mash and he was more interested. Whew.

I also soaked some of his vitamin pellets and the other pellets I buy to mix the vitamins with. That only helped marginally cuz the vitamins are not yummy.

Literally I stood with my horse for 2 hours trying to get him to eat, and he obliged, but didn't oblige eagerly as I'd hoped.

I flashed back to those vet checks where you are desperate for you horse to eat Something, Anything, PLEASE and the horse is distracted/stressed and not touching food. And you go around and people offer you whatever just to get your horse to eat something. And they hold it up to his face so he doesn't have to put his head down to eat, etc etc etc.

Just EAT Mag!

I groomed him and my brushes scraped along his spine which seems to be sticking out all of a sudden, but that observation might be my freaking out.

Finally I got most of the 5 gallon bucket into him, and left a second one in his stall, too hot at the moment to eat, but by the time he comes in it will have cooled. I heated up 9+ kettles of water today.

Gabi came around and said, "Was it so bad, with the dentist? The kids came for their lessons and asked about the blood on the ground."

I didn't tell her I threw the bloody towel into the garbage, on Willy's suggestion.

She tried to reassure me that it's normal, but you know how it is when your animal needs some weight, and then stops eating! And hey, what about RIDING the horse the last few weeks I have?

She agreed to take me out, at some point...what point? Ugh.

***

I have to go back to when I first arrived today because I should mention this odd thing that happened.

Couple of odd things. One had me surprised, the second screaming.

The vet named Sascha was there (guy's name, how funny). He had an x ray apron on as did Gabi, as they took x rays of Wolke's mouth. (MOUTH?) Gabi had a nose-brake on her. Nose brake is what they call twitches in Germany. I hate them forever.

Remember how Wolke put a girl in the hospital last week, and how I judged her owner, "The owner has NEVER ridden her in the 3 months I've been here, and that is suspicious to me."

Yikes, what a reminder not to judge people.

The owner was standing 15 meters away, in the barn entryway. Gabi and the vet wrestled with the horse. Then the owner said to me, "Can you go help them?"

"What, me?"

"Yes, they need help and I can't help them."

Confused at how the owner did not want to be next to her own mare, I walked over and offered to help and the vet shouted "ALLES GUT" to me, "Everything is fine." I confirmed, to be sure, "You don't need me?" "No."

Why...I looked at her and realized she's pregnant.

Just like her sister, Moritz's owner, and the reason I've never seen either of them on Moritz' or Wolke's backs. These sisters are both with child!

Later I asked Gabi why Wolke needed mouth x rays and she said, "Teeth, the mare's teeth are bad." I wondered about the implications but said, "Why couldn't she..."

"She's pregnant. And I found out this morning when she asked me to help with the x rays. She hasn't told anyone yet, because it's too soon."

I said "I understand."

***

Then Jana appeared with Maja, the Fjord. I said, "Wanna go for a ride?" despite the pouring rain. She said, "Maja is still sick, coughing and I can only take her for a walk."

I said, "The last 3 months you've come here to clean her stall and medicate her, and you never get to ride her, despite paying for the lease, that's so sad!" She said, "Yah, all I do is pay to come here and work." But that is the way of leasing.

She agreed to go for a walk with me but she said she couldn't walk far.

Mag seemed happy to get out with Maja, but a few times got threat-kicks as he nosed her butt too closely.

As we walked down the city street, cars passing and passing and passing, we found it hard to talk because of the storm. She's so nice, we kept trying.

Suddenly Mag ran into a garbage container and almost knocked it over! It wackled back and forth (is that an English word?) and Maja spooked. Mag never flinched, as if saying, "I meant to do that." Good heavens he amazes me sometimes.

Directly after that, a semi was coming down that tiny, convuluted street...

WITH A SCHWEBEBAHN ON ITS BACK.

No way! I screamed, "IT'S A FREAKING SCHEWBEBAHN!

ON A TRUCK!

WTH!"

Jana had no idea what I was shouting cuz when I'm that emotional I can only scream in English.

My husband and I were married 9 years ago, next week, on a Schwebebahn.

They don't normally ride on trucks.

Please take a moment to see what this historical thing is (in English) - Wuppertaler Schwebebahn.
 I'm from Seattle and we have a monorail, all sleek above our heads. But that is a touristy thing, and the Schwebebahn takes people to work every day, all along the depths of the Wupper valley, and the cool part is, the Schwebebahn is built over the river for most of its route. It's a river monorail, that swings freely from its tracks above, making it more like a kiddie ride at Disneyland than a commuter rail.

More photos here: https://www.schwebebah

I told Jana, "I don't believe an elephant jumped out of a Schwebebahn. I just don't!" She clarified, "Baby elephant. Not mature." OK then. I can buy that.

Ironically, I'd heard from a friend about the Schwebebahn, the "train that follows a river, but from above" long before I started being interested in learning German and then meeting my husband. In my imaginings, Wuppertal had actual mountains, though.

Jana said, "I know what this is - the clinic next to the barn has purchased a Schwebebahn as part of an art project, giving tribute to the older model as the newer one has just come out."

Sure enough, every day in Wuppertal I look for those fancy new ones and am totally thrilled when I see one. I'm thrilled to see ANY Schwebebahn, and will be the rest of my life. They are just so cool.

I'm kind of like Germany's Sheldon Cooper, awed by any train of any sort that passes. Honestly, I shout to J if our commute happens to coincide with at train passing. "TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!" I'm Sheldon. I just love trains. Hate airplanes. Wish I could take a train to Seattle and rent a sleeper-car. *cry*

We were married on the old-timer version, that they only pull out for special occasions. The gorgeous gold-trimmed thing, champagne on every table....

Jana said "Let's try to find it."

I said, "Right on!"

I really like this chick.

We paused at the entrance to the clinic, cuz there is a sign with very many types of forbidden-entries on it, most of which we are. The last one was a word I didn't know and I said "Are we unberichtet? Are we?"

Not likely, her face said. But we pressed on.

I was so nervous entering that clinic. The employees drive their clinic fans like lunatics and here we are inside. We are clearly not visiting a patient, not with horses.

We are clearly not patients, ourselves.

And we are likely unberichteteleute, whatever it said last.

We looked and looked, but found no Schwebebahn.

Finally Jana had to go home and she took us on a shortcut through the property's trees and shrubs and tight up against a fence where no horse has gone before, which actually scared Mag. Hm, need more practice on tight disallowed places. Will come here again.

I was annoyed cuz Mag was pressing up against me more than usual and I was in such a hurry to keep up I couldn't remind him as I'd have done normally.

But a moment later we were at the barn, sad to have missed the Schwebebahn, but thrilled to have not been caught trying.

She said she is going to Austria tomorrow on a ski vacation. I said "I'm so jealous, I've never been to Austria, and it's RIGHT THERE!"

I told her Arnold Schwarzenegger is from Austria, beloved actor and governor of California. She said, "He speaks German right?"

"No, he speaks Austrian. Which you'll hear a lot of tomorrow!" *lol* (Austrians speak German, but no German I can understand!)

I said good bye have fun to her and started the feeding saga of the day.

Mag had four buckets of various foods in a row in front of him, outside the grooming stall. I mixed and played with measurements, for 2 hours, trying to find what he would actually eat. It was ludicrous, like a horsey salad bar with no takers.

I succeeded. He ate. Now I know.

Tomorrow I will come armed with a full bucket of his preference.

And maybe, possibly, I'll do what I keep saying I'd do, and make our way to Cronenberg where I first rode Baasha in Germany?!

Thank you all for the advice about this, it's appreciated.

***

Just now found an article showing the Schwebebahn on the semi. Hope the link works:

http://www.wz.de/lokales/wuppertal/eine-schwebebahn-fuers-helios-klinikum-1.2393411

***

Of the things I've learned at this barn, some are superficial, and others are relevant.

Do not judge.
Do not gossip.

You will be tempted every single day, because you think you have a better way, but you should not judge, only listen and try to learn and understand why others think that crazy way.

Do not gossip, the hardest thing ever. Do not ever, ever say something negative about any other boarder, no matter what. If you absolutely must say something, do not use names. I said to Gabi today, "Someone insulted me in my time here..." but no way was I gonna say a name.