"Dieses Pferd ist EXTREM diszipliniert"

That is what Gabi said to the chiropractor, "This horse is extremely disciplined."

That felt good.

Gabi wanted to observe the examination and was quieter than normal, watching and learning. I believe Mag had every bone in his body examined and every joint manipulated in ways I'd never seen before. As the exam got more intense and less comfortable (that pencil-like tool, ouch), the chiropractor would take breaks and soothe Mag, tell him how good he is, and give him snacks. He seemed to need the pauses because it was not a comfortable thing what he was enduring. His eyes told the story clearly. I wanted to say, "I hate these exams too, Mag."

If I recall correctly from past visits, she was using much more praise and cuddling/treats than normal, perhaps because I told her I'm looking for a reason why he kicks out without warning.

She found nothing that would cause that.

But on watching him move, she said, "Don't you see that? You bought a crooked horse!" I said, "No, oh, wait, a little." She said, "Well, I'm tall enough that I can see it, and...ok it's my job. His pelvis is crooked." Finally I could recognize it, he's higher on the right.

She asked if we had a Pre-purchase exam, yes, and it says nothing about that, only the lung infection he had. I'm looking at the PPE now and it says "no visible scars" and I am surprised, Mag is covered in scars. He looks as if he barely survived foalhood.

While testing his neck she said his teeth need work. I said, "Really, well, good thing the vet is coming Tuesday for that very reason." She did the rest of his neck and said, "This is the best I've seen in a while - his neck is wonderful." I said, "That sucks, you don't ride the neck." Then she said, "Sure you do, it's all connected." Then Gabi scolded me, "Look at that Fjord mare's neck, (Maja) she can't do anything with it!" (Again with the gossip - what if Maja's owner, the one who's been letting me use her trailer all this time, had poked her head over the door? Ouch.)

I said, "Well if his teeth need work, well, I'd love to see him gain weight. In December he was really thin, but now hes' better, but...." She said, "He's an Arabian! Naturally thin! In my next life I want to come back as an Arabian!" Hrm. Ok. As you know my definition of fit is very high, and I know Mag is not that. I also know he's getting stuffed with more food than I've ever seen a horse eat, day after day. And yet his ribs are visible. I believe he should look as he does now, IF he were in training. But he's a couch potato who walks to the mailbox once per day. He should not be showing ribs when he walks to that mailbox. She asked me if I lunge him 6 days a week. Yes I do. But that is, in my opinion, only marginally increasing his wind and strength. I refuse to lunge an hour a day like Gabi says he requires. I have an agreement with Mag. If he's well behaved, we won't lunge long. He gets to play off line if he likes, and then I lunge him to work on the things I bored you (readers) with yesterday. I will not lunge a horse into "condition",  ever. However you know how fond I am of cavaletti and ground poles and I threw one down today...I cannot help it. That is great work, if you have to be indoors during a storm. If you're as lucky as I am, an arena to work in. 4 more weeks!

It felt great that Mag got a top score on his neck: ) I think you can tell there is a language barrier going on - I had to ask her what she meant a few times, and I'm sure I'm not telling this story exactly right. But  neck = great, yay!

She said he's not reactive, just sensitive, like Arabians are. She said, "He is smart! He figured out what I wanted on his first chiro exam." I assume she meant he offered his right side in the sequence that she requested his left side. (shrug)

The chiro got a mouthful of his Winter coat and spat and Gabi laughed, "A terrible time of year, isn't it?" The chrio laughed and I remembered something from yesterday.

I said, "Gabi! I got your joke from yesterday....later!" She laughed and said to the chiro, "With her, you never know if she'll understand. It takes her a while." I laughed and said to the chiro, "When Gabi arrived back at the barn soaking wet from a trail ride, she said, 'It wasn't dusty.'" I got it on my drive home. Of course, the hooves kicked up no dust today!" *lol* It was a good joke. I hope to use myself. I'm from rain-city and I've never heard it. Probably cuz I'm from rain-city and the concept of dust being kicked up by horses is ...well....OREGON.

Then she spoke degradingly about the Polish, "Who knows why  he kicks. He's from Poland, he was probably abused, who knows!" I've heard that a few times from Germans about the Polish, what sounds to my ears like racism.

The chiro again said how good Mag behaved for all her tests.

That was when Gabi piped in with how extremely disciplined Mag is. I hope you don't think I'm mean to him. I am extremely strict. For example he is not allowed to swing his head over my head. That's rude. My space extends over my head. He's not perfect, but he is pretty close: ) I rarely have to smack him or raise my voice. Almost never. I think he thinks I'm fair and the rules are the rules. I think I was blessed to find such a horse, so non-reactive, so trusting of people, but unfortunately I do not trust him yet. I envy people who are at ease picking rear hooves. I never know what will cause him to kick out. The chiro said it's either past abuse or simple sensitivity.

She wanted to see his saddle, YAY, I'd forgotten that was part of the exam. She said my saddle is crooked, and Gabi had lots of bad things to say about my saddle (cuz it was not purchased through her saddle shop).  Then the chrio wanted to see my pad. Um, OK. I brought down my thin lambs wool pad and she seemed satisfied. She said the horse is crooked, so the saddle is crooked, and there isn't much you can do. If you start filling in holes you'll perpetuate the crookedness in the horse. Better to do nothing. Hm? Strange.

She did scold me, "Don't throw your stirrup over his saddle like that! You'll hit his elbow, and that hurts." I said, "It's plastic." Then to prove her point she grabbed my arm and hit my elbow with my plastic stirrup. I said, "Oh, the funny bone!" I really don't think a plastic stirrup will hurt my horse, but OK. An aluminum EasyCare stirrup HURTS when it whacks you on the boobs on dismount. So the aluminum would likely hurt my horse's elbow if I swung it over. But plastic? I am asking here.

I brought up cruppers for some reason and both Gabi and the chiro said, "No, never a crupper! Those things are cruel, they put enormous pressure on the spine of the horse!" Now this is the second time I've heard this opinion in Germany, that cruppers actually damage horses' spines. I'm really curious if that is speculation, or true. I said, "Where I come from, it's standard tack. I would not ride without one. I rode in the mountains and it kept my saddle in place, without needing to crank the girth so tightly."

Hm, I'll have to look into this. Gabi said, "The Icelandic horse riders used to use cruppers extensively, due to their conformation, but they're finally stopping that cruel practice."

Now that I've thought about it a little more, I wonder if a horse would rather have a saddle pitching onto its neck/shoulders or have pressure under its tail. I mean, clearly from my blog in 2014 you know my mare would not tolerate it, and she really needed it - she was a hot dog. Mag is not, he's big withered like Baasha, and Baasha, in my opinion, benefited from a crupper on our steep mountains, the saddle never touched his neck. I understand if you live in a flat region you would never need to put that on your saddle. It was just standard in the PNW, or at least, 10 years ago it was.

I asked when I should have her out again and she said, "Never? No, when you feel something odd about him, or if he's off. Let it go a few days and if it persists, then call me. Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with him. Just ride him. I've seen high performace sport horses with way worse pelvis imbalances."

She said, "Get on and ride him, he's fine." I like how she doesn't seem to be $$$-grabbing. She said, "Call me if he moves differently suddenly. Or if he's lame. Then again, wait 3-4 days and determine if he's still lame. Then call me."

It was 120E, her initial exam, but every follow-up is only 80, which I think is fair. She spent over an hour with Mag today.

I was so happy after, I gave Mag his bucket and wondered what I'd do. She said I should not ride him today, cuz horses can be "strange" after an exam, so I decided to take him for a walk.

Willy came to me and told me about the roof that blew off yesterday, that he must fix today, over the school horses. He said it blew off at 10 before 6 AM. I said, "Hey, I've got it. You're a robot, not human, that's why you're always here and never sleep." He tried to tell me he sleeps but I doubt it.

I clipped the lead line on Mag's halter and literally ran out of the barnyard with him. Mag trotting happily, tail over his back, behind me. What fun it is to run with him.

We reached Tanja's house - you remember her - the one who is new to horses and bought her first horse, Mia, the Connemara, in August, and just this month moved into a house adjacent to the barn.

Tanja was in her yard and I said, "HI!" She said, "Taking a walk?" I said, "Join us?" She said she's afraid of the storm (it's still storming out!....which is precisely why I take Mag out into it). She said she'd let Mia run around in the arena with Mag, and I literally ran all the way back down to the barn, and then up to her.  Mag and I were having so much fun running I couldn't stop smiling.

While she went to fetch her mare, I sat on this ..thing..and pulled out lots of other things, a chain, a rope, a few tires, branches, and Mag investigated each. Then we let Mia and Mag in the arena together, loose, and they both rolled and rolled.

Mag had already rolled several times when the chiro was there, before she observed him trotting. He had to roll, as I explained, 5 times. She was amazed, "Is that normal?" Yes.

Now here he is rolling again and again, taking every chance, and Mia would roll next to him and jump up worried he'd roll into her.

She's not at ease yet, or, she wasn't. This is only their second time loose together in the arena. She is very very defensive because I admit she's right, it's a tiny space for two.

Tanja and I encouraged our two matching grey horses to walk at least 10 minutes to warm up. Mia gave him the evil eye a few times and Tanja said, "FRAUELEIN!" (I've been wanting to tell you that the word Frauelein is forbidden in Germany, it's considered sexist. 50 years ago you could use it to speak to young women. Not now.  The only time you'll ever hear that word, is someone talking to their female pet when it misbehaves. That's it.)

Mag tipped his ears back at her a couple times but wasn't worried. So we went to work moving them around and then Gabi was there.

Gabi wanted to watch, cuz...?? No idea.

Poor Tanja. She was the victim of Gabi's criticism as our horses started to play and buck and Mag kicked the wall for fun a few times (WHY!?).

Tanja doesn't yet have the timing and body language to discourage their sudden changes of direction and cutting across the middle. Poor Tanja got yelled at a lot "Now, put pressure on now! No, not now!"

Mag kept "checking in" with me, looking at me with both eyes, "Is this all OK?"

I couldn't stop smiling, it was so much fun. They both settled down and Mia decided the best place to be was directly behind Mag, with her nose literally inside his high-flung tail.

Tanja asked Gabi why she's doing that, cuz I told her, "Look, your mare feels totally safe close to him!" Gabi took that tone again and said, "That horse ALWAYS has his tail in the air, it's that Arabian thing!" Hrm. To me it is always so condescending.

Finally Gabi left us and our horses walked around happily, every so often coming directly to Tanja for a break, cuz apparently she was the one who could be swayed to end the session. Both Mag and Mia would sneak up on her behind her back, as we talked, and touch her with their noses. So cute. They didn't do this to me cuz I thought we were still working.

Then I came and emptied my pockets of treats into their mouths. Mia flehmened, "New treats!"

Tanja said, "Won't Mag miss these horses?"

I said, "My horse will come home to a huge pasture and start running. His donkey will be right beside him running full speed. They will run and run and run, and roll, and roll, and then he'll get up and shake his head and say, 'Wait, what was it I missed?'"

No, perhaps she forgets that Mag is not integrated into the herd. He does not have the freedom to play or at least influence another animal in his life at this barn. He is alone unless we put them together in the arena, and then we force them into activity, so it's not natural.

She said, "I will miss you when you're no longer here."

I said, "Me too."

She was there for me my first day in this barn, helping me hang Mag's water bucket. She is a sweetheart. She has taken her first steps into horsedom. It seems she is loving it. I'm so happy for her. But I wouldn't want her horse!

To KB who commented that I'd be missed at this barn, I think, I hope you're right, except for Bettina. She's gonna be so glad to get another German citizen renting that stall, who will shut that paddock door at the first breeze! *lol*

***
The birds are singing those pre-Spring songs out my window next to me. The blackbirds which are the cousins of the robin in Seattle. I keep telling them, "Hey, it SNOWED today" But they are all........hopeful.

***

Here are some pics from my past with cruppers in them. Please let me know if I've missed the information that cruppers hurt horses. I am not so set in my ways that I will not change. 


What I love about this photo (Sunriver endurance ride) is the sponge zone on my horse. Yah, I got that part clean. If you ever need a reason not to buy a grey horse, this is it. Note the streaks of black sweat,t he stripes, on his rear end. That was a dusty trail, and somehow the bays and chestnuts came out fresh as daisies.



We were in the mountains at a guest ranch, but I didn't take the crupper off to canter around their airstrip. Loved that moment of pure trust



Someone else who uses cruppers - ON A BEACH!



Princess Buttercup could do no wrong. Never did.



This is what Mag will come home to next month. I hope it gives you the size, if it doesn't give you the hilliness. It's a steep, steep walk to get from where the donkey is to where Mara is.



Aarene mentioned An Tir and I have proof I was there, with my friend Tami on Princess Buttercup and Baasha unimpressed by yet another crazy thing, whacking heads off poles in a slalom. See here, only wooden swords. Although our horses are not "period", we tried! I so miss the feeling of being able to do ANYTHING on a horse. One handed. I hope it comes one day again, before I die.

Oh dear, I wonder if Tami ever reads my  blog, but today I got groceries from a tiny store and grabbed a cardboard box to use as a bag cuz I'd had none. It was a tomato box from PERPIGNAN, FRANCE. That place where wine grows beneath white hills.