Riding Mag to visit Mara

We did it! It just occurred to me that it would be possible with Claudia, cuz she knows the people there and can let me get up close to Mara.

But I underestimated how complex getting there would be.

The road I'd been using to walk Mag was not actually legal for horses, so she pointed at a single track up a hillside. Sure, I like single track best! I took the lead and Mag threw himself into the work of that hill, and it was the most technical trail he'd ever been on.

Not only were the tree roots making steps for him, I nearly hit a few trees with my knees (he has no idea about riders' parts sticking out yet). Then all the holly bushes, oh my, I got  so many holly branches to the face! I kept ducking and leaning and Mag is really not used to that feeling, but he was fine. I was just concerned because it was a lot all at once. I would rather have led him on that trail before riding on it, but then he wouldn't have experienced me ducking and leaning so I guess it was good that I was riding.

A man was sitting motionless on a bench in front of us at the top of the hill and I said, "Ja, da sitzt ein Mensch" (a person is siting there) cheerfully and Mag calmed down and then the guy smiled at us and said, "I'm a good person!" And Claudia said, "That's what they all say!"

I wonder if he understood that by remaining still he was creating worry in the horses, but I was grateful that he spoke up, cuz I've experienced the opposite, where the person just sits there motionless letting my horse get more and more wound up until it's impossible to proceed.

Then the trail dumped us out at the riding club of doom. Strange, but this place is some sort of negative vortex for horses. The time I rode Mara there years ago, the horses we were with refused to walk past it. And they live just around the corner (at the stable we were headed to today).

Claudia had warned me that for years Argo refused to walk past that riding club, but that he finally will.

Wrong, as soon as we got there Argo slammed on the brakes, head up, eyes white.

Mag, in the lead, slammed on the brakes too, "What's wrong my experienced, role model friend?"

We took some time to discuss it. She said, "It's this long row of horse trailers! He hates them!" I said, "Yah, but I think there's something else here too. I think they hear things we cannot hear, in the barn/arena perhaps."

Argo was indeed snorting at the trailers and Mag was convinced his friend was correct, this place was bad news.

Claudia started whacking Argo with her long split reins. So, now Argo's scared and being punished. Mag did not like this experience.

*sigh* I jumped off. There was some sort of commotion going on just past the row of horse trailers that I didn't want to deal with.

Suddenly to our right, an elderly couple was using what sounded like metal rakes on pavement, spooking both horses. Argo filed in behind Mag. Claudia scolded, "Stop hiding behind Mag you coward."

So now we had scary things on both sides, and directly in front of us, a professional gardening crew was using loud tools and packing yard waste into large plastic sacks, which they threw into a trailer exactly as we passed by.

I walked up to the trailer, grabbed a sack and wiggled it for Mag and he was OK, but then some other home owner was using a nail gun or power riveter, I don't know what, but it was not a nice noise.

From there I walked the rest of the way to Mara's barn and I was happy to see Claudia was friends with the people we met there. The barn owner admired Mag and said she would gladly hold him as I went to see Mara. Remembering how my horse hates to be left with people who are not me, I turned around halfway up the hill and said to Mag, "Ich komme gleich wieder!" BRB

Mag stood staring after me as the lady stroked his neck and I made my way up the hill to the mare paddock. Mara was a few meters away and I said hi to her, and exactly like the other time I visited her since selling her, she had nothing to say to me. No acknowledgement whatsoever. Interestingly, two other horses came right up to me. They also glared at her, keeping her back, but I had seen enough. She is still fat, still barefoot, and oh how I miss having a not-white horse!

I told the barn owner to greet Mara's new owner for me, and my friend Susanne as well, who leased me the TB Tolima, and trailered Mara to Wuppertal a few years ago so we could ride together at the Talsperre.

And then suddenly Susanne herself was there! I hadn't seen her since our ride years ago.

Claudia introduced Susanne to Mag, and Susanne stroked his face, while he nosed her all over because she'd been unloading grain and must have smelled great. She said, "Oh what an Arabian face!" Claudia said, "And he's GOOD too. He's superb for his age!" 

She said, "Oh, if you'd told me in advance, we could all ride together!"

I retorted, "I will not ride my baby horse out with YOU, Susanne!" She rides like she has no concept of mortality, much less etiquette.

"Hey," she said, "I rode slow with you when you visited last!" I admitted she was right and asked Claudia, "Is it true, can she ride slow more than just one time?" Claudia agreed. No idea if she was just being nice.

Then Mag got impatient and I hate to say it, but his quarter was up and he wanted to be home NOW.

He fidgeted as Claudia and Susanne talked and talked, and then finally Susanne said, "He wants to go on!" and I took that as a goodbye and let him go forward, but Claudia stayed behind to talk more. Oh boy. I stopped Mag again and he started squirming around, going sideways because he could feel my resistance to forward. Oh dear.

Finally Claudia came and Mag was in the lead for home.

And then Argo started getting pissy with Mag, and Mag got pissy with Argo!

I chatted with Claudia about it. I know that Argo wants to be in the lead, but will submit and let others lead, but today he seemed particularly offended that Mag was in front. And I had the idea that Mag was done for the day, and just plain grouchy with his mentor.

So they glared at each other all the way home. Kind of funny, in retrospect, but at the time I was thinking of the day they flat out attacked each other on the street.

Somehow we ended up on another freaking technical trail and I was doing all I could to not get knocked off by branches, thinking that an Icelandic horse would be a much better choice than a 15HH Arabian.

The dynamic between Argo and Mag is a mystery to us. In the arena, Argo body blocks Mag, forcing him to play, and Mag's play is often to just try to chew holes in his hide. And Argo stands there squealing as if he loves it, and trots around to Mag when Mag gets bored.

Finally we get off that awful trail and we're back on pavement, great. You know how much I love riding on streets. I love how Mag knows how to wait for cars to pass though, that is a lesson that is very ingrained. We waited for several cars to pass us.

Then we passed between two gorgeous ancient fachwerk houses and I suddenly knew where we were. I was here 10 years ago. I was so excited, "I know where we are! I mean, I have no idea where this trail goes, but I've been here on my heart horse, I've taken pictures right here in this spot, of a herd of horses that ran to greet us." A picture with Baasha's ears in the foreground.

Then we were on trail again, but it was one of those trails between fields with fences on the sides, and one of them was one single rusted wire, one meter high. My pet peeve, because, as I bitched to Claudia, a one-wire "fence" does not keep anything in our out, it's just a suggestion to law-abiding citizens not to let their kids or dogs into the hay fields. The horses cannot see this wire. I can barely see it myself. I can only see it sometimes, that's how invisible it is.

I became quite tense. Claudia then explained how her friend's horse spooked and ran into that wire, and got it wrapped around his leg. Of course he did. Cuz horses cannot see it. And hey, I told her, "Quit telling me horror stories! I'm trying to have fun here."

Then the dang wire turned to barbed wire and I just did my best to relax. Mag was fine but I was thinking of all the ways to die by barbed wire.

Finally we were out of there and Mag tried to turn left at an intersection. Yes, he knew that trail. I remembered it too, but Claudia didn't want to ride through more city streets, knowing how I feel about that, so she told us to turn right. Mag complied and led the way back down the hill to the bridge/water crossing of doom.

Oh, I'd forgotten but we crossed it on our way out, and Mag was totally fine. I guess when there are not mountain bikes with trailers behind them, it's OK.At least from my perspective!

As a matter of discipline, I asked Claudia to stop to see if Mag could just stand for a few seconds. We didn't get to 20 seconds, he was done for the day and knew the barn wasn't too much further. He started sliding sideways again. *sigh* As I told my husband later, "Mag is not perfect."

Claudia, always conscientious, said, "This is a good place to trot, if you like, and either I can lead, or you, or we can go side by side." I said, "Side by side" but Mag was fine in the lead so we let him. I asked for a jog, not a trot, and got it, yeah! Argo jogged along behind us politely, Claudia keeping perfect control that her fiery warmblood did not canter around us. That was actually really fun, because Mag was so relaxed.

She commented more than once, "Look how calm Mag is, and look how he's using his butt!" I said, "I see he's relaxed, but I can't see his butt!"

Then I raised my arm and we walked again because I don't want to ever trot home.

We walked the last way as we approached the barn, Bettina came out of her home, across the street from the barn, to chat. Argo stood happily as they talked. Mag stood happily too, for a while, then thought, "Well this is stupid, we're 20 feet from 'done'! So I want to be there!"

*sigh* I got a little bit of standing still and then said, "OK" and we went around the corner to the barn where Gabi was sweating and panting rasping the hooves of the supermodel pony Flecki in 22 degrees C. WAY too hot for March 31st.

I untacked, leaving my tack out so I could load it directly into my car which I drove into the barnyard later.

Our last ride. I was so sentimental!  I was also sentimental this morning at 7:50 AM when I arrived and Willy said, "Schon!" (already) like he always does, my last day.

I put Mag in the large grooming stall letting him finish his beet pulp, and rushed up the hill to do a favor for Willy - I cleaned out the entire paddock of the school geldings.

Finally Claudia was done talking to Bettina and we took Mag and Argo to the outdoor sand arena to roll and they were again best friends, rolling next to each other and wandering around.  For some reason Mag was not chewing holes in him today. I left them together, the three of them, to go finish Willy's paddock.

Bettina was giving her monster bay horse Alexej the first bath of the year (which I did yesterday).

As I rounded the corner Tanja, my first friend at this barn, said, "How did it go?"

I said, "Oh, well, sometimes bad, sometimes good."

Then Bettina suddenly yelled out, "Bull@#%;*!;! Claudia told me Mag was perfect the entire time!"

I shrugged, "Ok then."

Jana was cleaning Maja's stall, and overheard. She said, "So, not so fun as riding out with me huh?"

*lol*

She came to me with a very sad face and hugged me, "I wish you wouldn't go!" I was a little emotional and hugged her, "You come visit me!"

Tanja said Tschuess, and I said Tschuess to her, and I hope that was not our last goodbye.

Then I went back to the school geldings' paddock to finish up, and Willy pulled into the area with a wheelbarrow full of shavings. I said, "I'm not done here." He said, "Claudia wants you at the arena." I worried a moment, was there a problem? But then Willy smiled and said, "I like that you cleaned this paddock for me." I said, "I'm not quite done..." and he said, "Go, I'll finish but as we stood discussing this, the gate was open and the horses started congregating and I said, "Willy, don't let the horses out!" and he just laughed at me. He knows those  horses. He said, "Claudia wants you."

*sigh* OK but ...OK. I teasingly pointed at Flecki as I left the area, "Don't let him out!" and ran up the hill to Claudia, who said, "I need a carrot!" OK...

I ran back down the hill to my stall and grabbed the only carrot I had left.

I'd already moved so much of my stuff home.

Why does she need a carrot.

I broke it into thirds and gave one piece to her. She said, "Look at your horse, I can get him on the pedestal! Without a leadrope!"

She lured him over but Mag had seen me and came to the fence by me. She said, "Oh, OK, mom is more interesting than the pedestal. But he was on it! Have you put him on it?"

I said, "Yes, once. It's so small it's hard but we did it."

She said, "He mostly likes to chew on it."

Yeah, that's Mag.

She tried to get him back onto it, and then I went in and with my carrot pieces, got him on it.

But then she showed off what Argo can do. Wow. After years of ground work and liberty work, he can stand his front legs on the pedestal and move his hind legs around it in a circle. Bravo!

Then she started doing liberty work with him, running around and turning and backing and he stayed at her side, or stayed where she told him to, or came to her, and and and.... it was impressive.

And Mag was transfixed by it. He stood there staring at the two of them as if watching a gripping film.

I said to him, "Will you come with me with no rope?" And he did, but then he nipped my hand with his lips (carrots!?) and I scolded him.

Then I told her I had to go, this last day had to end, sadly.

She hugged me. I told her I'd send her the photos I'd taken of her doing liberty work with Argo.

(Question - why do horses often pin their ears when doing liberty work?)

When I brought Mag to his paddock he drank from his bathtub a very, very long time. I felt so bad! I had not let him drink at that last water crossing, and for some reason the 5 gallons of beet pulp do not satisfy his thirst.  He's the thirstiest horse I've ever met.

I said, "See you tomorrow Mag."

***

And he has no idea what tomorrow holds.

Neither does Bellis, though I tell her every day.

I'm trusting Mag will get into the trailer we've practiced with, and I'm hoping beyond hope that he does not sweat a puddle underneath his body on the way home.

I wish I could ride back there with him so much!

I brought his sweaty tack (girth, pad) to the donkey tonight, to put it away, and she sniffed deeply, and bit her teeth into the pad. I trust that she knows that Mag still exists. I always let her sniff my Mag-smelling hands.

Her life gets a lot better tomorrow.

My life.....I can hope.





































Mag's "Hi, what are we doing now!?" look. Oh I will miss this place.

(Spoiler for tomorrow's post - I know now that Mag will never be this clean again......)