Potential neighborhood riding partner

I knew from her name she'd be young, and sure enough, "Seli" is 25. I can't believe I'm blogging about a fourth person whose name starts with S. I give up. I'm not calling her S4.

She wasn't riding, she said it's too hot to ride (a Haflinger, but probably not an Arab, she pointed out). I agreed, I was melting. It's only 85 but terribly humid, and the horseflies were worse than I've seen them this year. If you hold still in the shade, they won't find you. As soon as you move, to put Easyboots on, you get swarmed and divebombed. One followed me into my house and I yelled, "That's going too far!"

Sizing her up as a potential friend, I was glad to see she let her horse walk right up to Mag and press his face against Mags. I of course stepped away, to safety, in case of striking. I don't mind when people let horses greet like this, I wouldn't do it without asking, but it's such a relief to find someone so casual about it after the fancy arena lady yelled at me to stop when I led Mag within 10 meters of her horse! (I've found most Germans don't let their horses touch noses with strange horses.)

I knew Seli's horse, and so do you, it's the one-eyed Haflinger who greets us when we walk by their farm, whose Summer pasture is visible from ours but from the back, not the front. Momo greeted Mag with no fuss and I wonder if Mag remembers him from our walks last year.

I didn't like that she had a loose dog with her, and she didn't have a leash. It walked right into our driveway and I thought am I going to lose my 2nd cat to a dog attack?

I walked her back to her barn, a 25 minute walk one way. At the creek both horses went in the water and both sank in some mud, up above the fetlocks. Her massive horse sank a bit deeper than mine: )

It was great to be with an older, experienced horse and the two of them would touch noses as we talked and talked walking up and down these hills. At the top of one, I pulled out two water bottles and gave her one. I had my snugpax attached to a surcingle. On days like this, I don't go out without water.

And this was ICE water. Seli was so surprised, "ICE WATER, what a great idea!" Germans never take ice in their drinks. Also, it's not common around here for people to have saddle bags with snacks/drinks inside, it may have been her first time being offered a drink on trail.

Mag was prancing and snorting behind me, apparently stimulated by this new place. I don't think I've ever taken him back there, where you can see our pasture from the other side of the valley. It looks so odd from that perspective. And so tiny. With this view so close to Seli's barn, I wondered why she didn't know that that was our field, had she never noticed Mag before? She also didn't know we have a donkey. How can someone so close not know? I wonder if she rides much at all.

Seli told me she remembered me from a few years ago when I went to her barn for a TTEAM clinic. She said, "You had a mare though." Ah, she remembers! I told her I also took a few lessons there with Katharina, the daughter of the barn owner, but that she didn't have time for me because of a baby. Seli told me I should ask again, maybe she has time now.

As much as I am uncertain about Katharina's expertise, it would be a trip to take Mag into that arena and RIDE HIM there, where he reacted so very badly the few times we tried to do ground work in there. I know my horse so much better, I know he'd be just fine now.

Finally back at her barn, I wanted to see where Momo was turned out, and I got a few pics. I gave Seli her water bottle again and she nearly finished it. That made me happy, cuz she was complaining about the heat. She said, "I'm going home to sit on my couch!" I said, "Me too." Most Germans love this weather, so it's surprising to find someone like me who cannot stand it. I was afraid I'd be the big whiner today, but we both were: )

Another girl joined us and met Mag and he put his nose against her very gently, licking her hands, making friends. He did it to Seli too as we stood there and talked. I showed them the lumps on his back and Seli says she's seen some terrible things in her job as a hoof trimmer. Hoof trimmer huh. Momo's hooves were long and cracked, first thing I noticed about him.

The other girl asked if she could join us when we ride out together. I said, "Eventually, after I ride with Momo alone first!" It's very hard for me to trust people because I've had so many bad experiences with people not being considerate, to the point of dangerously irresponsible behavior. As I turned to leave some people came into the barnyard (a lady leading a grey horse who always says hi to me at the grocery store and I never know who she is!!!) and Mag got excited and started prancing, tail over his back. I laughed at his little show and jogged with him up the hill.

Then all the way home we practiced the energy thing, raising and lowering it to see if he'll make transitions, and we worked on him not eating. Which for the first time I saw some hope in that regard. If we stopped for a moment, we'd be swarmed by horseflies. When we got home he had blood on him so I know they'd fed on him, and I literally could not get him untacked. I rushed to get my Ultrashield, sprayed him down, and suddenly we had a respite from the attacks. Have you ever not been able to tack or untack because of horseflies? Mag wanted to go to the pasture but the donkey said, "No way, too buggy."

I'm sitting in here with the AC on, my house is 10 degrees cooler than outside, woo!

Hopefully on a cooler day Seli and I will hook up and ride. I will send her a text now, thanking her for the outing. Hopefully she's one of the good ones.


This is one of the two lumps. I wonder if it will ever heal. You can see his skin is very flaky from the lavender oil. Wow, my fingernails are never this clean.



Momo and friend didn't go right to pasture either.







Sorry I didn't get pics of him in the sunlight, he was gleaming!



Oh, and I'll have to text the feed store owner who hooked me up with Seli!