Keeping my promises, and comfort zone enlarged!!!

I'm using Open Office to write this cuz all our computers are unplugged, including the router. We're in the middle of a massively cool Summer storm, I love them so much! It went dark, at 4 PM, so dark my solar lights came on in the garden! And the lightning and thunder have been happening the last 30 minutes. Waves of rain turned our street into a stream, and our trees are lashing around dangerously. I would go join the horse and donkey in the stall but it's way too loud in there with the rain on the roof.

It was 33C today, way too hot. And I know these storms have something to do with heat and humidity, but I don't really understand how it happens. I just know that Seattle never had these types of storms. It's like the earth became so unbearably hot and the pressure so high that it exploded in violence. I know one thing, if this were Seattle, our power would be down. And my mom would be telling me not to open the fridge so the food doesn't go bad. Germany does not have power outages, cuz most of the lines are underground. I once saw a special on TV about how to prepare for a power outage, in Germany. The people on the show were asking, “But why? Why would we lose power?” “Well, it could happen.” “But how? Why?” They were so perplexed because they had literally never experience a power outage in their lives lol

So – my big news, so so exciting, for me......actually, my husband promised to blog about it if I was struck by lightning and killed.....

...and happily I'm still here, typing to the sounds of the storm.....

I RODE HOHESTRASSE ALONE, all the way to the fancy arena. It's a half hour walk and I knew it would be bloody hot, so I just made up my mind to try.

Then I said, “No, there is no try. Do.” OK OK fine, Yoda. Grrrr..

I got on Mag as soon as our little street intersected Hohestrasse (literally, “High street”, cuz it runs along the ridge separating the valleys.) As soon as I got on a couple of cars passed us but Mag stood like a statue.

I started chattering, telling him stories, to keep myself calm. I told him how S1 said she would NEVER ride on Hohestrasse, too dangerous. I guess it depends on the horse. Mag is not bothered by traffic. It's not that the street is so busy, it's just that it's 100KPH (60mph) and there are busses and semis and tractors as well as Porsches and BMWs. Most of them slow down to pass a horse, but many do not. To be clear, I'm on a sidewalk next to the street. But I go in the street anytime I find another user on the sidewalk, to be polite, cuz I know some people don't feel comfortable with a horse passing that close. They always say thank you, even little kids on bikes!

Then this enormous tractor with a trailer was approaching and I just pulled Mag to a stop, “Let's see if we can get him to slow down a little, if I give him eye contact.” And sure enough, the tractor dude hit his brakes and passed us at a very polite speed. Thank you sir! I always wave and mouth “Thank you!”

Then a big truck whooshed by us and both Mag and I jumped a little, and I laughed, “Sorry about that.”

I do a little chant now when we're going to this place, the fancy arena place, I say, “Silver and Dakhin and Reise!” I'd forgotten the Friesian's name, but my saying the names is supposed to tell Mag that we're going to visit friends.

The entire time Mag was walking in low gear, a slower than usual walk, but sleepily rhythmic. It was so hot out. At one point he just stopped, perhaps noticing something in the distance, perhaps asking me to get off his back and walk. I laughed at him and said, “Go ahead and stand here, it's cool.” Then we proceeded again at that leisurely pace. Not rushing, not balking (Mara), just at peace. (At these moments I wonder if I've purchased the world's perfect Arabian horse. Would you ride a 6 year old Arab alone along a 60MPH highway? With less than a meter separating you from the traffic?)

This was huge for me because you all know how much I hate riding on pavement. But Mag has been on this street dozens of times and never shown much fear, so I knew my chances were good at mastering this goal.

And then, 30 minutes later, we were there. We did it! I can't believe it, I rode the entire way on Hohestrasse (but not my own little street), jumping off at their gate. Euphoria!

I took Mag to meet the new Friesian horse, because the owner's TB and Arab are twitchy, and she doesn't want Mag near them....well, the 19 year old Friesian – their new boarder - was fair game and as expected, the two geldings just sniffed each other calmly, no drama at all. I had promised Mag a new friend today, and kept my promise. As expected, Dakhin squealed and struck out even though we were not that close to him. (The horses live in paddock boxes in the Summer – stalls with a paved, stall-sized outdoor area attached.)

Then it was time for me to lunge Mag. It has been 3 months since I've lunged him, and as you know, I spent 4 months this Winter trying to convince him that he can lunge politely.

Well, crap.

Today he forgot the 4 months and remembered most of his life of hating lunging. He tucked his butt, his tail forming a J, and scooted abruptly even as I asked him to just walk. I radiated relaxation but he had other plans.

As soon as I asked for a canter he took off full speed bucking, dragging me along, trying to rip my arms out. I guess I still need gloves, sigh

Then he cantered politely, then he changed his mind and started kicking his hind leg toward me defiantly. Then more bucking and trying to dash off the long side. I had the line over his poll and through his bit, and that is the only thing that saved me today, because every time he took off, he found unexpected bit pressure (pain?) and changed his mind about his bid for freedom.

I had my lunging cavesson on my gate, I wanted to bring it, but lately he's had pressure sores on his nose and I didn't want to worsen them. I'm glad I used the bit because he would have taken all the skin off his face if I'd been working off his nose and not his mouth. It sounds kind of cruel, but in a way he reminded himself today that trying to rip me off my feet doesn't feel good on his tongue, lips, and bars. And I think Mag actually has a skin issue, that he needs a horsey dermatologist, if there is such a thing, cuz he's covered in scars and his little rubs don't seem to heal. I swear this is why he was on the sale list for so very long.

Everyone who meets Mag says, “What happened to him?” I'm only ashamed of the one scar he got here, when he tangled with a Tpost while rolling. Sigh And now I'm padding his fly mask and trying not to use Zinc on his skin cuz last week, low, safe concentration-Zinc cream caused a sore on him. ZINC! The vet told me to put Betantane on his back sores that are still there, and they also did not help. It seems like every single topical thing hurts my horse. Coconut oil erupted into massive swelling. I will try Aloe Vera next. If he cannot tolerate Aloe, well, what's left?

Back to our lunging session. Ugh.

I could not believe this rambunctious behavior would occur at 33C. It was sweltering, and the Hawaiian Silver beach sand surface was reflecting the sun back onto us, it was misery.

I still feel the way to overcome his outbursts is to keep him at a canter when he does it, to show him that it doesn't get him out of the work.

His entire body was damp and covered in veins, and kind of purple cuz he's got a very strange pigmentation for an Arab (pinkish grey skin).

I spent an entire 20 minutes getting him to lunge politely to the left, and that's his good direction.

We took a break, I gave him a bucket of water and doused myself, thank goodness they have a sink in the barn so I can drink as much as I want.

Then we went the bad direction and sure enough, he tried throwing on the brakes and reversing, but I was ready for him and kept him forward. He only bucked a couple of times – it really made me think something was not fitting right saddle-wise, because it was so hot out, why would he fight? But then again, he hates lunging, always has.

It only took a few minutes before he was cantering politely and I was praising him a stream of happy words for his submission. He was panting, I'd purposefully chosen the deeper end of the arena to work in. All I needed was a couple rounds of polite canter before I let him jog and then walk again.

He had torn up that end of the arena very badly with his antics. I kept trying to kick down the lumps and smooth the sand as I walked, and eventually we were done, so I took him to the barn, tied him in the shade by the 3 horses in their paddocks, and doused myself with water. I gave him another drink too.

(Thunder cracking, still, as I type.)

Did I want to ride? After his defiant behavior? Well, not really, but I have to pay 7 Euros each time I visit now, and I'm gonna get my money's worth. Even though later I realized that the way he reacted to lunging again proves that I need to spend the 7 Euros more frequently than I had planned.

I got on and he was perfect. I told J later, “Apparently my horse prefers being ridden to being lunged. Lucky me!”

I was so hot I felt dizzy and he was spent. The owner had a row of cones down the center line, maybe 12 of them. My goal was to circle and slalom them, and then trot a little. On such a day, it would be enough. He was so done, but he circled each cone very tightly for me, and I know what an effort it was cuz he'd kind of pause to catch his balance at some of them. We did both directions, then the slalom, with me shouting his praises. Then I asked him to trot toward the scary end of the arena, the end where we had all the bolting/bucking issues, and he knew what I meant before I even asked, he started to trot for me, my completely soaking wet exhausted horse. We didn't have to go far before I jumped off, gave him a mouthful of cookies and told him he was done, and I'd keep my promise....after...

Well, the owner had told me I could use their “horse shower” as they call it in Germany. Somehow they don't have a tie ring, or anywhere to tie the horse, just a lovely white-asphalted square with a drain and high-mounted hose. Hrm.

I know why. Cuz the husband, the TB owner, worked at the track, and you never tie a TB. You have someone hold them for everything. So here I am, alone, and although Mag is great with hoses and water, today he wasn't.

Cuz as soon as I turned on the water, it made a dark puddle that slowly started approaching his hooves. He backed off quickly, getting completely out of the shower area. I could not get him to come in, holding the hose, it took me a while to convince him to come back down to the black puddle of doom that was just moments before, a safe white surface.

It makes sense, his fear, cuz I only bathe him on our geotiles, and they do not make puddles, or change color.

But the cold water felt so good, eventually I was able to get him back onto the black puddle and spray him completely down, and myself too. Next time will be better, I'm sure, but I will be sure to ask the owner why on earth there is no tie ring at their horsey shower.

I keep my promises. I told him if yer good, you can roll in their sand, and as soon as we were done showering, I ran with him back to Hawaiian Silver. And he did not, for the first time, trot with me! He was done.

As usual, as soon as he was released at the gate, he dropped. And rolled, as usual, more than 6 times (I give up counting at 6), even though today I said, “If anyone else were to observe you right now, they'd call the vet, for colic.”

I noticed how pink his belly is, his sheath, hind leg area is, when he rolled. I have a great fear that he has Arabian Fading Syndrome, where Arabs (and Andalusians) lose their black pigmentation, for pink. Micheal Jackson syndrome. I once rode a beautiful white stallion and asked what breed he was, thinking Appaloosa, and the owner said, “Purebred Egyptian Arabian.” Really, I'd met the horse's father. Oh, and at the time I didn't know I was riding a stallion, so that was cool!

This week I noticed a little speck of pink at Mag's eye, and I'm freaking out. Mikael told me, when I noticed it on one of her stallions (Suede), that while she was ill her family had neglected to give him his vitamins. I said, “It's a copper deficiency, right?” She agreed. Well, if I'm lucky, it is.

On my arrival home with Mag, my husband said, “You're very dark.” I said, “TAN? Cuz I'd used sunscreen. No, Very, very dark red in my entire face, but not my neck or arms. I had heat exhaustion, probably. I had a wet towel in our freezer and I wrapped it around my head, after taking off my soaking wet clothing and standing in front of our AC unit. Honestly it took more than 30 minutes of that type of cooling, icing, for my face to start to fade! When we went shopping later I got out of our AC'd car and into the heat and was struck with a wave of nausea. J said, “Do I need to drive?” I said, “No, just give me a moment of cool air.”

I raced my Prius to the store to buy Mag another bucket of vitamins, despite my belief in what S. Garlinghause said, that in Summer, our horses receive all needed nutrients from grass. Well, perhaps Mag needs the minerals year round.

Ah, my husband just shouted to me from the living room, “Ach, es ist ja langsam gut!”

He means to say, “The lightning and thunder can now stop, it's enough” - it's been 1.5 hours........ He's also reading a magazine, unable to get online. : )

After getting the vitamins I drove on, with J, to the horsey store that upset me so much a few weeks ago on my attempt to return a fly mask. I had another to return, and I won't be doing returns alone anymore. For some reason it went smoothly, when my very eloquent husband returned the 2^nd flymask. Indeed, the lady turned it inside out looking for any hair, but I had cleaned it perfectly. They asked for his signature on a form and that was it. Hrmph!

We bought a cat tree, finally, after our cat destroyed hers, tonight on the way home from the horsey store. But it's still in the car cuz of the storm. If I go out there to get it, I might die and J will have to post this blog entry.

As soon as it stops, I'll have to go out and check for trees fallen on my fenceline.

It's been 1.5 hours and it's not stopping. I love it! The earth and I resist the heat – just as I typed that thunder cracked over my house, and now drummed deeply, angrily. Trying in vain to remove the humidity from the land.

Update - our local newscast reported that CHIO was halted by the weather, in Aachen. CHIO is Germany's top sport horse competition. Jumping, Dressage, and such. Aachen is 3 hours from my house. I'm sure they do not want to ride Dressage in this storm. I'm also sure the jumping horses would not care, cuz they are so unbelievably brave. Go, go!

OK, it's 3 hours since we arrived home, and it continues...LOVE STORMS.