15 KM with S1 (updated with S1's photos)

Well, knowing S1, I thought that might happen. That she'd decide not to stick to our plan to ride to the far-away watershed. *sigh*

Despite awesome weather - perfect in my opinion - no sun, no flies, cool - and she doesn't ride in rain, not even a short loop.

 As soon as I arrived, I tied Mag up to a dubious looking hitching rail (and stayed near him just in case). She immediately said, "We shouldn't ride to the watershed, it's too rocky for barehooves, and it's too muddy out for hoof boots." WHAT!?

I'd packed a garmin AND a lunch. And a camera, and two frozen water bottles. I had my hi-vis vest on, I was ready for a 6 hour ride.

She kept talking about how bad the footing is, and since I've only ridden there once, years ago, just a portion of it, I have no idea, really. But if it was too rocky, she could have mentioned hoof boots would be necessary, and then given me the info that if it's too muddy, she won't go either way. (Because hoof boots are more slippery than bare hooves, she says, which might be true, I'm not sure yet.)

I know she knew I was disappointed, even though I said, "It's fine, if you say it's that rocky." Mag was barefoot again cuz he shows no issues on rocks. But hours and hours of rock, I don't know. I was ready to find out though, dangit!

I couldn't help but noticed how injury free her Arabian is, and how gorgeous his red coat and thick tail are. Yesterday Kati told me, "Does your horse look at the calendar, see that I'm coming, and purposefully fall down and hurt himself?" Ha, ha. He falls down and hurts himself to his own schedule, I told her, and she missed his whole broken lip thing last week! Today he had another bloody hock, and the sores on his front legs are still there. I said, " He's a war horse" and she laughed. 

We rode through her side, which is of course Ani's side, and did the same loop I did Wednesday morning with Ani, coincidentally. She threw in one extra loop which was really nice but the horses were slipping all over the place.

Mag was very lethargic today, I had to drag him whenever I was leading him. I rode alone again on the way where there was trail, and his walk was much slower than I'd seen it.

He was falling asleep as I tacked up, which isn't normal.

S1's horse was the exact opposite. She said she's had a terrible time with him lately, and is considering selling him. I wouldn't be surprised, cuz as she complained today, she's had him 8 years and he's exactly as spooky and bolty  as 8 years ago. Indeed as soon as we set out, his head was up in the air, and he was snorting at everything. And he didn't stop all day. At one point I said, "Is he nervous about something?" and she said, "No, this is just how he is." When I met her 5 years ago (!), I remember thinking he's a horse I don't need to ever ride. I feel the same today. (And I realize how blessed I am to have such an easy Arab.)

At one long gentle slope she said we should trot, and it was the roughest trot I've experienced on Mag. He kept slipping and he seemed to have the idea that he'd be better off if he went really fast, and really jostly. I wish I could have seen that trot from the ground. It was not comfortable and his head was sticking straight up in the air the entire time, probably trying to keep himself upright.

The nice thing about S1 is that she has great trail manners and after every obstacle, she'd stop and make sure I was OK. I thanked her every time. Every creek, every time we had to go under too-low tree tunnels, she would pause.

But she's a little more micromanaging than I prefer, for instance I said, "I'm gonna get off if we're gonna go into this town" and she said, "You don't have to get off!" and exactly 2 minutes later, or less, she said, "We should get off now cuz this is a steep downhill." I thought, WTH! I could have jumped off back there. At another point she said, "You don't need to untie your lead rope, you can lead him with your reins!" Um?!

Later we entered another town with two killer Husky dogs who sit like statues and then attack the fence suddenly, so I said, "I'm getting off if we're riding by those dogs." She said again, "You don't have to get off...oh, well, you can do what you want." So apparently she caught herself: ) And yah, they spooked her horse.



This bridle does nothing for her horse's face. Wish I could outfit him otherwise!





The trails were so slick we had some sections that were a little too exciting for me, and Mag was using ONLY his forelegs to balance, just dragging his hinds along as if they don't exist on downhills. He was sometimes skiing on his forehooves. He simply has to learn he has 4 working legs!

I asked to lead for a while and she let me, but her horse doesn't like to be last, he doesn't feel as safe. There was no bickering between the two of them today, that's a first.

There was lots of dismounting and mounting today, and we used the little slopes to help. At one of them I jumped on Mag from his right side, and she said, "Oh, I cannot do that, I can only mount from the left." I said, "Oh, I guess I've been doing it wrong so long now, I have no preference!" It just now hit me....that's pretty cool, cuz although I always need to use a stump or little hill, my body has No Preference for mounting side. First time in my life. Woo, Mag, you've changed me!

At one point, just before I took the video below, we were riding side by side and their strides synchronized and it was the coolest thing. You would think only one horse was passing by from the way it sounded. (I think at the end of the video they sync up again?)



She comments, "Corn on the cob, yummy!" This is strange because most Germans don't eat corn. All the cornfields in our area are for cattle feed, it's awesome to see it being processed. Last week I was at a BBQ with S2 and her boyfriend said, "No I don't want corn, that's animal feed!" Yup, like I said. Corn is American. (But finally corn chips have arrived in Germany. Plain tortilla, I mean.)

I liked how calm Mag was but part of me wondered if he's ill. Hopefully just bored with the same area.

As we parted she praised Mag for "so young yet so well trained!" and then laughed when he tried to steal her riding crop.

I led Mag home very slowly, at his chosen pace for today. He got a lot of carrots, cuz a lot, a lot of carrots fit in my saddle bags: )









Her horse is glamorous, an ex-halter horse, but she said he's her last Arabian, she's done with the breed.



Every time I said good boy he'd say, "Carrot?" Apparently carrots are much better than those vitamin snacks I carry.


At the end, our stats were not much different than Wednesday, even though these two horses have a nice forward walk. 15KM in 3.5 hours moving time, again 2.5 MPH.