Today's ride with Ani

Strange day, a mix of good and bad, mostly good though: )

First I'm leading Mag down the fast street and there's this dark skinned dude all in white coming toward me. I said to myself, "Hm, a painter! Or drywaller." Cuz in Germany, they have color coded outfits for jobs. Weird huh?

He stopped me and asked directions to the bus terminal station. I was shocked cuz that's downtown, and we're all the way out in the country. I told him it's a 15 minute bus ride from here, and walking is not possible (too long and no sidewalk).

I asked him what he's doing out here, obviously in the wrong place, and he said, "I'm on a construction project. I'm from Duesseldorf. My boss dropped me off." I said, "That wasn't very nice. Cuz we're way out in the country." He said, "Sure looks like it."

I said, "The good news is there's only like one bus out here, and it doesn't go anywhere but loop through town and take you right back downtown to the terminal station. So you can't go wrong, even if you stand on the wrong side of the street...here let me show you."

I led him (and Mag) down a side street and found the first bus stop. Sure enough, the final station said "Terminal station" and so all he had to do was wait. He seemed very grateful, and funnily, afraid of Mag. If Mag got too close, he'd hurry away from him. How could anyone be afraid of such a sweet-eyed horse? Mag was doing that "Are you a new friend?" face at him too.

Oh well, I don't always read dogs correctly.

I was really happy I'd been able to help, cuz I know that feeling of being lost and not knowing which bus or train to take. Getting on a train going in the wrong direction is always a pain.

***

Past the cows being milked (which always freaks Mag out) I finally met Ani and she showed me a baby cow that was obviously only hours old, laying down with three grown cows standing over it. It was the most adorable thing, cow-wise, I'd ever seen. It had curly hair! Poor thing is gonna be ripped away from its mother as soon as they find it.

Ani was distraught. She told me that Andy had hit a horse in the head with a bar.

Andy, being S2's new live-in boyfriend, who shows Haflingers in driving classes. Remember last month I went to a Western show to support 2, and spent the day with him as he critiqued all the other horses? I had wondered about him, if he even likes his own.

Now I know.

I asked Ani, "A metal bar or a wooden bar? Or a whip?" She said, "Wood."

I said, "In self defense!???!?!"

No.

Oh dear.

Did you see it? No, the kids did. What kids? Ulrike's kids. OK, Ulrike was also at the show, and boards  in the next field to S2.

Ani said she is terrified of what Andy will do to her beloved mare Mira, because she keeps them at their house! I shouldn't have said this, but too late, I said, "If he hits his own horse in the head, he will not treat your horse any better. Perhaps worse."

Which horse? The baby, the baby Haflinger he bred himself.

WTH!

As we talked, I realized my super cool friend, my only truly normal horsey friend, S2, wasn't someone I could completely trust anymore, if she's with this guy. Ani said S2 kicked her own horse. Now I will kick a horse who tries to trample me, so maybe there is context there, but Ani said, "They are both brutal people."

I said, "So many people are too hesitant around horses, don't expect respect, but to go too far, to go into abuse, that's horrible. And now what will you do."

She said she's the sole caretaker of Mira, and I was happy to hear it. If Ani is there every day, and does all the feeding, cleaning, and moving around of her horse, then she's probably safe.

I feel terrible for her.

We went on to have a nice, slow ride again. I love our slow rides, Mag has settled into Mira's slow pace, and both leads and follows at that pace. Only a few times did I have to stop and wait for her.

She took me to a great new trail but I didn't like the water crossing. Mag fumbled it but Mira's butt was right there as I'd requested, to stop him from any crazy leaps.

Then we got into trouble, nearly.

It was one of those situations you see happening and if you've been around horses long enough, you get out of it. Abandon ship! Abandon ship!

Mira slipped between a large wire mesh fence and a big tree with branches making a tunnel above her. There was a large branch on the ground, about 20 feet long, with little branches attached, and it got a little tangled in Mira's legs just as we started to enter the tunnel.

The way the branch moved I knew it would get caught in Mag's legs next, which would be no problem, except there was a pile of loose wire mesh right next to the fence on my left.

Mira was moving away and Mag was committed. Red alert, I tried to abandon ship but that pile of wire was exactly where I'd land if I dismounted, and there was a tree on my right. I squealed out "Wait!" and then MAG STOP! and did the only thing I could, I tried to get him to the right side of the tree on our right. Our only escape. "Wait!" I yelled again and Mag started to flip out, "Why are we LEAVING them? I won't leave them!"

I said, "You dummy, we're just going a different way! You've done this before!"

Then he figured it out and we met up with her again, but Mag was quite upset about the whole thing and started flinging his head around in anxiety. I told Ani thank you and relaxed, not too worried about Mag's behavior, cuz we were literally walking over a Pick-Up-Sticks pile of fallen branches and there was no way he could fuss and stay upright. So the landscape took care of his nerves, and then we came out into a huge open field and I planted his nose at Mira's butt for my own well being.

Whew.



These are pics from long ago, not at the field crossings. I promise I'll try to get the nerve up when we actually cross the 50 acre fields, through an invisible trail in the grass. It makes me uneasy based on my runaway experiences with Baasha, but Mira is always there. What would I do without her.


Another old photo.

At the end of our ride we dismounted to part ways, and Ani said, "Can I give you a hug?" : )

I told her I'm worried about her situation, and she should let me know what happens. Then as we were standing there, she went to loosen her girth and suddenly Mag and Mira were attacking each other! Just like in Wuppertal with Argo, Mag pinned his ears and went right for her with his teeth to her face. She retaliated appropriately, and I was able to yank him away, and then whip him with the end of my rope against his neck and chest, backing him up until we were half a block away. NO FIGHTING!

I'm so glad Ani did not actually see it, because it's not a nice thing to witness. What the heck is that?

Is Mag horse-horse aggressive? Or is he just being a cocky teenager trying to push boundaries? Dear God don't let him be dangerous around other horses! He's a gelding for pityssake!

He'd spent the day trying to nibble/bite on Mira's butt, as usual, but I can tell that is just playful behavior, also testing boundaries. Every so often she swishes her tail at him and reinforces my "Don't bite on her!" command.

I was pretty disappointed in him but a few minutes later he was breathing on my hand as we walked, trying to make amends.

Overall I'm totally thrilled to have a steady riding companion willing to help me and spend up to 3 hours riding with me every week.

She would caress her mare's black velvet neck, "I love this horse so much!"

I hope that the mare is not in danger, where she lives.

Nothing better than having your horse at home, where you have total control.

***

I spent the week (and will keep doing this) shovelling wood chips into a wheelbarrow and bringing it to our muddy path, yet again. This time we know what type of wood chips to buy, the good ones. They last much, much longer than the garbage (waste product/hog fuel) we got last time. Even now, our original, high quality wood chips are still there, mixed in with the mud. The price went from 340 to 440 Euros, but it's so worth it.

The only problem is, and please, please learn from my mistake - it's too wet out now to lay them down properly.

Don't ever try to mitigate mud during the wettest time of the year. If there is standing water, just forget about it.


The last time we lay down the good chips was March 2016, and it was, as usual, dry. For some reason Summer in Germany is wetter than Spring.




Just don't!




Happy to say this is no longer the case: )


I smoothed and smoothed the mud, but it was jelly. Jello. Marmelade. Pudding. You cannot lay wood chips on top of marmelade. Well, I had no choice, and thankfully we had a few days of no rain, and I carved out several water bars on the path for drainage.

I tried to channel Aarene and her friends in their trail meister class. How do they do it? OK, obviously, you want the trail to have a slope to it so the rain runs off and not through the middle of the trail. Harder than it sounds, specially with jelly.

I did all this excavation work with a hoe, and waited a few days for the jelly to settle. It didn't settle much, but the rains are coming again, so I had to get to work.

I've spread most of Mt Wood but left some for trouble zones to appear as the heavy, tiny-footed animals pass through the path several times a day. Mag likes to canter through there. It's not nice.





Today they followed me back and forth through the path with every wheelbarrow load. It was annoying but cute. Also, their hooves showed me the deep spots as I worked, so I could correct as I went. The most amazing thing - Mag and Bellis can now go to pasture and back again, and come in with dry legs! Woo! I don't mind muddy hooves, but mud up to the pastern is no good.

If you want to see what the path looks like now, I don't have a photo but I do from last time, and it's pretty much the same: link to photos.

Envy the Ever-Yellow state I come from, with its dust and thick air. Cuz I hate mud so much Italy is looking good to me now.