Sunday, September 9, 2018

Springtime in September

We seemed to have survived the only drought I've experienced in Germany, because we've had a few light rains and then one soaking rain this week. (But I'm not putting my AC unit away, not yet!)

But what is going on out there? The grass looks like April. It is recovering and bright green and ....wth....there are dandelions blooming! I don't recall dandelions outside of Spring.







Normally we have two hay cuttings but this year only one, and the drought came at the perfect time to make a second cut not necessary - everything froze in place for 3 months (and got a little crispy for the first time).







If "2nd Spring" continues, we may have to employ the sheep to come trim. That should blow Mag's mind.













***

I wanted to mention something odd that Mag did on our ride yesterday with TP. I think he may have short term memory problems. OK I just saw Finding Dory this week (my first time - and it's exactly half as good as Finding Nemo).

TP doesn't let other horses get near her horse. Like, nowhere near. No problem, I don't want Mag getting cracked by a shod hoof, and that horse hates everyone. So we didn't do any introductions, we just head out, and her horse got quite a ways ahead of us, repeatedly (I'd either trot to catch up, or she'd stop and wait, but most of the time he was pretty far ahead).

A few times he'd disappear around a bend, and Mag was OK with that, though I felt like I was riding totally alone (not a bad thing, just oddly anti-social of TP). Then TP stopped at a creek to wait for us (very nice manners!). Her horse turned 90 degrees to look back at us, and a ray of sunlight shone down on his white coat, making him gleam almost painfully.

Mag kind of freaked out. He slammed on the brakes and threw up his head, eyes bulging, heart racing, "Who/What is that!?" I couldn't believe it. I've never had a horse forget who we were out with before.

Could it be, that Mag was daydreaming, in his own world, on a familiar trail, and he assumed we were with Mira or Moni? The setting would be right. Could it be?  Cuz that's exactly what it felt like.

I told Mag he was being ridiculous and told him to walk on and he did, after some contemplation. I tried to tell TP that he was having memory problems but I'm sure she has no idea what I was yelling about back there. 

Freaking weird, huh? The rest of the ride I tried to stay close enough to not let Mag lose his mind again.

Maybe Mag really does have a screw loose. I mean, seriously, something physically wrong in his brain that he forgets how to be ridden, or forgets to not kick people, and forgets who he's with on trail.

***

My horse magazine made me laugh/complain to J again, a recipe for horse popsicles where you blend carrots and add apple juice and freeze.



Certainly putting a carrot in the fridge's coldest shelf would be simpler?: ) I'm afraid this must be stolen from an American horse magazine, because 1. Food coloring is illegal in Germany and those are way too orange and 2. That particular shape for a popsicle does not exist here.


My horse catalog made me laugh too. What a great marketing idea! Save the sheep, buy fake wool! Wonderfully clever.



***

I'm going through an "expunge" phase and enjoying selling things on ebay that I don't use. I hate to part with this saddle but it's not getting any more valuable sitting around. So I put the price high enough (cuz I'm really torn) and we'll see what happens.




I got one email, asking me if the blanket it's sitting on is for sale. *LOL* No, that blanket is precious. Maybe as precious as the saddle that I spent so much time in. So I told the guy, "For 1000Euros you can have the blanket, saddle, and shipping. No Paypal."

Omygosh the guy just wrote me back, just this moment, "I don't need a saddle, cuz I don't have a horse." And then another email, "But I still want to buy the blanket." I'm cracking up here. That blanket has a lot of history with me. It was there when I got my first (only) blue ribbon at a dressage show.





What am I thinking I cannot sell this saddle!

***

Update:

I just got home from a family birthday party, and checked my email.

I got another mail interested in my saddle, but not. "Hello, I'm interested in the colorful wool blanket under the saddle in the photos."

WTH! J told me it's time to put the blanket on ebay in a real auction of its own.

You cannot even see the pattern in the photo, or how ratty the 20 year old blanket is. Still, I won't part with it for less than....hm.....

4 comments:

Camryn said...

Save the sheep!!! Can't stop laughing 😂
Wondering if perhaps TP's (TP is our abbreviation for toilet paper on groceries list by the way) might have been sending Mag "don't get to close" body language? I know when I showed dogs we were mega aware of what dogs may or may not be telling one another ringside. Studs especially! One "your Mother wears army boots" look and WHAM!"

AareneX said...

Your "springtime" is beautiful.

Here, we no longer have Summer. Calendar be damned, it's raining PG, leaves are falling, and we are harvesting EVERYTHING as fast as we can before it all goes moldy.

Àlready I miss having warm feet.

I sold Story's saddle years ago--it would never in a million years fit Fee, so I kissed it goodbye and sent it away. When I saw it at the Monroe tack sale last year, I didn't even check the tag--it still wouldn't get used here. I don't need to dust stuff to remember her. ;-)

AareneX said...

*I don't know why spell check put "PG" into my comment. Computers are weird.

lytha said...

Camryn, I think of toilet paper too, those are her initials, which is no problem in Germany: ) I wonder that too, if he was mentally keeping Mag away.

Aarene, I raked for the first time today, but the ground was bone dry underneath, which is usually not the case! J asked if my Wintec would fit Mag - of course it will. To be honest though, the Haflinger Momo put the saddle to its outer limit (widest setting was not wide enough) and the horse was so round I couldn't get the saddle tight enough to stay in his middle, and I just rolled all over the place! So it won't fit every horse.

I'm thinking of making manure "tea" again, this time for MY garden. That's taking most of the nitrogen out of the poop, right?