But I did break a rule today. A big one apparently. I just didn't think, it never crossed my mind, it never came up until today??
I crossed the street before TP and cars went by between us. I waited for her on the other side, of course, but by the time she crossed, she was pissed. She unloaded on me, how "one just doesn't do that!" Apparently staying together to cross a street is important. Well, duh, of course it is. I just didn't think. She went on and on, scolding me for how unsafe that was, and I just nodded and said, "OK."
I thought about how I'd have handled the situation if someone did something dangerous, and I needed to tell them. I'd phrase it as a question, "In the future, can you wait for me at street crossings? It's really important to my safety."
She wasn't as pissed as I've seen her in the past but she sure can go into lecture mode!
The grass is so close to his mouth, and he's not allowed to eat it.
I took this pic to show you what does not exist in Seattle - horizons like this with no taller hills/mountains behind.
When I arrived at her place, I was 15 minutes early, and she was sitting on her terrace drinking coffee. Her horse wasn't ready! I couldn't believe it cuz I had really wanted to sleep in, and dragged myself out of bed before 7 AM and hurried over to her place.
I sat there a half hour while she got ready, and watched her annoying puppy pester Mag. It's the type of dog who will run up behind you, bite you/graze you with its milk teeth, and then run off before you can react. I popped in the jaw a couple times til it discovered Mag is more interesting, and apparently is just fine with puppies. (Videos at end of post.)
All breeds, including this Airedale, have long tails in Germany cuz altering ears/tails is not allowed.
We made our way to the Bayer Bush loop, the one I've done twice already this week, and she told me it's her second time there. What? Seriously? (It's much closer to her house than mine.) So, all these years, and it turns out she's just starting trail riding. She's only been on trails a handful of times, and her own trails, twice? Wow. Why? Well, she's going on a two-day distance ride next month and wants to get ready. It's one of those rides where no horse trailers are involved, you ride all day, camp at some stable, and then ride all day home. Sounds awesome, but I'm not there yet with Mag. (To differentiate from American distance rides, these involve riding trails that lead you to villages you must ride through, in traffic, and then back to a trail that leads to the next village, and so on. There are horse trails all over Germany, but they don't go far before your'e at another town again.)
The guy leading the ride is the one who owns Ibn and Star Island - interesting cuz I didn't know he was still riding. TP told me today that he tells people I'm "the scared one" and I'd heard the same thing from S1, he told her the same thing about me. So, that's nice, that this guy tells everyone, including people I know, that particular fact about me. Since we're talking about him, I'll let you know why I only rode with him once on my own horse (Mara): He couldn't stop telling me what to do/how to ride the entire time. Again, if I were a child, I'd be more accepting of that. How old do I have to get before people accept that I'm grown up?
So we're going down the BB loop, and suddenly TP takes a turn to the right, up a muddy, washed out logging road. I said, "That is not the BB loop!" she said, "But I did this yesterday!" I said, "OK it's fine I'm just telling you, since it's your second time here, that is not the official loop. It's no problem!" So we scrambled up this hill that was truly steep - she said, "Is this like your home?" I said, "Yes!"
Mag was bewildered to be there, we really need to do more exploring.
Then we crossed a huge hay field - which makes me very nervous, in addition to me not knowing where I was, and then suddenly I knew where we were! We'd taken a huge short cut, well, eliminating most of the loop (lol) and were almost home.
Then she took me through this village that I'd only ridden through twice in the entire time I've lived here cuz it's no fun - just a long straight street with traffic racing full speed.
We are almost to that village with the busy road in this video:
On that road, inevitably, a car came, and suddenly TP was very commanding again.
"GO TO THE RIGHT! WE MUST STAY TOGETHER! SAME SIDE AS ME! GO TO THE RIGHT!!!!" I had this urge to just go left and show her that cars can actually drive between two horses, but I complied.
Now that one is just stupid, if that's a rule. I've never had anyone tell me horses must stay together if cars are coming! Is she the only one or do I just hang out with dangerous rule-breakers?
Ugh, I predicted her behavior but was surprised to see how it manifested today.
I must say I expect a certain amount of riding etiquette when I'm out there, for example, waiting for each other at obstacles. S1 has really good trail manners. Ani does not. I guess I fall in the middle, with a splash of DANGER in traffic! *gasp*
So now you know, if you ride with me, I'm gonna go infuriatingly slow, but I might get crazy with the cars.
What I found interesting, not just how careful Mag was, was that Mag would stop eating and just hang his head there immobile. Since Mag has no dog experience that I know of, I'm curious whether he would have been as patient if it was an adult dog.
18 comments:
I forgot to add the part about the hot air balloon. As I was cleaning Mag's very special hind hooves, he suddenly jerked away from me. I scolded him and pushed him back where he was and said, "Don't fuss around when I'm down there!" And then I realized he was shaking all over in fear. I looked at what he was staring at, and a huge yellow and red hot air balloon was coming up over the horizon. Holy crap! I apologized to him and said, "I hate those too Mag." And then I prayed it would not come back when we were out there on the fast street! Thank God it didn't, I think I'd lose Mag if a freaking hot air balloon approached us out there. Another thing to miss about Seattle - no freaking hot air balloons!
Mag is wise not to engage with the puppy. It would only encouraged him. What lovely trails. I would have been trotting or cantering up that hill that you videoed. though. :) Well, I'm glad you got to ride and that you survived (TP). I hope your confidence in Mag is growing.
Oh my gosh! Mag did so well with that puppy, especially with him trying to chew his chestnut off. My farrier is in the habit to tearing off loose chestnuts when he visits. The first time he did it, I was horrified. I was like, "Don't be ripping body parts off my horse." But I guess it's a cleanliness or grooming thing with a lot of people.
I would never let my dogs near other people's horses. You just reminded me how happy I am to no longer go out to my horse paddock in my pajamas at sunrise and have people in hot air balloons floating over my head yelling hello to me. Here we had those powered parachutes flying overhead. They are noisy and annoying, but at least I can hear them coming and know when I'm being observed.
KB, I'd be roaring up hills too, if I had my trusted horses again. (That is a spoiler, btw, re: Princess Buttercup. There is something coming about her.......I just can't say anything until I know, cuz...UGH, it's killing me.)
NM, In this house, we trim chestnuts: ) In fact I've bitched to my farrier that she does not trim them off Momo or Mira, letting them get snaggly and interfering. Just put a little vaseline on, and they'll come off. On a young horse like Mag, I never have to do anything, but when he gets older, I will. Freaking Hot Air Balloons! And those guys in the powered parachutes - I've seen them too, I hope they have earplugs cuz how can you enjoy the view with that noise?
Thank you for complimenting my writing - my best and favorite job was as a Tech Writer and I miss it. Hey, I'd still love to read your blog, can we try again?
You reminded me, when you said you won't let your dogs around strange horses, that on our ride today we encountered a group with 3 dogs and I wanted to know why they had these super long leashes instead of flexi-leads, are they tracking dogs? I stopped Mag to talk to them, and they said, "Sadly no, we just don't want our dogs chasing other animals out here." I said, "OMG thank you so much for keeping them under control!" They said, "Oh, they wouldn't hunt a horse!" (Yah, right...). Anyway the reason I mention this is by the time I was done with my question, TP was way off in the distance on her horse, even though I'd discussed with her beforehand, "Can we talk with these dog people?" WTH. Either she didn't care for the conversation, or she doesn't know how to make her horse stop and wait a moment on trail. NO idea which. Just...I was super annoyed to see her again, on the horizon, moving out of view, regardless of her riding buddy.
Not being able to get her horse stop and wait is probably why she gets angered when separated in traffic. It's not anger but, fear doing the talking is my guess!
Hot air balloons, oh my. Totally understand, Merlin is the only horse I've had that doesn't react to the sound of lions overhead!
Camryn, You are right, in fact, I gave a lengthy speech just now to my husband, how I would have reacted if I was scared in that situation. I would not have been diplomatic or tactful just then! I would have been whiney, "PLEEEASE help me not do that again!" and such. I couldn't have helped it, if my horse had been driven to part the Red Sea of Traffic with his body. That was not the case today with TP - her horse, as she says, is a been there done that horse. I am convinced she was not afraid, cuz her horse stood there statue-like, but I cannot say she did not have demons in her mind. No one can. So I'm guilty. My lesson for the day is to not react angrily, accusingly, when I get scared.
That puppy was actually pretty well behaved...lots of curiosity and wanting to play. And Mag was very understanding? Our 11 month old puppy has lots of herding dog in her (Aussie, BC, cattle dog??) so she can be somewhat annoying. Kate tolerates her fairly well, and totally ignored her and a friend's Boston running zoomies under her last month!
I've nearly given up on trail riding since Kate's accident four years ago, cause there are so few people I trust to go out with... :-(
If you ever say that Mag is afraid of horses, I am going to disbelieve you. He was actually engaging with the pup several times in the first video. And then when he was getting licked/chewed: nothing, no reaction at all. He didn't even swish his tail.
Tolerance of annoying dogs can be taught, sort of. Fiddle was an avowed dog-hater when I got her, now she just shrugs and avoids them if possible and ignores them if avoiding didn't work. Both dogs ran into her stall while she was eating beet pulp this morning, and I chased them back out but not before they each grabbed a slurp of her food--and she let them do it. That's a huge change for her.
When the horse isn't with a person, I figure they get to make their own choices. Mag made some nice ones in your videos.
I do think TP has got a lot of fear issues. However, if she doesn't use her words, it isn't necessarily your job to alleviate those fears. You don't need to spend your day trying to guess when/if she is frightened. You are (pretty) good at articulating the stuff that scares you, so now you have a rep as a fearful rider--except I've ridden with you and you don't seem scaredy to me.
Evensong, I would love to ride with you! If only we lived a little closer together.
I'm glad that everyone survived! I think you handled it well. I can't stand to be lectured once I agree with someone. If they go on and on and I usually say something!
Im pretty sure i read that altering tails and ears is now illegal here too, which makes me happy.
Re: trail etiquette: normally I stay on the same side of the road, only because some of the horses i ride with aren't so good in traffic and they feel better having a buddy right there. I've never heard of it being really bad not to be together, though!
We have a huge problem with loose dogs on our trails - Bridget had one grab her tail just a couple of weeks ago. The owners always seem clueless, and sometimes they even get angry with us because our horses might hurt their "friendly" dogs. So weird.
That puppy is trying to engage with Mags the way he would with an older dog. Licking the chin and bowing are things pups do with adults to greet them them and invite play. Mags was amazingly tolerant!! Personally, I would not let my puppy do that because I don't know many horses who wouldn't try to stomp him. It is cute right now, but could sure go wrong in hurry with a different horse. It is great for Mags though since you never know when you will meet up with a dog.
It is always hard to find a good riding buddy. I've got a good friend to ride with now, but didn't have for many years. It makes such a huge difference to have someone fun and trustworthy to ride out with. I hope you can work things out or find the right person to ride with.
The Dancing Donkey, Curious how many dog owners would let a puppy do that! TP sat there with me for a while, watching it, and commented, "Isn't it nice, the way the horses are so careful with her?" So she's apparently OK with this and it's not the first time. I'm surprised she lets it happen, cuz you never know with horses, even your own horse can be in a mood and crush the dog suddenly, and she lets her dog do this with total strangers.
T, in Germany dog people are less clueless, but there are loose dogs all the same, "surprising" their owners by running toward us "the first time ever."
Evensong, and even though Kate is good with your dog and your friend's, you can't, unfortunately, generalize that to all dogs. Although I trust Mag a lot more than I did before this, a loose dog chasing him can still cause problems.
Aarene, one of Mag's and Bellis' long-term dreams is to be able to touch our cat. She is way too skittish to let them near her, but they sure do try, every chance they get. I think Mag got some satisfaction out of that dog, because it was choosing to touch him! Seli's dog won't let Mag touch him, way too skittish.
I think I've shared this (here?) before: https://youtu.be/r-2tH2EjtCU
The dog is Dom's pibble Herbie (now an adult dog, the video was published in 2011) and the big brown horse is a STB cousin of Fiddle's called Jabbie. Your video reminded me of them!
Aarene, thanks for sharing! Her puppy let the horse actually nibble on her!
I think I've finally broken Carrots of her dog-stomping habit.
I THINK.
I feel like this lady has never watched a horse and/or donkeystomp or kick a dog. Maybe I've just seen more than my fair share, having grown up riding where loose dogs are trouble and horses are encouraged to "herd" them? Even though Mag was amazing, it still made me nervous to watch!
When I'm driving I must say I do not like to have the horses I pass on both sides of my car. If they both have a problem and freak out I have no where to go and one of them may want to get to the other for "safety" as horses sometimes do. I do think it is better to both be on the same side of the traffic.
Mag is so good with that puppy! That is terrific! You have come so far with him!
Becky, yer right. But sad to say, she had the horrible experience of having her horse impale itself on a piece of rebar (that they use for fencing) and the horse's entire body swelled up (air under the skin - emphysema) and almost died, and they did not remove the rebar: (
It's human to make huge mistakes with our animals. But it's odd to not let our mistakes change our behavior. I totally get it when some people refuse to ever hard tie a horse. They have obviously seen the case where the horse loses the fight with the rope and breaks its neck.
Hey, does your foal have a bridle path? I've been noticing and wondering. Also, how many people have asked if you named her after the guy on the football field who blows the whistle? My husband's response to her name, "She named her horse referee!?" *lol* No, she named her horse the wake-up in the army song. NO....
jVO, well obviously you understand horses. I'll keep it in mind next time I feel the urge to split up. I drive on our street as well as ride, and often have had riders wave me impatiently by, "Just drive!" *lol* OK then. I think it's so nice that most of the drivers here slow down and pass wide and wait for me to nod at them. It's odd when they don't, and I say to Mag, "Well his house was on fire."
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