Ani abandons us

My first ride out with Ani on Mafia Mare! I was excited but wary after our hand walk the other day.

Sure enough, when I parked Mag to get on, Rudi would not wait for us. I admit, it takes a while for me to get on cuz I have to unclip my reins from my saddle, tie up my 12 foot rope in a safe manner, then align Mag, then get on, then give him a cookie for being so patient with the process. And he's not allowed to take off right after the treat he has to stand a few seconds and then be told to go.

My whole process apparently is beyond the patience of well, pretty much every horse Ani has ever ridden with me. She shouted at Rudi, "Unerzogen!" which means "untrained!" as she kept trying to stop and then tried to turn the mare around again when she walked off again. She never totally left, but was moving further and further down the trail, exactly what Mira used to do.

Today I came to the realization that Mag's walk isn't as forward as I'd always thought. Why is it when we finally hit the halfway point and start heading toward home, Mag cannot keep up with other horses?

Last time it was TP, and she got so far ahead of us, she was just gone, and when we finally found her, Mag was shocked, he'd "forgotten" he was with that other horse apparently.

Not this time, unfortunately. As Rudi got away from us, Mag started to fuss, tossing his head and biting his reins, and even throwing in some jigging. No jigging, ever. I yelled at him a few times "Just Walk!" partially for Ani's benefit, because she was getting pretty far away and I wanted her to know we were having trouble.

At one point I asked her to wait for me, and the mare only conceded to wait until we were about 20 meters behind her before she insisted on going again. Which is not too bad, but not really riding "together" with someone, if you cannot even talk to the other person. I kept trying to have a conversation with her and then I'd realized I was shouting because she was so far away, and I understood nothing she said. Ridiculous.

Finally Rudi was so far ahead, she disappeared and Mag started to freak out. I jumped off him and ran him backwards and yelled "Now just stand here." Poor Mag looked into the distance frantically, we heard a far-off whinny, and then he gave up and walked very slowly behind me, stopping every time I stopped. We'd been abandoned.

One of my most awful memories with Mag was when we encountered a crew using a tree chipper in the street and we had to pass, and they did NOT STOP chipping trees. Mira freaked out and started trotting fast to get by the thing, leaving us. I was on foot with Mag (Hohestrasse) and he was literally trotting backwards directly in front of me as I walked.  He wanted to bolt off with Mira and I realized if he had gotten away from me, it would have ended very badly for Ani, because Mira would have joined him in the middle of the 100KPH street.

That day, when I finally caught up to her, she was very upset and said, "I couldn't control her!"

Yah I get that.

Today I finally caught up with her and she was on foot, holding the mare by the reins, arguing with her to stand still.

I was so frustrated - because these are not the only two times it has happened - but I just said, "Please don't leave me."

She said sorry, explaining she couldn't stop. I just repeated, "Please don't leave me." She said sorry again.

A few meters further she turned up a trail toward Hohestrasse to go home, and I said, "I'm gonna go home now, but through the woods." Then I said something about how we both have to work on both horses' training.

I hate to make Ani look bad, I know she's frustrated and feels helpless. I can conclusively say she is what I call a "passenger" when she rides on trails. Perhaps in the arena she's brilliant. I know that being a passenger on a horse is no fun, so I empathize. I felt like a passenger a little today, my first time on Mag since early September.

I had my map in my pocket and I was going to do some exploring, something I've waited so long for. This is my favorite part.

My goal this Winter is to explore every trail I'm unfamiliar with, to truly know this area.

I was hoping Ani would want to join me today but she didn't. I honestly think Seli is the only person who would even consider exploring with me, and she's gone, so it's just me and Mag.

I got "lost" three times today. Once I traversed a huge field and then realized at its end, it was the wrong field entirely. So I traversed the next one. I was soaking wet.

Then I thought I was on a trail but it wasn't and had some really good bushwhacking training for Mag!

Then two other trails just ended at private property signs/fences and I couldn't believe it, they look like real trails! OK this is good. I never have to make these mistakes again. I can cross those off my map!

But I got back to that awesome trail S1 showed me, mounted Mag at the bottom, pointed him up there and it was just as incredible as I recalled. Mag was slipping around in the mud (it's not an official trail, and very rutted). I explained to him this is a good thing, no one uses this trail, it's OURS: )

He kept trying to trot to catch his balance and try for the inertia that helps horses get up steep hills, and I made him walk. I found he would not stand still for me more than 14 seconds today, which is about 12 seconds longer than Ani's horses can stand. I shouldn't be upset, but Mag can normally make it to 20. Near the top it leveled out a little and was magical. There were these enormous flowers with cotton instead of blooms (?) I'd never seen before, and butterfly bushes everywhere, and my favorite trees, larch. I was able to enjoy myself a little, and then we were back on pavement, as always.




(Someone else's photo of this area.)

But, near home I was exhausted and got on Mag's back for one last climb up my favorite switchback. It was awesome. He was surefooted and calm, and we passed the Icelandic herd with no issues (but he wanted to talk to them so badly!). I wish that trail were many, many times longer than it is. Sadly there are no really long climbs around here to get a horse focused/behaving.

When I got home my watch said 2PM. Holy crap, we'd been out since 10:15! We'd made it past my 3 hour mark, what I used to consider minimum for a good training ride. Though most of it was mental today, there was a sheen of perspiration on the underside of Mag's saddle. Not what you'd call sweat, but better than nothing.

Wish I'd had my camera today - it is the most beautiful time of the year here. Up at the top of the hill the countryside spread out before me, a mix of colors (mostly green and yellow). Soon there will be nothing but another layer of cornflakes on the ground.

Today's a national holiday in Germany - All Saints' Day. So nice to have my man home midweek.