My Sunday

Sunday morning I had two hard cooked eggs and a little yogurt with some fruit on it. Then I let the lady try to win me over on Schmalzbrot, basically it's lard on bread. Ugh! Nothing helped, not salt, not pepper, it tasted and smelled like lard and I think lard's for cooking, not spreading on bread. She was so nice though, bringing me a teapot of herbal tea, whatever I liked, and asking me about my life in Germany. I told her about my problems trying to buy a horse and she guessed immediately which stable - small town.


I paid and she handed me their business card and asked me to email her when I find my horse someday, tell her I'm the lady who didn't know about Schmalzbrot.

Thankfully the snow had mostly melted and when I drove up I heard the mooing of cows. I was curious so I looked around the corner and sure enough, they had a huge open barn full of cows. The owner lady to meet me and answered my questions. They raise their own beef, this is how they winter them. The sell the calves. With the price of beef in Germany, and the scarcity of steak (I've still never had a good one), I bet the answer is just having your own cows.

I love this type of horsekeeping where the horses have big open barns and they just mingle all Winter. Of course going out is better, but this is way healthier than a box stall. They pointed to a long trough that extended along the entire wall, with chains every meter or so, and they said they tie the babies up every day for their mealtimes. I think that's probably a stress-free way of teaching tying, group tying for meals.

I saw Sara, the teenager, leading a big chestnut mare to the barn. The owner lady took me to get Allegro.

He was lying down in his stall and it took her a moment to get him up. The horse across the aisle was flat out and snoring!

I asked about all these imported Polish horses and she said they come from both Janow and Michalow, the two big Arabian studs in Poland. WHP was right - there is an economic game going on here. She admitted that the Poles don't like geldings, and the Poles in general pay less for Arabians, so they all profit from going to Poland regularly and taking all the rejects/geldings to Germany, training them under saddle, and then ripping off American buy... I mean reselling for a big profit.

BTW, I must note that the three geldings I was shown all had injuries. I've already talked about the over-at-the-knee Cero. Banadero had a weird lump behind his withers where the saddle goes, an old injury because he didn't flinch when I touched it. Allegro has a quarter-sized lump on one of his rear legs. The owner said they got him that way when I asked. These horses were purebred, all branded on their backs (saddle area), and papered. But I couldn't help but note the injuries.

I got Allegro ready after brushing him with lots of long massaging strokes. I felt bad for waking him. Again, he had so much Show Sheen on I couldn't get a grip on anything, ugh!

Sara and I took the two chestnuts outside and mounted, the owner lady holding my stirrup to help me. So nice. I had to try twice because Allegro was bouncing around a bit. The Show Sheen on his mane made it really hard for me to mount. I always grasp saddle and mane and I just couldn't get a hold. I rememebered the time I flew right over Baasha's back, trying to mount after Show Sheening his mane. I landed flat on my back on pavement. Ouch. I hate riding and mounting on pavement but this is Germany.

We rode off down the road, again, pavement making me uncomfortable, and the stupid freaking split reins! I did ask if they had anythind else but they didn't. Next time I'll just bring reins along with me. On such a little horse (under 15 hands), I felt like the reins were dragging on the ground. I'm getting the hang of using them, I just don't prefer it.

Here is a pic of Sara and the mare she was riding. (5K Euro)

Allegro spooked and shied at every single little thing. Crack in pavement. Creek by road. Speed bump. Electric fence. People in distance. I thought, again, what am I in for, and will I survive. I said a prayer.

We made our way up a hill off the pavement finally, and the horses were really up. It was windy out but not too windy, or at least I thought. I realized the mare Sara was on was just as green, and spooking even worse at everything. Sign, fence, bench, person. She'd just slam on the brakes or spin suddenly so Sara was having a challenge. But as we started talking, I found that she loves the thrill of riding young Arabians. OK then.

Then we came to a fallen tree and it was about 8 inches high, really more like a long cavaletti, and her mare refused to step over it. Then she did, and then my horse refused to step over it. Then he did, after some coaxing. I asked, "How many times has he been ridden outside the arena?" She assured me for months, but I could have sworn it was his second time out.

Probably, now that I think about it, it was his first time out in Winter, and that changes things.

I started to get tired of his lookiness and "Oooh, should I spook at that? Should I spook at that?" but the good thing was Sara and I were talking - she wanted to know about America, what she called "Voll Geil" which is teenager speak for "Totally awesome." Yes it is, specially where I come from.

The horses were really upset about the wind which was picking up and pushing on us and making the trees make those scary creaking noises.

A nordic walker just about put the horses over the edge - they both stopped and refused to move until he put his nordic walking poles away. It must have been a sight, two matching Arabians with white blazes and hair blowing in the wind, staring at him in terror.

Then there was the lone lady hiker who scared the horses despite not having any walking sticks. Just a normal lady, and the horses were terrified of her.

Lisa asked if the drive or the ride was scarier. well, when the wind was pushing against my car so hard I had to fight to keep it in the lane, which happened countless times, that was just as scary as pretty much the entire time on that horse. The good thing was, Sara and I were talking. It's hard to be really scared when you're having long conversations, and I think it was a really great experience for these young horses, that we seemed so calm despite the windstorm.

As we headed toward home (thank God) the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't feel or move my hands, and the horses' manes were blowing on the other side, and their tails were streaming out horizontally. I thought "Oh just jump off and walk to warm up" and then thought, "Coward, ride this horse all the way!"

So I did. And felt like kissing the ground when we arrived.

I swear they should just pay me for that, to cover some of the gas/hotel money I spent this weekend. They should pay me for giving that horse some trail training in bad conditions. I think our ride boosted the value of both horses.

The owner lady was excited to ask how it went and I said, "Well it was a good training ride for them." I think she wanted me to say I fell in love with the horse. I was worried about getting back alive so there was no time for the bonding.

I also think he's way too delicate a horse for the kind of work I'd ask for. He's really pretty and I'm sure they'll be able to sell him for way more money in a few more months of training.

Since my man asked, I asked about their grey horses for sale too. I had to try. The lady said, "Oh we have lots of greys but none of them are as far in their training as Allegro."  (!!!!???) So, Allegro was *it*? From the 10 they promised, only Allegro met my criteria, which obviously I let go when I started asking about grey horses.


So I cannot help but think, what am I doing wrong?

I'm so picky but every time I ride a strange horse, I just want to come home and ride Baasha.


It's him I love.


And boy did he get some love from me last night.

I spent hours out there doting on him, sitting in his stall watching him eat, being so thankful that I have him.

And what about Wiszi, that mare I fell for. I want to ask again if they'll accept my offer but it seems so pathetic. They have her ad up still, but they seemed so offended that I did not have "the half" of what she's worth.

For those who ask, shipping a horse costs between 5 and 11 thousand$.

How do you know, when you've learned patience?






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