Thought I had nothing to say, again I surprised myself

Again I spent almost 6 hours at the barn and never lacked anything to do! I arrived before dawn and Willy and I cleaned stalls together. I should say, I cleaned my one stall and he cleaned 10 in the same amount of time. Cuz I like to really clean it. And everyone else just removes the obvious manure and then sprinkles fresh bedding over what's left. Ugh. I was in my zone, sifting through bedding and capturing the tiniest pieces to dispose of. It's a very mindful activity for me.  I shouted, "Willy look, you did 6 while I did .......half of my stall!" He said, "If I were as careful as you, I'd be at it all day and no horse would get fed or watered." I hope he wasn't offended.

I left Mag with his bucket and went into the "lounge" to eat some snacks (at 6:30 there was no time for a decent breakfast) and read a book called European Warmbloods. Every so often I'd walk out and wave to Mag, "I'm in here, no worries."

Someone had left a half-eaten Bundt cake on the table and I picked it up and it was rock hard. It reminded me that just yesterday I hit my 10 kg mark, I've lost 10 kg since starting Atkins Nov 2015. 21 pounds. I feel great and have no more symptoms of hypoglycemia, which plagued me my entire life. Sugar doesn't appeal to me. I eat a little 70% chocolate every week, but I'm not a sugar freak, I mostly love salty stuff, which isn't common in Germany. I would have had problems in America trying to conform to Atkins, because of all the MEXICAN FOOD!

Back to the book. Zweibruecker horses are closely related to Hannoverians. Trahkeners are mostly TB and Arab. The hot/warm/cold blood thing is a mystery, why we say that, but goes back to antiquity. "We found no difference in the blood temperature when we measured..."

Finally I let Mag play and roll and then I worked him 20 minutes over ONE cavaletti, wow he has trouble still even with one. But he was working hard and I was not going to go past 20 minutes despite the expert advice I've been given lately. Cats prowled the arena, worrying me a little.

Nina came with her gleaming black Paso Fino Leitstute (lead mare) , the Dowager Countess, and I finally showed her who that was, cuz Downtown Abbey is not big in Germany. My mom had sent us a "picture per day" calendar for the show, and Feb 19 was Violet's day. And the quote was alright, "If I were to look for logic, it would not be in the English upper class!" However my favorite of hers is, "Isn't it cold on the moral high ground?" : )  I have pondered that line a while and I cannot fathom a situation where I'd find it appropriate to say.

Nina said, "I knew it, I knew it was this actress, from how you described her! But my mare isn't quite so old!" Of course not, but she is "klasse" - the best.

Then Nina put on her mare's mechanized respirator, and said, "I heard you fell off. From a cat jumping in front of you. I think it's because the cats around here are hungry all the time, and Gabi doesn't feed them." I asked, "Are they Gabi's cats?" "Yes, but she doesn't care for them, so we all do, and when the cats see people and their horses, they get excited and climb around toward us and such." Hm.

She explained that Gabi is a dog and horse person, not a cat person.

I was so tempted at that moment to gossip about Gabi myself - gossip is my main human frailty, but I held back.

Nina mentioned the state-wide high school conferences that are going on this week; she knows my man is involved too. I said, "Yes, a very long week, and for him even longer yesterday when a kid pulled the fire alarm for fun!"

It's great that Nina seems to have bonded with me cuz of my empathy with her job. Also cuz Nina seems to be one of the cool kids at the barn. And her horse lives nowhere near mine, and over time I've discovered *proximity* in the stalls makes for tighter friendships. Hm!

I spent a couple hours at the high school today with my man and I am so uncomfortable around kids, J laughed when some students said "Hello Herr W, hello Frau.....I forgot yer name!" He smiled and  said, "They don't know you're my wife, they thought you were another teacher." Whatever, I just remember how uncomfortable I was in high school. It's not better to be an adult there.

Anyway, Mag was quite warm so I put a fleece cooler over his saddle/butt for the first time. That is a big deal for Mag, he has issues with fabrics. I lamented a little to myself, "Wouldn't it be great to just be able to throw a blanket over this horse and not have the very real possibility of a flip out?"

Every single day, but Mag is not even happy about me toweling his face. The cooler slipped a little and the straps hit his legs and he looked at me, "Hey, do you see what is going on here? I'm getting whacked in the legs with straps and snaps!" I said, "Yes, it's very good for you and I'm proud of you for not, I mean, for continuing peacefully, even though you've 'J'd' your tail." Poor Mag. Finally the thing was almost dragging on the ground so I took it off him. But I did wear my rain coat to ride and he did not like that at all....

Another nondescript but attractive blond chick* was lunging Wolke, the mare that everyone asks me "Is that Wolke" when they see Mag.

She was sweet, "Hey, I heard you fell off." I said, "Yes.." She said, "Was that recently?" "YES."

She was ultra polite and gave me half the arena. J said I could have, per the rules, insisted that I get the ganze bahn, but honestly I didn't want it. So I worked on an old exercise my Seattle dressage trainer did with us - spiral in and out on a circle. I'm now realizing that Mag really needs leg aid comprehension. He gets it a little, but not consistently. So this is a perfect tool. Spiral out from 0 meters to 3 meters to 6 and then to 15, with leg yielding. I've decided to color code the rings so that I can visualize accurately. "Now let's go to the blue ring, now the green..." Heck it can't hurt.

At one point Wolke exploded when asked to canter, bucking and tearing it up. Mag jolted to a stop, "WTH!" I said," These things happen Mag." And the lady said, "Are you OK?" I said, "No worries, my horse is awake now!" *lol*

I loved Mag's total focus as I saw our reflection in the mirrors. He was also watching the mare Wolke, but he was mostly paying attention to me.

I put him face against  the wall to get some side steps, but he became confused. It ended well, but we need to work on that. My leg *here* means your hind end moves, and my leg *here* means your forehand moves. He's not obstinate, he's just lazy and distracted. We'll get it.

I found it funny that Mag let out a big sigh as we approached the arena door, and that lady said, "Oh, I know, I know.": )

Mag got an APPLE today, I think he may have forgotten about those. He followed me around his paddock as I scooped nearly-defrosted poop out of snow. He nuzzled my head and I rubbed his chest and face. Sweetheart!

I'm having dreams about Baasha lately, but it gets blurred together with images of Mag. I say "Baasha!" in my dream, but it's a ridiculous situation like my horse having trouble getting into a trailer, which would not be Baasha.

I do check Mag's legs for blood, and count the correct number of legs, every time I see him.

He nickered at my whistle today happily.

OK ......it's likely I'll buy apples again soon.

(No worries for Bellis, she gets carrots and fresh bakery bread every day. I do feel badly for her, but we  have been spoiling her as much as possible. I promise her it won't be too long.)

*  -  I'm continually confused by how similarly gorgeous German women are, with no makeup at all. They are superstars in horsey clothing here. And their faces all bleed together for me. Blond, fit, tall....I cannot keep them all apart. And it gets worse when I try to differentiate the blond fit teenagers at the barn. When I arrived in Germany  my first time in 2005, the first thing I noticed was "everyone is so beautiful, and no one wears makeup."