Back in the saddle - and a horse fix in form of a purse

Nine days without riding - one of the few things that keep me sane. But a weekend with a good friend in a fascinating city was great therapy, too. Ingrid met me at the Frankfurt airport and we traveled together to Porto, Portugal. We stayed at a historic luxury hotel right in the city center, and explored the UNESCO world heritage site from there. It was good that we had a day trip booked that showed us all the great sites, including a boat trip and a tour of a port winery with tasting. OK, it's official: I am not a fan of the sweet port. Give me a nice, light Loire wine or a Trollinger, or a really good champagne (which I'm having right now), and I'm happy.

Ingrid left and I had to pay my dues for the trip: A week of meetings. I was proud of myself that I kept the spines in. Ah, the advise from good friends: "Don't get into your Porcupine mode - keep the spines in".


Last night I came back to a clean barn, clean house, a full fridge, and happy husband. Note, the list is in random order. Tired but very happy to be home.


Remy was in Judy's capable hands while I was gone and she reported good flying changes. So today I finally could climb on again. We kept it short and sweet, just enough to find my 'riding legs' in preparation for our lesson with Jan tomorrow.


And I got a small horse fix in Porto after all: A purse with -you guessed it- a horse on it from the Portuguese company Cavalinho. It tied me over until I got to the real deal at home.