Back home - and working on Plan B

Home from a stressful but very productive trip to Germany. Accomplished a lot: Found senior apartment for Mutti that is pretty much perfect: Large, bright and airy, 10 min. from her house, next to a park, in the city center, and affordable. My friend Stephanie said it's like winning the lottery. My parent's house is on the market, and there are already three serious buyers interested. If all goes well the house sells and Mutti moves into her apartment. However... before that happens a lot of other things need to be taken care of - Sorry, Michael! (that's my brother who is stuck with the paperwork).

So while all that is good news, the bad news is that the apartment rental needs to be effective February 1st at the latest. So that means moving sometime in February, and cleaning out the "museum" (aka my parent's house). It is filled with hunting trophies, art, etc. Mutti only wants to take one piece of furniture, so we also have to buy furniture for the new place.

Why is that bad news? Well, that puts a serious bump in my plans for Florida. Bump as in "trading Welly-Land for Leonberg". Aside from the fact that stall and room are non-refundable, Remy has been going super lately and I really want to continue to 'ride the wave'.

Today was our last lesson for the year with Roz (snief) - and we finished on a very good note. His collection is getting better and better, feeling effortless. Roz reminded me to work on "less is more" when we are on our own.

So, if Welly-Land indeed doesn't pan out, we've got a Plan B: Jumping with Lisa (and JP and Chambord, of course), Dressage clinics with Laurie, trail riding, and whatever else we can find to beat the winter blues. Luckily, the indoor at Berwyck is heated, and as it's only a bit over a mile from home its a very good solution. Roz might even come back to the Frozen Tundra (aka Michigan) for a clinic. I'll also check into a remote coaching system that works with WiFi. And Remy will enjoy vacation while I'm in Germany, that's the part of Plan B he prefers.

With all the action around house and apartment I still was able to go with my friends Stephanie and Ingrid to the Stuttgart German Masters, and we had a grand time. You can google it to see excerpts. And speaking of apartment: I was super spoiled and had my very own luxury apartment during my stay in Stephanie and Harald's house. It was living like  "Eine Made im Speck" (lit. "a maggot in bacon") = to live in luxury.

How very fitting!

Endspurt - rushing in almost all areas, except for one

Ah, here I go again, rushing to get everything squared away before leaving for Germany on Sunday. I've been contemplating applying for the Morgan Dressage Scholarship, as it would be really helping with training costs this winter. Of course, I need to submit it tomorrow (!) and I lack a) show record, b) good photos, c) good video clips. So not sure how I could pull this off.
At the 11th hour we are trying to get some video clips, and Chapin and JP have volunteered, but the indoor is dark, and somehow I would need to "cut and paste" which I don't know how to do. And I don't have any good -clear- photos either. One more try today, just as temps are in the 20s...

On the travel side I might have to fly without clothes - as I'm 'paying' Stephanie for the apartment in "Moose Munch Currency" I have about 6 kg of Moose Munch stuff assembled. Michael, my brother,  had bought a bunch of vintage vinyl records in the US and Canada and they are now to be hand-carried to Germany by yours truly.  Add to that some other small gifts and the suitcase is at the allowed weight limit.

In addition, there is a laundry list of other things to do, and I have client appointments this afternoon where the travel time alone is three hours. Never a dull moment.

While I can sprint like I'm on a perpetual 100m run, one area I don't rush is with the horses:

"As time goes on, all the little things will fall into line. We should be adjusting to fit the horse. Fix it up and let it work. You can't make it happen, and you can't put your time limit on it. You can just set it up to enable him to learn. Sometimes the slower you go, the faster your learn." - Ray Hunt

Our Halloween: No tricks, only treats - and that would be a great costume

Remy decided to skip the tricks and give me treats on Halloween - and I didn't even have to wear a costume! It was one of the magic rides (OK, sounds corny but bear with me) when things fall into place, it's effortless, and you can feel the self-carriage, and collection. We even had half-steps. All this in his snaffle. The prep had a lot to do with it: After he had warmed up on the longe line, Roz suggested to use side reins for a few minutes, to give Remy the feel of what we were after. It did the.. dare I say it?..trick.

I was so excited I texted my friend Andra about it. Only a -dressage- horseperson understands the high one gets when you have these elusive moments of connection with your horse and you feel almost like a Centauress. BTW, that would be a great costume!

Centauress, painting by John La Farge, Brooklyn Museum

Remy is not a dressage prodigy - and neither am I. So we have to work for it, and Remy does make sure that I work for it, preferably harder than he does!

The clock is ticking regarding my lessons with Roz, only one more week left before I head to Germany. By the time I come home we have two lesson days left and then Roz is heading South. Remy and I will be joining JP and Chambord in their Lisa-lessons; between the four of us one should be able to remember her courses :-)

Follow up to the previous blog: View this morning - 

A view only Paulette (in Florida) could love!

The Last Hurrah before winter? - and 'borrowing' from the horses' kit

We had beautiful fall weather on Monday, just perfect for trail riding. Looking out of our kitchen window made me smile: the boys in front, gorgeous 'flaming' trees in the back.

I felt super lucky that we were able to squeeze in a trail ride between my client appointments, how cool!

The Last Hurrah before winter?

Not so cool was the 'companion' I had apparently acquired...  During Taco Tuesday dinner with our friends Angie and Ed at the local brewery I noticed my hip hurt, and I joked that I probably got bumped into a stall wall and didn't even register it. Well, when I took my jeans off that night I almost shrieked (OK, I did) because I was so grossed out: There was a tick. Yikes! I got JP out from under the shower and he had to go to work with tweezers STAT to get the offending thing off me. It was very small, so hopefully it hadn't been on me for too long. But still, right away I fretted about Lyme disease.

As I had my annual check up this morning I thought, OK, I'll ask the doctor about it. Well, my check up was with the OB/GYN, and the poor guy was clearly puzzled. I joked that after all it could have been a FEMALE tick, but it was still way out of his comfort zone. He got his phone and did a google search - Guess he better sticks to delivering babies!

I called my primary physician and she recommended that I  watch what happens, fever, chills, swellings, rashes, etc. As the tick was very small chances are good that we got it off in time.

The interesting part was that -once again- the horses are way better outfitted than I am. I have a few band aids in the bathroom drawers, that's about it. However, the equine first aid kit is comprehensive (of course!). That's where I dug in to get rubbing alcohol and antibiotic ointment that MY google search revealed as recommended first line treatment of tick bites. I'm sure the boys won't mind - as long as I don't eat their cookies they are fine!

And yes, as I am writing this it seems that fall gave us a Last Hurrah indeed. It's cold, raining, with snow flurries in the forecast for the next days. Only six more months till Spring!

Busy times - and yes, I can count to three

I really appreciate the 'gentle reminders' from friends that like to read the blog when I haven't written in a while. It's been busy, but good busy. Horse and Sense LLC is doing very well, and word of mouth has brought many new clients. Yesterday for example I spent the day at a lovely farm in Michigan Horse Country (Metamora), working with wonderful horses that responded beautifully to the bodywork. The gamut ran from the equine equivalent of a Ferrari to an adorable QH. At the end I was cold, tired, hungry - and very happy.

On our 'horse side' Chambord gave us a bit of a scare as all of a sudden his hind legs had completely stocked up and he refused to move much. Kidney or liver issues came to mind, so we had his blood tested. Luckily the test came back negative but it left is scratching our heads. We checked the pastures for any strange things but couldn't find anything. (And the other guys were perfectly fine). I wrapped his legs overnight with Uptite poultice and by the next morning the spook was gone. Legs were nice and tight. The only thing I could come up with was that Chambord had been munching on too many leaves and this had affected his system somehow. I mean, why eat the yummy hay when you can have decaying leaves??

Remy has been doing well in our lessons. We are increasing the difficulties and so far -knock on wood- he hasn't thrown a temper tantrum. His canter is improving steadily, to the right has always been more of a balance issue. The funny thing is, I keep the canter in a really good rhythm when I count: Eins, zwei, drei, eins, zwei, drei,... I quipped to Roz, well, at least I can count to three! - there is saying in German "kann nicht bis auf drei zaehlen" (can't count to three, which means not the smartest).

The weather adds a bit of excitement to the riding, it can go from mid 60sF to mid 30sF. And those cold mornings are excellent for adding 'airs above the ground':

I do get on - but only after longing first :-)

Benefitting from the experts in the expert's life - and wish my dad could have seen me

Remy and I finished our dressage week with a fun exercise: Half pass to center line, pirouette, continue half pass. Roz explained that this is an exercise she learned from Conrad Schumacher, an expert dressage trainer. It's great to have a coach/trainer with a broad background because you benefit from his/her education. The long lining expertise Roz bestows on us comes from Cathy Connelly. And that are just a few examples on how we benefit from someone with an excellent background, education, and network.

The other day I saw a FB posting from a trainer, saying something along the lines "you don't just pay for an hour of my time, you pay for my expertise, my years of training, the sleepless nights fretting about a training problem,  the blood, sweat and tears of my learning to become the horseperson that I am". I think that is so true and people tend to forget this.

On a complete different note last night I went way out of my comfort zone … to the gun range for an intro on hand guns. My dad's rifles and handgun have arrived at the gun store, and while I intend to sell the rifles I am thinking of keeping the small .22 Astra hand gun. It's an old model and might not even work anymore, but I thought I might as well get a feel of the whole "gun thing". It was actually fun, and we got to try a variety of models. Kind of cool when the guy tells you: "Bullseye!".  But I'm definitely a small caliber kind of gal and even though the Austrian Gaston Glock is a huge dressage sponsor (his riders were a pin in the shape of a Glock) I'd rather stick to the Germans. Give me one from the Swabian manufacturer, please.

It's sad that I can't tell my dad. He would have been proud.

I won a nice remembrance of the evening:

Never thought I would wear a shell casing on my wrist, but I love it!

"He's MY horse" - and lots of variety

Remy has been doing really well in our lessons (or should I say both of us have been doing well?). I am trusting him more and more, thus relaxing my tight back and thighs, which in turn makes him more supple. Chicken and the egg, I guess?

Yesterday especially I could feel him really being WITH me. He took me on the canter, in a nice contact, instead of me having to push him along. We are getting more and more  -gasp- suspension! And we had some added 'spice' in our outdoor lesson: A small plane doing acrobatics right over us, it was below the tree line. Actually, we thought it would crash, and Roz was ready to call the firefighters, but in the end the pilot apparently enjoyed a game of "Kamikaze". While all this was going on Remy stayed right on task, listening to me, and never put a foot wrong. He really was MY horse that time.

It reminds me what Glenda always said about her training with Gabor Foltenyi: You should feel like the horse is ready to ride into battle with you - because he is with you and he trusts you. Luckily, no battles have to be fought here, only our mental ones.

We are having glorious October weather ("Goldener Oktober" in German), and the four of us are enjoying the trails. The boys are getting very brave, even other horses galloping up to them are no longer seen as threat. They both spooked at something in the bushes yesterday, but it was a "nice and easy" spook, no bolting, just a jump both JP and I could sit. Yay!

Remy can't complain about a boring program:
Sunday - Trail Ride
Monday - Long Reining
Tuesday - Dressage Lesson (morning),  Trailride (afternoon)
Wednesday - Jumping
Thursday - Dressage
Friday - Dressage
Saturday - Off
(Every day turnout in large field with friends, either at home or at Down Under Stables)

Snack or Olive Branch?

Our lovely Morgan boys  (25 year old Saumur is on the right)