OMG, what is this thing touching me?? - and Merry Christmas

On Tuesday Remy and I had our second lesson with Vanessa. She wanted him to be more engaged from behind and asked for my whip to tap him just slightly. Well, by Remy's reaction you would think he gets beaten regularly! He was like "OMG, there is a whip touching me!!!" What a drama queen, ahem, king. It sure did the trick and he put his rear wheel drive in gear. JP took some video so it was cool to see (less cool how I almost hugged his neck). 

It's almost Christmas Eve, and I just finished my last client summaries. Time to bring the boys in for their dinner. I am very thankful that despite this crazy year our little world is OK. I spoke with Mutti today, and I have to say I admire her newfound strength and resolve: No complaints about the lockdown, being alone Christmas Eve, etc. She even loved our Christmas present (!), hand delivered by Ingrid.

Time to crack the Cremant de Loire bottle. Dinner tonight is carryout from Diamond Jim Brady's Bistro, owned by a fellow horse woman.  Duck legs for JP, seafood cakes for me, plus various sides, and Apfelstrudel for dessert. No worries, Remy and Chambord, you won't have more weight in your respective saddles - you guys make sure we work it off!

 

And we have a plan - and a birthday celebration by the new rules

 After much back and forth I finally (ouf, says JP) came up with a winter plan: Remy stays home and joins his buddy Chambord at his jumping lesson twice a week. We trailer to Vanessa for a dressage lesson and try to get some remote lessons with Roz as well. The Pivo still sits in its original package, waiting to see daylight. I've been very busy with work and my sugar cube production. Yes, you read that right: Sugar cube production. 

For some strange reasons, sugar cubes are currently not sold in any stores. So I had the glorious idea of making little Christmas goodie bags for my regular clients with home made sugar cubes. (And yes, I am aware that there is a company called 'Amazon' where you can get just about anything, including sugar cubes). Great plan, however, I completely underestimated the production requirements for such a large number of regular clients. Still fun though, and I hope they are appreciated. 

The Horse and Sense Sugar Cube Production

Yesterday, we were invited to a co-birthday celebration. Today is Ed's birthday, so Angie and Ed invited us to a 'socially distanced celebration in the garage': Plenty of fresh -cold- air, room to distance, only members of two households. We had a great time, and the company, food, and drinks kept us warm. Angie completely floored me with her present: A quilt she designed and made for me! It features horses (what else, if you know me), and has cozy flannel backing (again, if you know me you are familiar with my chattering teeth). It feels like I'm wrapping myself in love.

What an amazing gift!

It feels a bit like having an affair - and fun discoveries

 Last Tuesday we had our first lesson with a local Dutch top dressage trainer, Vanessa. I had contemplated it for some time, but it felt a bit like cheating on Roz. However, Roz is in Florida, and we are here. (I'm sure glad JP didn't use that argument when Remy and I were in Florida and he was here 😉). 

We are a bit 'off-kilter', our winter boarding is not working out too great. I know I'm a Type A, and when it comes to my horse's health and safety my hackles go up immediately when things are not like they should be. The barn workers got an email from the owner stating "... as Remy's owner is picky..". Guilty as charged! Also Remy and I can't be left alone to our own devices for too long. We (I!) need the occasional kick in the pants to stay on the straight and narrow - otherwise we'll just play... when the cat is away. Vanessa had watched our lessons with Lilo, and knew what to work on instantly. It was fun, and we learned a lot. Hopefully, we can continue working with her at least once a week during the winter. 

A fun discovery was a present from a trainer and barn owner: Julie is a student of Bettina Drummond's and has done a lot of in-hand work with her. I mentioned I would love to learn more, so Julie gave me a Christmas present in the form of an in-hand lesson with her trained horse, Keegan. I learned how to move the bit in the horses mouth (rotate) for forward and back, how to bounce the whip straight up with my index finger and where/how to touch the horse. Keegan does shoulder-in, haunches-in, half-pass, renvers with the softest feel from the ground. Can't wait to learn more! Even if the ground outside is not good for riding we can still work on fun things. 

This came at the right time, as I definitely fell into a funk this week with my birthday. It helped that my family and friends rallied from a distance, with quotes like "the only whining should be done with wine!". Duly noted!

JPs cousin, Claude, had posted a beautiful poem on FB, and it really spoke to me (see below). Ingrid, you will love this one, too, I'm sure:

Saveur de mots:

Le temps s’est écoulé comme une rivière, je ne l’ai pas vu passer !

J’ai compté mes années et j’ai découvert que j’ai moins de temps à vivre ici que je n’en ai déjà vécu.

Je n’ai désormais pas le temps pour des réunions interminables, où on discute de statuts, de règles, de procédures et de règles internes, sachant qu’il ne se combinera rien…

Je n’ai pas le temps de supporter des gens absurdes qui, en dépit de leur âge, n’ont pas grandi.

Je n’ai pas le temps de négocier avec la médiocrité.

Je ne veux pas être dans des réunions où les gens et leur ego défilent.

Les gens ne discutent pas du contenu, à peine des titres.

Mon temps est trop faible pour discuter de titres.

Je veux vivre à côté de gens humains, très humains.

Qui savent sourire de leurs erreurs.

Qui ne se glorifient pas de victoires.

Qui défendent la dignité humaine et qui ne souhaitent qu’être du côté de la vérité et de l’honnêteté.

L’essentiel est ce qui fait que la vie vaut la peine d’être vécue.

Je veux m’entourer de gens qui savent arriver au cœur des gens.

Les gens à qui les coups durs de la vie ont appris à grandir avec des caresses minces dans l’âme.

Oui… J’ai hâte… de vivre avec intensité, que seule la maturité peut me donner.

J’exige de ne pas gaspiller un bonbon de ce qu’il me reste…

Je suis sûr qu’ils seront plus délicieux que ceux que j’ai mangés jusqu’à présent – personne n’y échappe, riche, pauvre, intelligent, démuni … ”

~André-Gide~

Sadness and Happiness - and hooked on something new

My dear friend Antje in Germany just lost her husband Axel to Covid related complications. Axel was treated in the hospital (unrelated to Covid), and got infected there. I hurt for her, it's so sad. And of course, to make it even more difficult, Antje now is on two weeks quarantine. No personal contact for consolations. Only phone and WhatsApp.. but I guess we should be grateful for modern technology, otherwise we would have to resort to "Per AirMail". Incidentally, I still have a lot of AirMail letters from friends and family. 

Then this morning I saw a FB reminder - 10 years ago I lost the best mare ever. Crissy was my heart horse, a gift from JP to our first anniversary. I had arrived in the US in December, and in February I got a spunky four year old Morgan mare. She was 23 when we had to make the painful decision not to have her suffer through another Michigan winter as her Arthritis was very bad. I so wish I would have had a better vet and to have known then what I know now! 

Crissy (Broadway Crescendo)
1987 - 2010

Today is December 6: Nikolaus Tag in Germany, where good children receive gifts, and if they have an Adventskalendar there is usually a bit of a bigger gift in it. As every year Stephanie went all out with my Adventskalender. She sent 24 lovingly selected, wrapped, and labeled gifts for each day from December 1 to Christmas. Nikolaus/Stephanie meant especially well with me today!

The label text was lovingly selected by Stephanie, 
and then laser etched by her son Bernhard

Then this afternoon JP, Chambord, Remy and I tried our hand at Working Equitation with Brandt. It was WE combined with some police horse training, and the four of us had great fun. It was such a good confidence builder. I loved how the dressage work came into play, i.e. half pass in between narrow boundaries, pick up a large stick stuck in a traffic cone, turn on the forehand, half pass along the other side and put the stick back in another cone. I think we got hooked😊

Billy Idol song on my mind - and we never worked that hard

 Last weekend Remy and I participated in a clinic with top judge and trainer Lilo Fore. What I had seen at a clinic years ago and liked: Tough, but with a sense of humor, extremely thorough... and VERY German (OK, the last one is not always a plus😉). 

But after watching some YouTube videos in preparation for our lessons I got all of a sudden quite nervous: Would Remy and I be up for the challenge? We would soon find out...

Day one we weren't long into the session when Billy Idol's song popped into my mind, and it's been there ever since. ..."in the midnight hour with a rebel yell, she cried MORE, MORE, MORE..." OK, it wasn't the midnight hour, and there was no rebel yell, but German accented yells of MORE, MORE, MORE. I swear Remy and I never worked that hard, and I never had him going so well. No more "not enough impulsion" for this pair! She basically scared us into the best medium canter ever, I thought we were flying. 

Day two all of a sudden Lilo asked me to carry the whip vertical, straight up in front of me. She hadn't been happy with my 'forward seat' and wanted me to sit up and straight. Well, that did the trick, plus Remy getting a glimpse of the whip behind his ears had him at attention. 

That was -almost- me😊

And why did the old masters carry the whip vertical? My friend Glenda, expert on all things classical dressage, had the explanation: It was to show independent use of seat, leg and hands. The double bridle reins were carried in the left hand, the whip in the right. You better had the horse on your aids!

"The raised whip shows supreme mastery of advanced collection and self-carriage without force. " Citation: https://static1.squarespace.com/.../politz-double-bridle.pdf

I have a lot of notes from the clinic, and I will post them in the next days. 

Happy -socially distanced- Thanksgiving! I'm off to ride Remy and then I have to pack Christmas parcels for Germany, write my client reports, clinic notes, Christmas cards, run the dogs, etc. etc. Luckily JP is in charge of dinner! And no, it won't be "Turkey for Two", seafood it is for us ("Bummer", say the dogs, "Yay!" say the cats).

As for the Christmas parcels, I'm already behind, but I guess better late than never. My friend and neighbor Angie did bail me out with some beautiful handmade gifts (can't say what obviously). And even better - she generously donates the proceeds to the local food bank.😍

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Other women get flowers - I get lights

 I meant to post this earlier, but then time just got away from me. I've been very busy with my clients (thank you! I do appreciate all of you), and neglected updating the blog (thank you for all the gentle reminders!).

So, JP had his heart set at installing lights around the arena. I griped about it -yep, I admit it- because really, how likely is it that I want to ride in the cold and dark?? JP persisted and I relented (hmm, is there a pattern?? I'd rather say I pick my battles). But then, there could be days when the temperatures are fine, I'm running late, it's getting dark - so, why not?

And then there was light!

I was joking that "other women get flowers - I do get lights" - and wouldn't you know it, I got lights, flowers, plus a -newly repaired- fireplace. What more could woman want?? 😉

...and flowers

plus a lovely fireplace

Encouraging words - and grappling with the end of the season

Our lessons have been going really well, the highlight being the statement from Roz "Even his worst days are now still better then his best days in the past". Wow! Wish that would apply to me, too ;-)

This week was our last week of lessons with Roz ... until next April. That's quite a bummer, and I'm grappling with it. Even though we have planned on virtual lessons it won't be the same. Speaking of virtual lessons: I just purchased the Pivo system, and am crossing my fingers that I'll get it to work.  

In the meantime, though, we have a very exciting clinic coming up next weekend: Three days with Lilo Fore! I came to it like "Die Jungfrau zum Kinde" (German saying for something very unexpected: Like the virgin to a child). The clinic* wasn't advertised, I was working on client horses when the trainer mentioned the upcoming clinic. I jumped on the opportunity and asked if I could be on the waitlist, not really thinking that there would be an opening. Well, the same evening I got a message that Remy and I could come. So, now I'm getting nervous. I've audited one clinic and liked Lilo's teaching style a lot, but even after all these years in the US she still is very German (nothing wrong with that!). She is known for being a very fair  and correct judge. 

Today is one of these stormy, rainy days where riding is not possible. The arena is a swimming pool and the high winds have trees and branches falling left and right. I took the dogs out early and the three of us got completely drenched. JP tried to pick us up at the end of the trail, but the truck was still hitched to the trailer so he took my car. I opted to run home - better to have wet, smelly, and dirty dogs at my side than in my car. 

The mask has to match Remy and my outfit 😀

*Note for my European friends: A 'clinic' has nothing to do with a hospital. It's a Lehrgang / cours de formation

At a dressage clinic a clinician is brought in to teach six to 10 riders (and horses) who might otherwise never have opportunity to learn directly from someone of that caliber. The clinician may be a current or former top rider, judge or trainer. Clinicians are generally well-known for their talent at the local, national or international level. - Dressage Today