Day 1.
The first day of riding! After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we made our way over to the stables at about 11 am. I took the horses out for a handwalk...which proved to be not only a handwalk, but also a battle of strength between me and the wild beasts at the end of the line. They were crazy after over 24 hours of traveling...I can understand. After letting the horses cool off from their crazy handwalks, Guffy and I went to the Riding Hall for a short ride with Frau Endres. It was just a short ride, but he was a bit crazy! There was much rearing, bucking, and spinning going on...including a huge bronco leap right in front of Frau Endres! I guess he took stretching his legs to a new level. Dewey was good as well. A bit wild at times, but in a good way. When the riding was complete, I began the work back at the stable with the help of my mother and Rebecca, a working student who helps me out a bit back at the stables while I am riding. Grain is very different here. We are switching over very gradually so there are no problems with the horses' digestion. The hay is very good though. It's so cool because it comes right from the fields next door!
We finished our work at around 5:30, and then we went to search for a supermarket and some dinner in the town. We ended up going to a place called Das Real, which is so cool! It is like a bigger, better, german Target. We had fun in there. After that, we drove back to the hotel, and then took the 5 minute walk into the town. The town is so cute here! It's very small with cobblestone streets and a little town center with outdoor shops and restaurants. It is asparagus season here, so everything you order comes with an automatic side of asparagus, or auf deutsch: spargel.
Finally, after a full day we made it back to the hotel and passed out. However, not before we watched CSI in German and laughed about the uncoordination between the subtitles and the way the actor's mouths were moving from the english! It was a full and fun day!
Day 2:
Day 2 was very good here. It began with breakfast at the hotel as usual. Breakfast here in Germany is a very different experience than at home. At least for me! Usually, I am used to grabbing a quick bowl of hot cereal and a fruit drink and then out the door after 5 minutes. Here, however, it is quite different. It is very quiet, very laid back, and you are supposed to take your time before you start the day. I like it! We arrived at the barn at around 10 to sort things out and get ready for the day. Frau Endres was out with her dogs at the vet in the morning, so I had a lot of time on my hands after all my work was done. After hanging out for a bit with the horses, I went to go help Rebecca jump a pony for a sales video. We set up a small course of 4 jumps in the outdoor, and then went to go fetch the little stallion from the fields. Skippy really didn't want to work, so he kept running away from us around the field! Finally, we caught him, tacked him up, and went out to the ring so Rebecca could jump him. Skippy is quite small, but wow! That guy can jump! The oxers that we set up were HUGE! No problem for Skippy!
Finally, after a fun morning of spotting jumps, it was time for lessons with Frau Endres. Guffy was first to ride, and he was very tired. I think he blew himself out yesterday with all of his craziness, and perhaps the traveling has been harder on him than for Dewey. Dewey was very good today. Frau Endres really helped me find the rhythm of the trot by telling me to wait for his rhythm to come...and to stop trying to create it. That helped me to quiet my upper body and my lower legs, plus he really engaged behind and was swinging a lot. To help achieve this swing even more, we went on a 20 meter circle where we did transitions within the trot rhythm while maintaining a shoulder in position on the circle. This helped a lot, especially when Frau Endres told me to create the half steps by creating tension in your abdominal muscles....not with the hands. Another interesting thing that I learned had to do with the lower legs. Frau Endres said to me to let the lower leg "breath" after you add pressure for an aid, correction, etc. She said to let the leg "just be there." I learned a lot on my second day!
We had dinner in the town again, and now I am tuning up my German with some German TV. I have really surprised myself with my German. I thought that I would not understand a thing and be really nervous, but I am actually doing pretty well...plus I am learning a lot of German from Rebecca! It's really cool! Tomorrow my lessons begin at 11, and if the weather is as nice as it was today, then we will ride outside!
-Isabelle
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