Germany

My company is headquartered in Germany and every year they have a Global HR meeting. This year was my first time we were a part of that (acquired this year) and one of the first things they told me was to get my passport. So, on the second day of our last show, I left the arena and headed to the airport to fly to Hamburg, Germany via Iceland and Copenhagen.

The check in process with Icelandic Air required me to show my passport, but otherwise was just like normal travel process at the airport. I was offered the opportunity to hang out in the Icelandic Air lounge, but that was in the B terminal and the gate was in the A terminal, so I opted to just wait at the gate. Perhaps next time I will check it out, but for my first out-of-the-US trip, I wanted to be sure I didn't miss the plane. I traveled business select and that didn't suck. The seat shown above was very comfortable and there was a blanket, pillow and travel gift (socks, toothbrush, toiletries) in a nifty bag on the seat. We were offered a bottle of water and a small glass of sparkling wine when we were seated. It was amazing. Plus, we got to board first. 

It was an eight hour flight from Denver to Keflavik airport was almost eight hours. We were served a wonderful meal of rare bison with some kind of root veggies, a rump steak with baby onions and mashed potatoes. Then I napped on and off until they served us a breakfast of turkey and chees sandwich on a cross ain't with me on, for breakfast. Then we landed in Iceland.

The plane landed on the tarmac in Iceland and we moved between the plane and the airport by bus. This seems to be the process in Iceland. I had an hour layover and then traveled by bus out to the plane that would fly us to Copenhagen. It was still dark and I had no idea what time it was. I did learn however, that the Broncos had lost badly to the NY Giants. 

The landing strip in Copenhagen.

One of the many shops at the airport. There was a lot of fish and caviar available.

One of the shops selling caviar. I did not partake.

The prices at this airport were very high.

The Copenhagen airport was a chaotic mess of shops and signs and expensive food. I wasn't hungry and felt absolutely exhausted. I found the correct gate, snagged a seat and just waited for a little over an hour for the plane to load. By the time I got on the plane for the final leg of my journey I had been traveling for 17 hours and had been up for 27. The flight from Copenhagen to Hamburg was a puddle jump of just about an hour and then I was there. 

I expected to have to pass through customs, which I had also done while in Iceland, but despite asking for direections, I ended up on the main causeway trying to find my way to the hotel. (The other really nice thing about business select is that your bags come off the plane first).I used my debit card for Euros and also exchanged some cash for Euros as well, since a taxi ride to the hotel was going to be 45 or 50 Euros. I went outside and found a taxi, gave the driver the address to the hotel and climbed in the car. 45 Euros later ($53 USD) I was at the hotel. My US colleague was sitting in front of the hotel when I arrived. We made plans for dinner after I had checked in, got organized and taken a shower (remember I came from the horse show). 

Hands down the most uncomfortable bed in the history of beds. Who makes a king sized bed this way? Do the Germans not sleep together? And even as a single person in a king sized bed, I want to be able to spread out. That's not possible when what you are sleeping on is two twin mattresses. I can't tell you how many times I ended up waking up with my ass in that crack.

I took a nice hot shower, which was absolutely wonderful, then dressed and headed downstairs. I had been awake for 30 hours at that point and I was starting to slur my words. Thank goodness I hadn't had any drinks. I was also on a mission to find Dr Pepper, since I hadn't realized it wasn't going to be easy to find in Germany. Next time I will load my bag with bottles at the airport and have one a day while I'm gone. I met up with my US colleague, (Jase) and my German collegue (CN) to head out for dinner. I have to say that the public transit train system in Hamburg is first class and we managed to figure out how to use it fairly easily in the four days we were there. There were a lot of people who spoke English and everyone was nice and wanted to help. 

Genau

Although it did have the under flavor that both Jase and I tasted the entire time we were in Germany, kind of like the slight taste of sulfur. It wasn't in the bottled water, but I could taste it in the DP, in the melon and other fruit, in the juices and yogurt. By the end of the week, I was struggling with the taste. I don't know if it's sulfur, but it has to be some sort of mineral there. Or maybe it's the taste of sorrow and ash.

The restaurant we went to was at the top of a tower overlooking Hamburg harbor. The steak they served was amazing, as was the side fixings. As we were looking over the area, I saw a Hard Rock Cafe and told Jase we had to go there. I make a point of going to as many as I can. 

After dinner we went up to the bar at the top of the building. This was on the stairs up. It is the prow of a boat and you could see on the wood where the sailors have rubbed her for luck.

This was an old factory we walked past on our way to the office in Hamburg.

I am fascinated by old brickwork buildings.

See that star like shape on the wall? It is an anchor. There is a cable that runs just above the dropped ceiling from one side of the building to the other, where it is attached to another star. The cable keeps the building walls from leaning out away from the framing inside. This is very common with buildings that are framed inside with wood.

My colleagues waiting for taxis to take us to our evening event. 

We did a team building event in a place called Walking in the Dark. It was a tactile experience of being blind, with canes, in a basement that had a series of tasks we had to complete. I came pretty close to losing my shit, but my coworkers did a great job of supporting me, and after the first couple of minutes my feelings of claustrophobia diminished. There was no light at all, even though I spent the two hours we were down there feeling like I was straining to see. 

We did five team exercises. We crossed a swaying bridge that had obstacles in the middle of the bridge, then had to cross the road with traffic, all in one group, without anyone getting killed. The third obstacle was sorting fruits and veggies at the market stall and counting how many there were of each type. Next was a puzzle made of half circles. We almost solved that one correctly. I used my lanyard to measure the opening of the half circle and we only had two ot of 24 pieces incorrect. The final task was to use a rope to create a square with right angle corners and even lengths on all four sides. It ended up being a very fun experience. 

This was pumpkin soup served in a bottle for dinner. 

It was tasty but not as good as butternut squash soup.

A clock tower in Hamburg

More brick work - I'm smitten

There were a lot of cobblestone streets.

The architecture of old buildings is utterly fascinating to me.
Do you see the hood like element on the very top of the building above the arches on the far right of the photo? It's actually a dumbwaiter and that line of "windows" is actually doors. The barges would navigate the canals with goods, stop at the bottom of this building and use the dumbwaiter to raise pallets of goods to those doors where it could be unloaded into the warehouse.

Actually laying brick (as opposed to facade) with decorative arches is amazing, and those small cut outs were stunning.

There were canals and locks through Hamburg. It was possible to rent a boat and travel on them, but I didn't get a chance to try it out.

Random doorway on our way to a Pizza joint, ran by people from Italy.

Their pizza was awful though. I ordered a Hawaiian which was served with six pieces of pineapple and the ham was sandwich meat cut into triangles.

The antipasto was good though and the olives were very tasty.

Back when buildings were designed and built to bring pleasure to the eye.

Round windows and decorative brick work

Thursday night, Jase and I went into Hamburg in search of a restaurant that was supposed to serve the best schnitzel in the town. We took the train into the city and got dropped off just outside the red light district. Ja had his phone with walking directions so we set off in search of this incredible restaurant. Every open store that sold beverages was inspected in our ongoing search to find Dr Pepper, to no avail. (Next time I am ordering it off Amazon and having it shipped to the hotel. Or I will carry on a collapsible cooler that I fill from the airport before take off.) We ended up walking what felt like five miles, although Jase's app lied and said it was just a mile. We finally found the restaurant and walked in.

The proprietor ignored us. Jase asked if they spoke english and the guy gave us a glare and said a very begrudging yes. Then he refused to seat us saying we hadn't called ahead. There were tables that weren't seated but he refused to budge. So, we left and walked down the street to another restaurant. We were asked if we had reservations and we said no, turning to leave, when she gave us a big smile and said she would find us a place. They did, in a corner at a very small table, but it didn't matter. That was the best meal I ate the entire trip. I had the porterhouse and Ja had an ox steak. Dinner was served with fresh warm bread, roasted mushrooms, cream spinach (actually really good and I usually don't like cream anything), and fried potatoes. The people there were friendly and really warm, with huge smiles and a bit of teasing when we couldn't finish our meal. 

On our way back to the train station, we found a rock bar and went in for a drink. Jase had found a petro station that actually had Dr Pepper, so while he was having a beer, I had a Dr Pepper in a glass with ice. I have to tell you getting a glass with ice was incredibly difficult in Germany, since no one seemed to know why I could possibly want ice. Plus, all of their beverages were served at room temperature. Anyway, the bar was playing some good rock music (Metallica, Rolling Stones, etc) and I was having fun speaking Spanish to the guy behind the bar (he didn't speak German). We finished the night in giggles (not really sure what was so funny, just knew I couldn't stop laughing).

Gratuitous selfie with a brass statue of the Statue of Liberty

On Friday, Jase and I got to explore the city together. We started in the heart of Hamburg at a Dunkin Donuts. I had juice and a couple of donuts and Jase had coffee an a donut. I was kind of happy to actually have american breakfast food, even if it was entirely sugar. Germans seem to think that cold cuts and cheese are breakfast. That was the hardest meal of the day for me.

All that fattening goodness

We wandered around the mall the donut shop was located in, shopping for souvenirs. I scored a Winter is Coming (GoT) shirt, found a scarf for a friend, and got J a "All who wander are not lost" shirt with the silhouettes of the Fellowship of the Ring (Gandalf, hobbits, elves) on the front. (Scored big on that one.) Then we wandered the town. 

We found lots of chocolate and marsipan for T at a sweet shop. Some of it was filled with alcohol, which he isn't a fan of, but we also found some Swedish chocolate bars at the Chocolate Museum, so that turned out okay. 

I love this building. The windows are just amazing.

The doorway into St Michaels church.

The sanctuary of St Michaels

My first glimpse of a pipe organ

I've read about them but never seen one

Same building from the side.

The other side of the church

The government building in Hamburg.

We photobombed a couple getting wedding pictures there.

Jase wanted to investigate all of the out-of-bounds areas in the building, but my common sense prevailed. (I'm not really a rule breaker.)

Statue outside of the government building.

Just have got to love this building.

So intricate and elaborate.

Just more stuff that caught my eye.

This is the cutest car. We are facing the front and the door handle is on the left.

You open the door and crawl in.

It only has one wheel in the back.

The Spire of St Nicholas Church.

Used as a landmark by the allies in the bombing of Hamburg.

70% of the City was destroyed in the bombing run and the top of the spire is still blackened from the fires that were created by the bombs.

There were a few panels of stained glass that was salvaged from the bombing of the church.

Another stained glass window

The outside wall of St Nicholas. This wall and the tower were all that remained of the Church.

Hamburg decided not to restore the landmark and to leave it as is.

It is a memorial to the war.

We took the elevator inside to the top of the spire and looked out at the city.

Angel of Death statue installed in the 90's.

The wall behind the statue was rebuilt from brick salvaged from the bombed buildings.

A statue just outside the church.

The plaque said "Adolf the Great. 1143 AD to 1204 AD"

We also found a Jack Wolfskin shop and I fell in love. I would consider moving to that area of the country just for the shop. It is the Norwegian version of North Face, only with a cool wolfprint on all of the things. I got one of their messenger bags with a nifty three point connector. The bag is easy to carry and doesn't pull on my shoulders. I know it probs makes my boobs look huge, but I don't care. I love how it feels and how easy it is to carry. After buying it, I immediately stuffed everything I had purchased so far into it. Geek.

 How cool is that? I pretty much bought the bag for the clasp.

See how it works?

I got J a thick fleece jacket with the wolf's paw on the back and a pair of warm gloves. Seriously, though, I could have walked out with one of everything. It was that good.

I'm pretty sure this brick was made from the pilings of a steel mill.

It was sharp and formed differently than the other brick.

The circles formed from the brick were amazing.

And the brick was set in the building in a vertical format instead of horizontal

Just so cool.

It was fun to see the different architectural styles in the city.

Trumpeter Swans 

Jase said that when winter comes the city moves the Trumpeters inside out of fear that they will freeze.

The top one is a mannequin.

The other two are not.

I'm absolutely positive that there is a frame with seats that the two guys are using to hold the one on top up.

I absolutely love this.

Guarding the entrance to a building.

We ate lunch along the canal, at a small cafe. The food was good and the atmosphere was cozy. I had a chicken caesar salad and Jase had something regional. By this time I was pretty much ready for American cuisine again. There were no tacos the entire trip. After lunch we walked around a bit more

I think these were converted warehouses along the canals that ran through Hamburg.

It was a shipping or receiving building at some point in it's past.

Finally, it was time for our tour of the Miniature Museum of Hamburg. http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/  I thought it was going to be pretty lame when Jase first suggested it, but it was fascinating and pretty freaking cool.

We stuffed all of our stuff into a locker and headed toward the beginning. I saw the sign for a WC and opened the door to find this:

Everything in the miniature museum is small.

We started in the American section and then just wandered through the halls looking at all of the layouts. The US had: Grand Canyon, Las Vegas with its more than 30,000 lights, the Rocky Mountains, the amazing Carsystem with American fire engines, Miami, the Everglades, Area 51, Cape Canaveral, Pueblo villages, logging camps. There is the Knuffingen airport and we got to see the Millinium Falcon fly out of there.

Italy and Rome

And then I got really fascinated with the whole thing.

Jousting Knights

I just liked the color of these buildings.

Castles.

Rome

Neptune, Roman God of the Ocean

And then I discovered the little hidden Easter Eggs in the layout

Like the Ghostbusters

At that point it was all over and Jase and I started hunting

We found little people having sex. We found dinosaurs hidden in the trees in various places around the map. We found monks hiding behind a line of trees watching a woman change a tire with her skirt blown up around her ears. All of it was hidden in plain sight amongst the figurines. Overall, it was a great time. 

After the museum, we met with a collegue and once again attempted to eat schnitzel at the restaurant we had been told to go to. With a German speaking person with us and reservations made by her boyfriend (they wouldn't take her reservation over the phone) we ate schnitzel in the best schnitzel in Hamburg. We were unimpressed. The service was crappy and schnitzel is basically chicken fried steak, only with veal. It was probably the least impressive meal of the trip, including the meals on the airplane.

The next morning Jase and I headed to the airport to head back to the states.

I texted this pic to Jase as I was sitting on my plane waiting for take off.

Spare no expense, they said.

The view outside the window at take off.

The reflected face in the lower clouds is my reflection from the airplane window.

Copenhagen was a three hour layover. Everything was pricey. I ended up buying a big box of Toffifee and ate those in lieu of lunch. I was going to be fed on the plane any way.

Landing in Iceland on the first day of their winter

More of Iceland.

While in Iceland's airport, I found a new stocking cap for me that says 66 degrees north and a pair of thick wool glove things for J. They are wool tubes with a cut out for the thumb. You slip your hand into the tubes and your fingers and thumb are bare. She loves them a lot.

Greenland on the flight home

More of Greenland (I was forcing myself to stay awake).

Either Greenland or Northern Canada.

I didn't ask.

Customs at the airport was easy and quick. One of the benefits of flying business or first class - your luggage comes off first. I got outside just as J was pulling around (our flight was delayed) and she had two Dr Peppers in the car for me for the ride home. That's love, y'all. We got food and I crawled into bed almost 30 hours after I woke up. This world traveling thing is hard.

.

Feet

One of the things that was pretty obvious when I brought Ashke home was that his feet were not in great shape. He was long in the toe, with no break over, and his first trim showed us signs of blood in his laminae. He was fairly tender on his front feet, so I had shoes put on him for two trim cycles, but the balance on his feet was so bad, he clipped his front heels with his back feet at the trot and canter. The second trim cycle, I asked the farrier to address the fact that he was clipping himself, and the farrier unbalanced his feet, which made him sore. I had his shoes pulled on the next trim and then we moved barns. Once we were at TMR, I found a barefoot trimmer and had her come out.

From the beginning, M got him better balanced and began addressing the flairs in his feet. He also had white line disease, which was never really addressed. She trimmed him for two years and in that time, Ashke was sound, if a little tender on sharp rocks. Unfortunately, the hay was not the best quality and although he was on supplements, it wasn't enough to ensure his diet was as good as it could have been.

 December 2012

From the beginning, M worked on pulling his toe back and giving him a solid mustang roll.

He was high on the inside and his heels, but low on the outside.

You can see where his white line looked bad all the way around.

Not the best looking hoof.

Better with good trimming

With barefoot comes the need for hoof boots. I had seven pairs of hoof boots, the Easy Glove Trails, the Backcountry, regular Easygloves in sizes ranging from 00 to 1. Ashke hated them. HATED. They changed the way he moved, they slipped on his hooves and made him feel unsteady, they encouraged him to drop his foot toe first when he walked and neither of us felt comfortable riding in them. Plus, any tiny bit of water and the boot would come off. Any tighter of a boot and they rubbed his heel bulbs. I tried for almost four solid years and probably spent at least $1500 on hoof boots to no avail.

Easy Glove Trails 2013

I so wanted them to work.

When M stopped doing farrier work, she sent a guy named Ben to take over her clients. I hated the way he trimmed Ashke, and from the very first trim, Ashke was sore. So sore I had someone else come out and trim him. That farrier was very worried about how short Ashke's hoof length was, how thin his soles were, and the possibility of him remaining sound. I decided that Ben was not going to be a good fit for us and started looking elsewhere. I found a certified farrier to come out and do barefoot trimming, which was one of the worse decisions I've made, but there was no way to know a head of time how bad he would turn out to be.

His method of trimming was to rasp the bottom of the foot flat and that was it. There was no addressing the flares that were happening on either side of the hoof on his front feet, nor the deepening crevasses being created where the white line should be. I was communicating with Saiph at the time, both via the blog and also via text, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

February 2015

They were becoming rectangle. And the flares just kept getting wider.

He was very sore on his fronts and very stumbly when he moved.

There was also ridging in the hoof wall from Ashke's diet.

By this time, I had left TMR and moved to Silver Quarter Acres, where part of their feed program included fresh grown barley. They said that they had their hay tested, but I never saw the analysis and from the way Ashke was struggling to hold weight even on six flakes of alfalfa a day, I'm not sure it was really great hay. I wanted to love the idea of fresh barley grass twice a day, but every time he went on it he got ridging in his hoof wall and his tenderness would increase. I struggled with his diet, the farrier and the footing, which was mostly mud eight months out of the year (the barn was in a flood zone).  During that time, Dr D saw Ashke and told me to call her farrier (I had tried before moving to Dan) and have her take a look at Ashke's feet.

Extreme flaring that lead to changing farriers.

Better after K trimmed it

No real wonder he was lame

Thick, heavy bars and no solid breakover.
Lots of separation between wall and laminae

You can see where the outside of the hood was starting to crack and separate from the length.

Heels and bars
K was really concerned with the depth of his hoof capsule

Better but you can see the depth of the white line disease

By December of 2015, we had moved to Morelli Ranch. K had been trimming Ashke for about six months, but we were still struggling to keep him completely sound and to get his feet in a better place. The consistent good quality feed he was getting began to show in his feet and hoof wall, but he was still sore a lot of the time. I was also struggling with the whole boot fiasco and often started a trail ride with hoof boots on and finished the ride with the boots in my saddle bags. Then in April of 2016, Ashke degloved his left hind leg and we didn't ride much for seven or eight months. The quality of his hoof got better, but the length of his hoof capsule remained short, and his soles thin.

By the time we started riding again, I was done with the boot struggle. It just wasn't working for us and Ashke had told me over and over that he HATED the boots with a passion. I set aside principals and what I wanted, and talked to K about shoes. She put them on the fronts, and within a few hours he pulled one off. She reset them again. While he had them on, we went to see Dr D and she said he was moving so much better in them that maybe he needed the extra support. Then she suggested I get them put on all four feet. I did and he promptly twisted another one. K was just learning how to put shoes on, and she was struggling with Ashke, so she turned us over to Trey.

I love Trey. He really worked with Ashke and I to figure out what Ashke needed. We had to keep bell boots on for about four months, but after that, Ashke had figured out via our dressage lessons, how to keep his feet from interfering with each other. Trey has us on a six week cycle and Ashke's feet look better and better each trim. There are no ridges and his hoof capsule has gotten longer. He no longer trips over his toes, he no longer drags his hind toes, and we finally addressed the white line disease.

We tried White Lightning twice. It didn't work. The third trim cycle, I soaked his feet in iodine mixed with hydrogen peroxide. Just enough to cover the bottom inch of his hoof. I did two soaks per hoof about a week apart and that did the trick. Trey said that the squishy parts of his laminae are dried out and we should be to healthy, hale tissue on his next set of shoes. His flares are being kept in line, with his hoof staying tighter and tighter with each trim and the best part is he is completely sound. (Knock on all of the wood.) He goes so great in the shoes and I no longer worry he is going to trip or slip on the ground. Plus, how easy is it to swing up on him and ride off down the trail and no have to worry about whether his boots are going to fling off or if he was going to be sore.

One of the things that Ashke said to the communicator was that I was the first person who wasn't in a rush, and who was willing to do whatever I needed to in order for him to be sound and healthy. There were times when I really despaired about Ashke being both sound and healthy, that I almost gave up. But here we are. And it is a product of all of the things: a barn that feeds really high quality hay in good quantities, a great farrier who takes his time to make sure Ashke's feet are done correctly, a great vet who listens to both Ashke and myself and addresses his needs on both a physical and spiritual level. And I have to also acknowledge that I was willing to put aside what I wanted (barefoot) and do what the horse needed. He needed shoes and putting them on him was one of the best decisions I've made.

Elucidate

Because the alphabet has 26 letters, I'm taking Sundays off from blogging because life.

The first year I had Ashke, about six months after I brought him home, I reached out to a communicator to see if I could find out some stuff about him. There were things that I learned but mostly it was an attempt to establish a method of communication and maybe see if I could figure out what had happened to him. Since then, I have pieced together bits and flotsam, until I feel like I have a pretty good idea what he went through before his safe landing with me.

That said, its been five years since that conversation and when the notice went out that one of the riders was bringing in a communicator, I signed up. I just wanted to see how he was feeling, what his thoughts were on where we were and what we were doing, and if there was anything that needed to change.

The communicator got lost and so we had a bit of a wait. Ashke was in turn out by himself so I went into his run to play. I began running from one corner to another, with him following me. I stopped, did a kind of hunker down and stalk toward him, then would straighten and throw my arms in the air. He would rear and strike out in response, and a couple of times he spun away from me bucking and kicking. I was laughing hard at his shenanigans that I could barely walk and was completely out of breath. When I walked out of the turnout he went a little crazy, running in circles, doing sliding stops, coming over in front of me and rearing. There were even caprioles. It was absolutely hilarious to watch. And at the end, it took a quiet word from me for him to walk over and stick his head in the halter.

A lot like this . . . 

After giving the communicator some of his background and the process that we've been through, I asked:

• How is he feeling?

He said that he in feeling very good. Teeth, feet, back, hips all are pain free.

• How does he like what we are doing?

He said that he loves learning the new things in dressage. He loves working with Amanda and enjoys the challenge that developing himself through dressage presents. He misses getting out on trail and would like to do a bit more of that, but also understands that the majority of what we are learning needs to happen in the indoor arena, at least for the next little while, since winter is coming.

He would like more bling on his saddle and bridle, to which I replied that the bling was not allowed in our discipline. He looked kind of downcast, so I added that the bling would distract from his beauty and that the simpleness of our tack really allowed us to shine as a combination. I wouldn't want to distract from his handsomeness. He seemed appeased.

• How does he like the new bit?

He believes that we are still figuring it out but that he feels like it is a good fit. And he thinks it makes him look like a badass.

Bad to the Bone

•  Why is he still so spooky at the south end of the arena?

He answered "birds" before I had completed the question. And yes, we have a bunch of sparrows nesting and living behind the jump standards at that end of the arena. I said, they are just little tiny sparrows and aren't going to hurt you. His answer was "they are related to dinosaurs, aren't they".

What we see:

What Ashke sees:

Microraptor

About the size and shape of a starling, but non-avian

It was difficult to not laugh out loud at him. The communicator let him know that the sparrows could not nor would they hurt him. We asked if there was anything I could do differently, so he would remember to not spook. He asked me to walk him around the edge of the arena in hand before I got on so he could have a real good look and I could explain to him what we were seeing. Then when we were riding, if I could just remind him by saying "focus" he would try very hard to focus on what we were doing, rather than what was at that end of the arena. This seems very feasible to me.

• He asked about his name and how he got it.

I explained what it meant and why I picked it and he was very happy to know. He said he felt like it honored both of his parents and his heritage, which he is very proud of. He had hated the name he had when I got him and loved that we changed it, but had always wondered why I had picked it.

• He loves the barn, although he misses his mare.

I explained that her owner had taken her home but would be bringing her back soon. He really misses the company in turnout and is much less likely to get into trouble (he has let himself out of turnout twice now and was attempting to get Anna out when I first got there yesterday) with a turnout companion. I think Sheila might try him with Ardee this week and see how the two of them get along.

• I asked him how he felt about showing.

He said that the process of getting to the show is chaotic and can make him feel unsettled, but once he's there, he's happy. He likes the opportunity to show off what he has learned and to have everyone watching him. He doesn't care about the scores or who wins or loses, since all that matters to him is that we are learning and getting better. He said that I am very grounded in the warm up ring, but sometimes there are others there that are really tense about whether they win or lose. He was upset that we didn't finish the last show, but conceded that the 65 mph wind and long day were not optimal for a show. I think he wishes we had stayed and finished the show, but I have zero regrets. When the portojohn went over, I was done.

• I asked him if he had anything else he wanted to share

He loves carrots. He likes other people, but he really loves me. And carrots. He likes carrots a lot. 

Dressage

Our history of dressage:

In 2013 we started here. 

Side reins.

Pulling to frame.

Very Unhappy horse.

And when I got on him, I had this,

That first time attempting dressage was horrible. I told my instructor I wanted to work on learning the tools to do Working Equitation and to show eventually. I have never had any desire to do regular dressage. She, on the other hand, wasn't interested in training me to do Working Equitation and didn't know how to give me the tools to do what I needed to do with my horse. 

 

And we looked awful.

 

I had no brakes. I had an unsound and sore horse. I had a saddle that didn't fit and wouldn't allow him to lift his back. I didn't know anything about dressage or being on the forehand or riding back to front. All I knew is that the harder I tried, the more unhappy I was. Then came the day where Ashke bolted in the indoor and it took me a lot of work to get him stopped. Something needed to change so that I had some semblance of control. 

I quit the lessons (catalyst was a conversation where I was told I could do regular dressage or I could move barns) and found a new barn, plus changed from a snaffle bit to a grazing bit. It wasn't fantastic for WE, but it gave me what I needed to get him stopped. We left the arena and spent the next two years trail riding to the tune of almost a 1000 miles. 

The trail riding helped with Ashke's overall strength and stamina. It didn't necessarily address the nuances we were dealing with in his hind end and legs. It did help me get stronger in my core and back, which helped with both my back pain and my balance. Slowly, we both got better.

Then I started taking lessons with Amanda in 2016. I picked her after watching her ride Alectra, a polish arab mare who was sweet and very sensitive. She was kind and positive and I knew after watching them together, that I could trust her to help us get better without harming either of us or putting my relationship with Ashke at risk. That plan was put on the back burner after the horrible leg degloving Ashke had, plus the reinjury. At the end of the summer last year was when we really started taking lessons.

Ashke has now started to develop the really strong muscle at the base of his neck, just in front of his withers (Rhomboideus). His withers have filled out and are even on both sides, no longer underdeveloped on the left. He has high withers, but also has a thick band of muscle running side to side over the top of them (Spinalis dorsi). The muscle that runs along his spine has developed (Longissimus dorsi) and is actually higher than his spine, finally creating that spinal trough you see in really fit horses). The muscles that hold the shoulders and withers in place are thick and heavy (Long head of triceps, cervical ventral serrated) and his pectorals are very well developed. Those muscle groups allow him to lift through his withers and shift more of his weight back on his haunches.

The myofascial release we did several months ago seems to have finally resolved the chronic lameness/stiffness of the right hind leg that needed to be managed so carefully. Ashke is now sound when I first get on (knock on wood) and immediately settles into a free moving, open walk. I'm still careful to warm him up before asking for more technical movements, but it takes much less time to do so and the cross cantering is completely gone from his gaits, unless we are fighting.

So strong and fit

Dressage has come to be something that I really enjoy doing. We are mostly arena riding right now, in part because of the changing weather, but also in part due to pure enjoyment on my part in watching, guiding and learning the new and varied things we can do with our bodies. Last night we cantered the triple barrels with changes through the walk, holding the reins with one hand. I did learn that I need to make sure we are on the same page, that he is listening to my legs and seat, and we are doing something he knows very well, before I can switch to one hand. However, when all of those things come together, he is magical.

Cats

Cats have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My first kitten was a Siamese so small I had to bottle feed it with rubber nipples on glass doll bottles. Her name was Tinkerbell and I was six. She would follow me around the house and sleep curled up against my neck on my pillow. One morning I got up and she was gone. She had had an accident in the house, which pissed off my father and he had thrown her out the front door in a fit of rage. She broke her back on the porch steps and so he killed her so she wouldn't suffer. It was my first experience with death.

We also had Smokey, a grizzled old grey tabby that lived outside and hunted mice in the graineries and fields. He would show up at the house for love and affection every other week or so. He was sweet but not really an indoor cat. We had him for almost ten years. He eventually perished of a harvester while hunting mice in the wheat field out back.

When I moved out on my own, I got a small little grey kitten who learned to live on my shoulders. She would perch there when I got home and stay there through taking a bath, changing my clothes, eating my meals and then going to sleep. She chirped and purred and talked to me all of the time. She was such a sweet cat and my boon companion. Unfortunately, I had to rehome her when I lost my job and moved. She went to a friend who kept her for the rest of her life.

When I lived in California, I shared an apartment with two other people. We ended up getting two cats - a grey tabby and an orange tabby - and we named the grey tabby Lynx and the orange tabby Jonesy (after the orange cat in Aliens). Lynx was a sweetheart snuggle bug and Jonesy was active and playful. He would chase balls of paper and bring them back to you, or leap four feet in the air to catch the paper ball in a game of keep away, purring madly all the time. Once, in our apartment, one of my roomates attached a piece of rope to the ceiling fan. Jonesy was on top of a wooden bookshelf and reached out to snag the flying string, pulling him off of the bookshelf, which he brought with him, to crash down on the dining room table.

They lived with us for two years in California and when I moved to Colorado they came with me. Jonesy was an indoor/outdoor cat who liked to prowl. He was hit by a car in our neighborhood about a year after I moved to Colorado. I took him to the vet who diagnosed him with a broken femur, and although he was a good candidate for surgery, I was struggling to survive on 3.35 an hour and had about five dollars a month to cover gas and food every month (thank goodness I was working in food service and could eat there for free or I would have starved to death). I signed the paperwork to have him PTS and forked over $105 dollars of money I didn't have to have him euthanized. I went home and bawled because being poor sucks. Lynx and I loved on each other and I spent extra time with her until she was no longer crying for her brother.

Six weeks later, the vets office called and told me I could come get my cat. The doctor had been so moved by my sorrow at losing Jonesy, he had fixed him anyway and when he was sure the surgery had been successful, had called me to come get him. I brought him home, but things were never the same after that. His relationship with Lynx was damaged and they fought constantly. He lost any interest in being connected to us and I ended up finding a home for him with a mom and her eight year old son where he became the king of the roost and the terror of the dogs in the neighborhood. Lynx lived to be fourteen.

J and I had Preacher and Taz, both of whom have blog posts on here, if you want to look them up.

 Istazi

Istazi or Stazi (most frequently) is Lakota for Yellow Eyes. She came to us from the bottom of a dumpster so small she fit in the hollow of my hand with her eyes still closed. Our neighbor had found her and asked us to help identify whether it was a girl or a boy. When we found out they had planned on taking her to a shelter, we brought her home. She has been J's ever since, although she has grown found of me.

 

 Being our animal is hard work.

Ask any of them.

 She has taken to laying on me at night. Her most favorite position is curled up over my crossed legs, half in my lap and half on the bed, however, she is willing to be daring if I am not being cooperative. She weighs about 3 lbs and we've struggled with immune issues ever since she went in for her spay surgery. She is very vocal and absolutely loves to tease Lily. Lily is her dog and sometimes she comes downstairs to find her.

Siska. Also a rescue.

He has white feet with black pads. He also has a nasal tumor and has taken to spraying the basement walls of our condo. He now lives in our powder room, with a fan, his own heater and a cat tower. He is fourteen or fifteen and will spend the rest of his life living in that room. T spends time with him daily, as do J and I. He is sweet and very affectionate, although he is also apt to sneeze thick snot all over your face without warning. He is close to 20 pounds in weight and fairly tall at the shoulder.

Some of them may be demon possessed. Lily shares the same trait.

 He just got along with everyone.

The barn, like all barns, had a orange tabby when I first moved in who was the worse mouser in the history of cats. The mice were so brazen they would walk in front of him and he would ignore them. They were wreaking havoc on blankets, chewing through tack boxes, racing across the tops of the wooden rails and basically living as though cats did not exist. Our barn owner brought home two feral boy cats (barn born) to help curb this issue. They have done a good job, although they mostly live at the top of the hay stack in the barn and only come out at night, since they are still fairly terrified of humans. However, they had begun leaving pieces of mice for the BO to find, so we knew they were doing their job.

Then we got a cat that knows her job and takes it very seriously: Bella the Mighty Mouser

Striking terror into the hearts of young mice everywhere

She loves being in the barn after a brief stint of trying to be an indoor cat. She follows the trainers around, will crouch under the jump standards during jump lessons, walk the edges of the arena and perch on the tack trunks in search of mice. She is short and square, with a belly as wide as she is tall. She sleeps any where she can find a comfy spot: the sun warmed sand at the edge of the garage door; curled up on one of the cloth covered chairs next to the tack room; in the shavings in a horse's stall; or on the hay nets on the hay stack. She is a prodigious hunter and the number of mice has significantly decreased since she arrived. She is sweet and affectionate and demanding of attention. She loves the kids who come to the barn and can be packed around in tiny arms without protest. The mice generations that grew up without a barn cat have learned to fear the sound of her tiny paws.

She slays me.

Barn

Ashke has now been boarding at Morelli Ranch for almost two years. I honestly can't see us ever wanting to move. I love the owners and find them easy to talk to, helpful when there is an issue, and with the highest standards of care. All of the horses look amazing, with good body scores, including the 30 year old TB who lives in a paddock outside (horse's choice - he does not do well in a stall). Ashke loves the place, loves the people and loves being able to watch arena TV.

Red barns are so classic. This was a pic taken prior to expanding the place.

In the past two years, they have expanded by sixteen outdoor runs. They did eight runs in 2016, and an additional 8 the summer of 2017 to help accommodate riders from another small local barn that was shutting down. 

They have several turn out runs for the horses (everyone gets two hours of turn out a day, except Eddy, who has lost privileges), and they have added some perimeter fencing to help with horse security.

These are the stalls with runs on the North side of the barn.

We are on the East side and this summer they expanded the runs to the same length as the ones on the North. Ours do have some slope to them, but they drain quickly and dry out fairly fast.

This was the runs before. They are almost ten feet longer than they were, with additional pea gravel added. And obviously, plenty of dirt for Ashke to find.

 One of the outdoor turn out areas

 Ashke's stall front. He's gotten quite adept at letting himself, and anyone else that is nice to him, out of their runs

 They have to use extra clips on the chains because he can let himself out of the normal ones.

The other thing we did this year, was add Arena Kleen to our indoor arena. It is a dust control product and it works very well. (We did need two containers of product, even after being told that one would work by the Arena Kleen rep in our area. The company made it right when we started seeing dust 8 weeks after our first application.) The footing is so much improved with the addition of the product, and the fine silica dust that is so dangerous to horses and peeps is gone. Can't recommend this enough. Bonus - no watering again eveh!

We've even had a WE fun day where people could play on the obstacles.

It was very heart warming when I arrived at my surprise birthday party expecting 6 people to be there, to find 40 people waiting for me, most of them from the barn. It is one of those places where I always feel welcome, where everyone says hi, where we look out for each other and help the BO as well. 

We did a barn cleaning work day last Saturday after our shot clinic and a lot of people showed up. One of the hunter/jumper people did this:

 Totes fancy

And a little less scary

We cleaned the dressage mirrors, washed windows, cleaned tack rooms, leveled the indoor and outdoor arenas, replaced halter hangers, soaped the wood where horses were chewing, cleaned and organized the workbench/junk area of the barn. There was a lot of work done and the barn feels so refreshed. The BO provided a wonderful white chicken chili and red bean with meat chili that was so tasty, plus krispy kreme donuts too!!

I really love this barn. It feels like home to me.

Aperitif

For NaBloPoMo I am going to use the alphabet for prompts: each blog post will start with a word that begins with the next letter of the alphabet. Today is the first day, so we are going with A.

Although the title is appetite, what we are really talking about is what Ashke gets for food every day. From the time I brought him home til moving into the barn we are at now, I have struggled to get and keep Ashke at a good weight. I want him somewhere between 5 and 5.5 on his body score, which has taken some management to attain. It makes me so happy that we seem to have found exactly what he needs to maintain his weight, keep his muscle, and remain sound. Some of that has been body management (chiro, accu, myofacial release, shoes) but a lot of it has been what he is given to eat on any given day.

Ashke starts his day out with three flakes of hay in his slow feeder bag (I love, love, love slow feeder bags) two of which are alfalfa and one is grass hay. Then he goes out into turn out, where he hangs with a mare friend (or by himself with friends over the fence) and munches on free feed grass hay. That lasts for two hours every day. After turn out, he gets his supplements in his bucket (about noon) and then about four he gets his final hay bag of the day, with two more flakes of alfalfa and a flake of grass.

Hai Mom!

The hay our barn feeds is the best they can find and all of the horses in the stable look amazing, even those who came to the barn with chronic low weight issues. Even all of the TBs have a bit of padding on their bones and good muscle. I know a lot of people shy away from alfalfa, but I am really sold on the muscle it builds when fed in good quality hay. I believe the feed as also really helped with the issues I've been struggling with for the past five years in terms of Ashke's feet. I'll go into that journey in five days when we get to the F prompt.

In addition to the great hay he gets, Ashke gets a noon feed of supplements and TC Senior every day. The supplements are a combination of Smartpak (because easy), Equipride and for one week a month, sand clear. In the Smartpak is their SmartFlex Rehab Pellets, SmartLytes Pellets (electrolytes) and Tri-Amino. The rehab pellets are for joint support and inflammation management, the lytes were added in July when he refused to eat the powdered part of his bucket due to the salt I was adding, but he was still acting lethargic and out of energy. The Lytes have helped with both of those issues. And the Tri-Amino powder is a combination of lysine (we've been on this pretty consistently for five years), methionine and threonine.These are the amino acids needed for building muscle and the lysine also helps with stress management.

He and T remind me a lot of each other. Food is very motivating.

On the nights that I ride, he gets a feed at the end of the ride. It is usually a couple of pounds of TC Senior and about a pound of cut up carrots. He gets some of the carrot pieces on our way to the tie rack and the rest when we are done with our ride. I like to reward him for his effort and he likes being able to make nasty faces and flip his head at his neighbor while he is eating. He is very, very clear that I am his and the treats are for him. I could have a second feeding set up for him on the nights when I don't ride, but he really doesn't need it to maintain his weight and it would be really hard for the barn to handle knowing when I was coming out. I prefer to be the bearer of the yummy goodness when I am there.

Whatcha lookin' at?!!