After breakfast this morning, I attempted to walk to the barn (it's barely a quarter of a mile away from the house) with the Pollman-Schweckhorst's dog, Billy. We were happily walking along and were about halfway to the barn when Billy suddenly turned around, bolted back to the house, and sat down by the door where she refused to budge an inch. I called her repeatedly, but eventually I had to give in and go back to get her. Opa (the word for "Grandpa" in German. Everyone refers to Simone's father as this) gave me a leash, and Billy and I gave walking to the barn another try. I think she thought I was trying to steal her when she realized none of her family members were joining us on the walk! Once I made it to the barn, I lunged Lucy for about twenty minutes while rocking out to Kid Cudi on my Ipod. Music sure does make lunging more enjoyable! She was really well behaved and seems to be very sensible for such a young horse. I think she will learn quickly in Alois's program, and I found out yesterday that I will have the chance to show her in young horse classes at a national Junior/Young Rider show in Germany in a few weeks. I'm really excited! The biggest issue I'm having with Lucy right now is a white fungus she has on the inside of her ears. Simone told me a lot of horses get this fungus in Europe when the hair in their ears is clipped very short. It clearly causes Lucy a lot of pain because, even though she's very sweet and quite in the stable, she runs backward when I try to push her ears down to put on a halter or bridle. I have some anti-fungal shampoo from the vet and have been putting it in her ears every day, but if it doesn't clear up soon I think she will need some different medicine.
After Simone; Christoffer; and Pia, a nice woman who has been riding some of Alois's horses over the past few days, rode three horses each, everyone headed inside for lunch. Simone very kindly cooked me spinach and potatoes, while everyone else ate chicken and potatoes. I'm so grateful for the fresh market! I took a little nap after lunch (it's amazing that I can sleep during the day even after I've barely done anything), and then went back to the barn where I helped Lena and Simone with their horses. When all the riding was finished, we did a massive cleanup of the ring. We removed all the jumps, dragged the ring, and cleaned the jump storage area and the entrance hall to the ring. The ring will feel very spacious tomorrow with no jumps in it!
After finishing up at the barn, I took my first trip to a German grocery store. It is called Edeka and I was very impressed by it! It took me about 15 minutes to pick out a new face wash because I couldn't explain to Lena exactly what a facial scrub is. Finally we got it all worked out and hopefully I didn't buy some sort of peel that is going to make my skin fall off. I need a fresh face for riding tomorrow!
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