2/25/11: The Running Cat Bag.

I was greeted this morning at the barn as usual, with Christoffer's singing of Beyond the Sea by Robbie Williams (I definitely didn't know what off-key Danish singing sounded like before I came here); Derren's British "hello"; and Sabi saying, "what's uppp!" with a Hungarian accent. It's quite an international crowd at the Warsteiner Reiter Stable!

I trotted Quisel for the first time today in at least a week. He was under doctor's orders to walk for a week and I think it paid off! He was really wild and jumped up in the air every time another horse passed him, but luckily we both survived the ride and he trotted soundly. I also flatted Lord's Boy. He was really fresh and Alois helped me work him on the flat. The biggest critique Alois has of my riding position is that I need to sit further back in the saddle. I was somewhat confused the first few times he said this and I thought he simply wanted me to lift my shoulders and hold my upper body at a wider angle to the saddle. However, what he actually wants is for me to physically sit further away from the pommel and closer to the back of the saddle. I find this technique difficult but I'm working hard to master it. It is very connected position where the rider's legs feel somewhat far forward, the reins are slightly long and high but holding a firm contact, and the foot is virtually flat and pushing rhythmically against the horse's sides to maintain the forward motion. Alois and Simone had to leave after lunch, so Christoffer set the course for me to jump Lucy in the afternoon. She jumped great! The course was about meter 1.30 and I tried riding her without spurs to encourage minimal bucking. Lucy LOVES bucking and I'm not quite as fond of it. She was definitely less bratty without the spurs and she's a very forward horse, so I think I will eventually forego the spurs to keep her happy.

Once we finished at the barn, Lena, Christoffer, Lottie, and I had to walk home in the cold. Christoffer and Lena took advantage of this time to squeeze in a little last PDA before Christoffer went back to his apartment, so Lottie and I decided to play all the way home. We skipped, hopped, used invisible jump ropes, swung around on lamp posts, did jumping jacks, sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and more! I love my little German sister. My American sister definitely has some competition! After skipping into the house, we had a quick dinner (Lottie is really easy to feed because she will eat bread with Nutella for almost every meal), and then watched Gute Seiten Schlechte Seiten, the soap opera show I love so much. The last but certainly not least exciting entertainment of the night occurred when Felix the cat was playing with a canvas bag just before we all headed off to bed. While pulling on the handle, Felix somehow managed to flip the bag onto his own head. It stuck there and the poor cat when into a panic, screeching and running around trying to escape from his own personal bag blindfold. In his panicked state, Felix ran so fast that he went flying straight into the wall! Lena said he plays with this bag a lot, but I don't think he will go near it for quite a while... if ever. I wish we had it on video because poor Felix's traumatic experience was definitely America's Funniest Home Videos-worthy! Maybe we would also get extra kudos for sending a German video... That sounds very exotic!

2/24/11: Pictures of Warstein... Home Sweet Home!

The stool I use every day as I struggle to put on Quisel the Dinosaur's bridle (Derren, Christoffer, Moni, or Sabi usually comes to my rescue).

The barn!

The field across from the stable where riders can flat their horses when the weather is warm. Unfortunately, the dead of winter is not ideal for this.

Lupita!

The road to the stable. It's a beautiful place to walk!

Billy

Business as usual in the stable.

The reindeer family outside front door of the Pollman-Schweckhorst's house: Bobbie, Bob-O, and Bobette.

The Pollman-Schweckhorst's house.

Sign to the brewery, hotel, and Pluckers.

Awesome storage closet in the tack room, complete with pretty wall paper on a sneaky sliding door.

The tack room.

Alois's show tack locker.

Lena's horse Lillibett (aka Big Momma).

2/20/11: The Language Barrier.

Sometimes I feel really lost here because of the language barrier. One moment, I’m running through the woods, refreshed and happy, and I can barely believe my good fortunate at being able to live and ride here. When I have a lesson with Alois, I'm always excited and feel like I'm learning a lot. I know I'm lucky and that no time or effort I spend here is wasted. However, sometimes I walk around the barn or sit at a table for a meal with what feels like an ocean of space around me. People speak in a language I can’t understand. I can’t contribute to the conversation; I can barely even say hello! Sometimes I don’t say hi to someone or try to start a conversation simply because I know it will be halting and awkward. I just smile and wave a lot! Sarcasm is tough to get through the language barrier, and it's hard to express my opinions and ideas.

Despite all this, the sweetest thing happened today. I was working Cessana on the flat when a nice, middle-aged woman who has come to ride at APS twice said to me, “my English is not so good but after riding I have little surprise for you.” I don’t know the woman's name… one of the many plights of the non-German speaking person living in Germany is that I often don’t know people’s names, what they do, or who they really are! I just see them, I can’t KNOW them. I had no idea what this woman was talking about but I smiled, said thank you, and continued to ride. When I finished riding, the woman walked back to the barn with me and said, in very broken English, “last Wednesday you said you liked my perfume. I brought you small bottle!” and she gave me a little sample bottle of her Hermes perfume, Eau Claire Des Merveilles. It was amazingly sweet! I can’t believe she remembered what I said and thought to bring me a sample. I think it goes to show that no matter how difficult communication is, smiles and compliments are always appreciated. The small gesture of handing me a tiny perfume sample really made me feel at home, even thousands of miles away. I thanked my new favorite German friend, hugged her, and sprayed on some perfume! The smell made me happy the whole day.

2/20/11: Pictures of The Warsteiner Reiter Team.

Sandy, Derrern's dog.

Lucy

Lord's Boy

Christoffer's new young mare, Q-Ling (yes, it sounds strangely Asian considering she's from Denmark).

Christoffer's best horse, Magic (he went to the Olympics in Hong Kong)!

Lena with her favorite horse, Bandit. She wants to take him on the German Junior team for the European Championships this year.

Alois's up-and-coming star, Balermo.

Derren (a.k.a Little John from Sherwood Forest).

Christoffer and Lottie.

Christoffer and Billy, the Pollman-Schweckhorst's dog.

We don't know what's wrong with him but the doctors say it's permanent...

2/18/11: Welcome To Warstein!

The walk from the barn to the riding hall (with Quisel, the dinosaur horse). At the end of this video, Mr. Dinosaur starts jumping around and trying to run away as we walk through the door.

2/16/11: Video of Lucy In The Barn!

2/15/11: Lupita Bonita.

Last night, after everyone finished riding, the whole barn crew went out to the ring and built a course that Alois designed. It started with an oxer on the diagonal; left hand turn to a five or six stride line by the rail; rollback on a vertical; bending five or six strides to an oxer-vertical one stride in-and-out; right hand turn to a triple bar; bending six or seven to a double vertical one stride in-and-out; left hand turn to an oxer by the rail; and a curving seven strides to the final fence, a white skinny vertical. After running this morning through the forest by the brewery (it is absolutely beautiful), I headed out to the barn with Alois. I jumped Lucy first. She jumped really well! She always started out very nicely and jumped the first few fences smoothly, but when I would ask her to move forward to a jump or come together in a turn, she got a little bratty. She definitely has an attitude, but she jumps great and I think she's learning! After finishing with Lucy and helping set some jumps for Alois and Christoffer, I got on Lord's Boy and flatted him. Alois jumped him because his owner is coming to ride on Thursday, and he wanted to make sure the horse was ready for her. Lord's Boy jumped great! He has a funny way of going to the jumps, tending to bounce a little at the canter in the corners and then make a bid two or three strides away from the jump. He needs the rider to stay soft and not push him at the jumps. Despite his little issues, he's really fun because he's quick, careful, and brave.

I got really spoiled today when Alois let me jump his best horse, Cessana, who is eight and already jumping meter 1.60 grand prixs clear. I love riding her because she is a light, sensitive horse (unlike many other giant German dinosaur beasts)! It was my first time jumping her and she was wonderful. She is really catty and careful, although her incredible sensitivity can be difficult because she loses focus easily and is tough to keep straight and in an even rhythm. She is gray and looks a lot like Lucy, so Alois said he's going to have to be careful that I don't "accidentally" put the wrong gray horse on the plane when I go home (he's right to be worried because I would take her in a heartbeat)!

After a long day of jumping, Alois and I finally went back to the house for lunch around 2:30. We watched a little German TV (Alois, Lena, and Christoffer always ask if I want to come watch TV but, as much as I want to spend quality time with them, watching daytime reality TV in German is never very interesting for someone who can barely say more than "danke schoen") and went back to the barn around 4:00. All I did in the afternoon was walk Quisel because he has a small strain in his leg and is not in regular work right now. I also met Moni's adorable new puppy, Lupita! She is a German shorthair pointer and is named after a little girl in a Denzel Washington movie. When I was a little kid, my family had a German shorthair pointer named Luke and he was one of my favorite dogs ever, so I'm really excited about spending time with Lupita. Her new nickname is Lupita Bonita! Clearly there aren't enough different languages being spoken at the barn, and we need to start speaking Spanish also just to mix things up.

Once we were all back in the house (everyone except Christoffer who got his driver's license taken away for a month because of a speeding ticket. Now he has to ride his bike everywhere, so he wanted to go ahead and get home before the roads were too dark!) we had dinner-yes, another meal in the space of four hours- and watched Good Times, Bad Times. It is still very dramatic! I love that every country seems to have its own classic teenage soap opera. The U.S. has Gossip Girl; England has East Enders; and Germany has Good Times, Bad Times. No matter where one goes, he or she cannot escape "emotional porn," as Christoffer calls it.

2/13/11: Birthday Time!

Friday was my birthday! I had breakfast with Alois, Lena, Opa, Charlotta, and Christoffer (Simone is on vacation in Dubai). They sang happy birthday to me (in English) and Alois spent at least half an hour reading jokes off an Iphone application called the World's Best Jokes. After this, Lena and Charlotta went off to school while Christoffer and Alois went to a horse show about 40 minutes away in Dortmund. I rode a few horses and had the giant indoor ring all to myself! We had lunch and birthday cake after I finished at the barn. I honestly feel like life in Germany centers around mealtime! Whether or not we are done riding the horses, if Opa has finished making lunch in the house, life is put on hold and we go inside to eat. I have actually untacked and put away horses after tacking them up to ride simply because lunch was ready!

For dinner on my birthday, we ate at Pluckers, the small restaurant owned by the Warsteiner Brewery that is connected to the indoor ring at the barn. The food is delicious, and it is a really charming place with a lot of rustic wooden furnishings. My parents sent me a new camera from home last week, so I will be able to put up pictures soon! Warstein actually doesn't have a store that sells electronics. Where is Wal-Mart when I need it?!

On Saturday, Lena and I went to watch the show in Dortmund in the afternoon. We got up early and finished in the barn by 12:30, then headed off to the show with Opa. I saw a few of my British friends! It was great to see familiar faces and talk to people who speak fluent English for a little while. I've never fully appreciated how much effort it takes to communicate in a place where English is not the primary language! Dortmund was a great city horse show, similar to the Syracuse Sporthorse Tournament in New York. All the stabling, the schooling area, and the ring were erected inside recreational buildings in the city of Dortmund. The show ring is used as a hockey arena at other times of the year! Upon arriving at the show, Lena and I went to two German Junior/Young Rider meetings about the upcoming show year. I had trouble deciding whether the meetings were more or less boring for me because I couldn't understand what the officials were actually sayings. The whole ordeal took about 2 1/2 hours and by the end of it, I thought I was going to collapse from boredom! I spent the majority of one of the meetings reading TextsFromLastNight on my phone. In the other one, however, I was sitting very near the front and felt it would be conspicuous and rude to stare at my phone for an hour. Although I learned absolutely nothing from these meetings, I did get to meet several officials from the German Equestrian Federation, so I think sitting through them was worthwhile!

After Lena and I escaped from the all the droning, we watched the Under-25 Rider Classic. The jumps ranged from meter 1.40 to 1.45, and the course was very connected. It started with a 1.40 oxer close off the corner; bending eight strides to a liver pool vertical; a wide turn to a vertical with a forward five or curving six strides to an oxer-vertical two stride in-and-out; a triple bar tight off the corner with five strides to a double vertical one stride in-and-out; then a long bending line to a low, wide oxer; a vertical at the end of the ring; another vertical with five strides to a big oxer up the middle of the ring; and, finally, an oxer-vertical one stride right by the rail. A lot of horses and riders had trouble in the last in-and-out! Out of more than thirty horse/rider combinations, only two successfully jumped the first round clear. Both were riders from Germany who I didn't know. The first rider went fast but had two rails down in the jump off. The second one cruised slowly and had one rail but still finished on top! It was really interesting to see a big indoor class for riders under 25 in Germany, and compare it to the High Junior/Amateur jumper division in the United States. I thought this class was comparable to the High division at the Syracuse Sporthorse Tournament. It was difficult and connected, and some of the jumps were a big meter 1.40 while others were 1.45. Not all of the oxers were wide, but a few of them definitely required the scope of a meter 1.50 horse. I was surprised there was no triple combination, but the ring was very small! All in all, the show in Dortmund was great and I would love to compete there sometime.

2/8/11: Scheisse!

My favorite German word is definitely "scheisse" (pronounced "shizer"). It means "shit" and all Germans seem to say it at least twenty times a day. Every time any little thing goes wrong, the first word spoken is always, "scheisse." I had a quiet weekend in Warstein again. Alois, Lena, and Christoffer all went to a small local show about an hour and a half away to ride on Saturday. The three of them left the barn at 6:30 am (I woke up at 5:30 when I heard someone in my room. I thought about using my pepper spray, but instead I just went back to sleep. Luckily, it was just Lena searching for her riding coat in the closet!) I heard "scheisse" many times later Saturday morning because it turned out that the early morning made everyone's minds a little foggy, and Derren forgot to put one of Alois's horses in the trailer. When they arrived at the show, Alois thought Lena had put the horse in the trailer, Derren thought Alois had put the horse in the trailer, and no one had actually done it! "SCHEISSE" could be heard reverberating around all of Germany!

The horses that did make it to the show were all quite good. Alois jumped clear and got ribbons with his best young horse, Balermo, and a new horse that arrived three weeks ago named Evita; Lena had one or two rails in every class with Bandit and Lillibeth, but they both jumped well; and Christoffer's best horse, Magic, jumped clear, and he had small issues with his other two horses. Simone rode two horses at the barn Saturday morning and then left for Dusseldorf. Not only does Simone ride and organize the barn, but she also owns a high fashion clothing store about five hours away from Warstein and has spent the last two weeks picking out her winter collection for next year. Her store carries Roberto Cavalli, Seven For All Mankind, and many other chic brands.

After Simone left, I was the only person riding for the rest of the day, so I had a lot of horses! I started riding at about 8:30 am and kept going until 2:30. With Moni's help, I finished all the horses, so I walked to a small store called Penny Market about a mile from the house to buy some snacks. One thing I absolutely love about living in such a small town is that everything is within walking distance (and by "everything" I mean the grocery store, the gas station, and the church, since that's basically all there is). Alois, Lena, and Christoffer came home around 9:00 pm and we had a great time searching funny videos on Youtube. Alois introduced me to a very funny German comedian named Jim Bauer. His videos are hysterical!

Sunday was an easy day for me because Lena and Christoffer were at home to ride. Alois went back to the show, and he remembered to take Prunus this time! I didn't see the horse show at all, but next Saturday I am going to watch at a show in Dortmund. I can't wait until Lucy and I get to compete here as well! I'm still not sure when our first show will be, but I will probably have to wait another three or four weeks. I'm very impatient!

2/5/11: The Best Cookie Baker!

A few days ago, I was in the barn with Christoffer, Derren, and Sabi and somehow the subject of their favorite cakes came up (the fact that it was lunchtime may have contributed to this). I love baking, so I told them I would bake a cake. Then I asked if they liked cookies and, just like the British, they didn't know what cookies were, and I had to describe "American-style cookies" in detail. Before I came to Europe, I had no idea that home baked cookies are such an anomaly here! After I explained, the guys said they wanted to try these mysterious cookies and Christoffer shouted, "come on, let's go to the market!" When we got to the market, it was clear from the lack of baking necessities that Germans don't make cookies. The baking section of the store didn't have any chocolate chips! I compromised by getting several big bars of chocolate and spending an hour chopping them into little pieces. I am a dedicated cookie baker! Through this baking process, I discovered that 350 degrees Fahreheit is 176.666667 degrees Celsius, 2 Cups equals 1 Pint, and no Europeans seem to use measuring spoons.

When Alois came in from the barn, I think he was having major sugar cravings because he immediately started helping me mix the cookie ingredients while also sneaking chopped chocolate out of the bowl. I am very particular when it comes to baking chocolate chip cookies, and I think I've finally met a more OCD cookie baker than myself. Alois wanted everything to be mixed perfectly and kept worrying about texture of the dough and whether or not I was measuring the ingredients properly. Who would have guessed one of the most accomplished and renowned show jumping riders in Germany would be such an enthusiastic baker? The cookies turned out perfectly and barely lasted a day on the kitchen counter. My responsibilities here now include weekly baking sprees!