The journey is the reward.

Labrador-Welpen, 21.09.2011

2011-09-23T21:02:00.000+02:00

Cowhorse Spectaculare Circle-L-Ranch, 18.09.2011

2011-09-23T20:55:00.002+02:00

OSI Basselthof, 16.09.2011

2011-09-23T20:38:00.001+02:00

FIZO Basselthof, 14.09.2011

2011-09-23T20:17:00.004+02:00

Die wunderschöne Perla vom Basselthof...

und ihre Boxennachbarin Klara hatten es mir sofort angetan!

Hier der Link zu weiteren Fotos von der FIZO auf dem Basselthof 2011!

Labrador-Welpen, 11.09.2011

2011-09-23T19:57:00.000+02:00

"Ich hab dich so lieb!"

Serverprobleme

2011-05-31T06:30:00.000+02:00

Da es zur Zeit Probleme mit meinem Webserver gibt, konnten die ersten Bilder der Northern Supreme Show in Soltau nicht online gestellt werden. Ich bitte noch um ein wenig Geduld!

Dritteltreffen Nord Osterbyholz 2011

2011-05-14T07:43:00.000+02:00

From Tuesdaay morning until Friday evening I took about 8500 pictures of the 151 breeding horses which were shown in the breeding-show there. A lot of things have to be done now but at first I will take care about my horses ;-)
If you are interested in pictures of your horses please send me an email with the name of your horse and I'll send you some preview pictures.
Nice weekend to you!

Geschafft!

2010-08-09T12:17:00.000+02:00

Die Steuererklärung ist fertig und abgegeben und wie immer habe ich mir vorgenommen, die Buchhaltung künftig zeitnah zu bearbeiten (wie immer wird das wieder nix, aber es schadet ja nicht, es sich immerhin vorzunehmen ;o)
Mit meinem Führerschein (BE) bin ich noch nicht groß weitergekommen, aber die Planung steht bereits. Mein Auto fügt sich auch seinem Schicksal und möchte plötzlich Bremsen und irgendeinen Teil des Auspuffs erneuert bekommen (es hat wohl gehört, dass ich gerne etwas Größeres mit Anhängerkupplung hätte und schmollt nun).

Die Bilder vom Cowwork Sunday sind schon eeeeeeewig online, für alle, die nicht selbsttätig meine Galerie durchsuchen, hier der Link.

Auch ein paar Rinderfotos von den Deutschen Meisterschaften der Paints habe ich hochgeladen.

Am Wochenende darauf wurde meine Mutter 60 Jahre alt, deshalb kein Fotowochenende. Zur Schockierung aller Anwesenden habe ich mir zu diesem Ereignis sogar einen Rock angezogen. Ihr hättet mich nicht wiedererkannt :o) Selbstverständlich werden Fotos davon aber unter Verschluss gehalten!

Am 30.7. war ich dafür direkt nach der Arbeit schon in Wenden und habe ab 16 Uhr fotografiert. Die Cutting Night war wieder super, nur leider waren die Tribünen so überfüllt und das Licht zu schlecht, so dass ich keine erwähnenswerte Chancen hatte, schöne Fotos zu schießen. Nach einigen Pferden habe ich die Kamera auch gänzlich weggepackt und nur noch die Vorstellung genossen. Cutting ist einfach nur geil!

Samstag hatte ich eigene Termine, deshalb war ich erst Sonntag den 01.08. wieder in Wenden, dafür aber den ganzen Tag! Hier der Link zu den ersten Fotos vom Ride of America.

In der Woche ist nichts Großartiges passiert und Bagas Training verlief mehr oder weniger unspektakulär. Ab heute werde ich aber wieder etwas ernsthafter an die Sache gehen, da wir nun sicher wissen, dass wir am 20.8. zum Rinderkurs in die CUTTINGARENA fahren!!!!! Ich kann es kaum noch erwarten und zähle schon die Tage! Für heute Abend 18 Uhr habe ich mir bereits eine Kuh namens Britta reserviert. Um mein Pferdchen bei Laune zu halten, gehe ich heute auch mal wieder Futter für sie kaufen. Die letzten Wochen gab's das immer nur sporadisch :o)

Am Samstag den 7.8. war ich auf dem Hof meiner Freundin Sandra und habe verschiedenste Pferde und Hunde fotografiert: 2 Tennessee Walker, 4 Quarter Horses, 1 Isländerin, 2 Berber, einen australischen Nackthund und einen australischen Schmutzfink. Es war ein wundervoller Tag und selbst die 30 km Stau auf der A7, die ich umfahren musste, konnten mir nicht die Laune verderben. Im übrigen haben wir an dem Tag den Pakt zur Eroberung der Cuttingarena geschlossen!
Abends hat Britta (meine Aushilfskuh) in ihren 24. Geburtstag reingefeiert. Glücklicherweise wurde ich gefahren (Vielen Dank an Christa's Ehegatten Andreas und Bea!), so dass ich auch 2 oder 7 Fläschchen Frauenbier leeren konnte :o) Voll wird man von dem Zeug zwar nicht, aber immerhin schmeckt's. Am nächsten Tag hatte ich zwar den Eindruck, eine der 7 Flaschen wäre nicht so gut gewesen, aber vielleicht lag es auch am Anstoß-Sekt...
Also fuhr ich guter Dinge in Richtung Harz, um meine liebe Freundin und Schwägerin Annette in Northeim zu besuchen und anschließend nach Clausthal-Zellerfeld zum Rinderkurs zu fahren. DAS war vielleicht schön. Leider kann ich mir nicht gleichzeitig Notizen machen und fotografieren, deshalb habe ich größtenteils vergessen, was ich mir merken wollte, aber spätestens in 2 Wochen kriege ich ähnliche Bemerkungen an den Kopf geworfen, dessen bin ich mir sicher :o) Auch hierzu der Fotolink.

Nachtrag: Meine Freundin Silla hat nun das langersehnte Fohlen von Sokkadís und Glófaxi bekommen. Es steht zum Verkauf für 150.000 isk und ist ein Braunschecke namens Skildingur. Bei Interesse schaut doch mal auf ihre Internetseite.

Fotos und letzte Rinder

2010-07-15T06:15:00.000+02:00

Ab sofort sind die Bilder der Ranch Horse Competition online. Hier der Link. Um die Bilder des Cow Work Sunday kümmere ich mich so schnell wie möglich; mal sehen, ob es noch vor den Deutschen Meisterschaften der Paint Horses klappt. Im übrigen finde ich es äußert unpraktisch, dass die Islandpferde und Paints am gleichen Wochenende Deutsche Meisterschaften haben. Hätte ich doch beides gerne gesehen.
Samstag Abend bin ich auch noch zu einer Hochzeit eingeladen, was meine Wochenendplanung nicht gerade unkomplizierter macht ;o) Meine Steuererklärung liegt in den letzten Zügen und muss noch irgendwie dazwischen gequetscht werden. Ist fast fertig, nur das Ergebnis will ich so nicht akzeptieren...

Ansonsten gehen einige schöne Rinderwochen nun zuende, und obwohl ich manches Mal dachte "Jetzt kann ich erst mal ein paar Wochen/Monate ohne Rinder leben.", frage ich mich schon die ganze Zeit, wann und wo sich die nächste Gelegenheit bietet. Zudem würde ich auch unglaublich gerne mal in die Cutting Arena nach Hertefeld fahren...wie dumm, wenn man selbst keinen Hänger und das dazugehörige Auto hat. Ich werde das Thema nun aber verstärkt angehen und habe bereits eine Anfrage bezüglich Erlangung der Führerscheinklasse BE laufen. Dann brauche ich nur noch ein neues Auto und alles ist schön :o)

Aber rindertechnisch haben wir wieder viel gelernt, doch Trainings-Defizite habe ich auch genügend gefunden ;o) Nun heißt es also wieder üben, üben, üben... Stoppen, wenden, antreten - und das ganze bitte auch noch gerade und in Versammlung! Na, wenn's weiter nix is'...
Auf die englische Sprache habe ich ausnahmsweise verzichtet. Zum ausländisch Denken fehlt mir im Moment echt die Zeit. Gehabt Euch wohl und habt eine schöne Woche.
Immer frei nach dem Motto: Take it isi and go cutting!

Böser Blick

Tölt? Pass? Galopp? Ich steig hier nicht mehr durch.

Kuhabtrieb in Hannover

Baga-Cam

Nach links drehen klappt schon ganz gut.

Turnback

Cow Work Sunday

2010-07-05T05:54:00.000+02:00

We had a lot of fun yesterday but we didn't got a place in the ranking. It doesn't matters for me because I am satisfied with our performance and very delighted about Baga. She worked very good and gave her best. Unfortunately they didn't had "our" competition "Cutting" in their program. They only offered calf sorting, team penning, cattle penning and ranch sorting. We participated in calf sorting and cattle penning but both times we failed at the "punching". The goal was to punch the cattle into a pen but our cows always escaped ;o) I'm not disappointed about this because our cutting performance was fine and my main goal is to learn cutting and not punching!

Baga's leg is also very ok, she was not limping or showing any second that she has a problem. Quite the opposite! The gas pedal was working very good yesterday - only the brake was a little bit stuck from time to time :o)

That's why I decided on the fly to let Baga at the Seven-Gate-Ranch one week longer. Klaus has the Cowboy Week starting today and I will take part on it evenings. This day we start with a really cool happening: we fetch the cows by ourselves :o) We meet each other in Hannover with six horses (Baga is with them) and sort 12 cows out of a herd of 60. This sounds endless cool in my opinion. Real cowgirl work!!! I don't know yet if I will see Baga tommorrow but I know that she has a break on Wednesday evening ;o)

Training

2010-07-03T06:21:00.000+02:00

The training with Baga was fine and we exercised riding onehanded at six times. After the first lesson I thought I would never ever manage this (it's not as easy as it seems!) but the progress came ;o) In future I will ride with both snaffle and bit. I have to get routine with one hand but also go on with the constant connection with the snaffle (for collection).

There is more and more tölt coming. After our return to Bagas home and her full healing we will take riding lessons with Teresa again to work out the tölt.
Today I haven't much time for blogging because at 10 o'clock the Ranch Horse Competition starts and I want to see Baga before. That's why I have to rush... But soon I will continue my blog with new photos from the Ranch Horse Competition for example.

Cowwork in tölt

2010-06-20T08:27:00.000+02:00

My trip to Slovakia was fine and also the cold which I got there is getting better. As it was a business trip I was not seeing many places or doing any sightseeing-trips but one day we attended a colleague to a river-rafting-station and the next evening we drove into the mountains.

The return flight was wonderful because I could see the landscape during the whole flight.

On Saturday I went to Stolzenau immediately where Baga was still waiting for me. In the afternoon we worked with the cows and I was satisfied with the result.

After it we integrated Baga into Dimma's herd and I was taking photos of it the next two hours. Baga was very impressive like always in similar situations and Dimma was obviously very interested about her and always tried to get in contact with Baga.

One picture for showing you the proportion between Dimma (1 year) and Baga (10 years).

On Tuesday and Wednesday we had the next chance to do our cowwork. Every day we had new success and great experiences. On Wednesday Frank was taking videos and at home I could see that Baga was even tölting during the cowwork. That's just great!

Now the time has come that Baga have to learn to work with the cows alone and my job will be to LET her do this. Further we are now starting to move the cows - not the other way round as yet. I am very excited about the next week - fresh cattle will arrive on Thursday. Until then we will practise, practise and practise :o)
Baga had a break yesterday and I took the opportunity to go into the zoo with Jens and friends. It was very funny and a great day.

Now I will take care about my actual photo-orders and drive to Baga around midday. I get a riding-lesson of Klaus today and possibly we will practise some trail-obstacles and my wish was to train riding one-handed so I am terrible excited :o))))

Photos, parties and cows

2010-06-06T08:21:00.000+02:00

Like I told you in my last blog I was working on my pictures all Whitsun days. Then followed normal days with my main work and having fun with Baga. On Saturday and Sunday (29./30.5.) I was in Soltau at the Northern Supreme Show and took many photos of beautiful Paint Horses. You can find the link to the pictures here.

After the show I made a quick stop at our soccer club house where our team celebrated the advance into the next higher league (sorry, aber ich finde keine gute Übersetzung für Aufstieg in die 2. Kreisklasse). I'll try to upload some of the pictures which I took at the celebration today and I can share the link with you also if you are interested in party-photos :o)

The next two days I had free time to edit and upload the pictures of Soltau but I am not yet ready with this. Today I will continue. I was riding every day from Monday until Wednesday and had great experiences.

On Friday and Saturday was I doing the feeding and cleaning at our horse stable and I can tell you that I love to spend the morning hours with the horses. I also took Baga for a small bareback ride at the riding ground and she was brilliant!!! After that I met my mother for dinner and drove to Stolzenau because Klaus and Gudi had their birthday party! I arrived there early enough to take Dimma (and Janine + Kate) for a walk. Our first walk! By the way Dimma is having her first birthday in few days :o)

It was a wonderful party but I left my friends at 23:48 o'clock because I have many things to do here at home and wanted to start early with it ;o)

(v.l.n.r. Horst, Ilona, Patrick, Schmitti, ich)

But soon I will be back at the Seven-Gate-Ranch like I was told yesterday by Klaus! He will order a bunch of cows (jippieh) for next week and also a week later if I understood right. The fact is that Klaus will pick up Baga on Thursday and she will stay with him until beginning of July. During weekends I will always be there and the most time we will have cows to work with. Yeah!!!!!!!!!! The rest of the time I can use all the trail-obstacles which they have and meet my friends who live in this area. That's just great. The last weeks I was only thinking on when I will have the next possibility to work with cows and suddenly I will have some weeks with cows!

The finish of this cow-month will be on 04.07.10 at the Circle-L-Ranch with the Cow Work Sunday where we will participate. I checked the tendering of this tournament and I will probably choose the cattle penning as my competition. Now I have to quit my blog because lots of homework and photo-work is calling after me - further I want to see Baga today (last chance for training)! Tommorow I will fly to Slovakia again and stay until Friday while Klaus is picking Baga up for me! I can't wait to have the cows around me soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon! Furthermore I am very excited about Baga and Dimma meeting each other the first time. In my opinion Dimma isn't much smaller than Baga now and it will be very exciting to see them together.

Photos, photos, photos

2010-05-21T20:13:00.000+02:00

Now after 4 weeks I said to myself: "Sabine, you will not manage to finish all your work tonight, so why hurry?" That's why I can tell you with showing some pictures what happened the last 4 weeks. Actually I could not remember everything but having a look into my photo-folders could be a help, so let's see how I spent my time.

On 02.05. I made some ground-work with Baga and used the balloons from the week before. It was an interesting experience - also to crush them while Baga was standing beside me.

Later at the same day I went to Stolzenau visiting Gudi and my lovely youngster. Dimma found many friends in her new herd and enjoys her life on the green grass.

Few days later I went to Osterbyholz to take photos at the Euromót. There were approx 100 horses at the breeding-show and I gave my best to get good photos of all them. The horses above are Garún fra Kolneset (from Norway) and Bjartur frá Leirulæk (Iceland). You can have a look at the pictures from the show here. I went home to upload the first pictures on Sunday the 8.5. and made me ready for the business-trip to Vienna + Slovakia.

Slnečné jazerá (deutsch: Sonnenseen) in SK - Senec

It was a nice journey and I came back late on Tuesday (picture above: view over Vienna). On Thursday we had a bank holiday (Himmelfahrt) and I worked 12 hours with my pictures on the computer, Friday I was working at work (you know: my main job ;o)

Saturday I drove to Wenden and took photos of the Himmelfahrt Open, same on Sunday. You can find the pictures here.
On Monday and Tuesday I spent some wonderful time with Baga and was very excited how great she listened and acted after many weeks of break (I often said hello to Baga in the last weeks but we can really not talk about "training"). On the spur of the moment I decided to take a vacation from Wednesday this week until Friday in order that I have enough time to edit and upload my pictures of Osterbyholz (13 horses and one sport competition are left) and Wenden (34 competitions are left). My plan is to have everything ready until Monday evening :o)
But just sitting on the computer can also get boring so I wished good weather for yesterday and agreed a date with Patrick because he wanted to get brandnew pictures of his beautiful stallion CS Special Trick. At the moment he is in training at Jörg Pasternak so we drove to Herzberg for the fotoshooting.

Of course it was wonderful weather and everything worked like I planned. Good light in the riding-hall and as the icing on the cake I found some arabian mares with her foals right at the same place. Not forgetting the Alpaca which crossed my path from time to time :o) You can find a link to this wonderful breeding farm named Arabergestüt Hägerhof here. Actually I could say "What a wonderful day." But the day wasn't yet over! Around midday we went on the return trip and decided to say hello to Klaus and Gudi. Further I could not await to see Dimma again.

She is a real beauty in her summer coat and friendly as ever. By the way she is a giant for her age! Now you are really up-to-date reagarding the happenings of my last 4 weeks. So I'll keep up my work immediately. Have a nice Whitsun (Nein, das ist keine neuartige Kampfsportart sondern das englische Wort für Pfingsten!)

Great to turn 30!

2010-04-25T18:50:00.000+02:00

Saturday I had a great time with my family. We were eating nearly all day: breakfast, brunch, cake & coffee and my favourite dish in the evening. Between cake/coffee and supper my sister and me went shopping in Hannover and had some ice-cream later. It was a very funny time as we started to take photos of every garment we tried at P&C. Now after checking the photos I know that I have to go again and buy everything I tried :o))))

On Sunday we drove to Baga to do a walk with her. We met Simone who asked me suddenly "Baga is very coloured, isn't she?" And I was wondering, "Huh? Baga is bleikvindótt (red silver dapple dun), she is always special coloured." but then I saw what she meant:

All my tack was also decorated with balloons and paper streamer and I had no chance just to go pick up my horse and ride like she and my tack was. But of course I did :o)

Baga was a little bit unhappy with the balloon on her head so I removed it soon. The next days I will try to get the colour out of her coat. Luckily the summer comes and she is losing her winter coat but maybe I will take water for help :o) Now I have to go to work. We'll see if anything's happening there... anyhow it was a wonderful birthday and I have not one bad feeling about getting 30. Quite the opposite: I feel better than ever before!

SSSól Revival Playday

2010-04-19T21:15:00.000+02:00

Isländischen Aschewolken zum Trotz feierten wir am Sonntag den 2. SSSól Revival Playday. Knapp 20 Teilnehmer hatten sich eingefunden, um sich im Trail, Fahnenrennen und Best of Dreigang zu messen. Bei der Parcours-Begehung gab es zwar noch großes Staunen, vor allem das Besenpolo mit Gymnastikball erfreute die Gemüter, aber in der Durchführung zeigten sich teils wahre Perfektion und Einfallsreichtum. Mit einer Mischung aus Gehorsamkeits-Prüfungen und Geschicklichkeit gab es für jedes Pferd-und-Reiter-Paar positive Ergebnisse zu verzeichnen. Das Reiterstübchen war gefüllt mit unzähligen Köstlichkeiten und sogar Gäste aus Island (Menschen) und ein echter Cowboy hatten sich als Zuschauer eingefunden.
Auch das Fahnenrennen fand schnell Anklang in der Startergemeinde und plötzlich folgten jede Menge spontane Nachnennungen. Siegreich waren am Ende Kira und Bjalla, die im Rennpass und Tölt ohne Sattel durch die Bahn flogen. Und während die Kohlen im Grill schon glühten, machten sich neun mutige Reiterinnen auf den Weg zur Ovalbahn, um dort die drei besten Gänge ihrer Pferde zu präsentieren.
Mit vollem Bauch, gebräunter Haut und einem alkoholischen Kaltgetränk in der Hand ließ man langsam den Abend ausklingen. Zum Abschluss hatten wir sogar noch das Glück, Zeugen eines mittlerweile selten gewordenen Phänomens zu werden. Wie gebannt starrten wir in den Himmel, unsicher ob den Augen noch zu trauen sei. Doch tatsächlich...ein fliegendes Flugzeug!

Hier der Link zu den Fotos:
http://skinfaxa.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=29141

Baga confused - too much ash in the air?

2010-04-18T09:59:00.000+02:00

Hey my friends,
today is the Playday-day and I am hopefully ready with all arrangements! I wrote a time-schedule and starting-list, created notes for the judges Bettina & Petra and painted a plan for the trail-parcours. Actually Baga and me would be a hot favourite for the trail but anything happened with my little horse what makes her confused. It started with the day as the ash from Eyjafjallajökull came into our country. Maybe Baga is smelling her home? Actually she is acting like a horse on the right side of the brain (parelli language = RBI). She is having fear about everything. On Tuesday she was rather normal but some kind of stubborn, on Wednesday I was wondering why she was not putting her feets on the pallet (pedestal). One of our favourite tricks at normal days. But this day she was acting rather fearful. But on Thursday everything was over and I could hardly touch her head, she was in fear about EVERYTHING including me. On Friday we had a riding-lesson with Teresa and I learned that best is to give continuity to the horse, so I put more self-confidence and leadership in myself and let her feel that there is no reason to be fearful. She was still freaky but it was getting better after she used her head to listen to me. At the end of the riding-lesson she seemed to have forgotten that she was fearful before :o) It was similar yesterday as I was riding at the oval-ground the first time this year (after the snow-season). She had fear about the tie of the new fence which was laying on the ground. But after some rounds the bad feelings were nearly gone. Now I would say we are no hot favourite for today but of course will we take part at the SSSól Revival Playday! It's just a new chance to show her that there is nothing to have fear about.
I am very excited if the flight situation in Germany will change soon because actually I have to fly to Vienna tommorrow. We'll see?!
Have a great, sunny day my friends! Now I have to rush...

Für Hara

2010-04-12T19:42:00.000+02:00

Stjarna gestern

No time to blog, just new pictures

2010-04-09T06:23:00.001+02:00

Dimma, 05.04.2010

Baga, 07.04.2010

Two weeks later

2010-04-01T22:03:00.000+02:00

They sales-show in Hestagard and Hestabakki was great and it fell not one rain drop down on me. The weather forecast is always only as real as you think it is ;o) My favourite horses at the show were Svala vom Lordsee - 5 years old red dun mare (V: Hjalti vom Blitzberg, M: Bitta frá Hliðarbergi) and of the unridden horses it was definetely Tibrá v. d. Prignitz - 5 years old red dun pinto mare (V: Tindur von Adlerhoop, M: Rósa frá Stokkseyri). Luckily I had enough time on Sunday to look through all the pictures and uploading them immediately. That's much more than I have yet done with my pictures from Iceland but I hope that this will happen in the next days.
After the sales-show I drove to Baga immediately because I received my brand-new "Quittpad" and could not wait to use it! Baga seemed to like it and I found some tölt-scenes in the video. Often I am filming my riding or play-sessions because it helps me a lot to see my faults but sometimes it also useful to see improvements (or finding tölt steps ;o) The days after we had a mixed program of jogging together, playing at liberty or online, riding "naked" (I had my clothes on!), climbing on a pedestal, pushing a ball or eating grass!
After a great week with Baga and early finishing times at work I decided to take photos on Circle-L-Ranch in Wenden (27.+28.3.). I came home with ~ 4000 photos which I am uploading now in every free minute (not this very minute but the next again - I promise ;o) The competitions were fine and the weather much better than the weather forecast announced. There were many beautiful horses and nice people to meet. In spite of all my photo-work I could spend some minutes with Baga this week and went on with my training about collection. At the moment I could swear that Baga is tölting every day few steps. ANYTHING seems to work :o)

My trip to Iceland

2010-03-19T20:45:00.000+01:00

The drive to Frankfurt and the flight were very easy and Ransý came to the airport of Keflavík to pick me up. Then we drove to Mánagrund to have a look at Skinfaxa (which is for sale like I have been told) and checked the riding-hall. Silla picked me up at Ransý's home and after having some coffee and "hestaspjall" we went home to Reykjavík. I met Silla's family and we had a great dinner and some more "hestaspjall" before going to bed. The next day we went to a farm near Borgarnesi to take photos of Sokkadís new home. Fortunately it is the same place where Sæla-Dís - her daughter from 2008 - lives. It was a nice place for getting some photos on my camera. Later at the same day we went to the horse stable to see the stallions of Silla's parents. Glófaxi and Völusteinn frá Kópavogi. The pictures weren't bad but Silla and her horse-trainer Árni decided to try it again the next day.
On Tuesday Silla and me went riding and it was very exciting to ride tölt again after so many years of trot. My performance was rather bad and I am sure my horse was lucky to get rid of me after the riding-tour. Now my plan is to study more about riding icelandic horses in future ;o) After the riding Silla had to work a little, so she throw me out of the car at the 66° North Shop. What a great idea! First I could not decide what I like, short time later I wanted to buy everything in the shop :o)
In the afternoon we went to Árni again to have a look at the stallions. I got some good shots and we were especially excited about 4 years old Völusteinn who showed incredible movements and a lot of will to run!
The same words could describe another stallion we met the next day in Hárlaugsstöðum. His name is Lindi and he is born in 2007. It was a rainy day and the stallions were more curious then anything else but as we let them run you could see all the talent in them. We also looked at the herd of young or pregnant mares and there were also many beautiful ones. After taking some photos and getting totally wet we were invited to some skýr and coffee and we gladly accepted the invitation. Of course we had some hestaspjall but after few hours we had to say goodbye and drove to Ásmundarstöðum to meet Hekla. It went on raining so I had no fun taking more pictures so we just talked a little, looked at the horses (for example Loki - another son of Sokkadís) and later took a drink of mare's milk. It was a funny experience ;o) Further we also went to Selfoss and said hello to Mona but still being wet we wasn't relaxed enough to stay and went home rather early. As all pictures were taken suddenly the sun came out... It was still rather bright so Silla and me stopped at some places to take photos of icelandic landscape. You can say I have seen a lot of things and people in only three days so I am glad that I made this trip but maybe next time there should be more time. I'm sorry for everybody who have not been visited. Next time you'll be the first ;o)
I had a very good view over West Germany on the return flight. Nearly 30 minutes I could observe the earth from above. After a stopover at my friend and sister-in-law Annette I arrived my home around six o'clock in the afternoon. The next day I could not await to see Baga after sooooooooooo long time and she was obviously surprised to see me. To make an easy start from break to work I used the icelandic saddle and a briddle from anybody else. What a strange feeling to sit in this saddle again - but it was comfortable ;o) Unfortunately Teresa is in holidays and I would love to get some riding lessons. Hm, no solution available at the moment. Now I have to quit to wrap up somebody's birthday gift and to carry it to the post office immediately. Later I will be in Buchholz to take photos at the sales-show there. It should be rainy the whole day but I'm thinking positive and give the weather a chance to be great for photos. After it I want to see Baga again and ride a small pattern. Have a nice day and keep on smiling! I do :o)

Dimma - the working cow foal :o)

2010-03-10T05:57:00.000+01:00

Febrúar

2010-02-21T13:03:00.000+01:00

Hard to say what happened the days since my last blog. It happened a lot, that's a fact. My computer-time is short so I will only use few words, photos, videos or links to describe what's going on ;o)

Photo session at Hestagard, 06.02.2010

Monday the 15.2. we had carnival and I painted Baga for fun :o)

Later we were playing in the snow:

Walking at sunset on 18.3.

Yesterday we were fighting against claustrophobia:

Next weekend I'm having a wellness-weekend and the weekend after (6.-7.3.) we will hopefully work with cows and visit Dimma. On 14.3. I'll fly to Iceland and come back on 18.3. Any more news? Can you never get enough? Ok, on 20.3. I'm on Hestagard again to take photos of a sales-show. The weekend after I'm possibly at Circle-L to take photos of the competitions.
Addition: After my trip to Iceland I will spend some days in Switzerland working.

Snow pictures online

2010-02-01T05:53:00.000+01:00

http://skinfaxa.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=27541

New cam

2010-01-10T08:45:00.000+01:00

Everything worked like I wished and I bought the Canon Powerhot A480 yesterday, went to Baga, took the sleigh and we played with it. Anytime some walkers came around and took a video with my camera.

More snow

2010-01-09T10:19:00.001+01:00

My wish became true and we still have snow (got new one last night). Today my plan is to buy a digital camera with video mode. After it I will proceed to teach Baga how to carry a sleigh. Yesterday we played touch-it with an euro-pallet (pedestal) the 5th time and Baga started to hit the pallet with the front feet. It seems as if she is short before putting the first feet on it. That's a picture of the first time sniffing the pallet.

Dimma-News: The rest of the Seven-Gate-Ranch-herd is now on the same pasture like Dimma, Little Man, Scotty and Chico. This means she can get some new friends and it will not be so hard if Little Man will leave the herd in some months. Then she will play with Boots, Tammy or Kate. Maybe I will visit Dimma tommorrow but it will be a hard driving tour with all the snow, that's why I am not yet sure.

Happy new year

2010-01-05T05:40:00.000+01:00

Great to have snow over many days. Hopefully it stays until the weekend or longer.

I wish you all a happy new year with good health, much luck and joy. May your dreams come true and your plans work with success.

Having fun with snow...

2009-12-20T17:43:00.000+01:00

Long time no blog

2009-12-16T07:59:00.000+01:00

The last weeks were very busy and only my sickness (tonsillitis, auf deutsch Mandelentzündung) gives me the chance to tell you some words about the last weeks (better to say, last month). Two weeks after carrying Dimma to her new home I went to her again. I was unbelievable happy to see the progress of relationship in her little herd. Now the son of Scotty (he's not yet named, but I'll call him "Little Man" in the further lines) is the best friend of Dimma and both are playing, fighting and running together like brothers and sisters. Dimma is also allowed to eat and stand not far away of Scotty. This was incredible during the first days. But now it seems as if Dimma arrived fine in her new family/herd. Actually she is sometimes a little bit bugged about Little Man who always wants to play but she would like more to have silence during eating time. Then she is showing him who's the boss. But most time she is just following his invitation to play :o)
The same weekend Klaus gave a clinic about ground work with horses. I was not taking part at this clinic and just taking photos but it was hard for me not to have Baga there and playing the same games. Baga had a little break in November because Christiane, my friend and chiropractor for animals, came to set her bones. It was the first time for Baga but essential. There were no chance to bend Baga on her left hand during riding. After this session we started with easy training. I can not yet say how effective the session was but progress have still been seen. But the days after I only did ground work with Baga so I can not tell you more until now. The weather makes riding more complicated at the moment. Either it's dark outside or the riding circle is wet. But what do I tell you???
Ground work is ok for me, I only have a problem with playing something new every day. Baga is very interested and curious about our playing but if I repeat the games too often, her interest is gone immediately. But I try to use my imagination as often as possible to keep the fun. Few days ago Baga circled an eight around barrels in trot! Few months ago there was no chance to ask her about! Same with jumping. Baga is no jumping horse (not like Dimma who managed to jump over an euro-pallet) and she will always go around an obstacle instead of jumping over it. But short time ago I had Baga with me but not fastened on the rope (at liberty) and after her joy-minute (when Baga turns into an extrovert and starts running and bucking like a mustang) she had some concentration to listen to me and followed me loose over many obstacles - also a little jump. This day I could feel after long time again how it is to have a horse which is your partner!

Hm, I have many more to tell and some more funny pictures but this seems to be a nice bottom line for my blog today :o)

New home

2009-11-15T18:58:00.000+01:00

Dimma arrived at the Seven-Gate-Ranch yesterday.

An autumnal walk

2009-10-18T17:28:00.000+02:00

There are no big news I could tell you. But last weekend we celebrated the wedding of Bille and Matze. Here is one picture of the beautiful bride.
Otherwise nothing exciting happend because I was only working (11 hours each day) and didn't had much time for Baga. Everytime if I planned to drive to Klaus and Gudrun I had to cancel this because of less free time.
But today I went riding with Baga to enjoy the beautiful autumn weather. I love the time if the trees are changing their colors. Last time as I were riding in the country I was missing my camera to collect all these beauty autumn colors but today I was more clever! Some pictures were taken in the saddle and some outside.

After the great walk outside I put Baga on the riding ground to give her the possibility to roll (welter) in the mud. After it she seemed to be very satisfied. Same like me!

Hen night, autumn and cutting

2009-10-03T09:00:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday I went riding through the forest with Baga. We got lost but it was funny to find the way back. We both love riding in the forest. Luckily we have much of it.
In the evening we were invited to a hen night of my friend Bille. The slogan of the day was "pirates" so the most of us were dressed up like pirates. The bride was very confused as we suddenly stood in her living room and actually she was sick with a cold but some cups of sparkling wine made the world much more brighter for her :o)
Later she had to manage a trail-ride with the arabian horse Haska which was dressed up like a boat. Then she had to find the hidden treasure.

What a fun we had! The rest of the evening we went bowling and drunk a lot :o)

Nevertheless I had no problem with getting up early the next morning because I knew about the newborn foal at the Seven Gate Ranch which I planned to visit on Sunday. After some cups of coffee I hit the road and behind the highway I found myself in a beautiful landscape in beginning autum. I don't know why but since few weeks I really desire the autumn to come. I think I'm getting old and the summer was so busy that I need a break now (one of the reasons why I am sitting on my computer now instead of driving to a cutting competition). Long story short: I got out of my car and took some pictures of the landscape I always see if I drive to Stolzenau. It's not only the home of my friends Klaus and Gudrun, it's also the future home of Dimma ;o) The little "Quicky" who got born few days ago will be the buddy of Dimma in future.

They also had some cows on the ranch and due to the fact that I had to leave Baga at home I had the chance to take some new cutting photos!!!

The upper picture was taken with the camera of my dad and a wide-angle lense. I was sitting on a pick-up in the middle of the riding ground and the cow was only few meters away.

New family member

2009-09-20T07:02:00.000+02:00

After all harm at beginning of this year (spring) something good happened in june. There were a foal born on Schanzenhof the 10.6.2009 which I liked from the photo and as I went to the Schanzenhof few days later the little girl went straight into my heart.
Actually Martina wanted to name her Gletta but I asked her to name her Dimma instead. We are not sure about her real colour but she seemed to be dark and I love the name Dimma (darkness) since many years but never had a dark horse to use the name. The origin of this name is a dog which I met in Iceland 2005. I really loved this dog and using her name is keeping her always in my mind. My regards to everybody in Iceland at this place ;o)
My plan was to buy a fourgaited LBI (note for Parelli-students) which I can use for ranch work but riding in tölt, too. But as I met Dimma, all plans had gone. She had to be my horse - nevermind which gaits she has! Accidentally (or just fortune) she is fourgaited. Using a lot of trot and gallop but also showing clear tölt.
At our first meeting (14.06.2009) we came in contact easily although her mother were very shy and always escaping. Of course Dimma followed her. But she was curious enough to check me from time to time.
It followed a long period of thinking, calculating and discussing and although I never winned the discussions and got a clear NO of my "government" I decided to buy Dimma. Actually we planned a holiday tour northwards and accidentally the day of the retourn journey should be the 15.09.2009 - the date of Dimmas foal show. But unfortunately Jens got injured on his shoulder so we canceled the plans and the free days. I was very sad not to be with Dimma on this date but luckily Dagmar went to the Schanzenhof and came back with pictures for me! The whole day I was nervous waiting for a call of Martina which marks Dimma got. The phone call arrived me in the evening as I were cleaning the stable.
Dimma got 7,8 for building, 8,0 for character and 8,0 for gaits, total: 7,96
Furthermore she became the winner of the show! Judicial decision in german: Feines Stutfohlen mit guter Ausstrahlung und geschmeidigen Bewegungen im Trab und Galopp bei deutlichen Töltansätzen in den Übergängen.
Try of a translation into english: Fine filly with good charisma and smooth movements in trot and gallop with clear Tölt-attemptions in the transitions.

Yesterday I went to the Scahnzenhof to congratulate my foal to the successful show and we found her sleeping on the ground. I also felt sleepy so I took the place beside and spend some wonderful time with her.

We enjoyed the time together but soon we got disturbed by her brothers and sisters:

v.l.n.r. Vör, Sabine, Brynja, Dimma, Paul

Now I have to work but maybe we can make a colour-quiz together in my next blog. I'll show you some details and you speculate about the colour. Good idea?

News

2009-09-13T09:30:00.000+02:00

Our Trainer Klaus Neuhaus came on 4. position in Cutting at the European Championships and became German Champion! Congratulations!!!

In the meanwhile I was busy as a bee and taking photos at the breeding-show on Basselthof. There were 64 grown horses and some foals and youngsters. I still uploaded the pictures of few horses. You can find them here: http://skinfaxa.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=26029

After it - on Friday morning - I had my first riding-lesson with Teresa. I still want to learn from Klaus but he is too far away for permant lessons so Teresa and me checked if we can find together. We had a lot of fun and Teresa find many things to correct :o) Anyhow we got a praise for our loose way of ride! Now we got some home work to do and I plan to have the next riding lesson in two weeks.

Since the last cutting clinic I trained Baga to carry her head down. It worked fine but before she is learning only to walk on the forehand I am now asking for more collection. I am very satisfied with our progress. This was the best year of all - regarding training success.

After the riding-lesson I went to the Basselthof again to take photos in the competitions of the OSI. Same on Saturday. But today I stay at home and work with the pictures from Wednesday until Saturday. A new work week starts tommorrow and there will be less time to care about the pictures. On Tuesday is a foal show on the Schanzenhof in the Lueneburg Heath and I am unspeakable sad that I can not be there to take photos of the foals. Anybody there who can do this for me?????? Antje? Dagmar?

Never Before

2009-09-09T06:13:00.000+02:00

Tonight I received an email about the actual Parelli Celebrations in USA.

http://enews.parelli.com/emailings/FortWorth/cowworking/cows.html

It would be soooo great if I could see it. Instead of this I am on the Basselthof the rest of this week to take photos of the breeding show and competitions. Today Klaus and Patrick are competing at the European Championshipds in Working Cowhorse and Cutting. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

See you...

Last weekends

2009-09-07T06:35:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the long news-break! I still owe you an overview from the shooting on 29.08. It was very versatile and funny:

Nice landscape

Jumping horse

Cowboy

Feelings

and friends.

News from our stable: a new horse arrived. Welcome Blakkur (and Romy).

Baga is doing fine. I try to keep her well trained just in case for a further chance to work with cows this year :o) (Of course I would also train her otherwise.) Klaus and Patrick are competing at the European Championships in Cutting these days. Unfortunately I can not attend them but I wish them best of luck and success!!!!

Last two weekends

2009-08-25T06:47:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately I found no time to tell you about the cutting clinic on 15./16.8. Of course it was great and we learned a lot. Now I only hope that we can keep this knowledge until the next time we'll get the chance to work with cows. Hopefully we don't have to wait until next year...

More photos of Baga in the cutting clinic are in her gallery: http://skinfaxa.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=877
One week later I had a "date" with 10 labradors again. They were so cute and lovable ;o)

And on Sunday I got the chance to take some pictures of Teresa with her lovely mare Randalin.

Cow Work Sunday

2009-08-10T07:01:00.000+02:00

Baga and me came on fourth position of six participants in ranch cutting!

Here you can have a look at the whole gallery of this day: http://skinfaxa.de/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=25489

Cutting clinic

2009-08-07T06:39:00.000+02:00

There is a cutting clinic on 15./16.8. that's why we decided that Baga should stay at the Seven-Gate-Ranch these week. Sina was working a little bit with her and yesterday I came for a riding-lesson and was surprised about the progress she had done! We also worked a little bit on the cutting-machine and I had the feeling as if Baga realized what she has to do. She turned excellent and the stops were great. On Saturday I will drive again to my friends at the Seven-Gate-Ranch and on Sunday we will possibly take part at a small fun-competition with cows (it's not yet sure if the competiton will happen).
Amendment: the competition will happen. Click for details: Cow Work Sunday

18.07.2009 at home

21.07.2009 Friendly game with rope

06.08.2009 living at the Seven-Gate-Ranch

Found this cute, old fencebroker-picture on my mobile-phone. We miss you Sonnie...

Weekend

2009-08-02T18:50:00.000+02:00

Long time no blog...
I had a great weekend at the Seven-Gate-Ranch with:

Baga

Cats

Dogs

Dream Horses (1. pic "Boots", 2. pic "Olly")

Great People

Hawks

Roping and...

Soccer on Sunday (Jens).

Photo session

2009-07-13T06:44:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we had an offhanded photo session in our barn. The weather was mixed but anyhow it was funny. Here you can see one picture of Christiane & Askja

and one of Julia & Chinook:

After the rain stopped Robin, the boyfriend of Christiane, took some pictures of Baga and me.

On Saturday we started with the pattern "Question Box". That's what we will exercise the next week. Further I want to improve my roping skills and have to learn not to hit Baga with the rope during sitting on her ;o)

Busy weeks

2009-07-06T06:49:00.000+02:00

Hey all.

We are still alive but I was too busy to blog ;o) Baga is doing fine and her sweet itch is still light. No wounds, just some scratches. But at the moment she is fighting a lot with another dominant mare about the leading position in the herd. That's why she is sometimes a little bit injured. We are still working on following the rail and figure8. Since yesterday it is confirmed that we will take part at a basic riding clinic in 4 weeks and a cutting clinic two weeks later. How exciting, I'm so happy!!!!!!!!!!
Until I can tell you about these clinics you can spend some time with my newest pictures. Yesterday I was at the Ranch Horse Competition like last year. Here you can find the first pictures. More will follow during the next days: http://skinfaxa.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=23779

And have you already found the pictures which I took as I visited Martina at her farm Schanzenhof? Check it out: http://skinfaxa.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=23352

Having a lot of fun with "Follow the Rail"

2009-06-06T18:38:00.000+02:00

Baga and me went on with the Follow the Rail pattern and yesterday I asked for Figure-8, Touch-it and the Weave-Pattern online. Everything was fine. At the moment Baga is doing so much Touch-it everywhere that I have to watch out that she is not sniffing the electric fence anytime!!! She was short before it one time.
Today Jens, his and my mother came for a visit. Jens took some great pictures of us. I'll share one picture with you and who likes can find more in the gallery:
http://skinfaxa.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=877
Follow the Rail is the best what could happen to us at the moment. Riding canter bridleless is getting more and more normal to me.
DO YOU PARELLI???

Trying the patterns

2009-05-31T11:06:00.000+02:00

After Sonnie had gone and busy photo-weeks I went on to pay more attention to Baga again. Actually I would need to wash Baga latest every two weeks because of the skin care products I am using against her sweet itch but it always were a problem because she hates water. Luckily I learned a lot the last months to try a new start with water. In the past months I often showed the hose to Baga but although I could hang it on her ear she immediately was scared again if it was placed on the ground. Anyway I took her on Monday, hold the rope in my hand and switched the water on slowly. After short time Baga accepted the water and I could wash her carefully. On Friday I had to repeat this because of oil which came into her mane and it was really easy. I could put the rope on the ground during the washing time and Baga was not often trying to escape ;o)
Then we started new with the touch-it and 8-pattern of Level 1. I often did the 8-pattern before but never with letting Baga doing it alone. So I tried it again and noticed that she knows what I want (although this should not mean that she is doing it). She is bored about it so I can not repeat it every day, that's why we are not good enough to do it in trot immediately. Later we also could touch the "obstacle" with both front feets. I also tried a game in the round corral but Baga changed the game before I noticed it. So she was the winner :o)
Baga 1 : Sabine 0
On Saturday I totally confused her as I went on the pasture but walked straight forward without catching her. After few meters I noticed that she followed me so I slowly stopped, looked at the sky and pretended as if I haven't seen her. She was nearly angry that I didn't paid attention to her :o) Baga 1 : Sabine 1
Then I put the saddle and the natural hackamore on and after repeating the 8 online I mounted on Baga. My plan was to start the follow the rail pattern although I was sure I always have done it before. No I didn't. I think the problem always was that I were micromanaging but after comprehending that it's Bagas responsibility to stay at the rail, it worked better than EVER before. I had to correct her sometimes but it went better after every round. Soon I noticed some power in her as if she would ask me for trot so I smiled and she immediately went in trot. We also followed the rail in trot easily and short time later I felt the same like before as Baga asked me for trot. Suddenly we were cantering and following the rail!!!! It felt as if Baga is giving me so much more if I don't put the bridle on and if I ask her to work more without my help. This day was so great to open my mind! After cantering few rounds on both hands I stopped in the middle, did a turn to the left side for 360° and mounted off. After this I took the hack and the saddle and carried it from the riding arena by myself ;o)

Dritteltreffen Nord

2009-05-18T10:24:00.000+02:00

Wow, it was great. Much work but maaaaaany wonderful horses. I felt in love with more than only one stallion. No time to blog more because I have to arrange my 9000 pictures. I only have a free day today. Tommorrow and the rest of the week I have to go to work :o(

Only short impressions from yesterday:

Viktor fra Diisa

Agnar Snorri Stefánsson + Katrine Langvad (?)

Glúmur frá Stóra-Ási

Nils Christian Larsen + Styrmir Árnason

Dritteltreffen

2009-05-12T10:53:00.000+02:00

Now I am working on the pictures which I took in Lindlar - at the second Dritteltreffen. After that I will drive to Osterbyholz today. There will be the last Dritteltreffen. Horses like for example Fákur frá Auðsholtshjáleigu will be shown there. The last time I met this horse in Iceland 2006 (see the picture left).

Here you can find the pictures of Lindlar: http://skinfaxa.de/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=22086

Unfortunately I got sick with a sore throat and I am coming down with a cold, too. I am very curious how the week will be. A funny mix out of sickness and much work. But of course I will manage this ;o)

Now I have to go on with my work but not before I showed you the great cream gateaux which Ilona created in honor of me :o)

Dritteltreffen in Wurz

2009-05-07T06:59:00.000+02:00

Last week I was in Wurz to take photos for Worldfengur of the breeding horses. You can find some pictures here: http://skinfaxa.de/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=21340

It's hard to say which horse(s) I liked most because there were many great ones. See above a picture of Fannar frá Kvistum. He was the stallion with the highest score: 8,39. But the highest score all over got Vordís vom Kronshof with a total of: 8,40. See below.

You can find the results at http://www.worldfengur.com/

Tommorrow I will drive to the second Dritteltreffen in Lindlar and the week after is the last one in Osterbyholz. I'm very excited about all the great horses I will see during the next days.

Yesterday Hekla came for a visit to me and after a successful shopping expedition we drove to the barn to see Baga. Unfortunately it was raining the whole day but we were riding Baga anyway ;o) It was very funny and I was excited to see Baga with Hekla tölting but suddenly we noticed that Baga is really fourgaited: walk, trot, canter and pace. But no tölt anywhere! It was no tölt-day yesterday but never mind. It's not about the tölt. Only funny to know that Baga is fivegaited but I never knew before: Always if Hekla asked Baga to canter, she went into pace. My horse is a real surprise egg :o) In any case we had a lot of fun together and I hope that we can meet us soon again before Hekla goes back home to Iceland.

Fyrsta frumtamningakeppni á Íslandi / Playday in Iceland

2009-04-28T12:55:00.000+02:00

Check these news at Hestafréttir: http://hestafrettir.is/Frettir/6255/

Email account broken

2009-04-27T08:43:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately my webmail-system is not working today (hopefully not longer). So don't wonder if I am not answering your emails!!! You can also send urgent emails to sokkadis2002(at)gmx.de

Baga tölting

2009-04-21T11:37:00.000+02:00

Video-Cut from yesterday.

One week later

2009-04-17T20:29:00.000+02:00

Now life is coming back to me slowly. The first time I only could cry, hate everything around me and don't wanted to spend my time with Baga. She gave her best but she wasn't exactly what I desired. I don't wanted to feel joy and fun and was not listening to music or being glad with the shining sun.

On Sunday I drove to the Seven-Gate-Ranch to take pictures of the cutting clinic and there were too many friends and too much happiness that I could not stay in my sad mood. Roughly speaking I got my smile back during this weekend. But bad moments are still coming and going. Every day.

Today I had a good day with Baga. Actually I also had a good time yesterday because Klaus came to me after work and gave me a riding-lesson. Of course that was brilliant! He helped us a lot and I have some homework to do now. Of course I don't wanted to do the same like yesterday with Baga although I was so excited to exam the new stuff so I decided only to ride with bridle but bareback. Good decision. It was fantastic. I only wanted to ride some circles of slow trot (jog) in a good posture. Baga had different ideas but followed my instructions. I only needed to restart the engine from time to time. Then I noticed how good it felt to ride this trot. I never thought I could fall of her - it was easy like walk. Sometimes the trot felt very different to other steps and I wondered: is that jog? (Foto vom Basiskurs)

I called Bea and Kira to have a look at Bagas legs and started a new round. And in fact they told me that Baga is always tölting if I ask her for very slow trot. Only few steps. But everytime again. Walk - Tölt - Trot - Tölt - Walk. Of course I had no cameras with me in this great moment so I only can tell you this. The greatest thing ever: to find the tölt through not trying to tölt :o) And I not even used the reins. They were hanging down with a lot of slack...

Rest in peace my darling!

2009-04-09T11:39:00.000+02:00

SSSól has gone. With her my heart and soul. By mischance she was caught in the hayrack. After she could be rescued all her muscles in the back were damaged. We tried a whole day to help her but after knowing that she would never ever be able to walk again, I decided to put her to sleep.

Reining Training :o)

2009-03-31T09:35:00.000+02:00

On Sunday I had a great riding-session with Baga. It seems as if she really wants to be a reining-pony anytime :o) Here you can see a video of us: It shows a left turn, strike to canter from walk and direct stop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7a9AazigY
The second one shows us trotting a slalom and striking to canter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuTKt-QlF7g
Everything worked very fine and Baga listened great to my focus! Now we need more to work on transitions between different gaits and not only direct stops ;o)

Riding clinic

2009-03-26T05:37:00.000+01:00

On Friday I arrived at the Seven-Gate-Ranch and took some pictures of the people who had riding-lessons with Klaus. I also took Baga for a small ride but can not remember what exactly we did. Only some unspectacular thing ;o) Later we tried some trail-obstacles but I noticed that they are very difficult even though they're looking easy.
On Saturday we started the clinic with the real base: leading, mounting, approaching only with weight and showing the direction, start at a trot, making stops, going backwards. I decided to try the tölt-saddle and natural hackamore for this and it worked very fine (see the pictures below)! We (8 people) were splitted into 3 groups so I always had the chance to see how the other were doing and took many pictures of them.
The second lesson was mainly about leg-yielding (Schenkelweichen). First on a fence, then in slalom around some pylons or through riding small circles around the pylons. And the more qualified riders could also do it in trot (I'm not one of those :o) But Baga and me worked hard and there was some progress to see. The most important thing is that I keep all in my mind and can go on with it at home. This was just the end of our lessons on Saturday but in a good second I tried to ride some canter. I had avoided to do it since last October. Luckily it worked but only for few steps. Then Klaus came to me and took Baga for a small demonstration ride :o) It was really great to see him riding canter in both directions, asking her for leg-yielding, stops and spins. Everything worked great!!! So here you can see Klaus and Baga:

Later he told me what a wonderful horse she is and that he had a lot of fun! What a proud horse-owner I am now!!!!
On Sunday it was damned cold so I took all the clothes I could find around me. Later I even changed the helmet against a warm cap. We were very lucky that the rain changed into hard wind and we really stayed dry the rest of the day.
The first lesson on Sunday was about responsiveness and going on the bit so I repeated the practices from Saturday but asked more for collection and it worked from time to time. I didn't expected to do everything perfect at the first try but I noticed that everything what we learned the day before was easier than ever earlier! Yeah, we got it ;o)
Then we started cantering! Klaus explained every step in his naturally easy but funny way and then we should try it by ourselves. I had no idea if it would work or Baga start bucking like often before but she didn't. We striked off at the canter from walk and it was brilliant. We cantered two circles with slack in the reins and it felt as if we never did anything else!!! Outside of the riding-ground all my friends were clapping and cheering because they knew about my canter-problem. We tried it again and again and it worked very very fine. Unfortunately I also wanted to canter the other direction but we failed. Now I know which side is our bad one and will work on an improvement ;o)
The other riders also learned to ride counter-bends but my brain was too full to understand what to do so I decided to be happy with the things I got. If I have more prcatise with cantering and don't always think "Now I have to canter..." then we can think about more complex lessons like counter-bends! At the end we learned how to turn the forehand and the hindquarters and it was no problem to do it. Here you can find the pictures of the weekend: http://skinfaxa.de/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=18668
Now I have to hurry....bye bye.

Coming soon...

2009-03-24T14:50:00.000+01:00

Of course the riding clinic was great but I had no time to blog until now because I am still uploading the pictures. Soon I will write a full report for you. Here you can see one picture of us with natural hackamore:

Baga drove away.

2009-03-19T06:47:00.000+01:00

During the weekend were I working with Baga on the trailer to prepare her for yesterday. Klaus came to pick her up for the riding clinic which is planned for the weekend. First Baga had to find out that this trailer is not different to Teresa's one and then she walked on it. After some minutes Baga was ready to go ;o)
I think nobody of you know how bad Baga liked the trailer before but now we attained the goal!!!
Klaus sent me an email that Baga arrived well and started to eat her hey immediately. So, I know she is fine. Today I have to manage a visit to the dentist and then I can drive to Baga tommorrow to spend a whole weekend with her and learning a lot to progress in our relationship ;o)
Here you also get an actual pic of SSSól (and Mýsla):

Official level 1 graduate!!!

2009-03-11T07:35:00.000+01:00

Sabine-
Thank you very much for your On Line audition. The assessment team has viewed your audition and it was a pleasure. We appreciate the opportunity to be a part of your horsemanship journey. Congratulations! You are now officially a level 1 graduate! Your on line savvy is level 1++!! This means that you are well on your way to level 2! Now it is time to start having some fun! You have the basics down "Pat". You and your horse are now ready to start playing on longer lines and developing more and more positive reflexes. Thanks again for your dedication to your horse and to the Parelli program. We look forward to viewing your future success. Have fun and keep it natural!

As you can see I received my assessment from the Parelli Centre yesterday. Now I am unbelievable happy and looking forward to the level 2 challenge! Thank you Baga for playing with me and being such a great friend, thank you Pat & Linda for creating this program, thank you Klaus for always having an answer to my questions and thank you Christiane for waking me up ;o)

Small puzzle: What gait is this? It's supposed to be trot but it looks so pace-like.

It's not about the audition!

2009-03-10T06:01:00.000+01:00

Short time ago I told you that I sent in my audition to the Parelli Centre and that I am afraid not to pass my Level 1. Not even one week is over but I learned a lot. First I thought "Yes, I made it." Then I thought "OMG you failed." Now I think: "Never mind if I passed or not, I got stronger the last days and made good progress." That's it. Not which mark I get or who is telling anything about me. It's about friendship and relationship! Yeah, I know, these are quotations. But now I got it! First I tried to take a new audition-video to prove anybody that I can make it better. These tries end up in frustration because everytime anything happened what made the new video un-perfect again. After all I decided not longer to think about and just going on with the game. And suddenly came the progress :o)
The second pro was the condition to take a video. But I am always nervous if somebody is watching me and it's the same with a camera. Some time ago I asked a friend to take pictures of us during the play-time and what happened? Nothing worked. I lost the naturalness because I thought on "How is this looking?"
Now I take a video nearly every day. That's not because I love to see me on videos. It's for the progress, for my diary and to see my (bad) body language. If nobody would have asked me to take a video to pass Level 1, I would never have noticed that I ask Baga something to do but my body says "you don't need to do this" "I am unsure" "I'm in fear" and very soon I would get frustrated because nothing works like it is supposed to do.
With my new attitude things are getting easier. For me and hopefully for Baga. You can see how we did the figure-8 yesterday. The day as I took the audition we did the figure-8 only for the second time. No wonder that it looks a bit inharmonic.
These days I go on playing around the trailer. Soon we will go on a journey and I plan to make the trailer loading as easy as possible for Baga. If everything goes well I can use the trailer during the weekend to load Baga on it - just for unloading her again. Yesterday I placed two pylons beside the trailer. Maybe 1,5 meters away. Then we played the squeeze game and the yoyo-game. It went well but I could feel a big opposition reflex of Baga. She really hates the trailer and don't want to be near it! That's why I sit down on the wheel case as often as possible to feed her or only giving her positive feelings.

Ground work with SSSól

2009-03-09T06:59:00.000+01:00

Leading

Circling

One picture from the highway yesterday.

Level 1 On Line Audition

2009-03-07T08:48:00.000+01:00

I did it:

Actually I wanted to wait until we are perfect but Wednesday was nice weather and I could leave the work earlier than normal so I decided spontaneous to take my audition video. Wednesday I thought: "Hey, how great we did. And no matter about the faults." Now I think: "You idiot, why couldn't you wait until you are perfect to take a perfect video?" We'll see if it was enough to pass.

"Beam me up, Scotty!"

2009-03-02T08:11:00.000+01:00

This weekend was a cutting clinic at the Seven-Gate-Ranch again. Baga had to stay at home but I got the chance to take part with the extremely cool Paint Horse Scotty!
You can find some pictures of Saturday here.

Wild one

2009-02-28T06:41:00.000+01:00

Last entries

2009-02-27T15:11:00.000+01:00

Monday, 16. February 2009
08.02.2009 Spending a weekend on the Seven-Gate-Ranch to free my mind.

See more pictures here: http://skinfaxa.de/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=18287

Later saying hello to Kirsten, Karsten and Askur.

Crazy weather this day.

14.02.2009

Valentine's Day - my friend Nadine got married.

Earlier on Valentine's Day. Playing with Baga.

Learning to go sideways.

15.02.2009

Playing with Baga - Friendly Game with saddle and pads

Going backwards but being blind? No problem.

Friday, 30. January 2009
The last time was a little bit boring so I didn't knew what to blog. My horses got cough and I had to phone the vet. again. Now they are drinking syrup and I think they are well again. The day as the horses got cough I came down with influenza. But I am also rather well again. Next week the vet. will come again to complete the tetanus shot of SSSól. Two weeks before I started to work after Pat Parelli with Baga. It's very interesting and a lot to learn for us both. It's more a program for humans than for horses :o) Since the day we started I was not riding again. Just working from the ground. I can not say how long time we need but it's possible that I will not ride Baga before our next riding-course in march. It depends on our progress. Silla asked me if I am only riding with western saddle and I have to say: yes. The western saddle gives me more security if Baga is taking over control. But in future I will first ride without saddle and see later which saddle to choose ;o)I found some time to upgrade my website and I created a gallery for real old pictures (starting from 2002 until 2005) of me. The first pictures have been taken with an old non-digital camera. Click here to enter the gallery.The new camera-equipment arrived but if you believe it or not - there was no chance to try it. First I was sick and later the weather was bad and the landscape grey. Baga and SSSól are not easy to photograph because they are always too near in the lense. Tommorrow I have do some cleaning and after it I will visit my parents. Cause is the 64th birthday of my father which was yesterday the 29th. Unfortunately he is still in very bad shape but we enjoy all time we have together.On Sunday I will go on working with Baga, maybe also with SSSól. I take Baga whenever I can to play and play and play. But SSSól only one time a week - if at all. The Natural Horse-Man-Ship could help me a lot in the daily handling of SSSól. Like Pat Parelli would say: "There's no limit to what you can do when your horse becomes a part of you."

Sunday, 11. January 2009
Yesterday I checked if my camera is still working. She did but not perfectly. You can take few pictures and then you have to restart. Now I'll calculate how to get a new one. There is a cow day on 07.02. and a marriage on 14.02. where the camera HAVE to work!SSSól got injured on the eyelid during one of her ranking-fights so I had to phone the vet. on Thursday. He came and checked her. Luckily it's nothing serious but I used the opportunity and let the vet. give a tetanus shot to the small red devil. Here you can see her and some of her friends:

Saturday, 03. January 2009
Dearest friends,I needed to change my blog-page because the icelandic one was cancelled because of a wrong kennitala. Of course I do not have an own kennitala and blog.is wrote me an email that I am not allowed to keep my old blogpage :o( That's why I start new again! I'll take an english one now that also non-icelandic people are able to post a comment easily.Baga and me went outside for a little walk today and I took my camera with to be able to present you some new pictures. But unfortunately my camera broke down badly and I am afraid that it is totally broken now. Maybe you remember that I need to send it to a workshop 1,5 years ago but it seems as if the shutter is broken again and I am not willing to put so much money in this 5 years old camera again.Into the bargain my car also broke down few days ago. The battery was broken and Jens had first to drive me to work and also bought a new battery. But there is more to it than that! The exhaust is also broken. My Honda Civic now sounds like a Maserati :o) Unfortunately I daily have to fear that it is falling from my car so my car will end in a workshop soon.I think I have not more bad to tell at the moment ;o)The walk with Baga was nice and SSSól also behaved well in the roundpen. I am pleased with them. Now I will check the photo-upload-function of this blog ;o)