For all my horsey friends...

I wanted to give you a little update on Fayal's progress since I bought him. It's been five weeks already and he nicely settled in.
I had to get his feet done soon after we brought him home which was a small challenge. He really hadn't been handled much and holding his feet up was not well known to him and it got worse when I accidentally hurt him, just to find out that he has some thrush. I had four days to train him and he actually was great! By now, he is a real champ and holds his feet up way better than the two older horses we've got.

Surprisingly, he just loves people! I can say that he for sure was not handled much before and I also can say that I can't take any credit for it either (even though I would like to ;-)), it's just the way he is. He is waiting at the gate when you come to bring him home from the pasture. He even trots towards you, happy to see you. And he did it from the very start. He will be a real Black Beauty one day, except he is not black.

Oh well, as you can see, I'm already in love with him...

But now, more interesting maybe, his training:

I'm not rushing him because he is still very young. However, I don't want to bore him with the same exercises all the time either. So we're moving along as fast as he wants/is able to.

First I worked him on a little piece of land behind our garden. Mostly short sessions with more physical parts and brain work alternating within the sessions.

As brain work part, I taught him to step on a cut off tree stump.

Letting him figure it out (Photo credit my mum)

I let him pony mostly by my dad, or whoever rides my dad's horse (mostly my dad or myself). He's great to pony and again you would think someone taught him, but I'm certain he had never done it before.

Fayal on the tree stump (Photo credit my mum)

He's is very relaxed when it comes to big trucks or scary things in general, more relaxed than our older horses. But at the same time, he is very sensitive to what I'm telling him and I'm lucky and thankful, because nothing worse than riding a tank.
He is allowed to enter my space when we're in the barn unasked, because he is very respectful and will leave my space right away if I ask him to. He enjoys being in contact with people so much that he often tries to sneak into a stall with you while cleaning it, so he can be with you. I've never met a horse like that! My little princess Pacific in Canada enjoyed a good brush, but given the choice being in the field or being with people, I know what she will choose :-).

Basic lunging exercises, asking for a change in direction (Photo credit my mum)

Bending exercise, he is learning to give to applied pressure on the rein and it is our built in break. Bend all the way means 'STAND' and this hopefully keeps me in control and safe later when I'm on his back. (Photo credit my mum)

Slightly bend and what you can't see is I'm using a dressage whip to tap him where later my leg will apply pressure to teach him to go forward. (Photo credit my mum)

Leaning on his back and applying our 'break'. (Photo credit my mum)

See above (Photo credit my mum)

The first time on his back! He kept his cool. (Photo credit my mum)

In this picture you can see that Fayal is our tallest horse. He stands at 16hh right now and will continue to grow for a little while. (Photo credit Caro) 

Ponying Fayal on Aragon (Photo credit Caro)

Nuka loves going for rides, especially because we don't have to use a leash around here (Photo credit Caro)

That's us! :-)

Welcome to Germany!

We made it!
I didn't take any pictures that day because my camera was very far down in my backpack, but let me paint a picture for you here:

Me, sweaty with read dots on my face forming different patterns over time. Nuka, panting in her crate. And Matt, trying to keep his cool through it all.

We stood in line for a very long time to check all my things, including dog and bike. I was slightly disappointed because my expectations for a GERMAN airline are a bit higher than that. When we finally made it to the front of the line, the lady honestly asked me why we came so late, ahahahahah. Right! Oh well...breath in and out, breath in and out...and smile.

Anyway, I made it onto to the plane and was pulled aside by the stewardess because I had too many bags. She didn't want to take them from me, but to inform me for the next time I traveled. Thanks! Just to add slightly to my stress level. Well, moving on...and finding out that I would spend the next 10 hours next to an about three year old and a baby (just learned to walk).

Whatever, I popped three pills (one against nausea and two for going to sleep). It worked and I slept most of the time, only to wake up when the little one managed to dump the first cup of milk on his mum's lap or to receive a meal. All good...

Arriving at the airport, I collected my luggage and waited for Nuka and my bike. Nuka was brought quickly and I almost cried being so relieved to see her alive. My bike took a lot longer and we were informed that it most likely hadn't been on board. I didn't care, I just wanted to get Nuka out of her crate.
I was pushing two trolleys, because my luggage and the crate wouldn't fit. So, I kind of was the amusement in the downstairs area making my way to the Lufthansa desk to report my bike. They informed me that my bike was on its way. Alrighty then, all the way back...

I collected my bike and went to go through customs. When I entered the area, they looked at me like I was in the wrong place. Because I know Germans, I greeted them friendly and explained that I came through here because I brought my dog from Canada. They were really not interested and also had no clue what they were looking at when I handed them the papers. They decided against calling a vet to check out the dog or even establish the identity of the dog and waved me through in less than five minutes. One of the ladies was nice enough to push one of the trolleys out the door for me and when we stopped she informed me that there was dog pee on the floor. Nuka couldn't hold it any longer after 13 hours. Oh well, so I asked her if there was anything I could clean it up with. Her answer was: "You already pushed your trolley through it." Turned around and left. Cool, thanks!

Gotta love Germany!!! ...and my dad was late to pick me up.

But after that everything got better and so far Nuka and I are enjoying our time here. I went out and took some pictures of the area, the village, the dogs, and my new horse I bought.

So, this is for you, my Canadian friends :-)!

During our morning walk

This is the hill we used for tobogganing when we were kids. Maybe you can't see it, but is is super steep and ends with barbed wire. It was scary, but so much fun! We often did it during night, too, when only the moon was shining.

Standing in front of our house taking pictures down the street...

...straight ahead...

...and up the street. A typical German village I guess. And nope, not a lot of cars coming through.

Where our horses live. Part of the barn, right next to our house.

That's him! Fayal, my new fur baby. He is still very much baby and for now and still some time to come he will only be fed well and worked from the ground or be ponied along from one of the other horses. He needs to put on weight and muscles before he can carry a rider. He doesn't know anything and I have the pleasure of teaching him from the very start.

Aragon, my dad's horse.

Fayal and Rehle, my mum's horse.

Fayal and Rehle, there you can see nicely that he lacks muscles and weight.

Rehle and Aragon

All three horses, Nuka, and my dad.

Aragon and Rehle, Nuka and Nanda (my parent's dog), and my dad.

Fire wood

And now, the dogs! Nanda is a 1.5 year old rescue from Portugal. She is most likely a mix between a Doberman and a Galgo which is a type of Spanish greyhound (or something similar). She has an insane energy level and Nuka and Nanda really have the same mind set. There are not sooo many other dogs here and especially not young ones. Nanda is over the moon to have a new friend. Nanda knows how to open closed doors and if we don't get up early enough she checks in with us, standing int he middle of the room, willing us out of bed with her laser eyes. Yep, good times!

This is all walking distance from my parent's house. Even though statistically, there are soooo many people in Germany, I hardly ever meet any when I take Nuka out for a walk.

Nuka really enjoys this freedom! We almost never use a leash. I let her heal for the 30 meters until we reach the fields and forest and then it's all just running.

This is when I ask them to hold still for pictures. 

There they are, goofies!

And at it again...

Don't worry, Nuka is very gentle. Nanda, however, not so much and sometimes holds Nuka back on her collar or harness when I call her.

I love fall...and winter!

I also got a new camera lens and tried it out in some of these pictures. All pictures were taken on Mount Seymour again in the afternoon sun and show fall colors to frozen ponds.