Today I rode in my first Stallion Show. It was awesome.

I suppose I should mention I took a new job in the afternoons, riding for Gestuet Letter Berg (don't be fooled by the invitation to view the website in English. It only works in German). I had spoken with Hermann about my desire to show more and he said yes, he could understand and would like to support me in it, but can't supply me with a horse. Damn. In a conversation with Ingrid, she mentioned she might know a place looking for a rider. So she put me in touch with Herr Voss at Letter Berg and I guess it all worked out! I went Friday, February 26th to see and ride the stallions. Every stallion they brought out, I thought holy crap! That's a super nice horse. This must be their best one. After I thought that of every stallion, I realized they just didn't have any bad ones. Wow. 

I didn't actually start working there until the 8th of March, so I had exactly one week to get to know my boys, the four year old Florentinus and the three year old Hofmarschall, in preparation for today's show. It was an open house at the farm, with about 2-300 guests (I didn't count, I was kind of busy). In our practice run Friday, Florentinus was a genius and Hofmarschall was a bit nervous of the LOUD music coming out of the corner speaker. Today they were both totally professional. "Flo" has done a few shows before, and just gets himself big and fancy, knowing that he's selling sex. I think this was Hofmarschall's first outing, at least undersaddle. He's been under the rider now for 8 weeks. EIGHT WEEKS PEOPLE!! The lil guy went in there like he'd done 100 of these shows. I was really proud of them both, but slightly in awe of this young stallion's character. It has to be said that they have been wonderfully started by Angelica (last names not learnt yet), who starts all the youngsters there. Their other rider, Heiko (again, last name unknown) rode Ratzinger and Instertanz, and their jumping stallion Cordanos was ridden by some guy I haven't actually met. It was a really fun event, and the whole team there had everything looking sparkling clean and ready for public viewing. 

As well as these two stallions I've been riding two 5 year old geldings from their breeding program, also very nice horses. With my horses at Hermann's in the morning, this puts my total up to 10-11 horses/day now. I think this was a little ambitious for my first week back into full work. Karis worked her last day Saturday, March 6th and I was riding maybe 4 horses at that time. I've had to go back on pain meds to keep the shoulder operating at an acceptable level, and talked with Herr Voss that maybe I can ride either two horses 5 days/week or the four horses 3 days/week until my strength builds back up. It's so great to be back in the saddle though. My stomach muscles have been reminded that they actually have a job, and this lazing around getting fat thing is over. 

We are all sad to see Karis leave the team at Hermann's. She really has been a great addition and though I fully support her decision to keep going with school, I also wouldn't have told it was a bad idea if she put it off just one more year… She's now taking a well deserved backpacking tour of Europe with Brenda. 

On a somber note, I hope everyone keeps US Olympic rider Courtney King-Dye in their thoughts, after her accident with a horse left her in a coma. She is such an inspiration, a success story, having accomplished so much at a young age, through talent and hard work. I still can't get my mind wrapped around the fact that this actually happened to her, it's unbelievable.  It's unfortunate that it took this accident to make it ok to be wearing helmets in dressage. I have chosen for the past 4 years or so to wear a helmet every day, on every horse. I do it out of habit more than anything now. I do not freak out and refuse to get on a horse if I've left my helmet somewhere, and I choose not to wear my helmet in competition, instead wearing a top hat. At the stallion show I wore the top hat with the 4year old and my "crash hat" on the 3 year old. I know the perfect thing would be to wear the helmet every time, but I still get swayed by presentation and "the look" in competition. However, I now think I look a little less ridiculous riding every day with my helmet, even around all the German dressage queens. I really liked Karen Robinson's blog about the topic here.

I can't really think of much more to write about, even though surely more has happened since my last posting. Of course the Olympics deserve a mention since CANADA ROCKED!!! I did find a website that let me view live coverage from the German TV stations. I woke up in the middle of the night for hockey, curling, figure skating (and I don't even love figure skating), and stayed up late if Canada looked like a contender in any event. In Europe they count the medal standings by who has the most GOLD medals, not who simply has the most medals. So yes, over here they say CANADA WON THE OLYMPICS.  I wear my Olympic gear with pride (still) and say it's cause we're the best!  But truly, I think every athlete who got to play on that stage deserves celebration. Good job and congratulations to all athletes, and thank you to the organizers and volunteers who made that all happen. What an absolutely fantastic Winter Games, well done Vancouver! 

That's all for now. Happy Sunday everyone!