Week 20 - Germany

Week 20 – Germany

Monday morning the weather was good, and we had a great ride to our boys, and were ready for another week in Germany. When we arrived at the stables, the little Tinker was already gone to the other quarantine stables, so we will not see her again – pity! Peri and Bailie got groomed, and they got their pedicured (Rasped their feet, to keep them from cracking). When you finished doing that, you are finished, in more ways than one. One day closer to getting to our destination, and seeing our family again.

Tuesday morning the sun was shining – yippee!! And there was no wind, so we had the most glorious ride to our boys. Our boys had a blast in the lunge ring, and were sand from head to toe. It took quite a while for us to get them clean. The sun was still shining when we went home, but it was getting colder. It rained softly in the afternoon, but it was definitely a beautiful day.

Wednesday morning the mist was so thick we could not see down the road. We braved the mist and rode to our boys, where we were surprised that they were not in the lunge ring, fortunately Barbara was there to tell us they were in the outside paddocks – before we started panicking. Our boys really enjoyed getting dirty in the paddock, and I think they enjoyed their time out, even if they were starting to get cold. We brought our boys in, and once again, it took quite a while to get them clean – but they had fun, and that is all that counts. When we were finished, it was really starting to get cold, and I think our boys were happy to be in their stables again, with their day sheets on. We went with Barbara to lunch, and the food was really good. Barbara then took us with her to a little tack shop – I just love browsing, they have such cool stuff here. Barbara spoilt us, and bought us each a winter hat made by horseware – she is a total fan of horseware – it is a little pricey for us because we are converting from rand, but the products are brilliant. After a lovely day with our boys and Barbara, it was time to ride home – and man was it cold, we appreciated the hats we got.

Thursday morning it was beautiful and clear, but very windy, so needless to say our trip to the stables took a while. It was freezing cold, and when we got to the stables our boys were out in the frozen paddocks, but Barbara put paddock blankets on them – I thought they looked like war horses. We brought our boys in, and let them have a “romp” in the indoor lunge ring. We then gave them a groom, and blanketed them. The ride home was also slow, as the wind had not given up yet.

Friday morning was a lovely sunny day – cold but sunny. Our boys got to romp in the lunge ring again, and were happy to go into their stables to get cleaned and groomed. Our boys wear their blankets all the time – shame the poor guys are getting cold. The wind was not blowing, so the ride to and from our boys was really nice.

Saturday it was really clear, sunshine, and no wind. We had a good, but cold ride to our boys. They were out in their paddocks with the paddock blankets on, looking like war horses again. After bringing our boys in, and grooming them, it was time to ride home again. So Kayla and I decided to do something crazy, we decided to take our saddles home to clean them and their covers. So we put the saddles on our bicycles, and rode home with them – that was a sight. We had a really good laugh, Kayla went “wobbling” down the road a few times, but we made it safe and sound, and so did our saddles.

Sunday morning it was really cold, but at least there was no rain. We froze our “butts” off riding to our boys. Our boys had a good romp in the paddock while we helped muck their stables and once they had got rid of all their energy, we brought them in to give them a groom. We put their day sheets on, to keep them warm. We then rode to town, thinking we would do some shopping, but everything was closed – we forgot it was Sunday and the shops close at 11am – we have to still get used to that. So we rode home in the cold, but after fighting against the wind we were really hot by the time we got home. We then repeated the ride to our boys in the late afternoon, because we had to put on their winter blankets, so that they were warm for the night. At about 6pm, it started snowing, it was so pretty – maybe we get to ride to our boys in the snow on Monday morning.