Today I drove to Verden to watch the warm ups for the 5 and 6 year olds at the world championships along with a developing PSG class for 7/8 year olds and a 4 year old mares & geldings class. Verden is about 1.5 hours from Olli's, but it's an easy drive, and Daniel stayed with Jonathan and Linda, so it was really quite relaxing!

I got there just as the main arena opened up for riders to school. There were many horses in there for the next hour, up to 12 at once, so it was a bit crazy. The atmosphere at Verden is a lot for the young horses, the arena is surrounded in both longsides by white tents with banquet style seating. On the short side by A there is a big two story announcers trailer, and on the short side by C, a hill for spectators with a jumbotron. 

I watched many horses working this morning and was so impressed by Endel Ots. He has the only two horses here for the U.S., one 5 year old and one 6 year old. He is such a lovely rider and warmed the horses up so quietly and softly before getting some stunning work from them. Both his horses have really, really top quality trots. The walk is very correct with both, but slightly limited in the swing through the back and shoulders and the overtrack. The canter is very reliable and extremely correct, but maybe not as extravagant as some of the others. It will be really interesting to see how he does. He has a much more sympathetic style than many of the others 😳

I got to see a developing PSG class for 7 & 8 year olds. An Danish rider, Carina Nevermann-Torup won with a 75.37. She was riding Sirikit, a lovely 8 year old Hotline/Don Schufro mare. 

I saw quite a few Americans, including Lilo Fore, who is judging this year. The food and vendors at this show is intense! And there is a big jumper competition going on too, so you can wander over to the big stadium to see that as well.

Tomorrow I will ride early at the barn and then head into Münster to see a 3 year old sale horse for a friend back home and then explore Münster with Linda and Daniel and hopefully go to the zoo!!

Aug 4 
I started today with Don Daly. He is a 13 year old gelding owned by a young rider, but he does all of the GP. He's one that I haven't seen go, since I think his owner comes in the afternoons. He is smaller, probably just 16 or 16.1 and all black. Doesn't look like much standing in his stall, but I know enough not to judge a book by it's cover. :) Olli told me to ride him with draw reins. He said he's good with draw reins or a double, but you cannot ride him with a snaffle alone. I don't know if he meant *I* could not ride him with a snaffle or if no human being could ride him with a snaffle...

As predicted, his small size and unimpressive exterior was hiding an amazing horse!! He is indeed strong in the hand but he got better and better. The thing I don't understand about the draw reins is that I have never found draw reins to be very helpful with horses that are incredibly heavy. If they want to go around upside down, I would understand draw reins. If they are incredibly stiff and you need help to supple them, I get it. But if they straight up hang on the reins, they are probably able to hang on the draw reins as well. And when they are ridden every day in draw reins, I don't see how they will learn anything from them. This guy got lighter and lighter at the end when I let the draw reins hang and just kept doing small überstreichens to get him more on my seat. Plus riding collected work, helped ;)

Anyway, Olli had me ride shoulder in and half pass in trot after a general warm up. Don Daly is super in both. He really wanted me to keep his hind legs on the track in the shoulder in and not let them fall out, so that there was NO crossing behind. As soon as that happens, you lose the engaging element of the exercise. He wanted a lot of bend through the body without the loss of haunches, which is hard, but Don Daly is a pro. The half passes were really super, and again, more bend.

After a brief walk break, Olli said, let's do canter and the changes. I picked him up and tried to get him a bit softer and then got the canter feeling good. We did threes that were extremely easy, but Olli wanted me absolutely still in my upper body. No turning into the new lead, just totally straight and a small leg aid along with seat bones.  The next line was better and much straighter both for Don Daly and me. Then twos that were quite easy. We rode those quite a few times, since Olli was either helping someone else (there are usually at least 6 horses in that small arena!) or on the phone. But after 3 or 4 good lines, both on the longside and the diagonal, I gave him a break. 

I was kind of hoping we would do a little piaffe and passage then, but Olli said, "You didn't ride the ones?" Even better! I have never had a horse that really knew ones. I taught them to my guy, Lancer, but I was always fumbling around with timing, etc, and we would hardly ever be able to get a full diagonal of 15.

So I got him together again and prepared for the next longside. He is truly incredible with the ones. 9 straight, easy, big, uphill ones, no problem. But Olli said, "those were good, but the ones to the right were not as big as to the left." So we did it again. At this point Don Daly was getting SUPER sensitive to the leg, and I was asking with too big an aid, even though he was doing them well. Olli wanted me to ask with very small leg aids, and just keep the rhythm with my seat. We did diagonal after diagonal of super ones. Part of me kept wanting to stop and give him a sugar, but the other part kept saying, "do it again!" I need to memorize that feeling as best I can, and you can't do that from only one or two diagonals.

Finally I had to stop and pet him. Hopefully I can try again another day. We did some stretchy trot to end and walked around outside. It's so strange to me that they don't go outside more. Their footing is perfect. The arena is 20x60. The weather has been GORGEOUS!  (They said it was hot yesterday, and it was about 82 for a high... Spoiled Germans.) They only seem to go outside to practice tests. 

Next up was Four Seasons. Today Olli wanted him in the double with my Neue Schule snaffle. I think it was really good! We had a lot of super canter work with no tongue problem. He just has a Mullen mouth curb. I warmed him up quiet and swingy and then rode some canter half passes. He is so talented for these and they make him really sit. I then rode some changes, 3s and 2s, and tried to keep my lesson from Don Daly in mind and sit Totally still and just give small leg aids. Four Seasons is not as easy in the changes, but they are very good. 

Olli wants Four Seasons up and as open as possible in the frame. He has a slightly low set neck and wants to use his under neck when the half halts don't go through. But when you put him low, he just over flexes at the 3rd vertebra and doesn't lift the base of the neck. This is very different than the way he rides the other horses, so it always takes me a little bit to feel like I have him where he should be. But I totally agree that he is much better in every way when up and out. However, in my effort to keep him from curling, I often end up riding with my hands too high. A few days ago he must have told me to put my hands down about 20 times. So yesterday I didn't want to hear him say, "Put your hands down," even once. He said it three times. Today he only said it once. Victory! (Or he's given up and is resigned to the fact that I ride with my hands up above my belly button like a saddle seat rider...)

He then wanted me to do pirouettes. This was a really helpful lesson today, because we did some pirouettes from the diagonal line, like in a test, and this is even more helpful to me than feeling good working pirouettes (which is also super.) I was to make him 100% straight on the line and then really collect him absolutely on the spot before I started to turn him. He was listening very well to this. But then he gets too slow in the pirouette and doesn't make enough strides as he goes around. I thought Olli wanted me to make the canter tempo quicker. But he wants me to keep him super collected, and allow the tempo to slow but just add more strides to the pirouette, like more slices to the pie. If you think of the 360* pirouette as a pie, he wants 8 slices, not 6. I finally felt like I was able to add or take away strides, ride a little out or a little in, so that the pirouette was really under my control. So often we prepare the pirouette and then we have to just say a prayer until we ride out of it, but this felt adjustable in every way. 

I took Fritzi outside to cool down too, and one of Olli's young riders was riding through her test on Salcido. She is going to lease him for the year to do Young Riders and then he will be sold. He looked wonderful. I didn't catch her name, but Olli said she was only 18 and was one of the best Young Riders in Germany. 

Lastly I rode the 4 year old Floriscount mare, Fleur, again. Everyone was busy packing up to leave with three horses for Verden, so I rode her outside, since I could tell Olli did not have time to help me. He has to drive the big lorry to Verden and will be there through Sunday. He was explaining that only he can drive the lorry because you need a special license, and Antin (his rider) only has a license to pull a small trailer. 

Fleur was really good today, and it was nice to have a quiet arena to myself to do some supplying exercises and take time with her. She felt wonderful at the end. 

Tomorrow I will go to Verden to watch, and then my whole family will go on Saturday. Tomorrow I can watch the  warmup of the 5 and 6 year olds and one of the first FEI classes - since Verden is a CDI with small and big tour as well as the young horses. I'll take lots of pics!! 

http://en.verden-turnier.de/fileadmin/user_upload/bilder/VTG-WM/pdf/Turniermagazin2015_Zeitplan_01.pdf

August 3
I warmed up Barclay first before Olli got on to do some piaffe and passage. Barclay is a stallion by Bellissimo M who competes with his owner in the U25 Grand Prix. He is awesome. Olli wanted me to warm him up very low in front because he tends to climb in the neck with the half halts. He is very nicely sensitive and super comfortable, partially because the owner's saddle is something other than a Passier! I didn't recognize the brand, but it was so comfortable! 

I then rode Four Seasons. Linda brought over my Neue Schule bit when she arrived yesterday, and I wanted to try that with him. Not that I think there's any magic "thing" to fix the tongue problem, but these bits are supposed to be ergonomically designed to be more comfortable in the horse's mouth. I also asked Linda to bring some Gumbits, which Olli had never heard of. They're sort of like chewing gum for horses. They are sweet but last much longer than just giving the horse sugar. I've never used them much at home, but we got some at a show, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try both the Gumbits and the different bit. Four Seasons (or Fritzi as I've taken to calling him, since I can't bear to not have a nickname for him) is mostly bad with the tongue in the canter. In the beginning of the ride, it felt the same, but by the end he was much better in the mouth, so Olli said we'll keep trying this bit for a while and see. 

I did a normal warm up and then did some canter work and a few changes. They were good mostly but Olli wanted me to activate him enough on the short side and corners before the diagonal that I didn't need to activate him in between the changes. Otherwise the aids get too busy and he starts to ignore my leg. He's a horse that is incredibly forward but not always quick in his reaction. His huge gaits are beautiful but sometimes too big and too slow. But he does have the ability to be quick and really has a super ability to sit. But it's a little tricky for him (or me) to put it all together. And when I don't have it together he can be surprisingly slow behind and keep his hind legs out behind him a bit. 

We then did a little trot work, and I'm getting a much better feeling for sitting into his trot. The weekend was good for my thigh muscles to recover! Olli wanted me to do some transitions from collected trot (but it would be any other horse's medium trot!) to passage, but really keep him active behind and through and soft in front. He wanted me to bend him as I collected him so that he couldn't pull with the under neck too much. I felt the trot was really good, but I couldn't get him quick enough behind for Olli's taste in the passage steps. 

We then did some walk to piaffe steps. Here too he wanted the first step to be small and quick not slow and huge because it pulls him apart and you lose his back. We would just get the collected walk good (which is hard because he runs away in the walk and then gets very heavy in the hand when you want to collect him) and then ask for a few piaffe steps, still a little forward. When those transitions were good then we rode out to passage and back to piaffe. I had some ok transitions but he was a bit stiff on the right rein. So we rode him in a tiny feeling of haunches in to the R and a tiny feeling of renvers going L. He then got really, really good. It was an incredible feeling to feel him get more and more sensitive, more under, more active and easy in and out of the passage. And he was good with his tongue! Hurray! Now, we have to do it again tomorrow...

Then they asked me to ride Fleur, a four year old Floriscount mare. She is quite big and somewhat heavier in her build than I was expecting. She was really nicely forward and takes A LOT of contact. I didn't push her very forward to begin with, since she was very sensitive, and I was hoping to get her to relax and swing first. But Olli said, "She is a four years old, ride her forward!" So we went more forward. She holds through her back, and once she starts swinging, she has a much different trot. She is one that you would think was a nice mover but not overly special, until she really starts to push and swing. Her canter is still a bit on the forehand but very active behind and good in the rhythm. 

One thing that is odd to me is that they don't really do any exercises or transitions. Just work to activate and engage the hind legs in trot, get them to give and be supple through the jaw, neck and back, make them accept the half halts and then do the same in canter. They mostly just go straight with a few 20 m circles. I rode some serpentines and broken lines with Fleur, and I wasn't told not to, but I don't see many real exercises being ridden. I have seen very few circles other than 20 m circles and absolutely no leg yielding or rein back. The horses definitely don't seem to expect leg yielding - shoulder in or haunches in, yes, but every horse I've ridden has been a bit confused when I asked for leg yield. 

It's a bit hard for me to ride a 4 year old with such power and such strong contact. But it's interesting to feel how they get them to move with so much expression. I think there are many roads to Rome, and it is good to better understand this road, even if it's not one I want to go down with my own 4 year olds. 

Saturday morning I rode Floriscount, Four Seasons and Dellenger. Olli said to work them lightly and take the geldings outside and ride forward in canter and let them play. So that's what we did, and they all had vet easy workouts, since I was still feeling a little under the weather but much better. 

Floriscount is really fabulous and such a sweetheart. I just let him walk for quite a while in the beginning. I always think it must be hard for them to come into the arena from living in the stall all the time. I think that would be like hopping out of bed and being asked to immediately exercise. Plus he had just finished his breakfast, poor guy. So we walked for a little over 10 mins. He has an awesome walk and is very soft in the mouth, especially for a breeding stallion. He is huge! He must be about 17.2, but he is short backed and not too wide, so riding him feels good but tacking him up I was surprised!

I just did some stretchy trot and canter. Then I did one more set with a little more collected canter, a single change each way and then some small transitions in trot. His canter is not so comfortable until you get it collected, and then he felt great. I was very impressed with how supple he is. He got lots of Apple pieces from me and some more scratching and then back in his box. 

Four Seasons and Dellenger went outside, and I did really long and low stretching and then some canter in a half seat. Then they each hacked around the property. There is a mowed path that goes all the way around the  wheat field. They both seemed to enjoy it, although Four Seasons gets a little nervous when he's too far away from the barn. Both these guys do get turnout, as do most of the horses here, but only for a hour or so. There are 4 paddocks for 34 horses. 

When I got home from the barn, the Strothmanns (who own the hotel where we have been staying) were ready to move us into the guest house we are renting for the rest of the time. Some other guests had been in there, so we couldn't move in until today. It is so wonderful to be in a house again. With wifi! So now updating will be easier along with answering emails, etc. 

Saturday afternoon Jonathan, Daniel and I explored Tecklenberg some more and did a nice little hike through a very well maintained trail through the town. It is so picturesque.

Sunday Linda (Jonathan's mom) flew into Dusseldorf in the morning, so Jonathan left early to pick her up. When they came back, I went off to the show in Muenster. I saw the 3 & 4 year old ponies and then the 4 year old riding horses (mares and geldings). An American owned 4 year old pony stallion won (Golden West, owned by Melissa Mulchahey). He is really incredible. All of these ponies move so well, it's amazing.  

I stayed and watched the 4 year old mares & geldings and then headed back to the house.  Linda, Jonathan and I went into Tecklenburg and showed her around the charming old streets.  We then came back to a home cooked meal by Jonathan.  Our neighbors loaned us the tiniest grill in the world.  But it makes Jonathan a happy man to have a grill of any kind.  So nice to have a kitchen now, so that we can save some money by not going out all the time.  And we can eat less heavy!  How do all these German women stay so thin when they have schnitzel with gravy and potatoes??  Below are some photos of the amazing ponies from today.  

Four Seasons - we tried today in a Myler snaffle, since Olli had not tried this before. I think it was worse than in the double. Even in the warm up he put the tongue out some. But he was very good. The trouble is that he feels very nice in the bridle, even when his tongue is out. He is heavier in the L rein, but not terrible. He is really very soft in the mouth most of the time and then you see the tongue out, but you don't feel it. Tricky. 

We did some half passes in canter. Olli wanted me to really use the corner to set him up with an active hind leg, really sitting, neck up and shoulder slightly in. Then just ride the diagonal with the shoulders leading and add some haunches. He wants much more bend than I'm used to asking for. It's hard with Four Seasons to bend him more without over flexing him. And when he over flexes, he pulls and falls on the forehand. 

We then did some pirouettes which are really incredible. He wants me to activate him with a quick outside leg to keep the canter jumping. He sits almost too much and then he slows the tempo down a bit too much. 

Next was trot work, and phew, this horse exhausts me to sit. Because he has such an enormous trot, I tend to hold with my thighs so that I don't get launched out of the saddle each stride. But then I can't really sit into him when I'm gripping with my thighs too much. Olli kept telling me to give a bigger half halt as I'm activating his hind legs. But he is so forward that when I use my leg he shoots forward and is then a million pounds in the hand. Luckily we went soon to passage and piaffe. This gets him listening to the half halts and sitting and light again in the hand. He, like Salcido, is so talented for both piaffe and passage and is really fun to practice the transitions. Olli wanted me to ride a few steps of on the spot piaffe, then out to passage for only 3 or 4 strides, then piaffe again, then out, etc. This way he stays sitting in the passage and doesn't shoot out or pull himself apart with too big a passage with the front legs. 

Then back to canter very briefly to feel the balance and activity with him really, really straight. We did a couple good single changes, where I had to think about keeping exactly the same rhythm. Not bigger in the changes since he's so forward but always in front of the leg and up in front so he's not leaning on me. 

Next Olli said I was to ride Dellenger. I told you! They will have me ride him every day now, I bet. But that's fine with me, because I really do like him. I still rode him in the draw reins, since that's what they wanted, but I didn't use them today. I did a loosening warm up outside and then came in and did basically the same. Olli was very happy with him. I still have no idea how much training this horse has, so I thought they just wanted a loosening day. But right as I was leaving, Olli said, "Let's do some piaffe." Well, ok! He wanted him to just practice the initial steps, so we collected the walk, asked for piaffe for a few steps then walk 3 or 4 steps, then piaffe, then walk, etc.  He really wanted him on the spot, no moving forward. I asked him if he wanted me to really sit down into him like I was *trying* to do with Four Seasons. He said it depends on the horse. With this horse, he brings the hind legs way under himself, so he thinks I should sit lighter. With a horse that doesn't engage the hind leg this well, then sit into him more. 

He told me, "he can really piaffe, huh?"  Uh... yeah!! But then he said, "Yeah, that's the only thing he does well."  Aww, poor Dellenger. I said I thought he would also take very good pictures since he is so handsome. He agreed that yes, he could be a blanket model. This did not seem to amuse him. 

I like Dellenger a lot, so it's just fine with me if they want to me ride him every day. ;)

Tomorrow is Saturday, and Olli will be at a show in Münster. We get to move out of the small hotel room and into our guest cottage tomorrow (yay!!!!!!! An office for Jonathan, a separate room for Daniel, and a kitchen, so I don't gain 25 lbs with all this heavy German food!) I was planning to just go watch the show tomorrow but Olli said I could ride Four Seasons and, you guessed it, Dellenger in the morning. Then he added very casually, "You will also ride Floriscount, yes?"  Yes, yes I will. Eeeee! I'm like a little kid in a candy shop (or a certain little boy when he sees a bus...)

This afternoon Daniel and I both got some kind of food poisoning. I'll be damned if I'm going to miss riding Floriscount tomorrow, so I'm hoping I feel all better in the morning. Daniel seems much better already and was full of smiles in between bouts of puking. Such a sweet boy. 

Then tomorrow afternoon maybe we can go to the show, or I might just wait till Sunday. Tomorrow is a foal auction in the morning and then riding horse auction starting at 1. Should be interesting, but I would rather see the finals for young horses, which will happen Sunday. I'll bring Jonathan's good camera to try to take some decent pics. 

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes!

My notes for Monday got erased accidentally, so I will summarize.  I was at the barn bright and early at 7:50am, since Olli told me to come at 8:00.  He was riding Floriscount, a famous breeding stallion, who has just returned in training after being away for lots of breeding this year.  He is just doing light work to get back into the swing of things.  

I got to ride two super nice horses.  Four Seasons is a 10 year old Fuerst Piccolo x Mon Cheri gelding, owned by some lucky person from Switzerland.  He does all of the GP and is very sensitive in a wonderful way.  He has a tricky neck, because it is not set up very well, and he sticks his tongue out occasionally when the contact is not good.  Olli is working hard at improving this, but it is a problem.  He said he rode an I2 with him recently and was around 73-74% until the canter work, when the tongue came out, everything went to 5, and then he finished on less than 68%.  While I would be thrilled with a 68%, they think of it as pretty much a disaster.  

Then I rode Salcido - an 8 year old Sir Donnerhall x Fidermark gelding owned by Paul Schockemoehle.  He does almost all the GP and is AMAZING!!  Olli helped me at the end from the ground for piaffe and passage, and I could just go home right now after feeling that.  But I won't.  Here are my notes from the day:

Quicker use of my leg in canter as the forehand is coming up. A quick double kick, sometimes with the inside, sometimes with the outside leg, depending on which hind leg I need to activate.  Not in the same rhythm as the canter!  Olli wanted me to activate the canter much more without letting him speed up in MPH.  

Olli is very focused on getting a quick, active, hard working hind leg and bringing the back up then pushing the horse into the contact.  A lot of contact, based on how I can barely hold Daniel after riding in the morning! But it doesn't feel bad in the ride, feels super!

Keep knees closed against saddle in canter, so the knee doesn't rock open and shut. 

Keep hands higher and together. Until they are too high, then put them down.  ;)

Put the neck down before passage because he will tend to come up anyway. Keep the forward thinking in piaffe. Even think of trot, but not on the spot. 

Really straighten the neck before changes. No bending! 

Next day - 
Four Seasons - in double. Warm up easy, stretching. Better feel for activity in canter without speed today. Single change each way easy and straight. Next set - walk-canter then transitions w/i canter to quicken hind leg and quicken response to half half. Olli wanted neck up, not deep, really sit into him. Use haunches in on 10 m circle to collect but don't let him fall in on a smaller circle than 10m. Then when that is good, ride pirouette. Super feeling. Incredible ability to sit. Really wanted him to stay flexed to inside in pirouette. also in corners, clear bending. On long sides - no bend!!!! Absolutely none!!

He has a problem with the tongue coming out the right. He is very stiff left and hollow right, often much too light in right rein. He also has a fairly low set on neck and a thicker throat latch, which makes it hard to keep him up and out at the base of the neck. He also has such extravagant front end movement, that sometimes he pulls himself apart and pulls his back down by flinging the front legs too much. He can really sit but keeping his back up right under the saddle is hard. Olli did lots of piaffe and passage once he got on, and he played with loosening the noseband and lowering the bits. He said he always thinks he has found the "thing" that will help with the tongue - different bit, looser/tighter noseband, but then it only helps for a short while. 

Today on Salcido, Olli told me to walk him outside first and then bring him into the arena and walk him. He had many lessons this morning, both from in the barn and trailering in. It is always very busy in this small arena. I'm glad I know the rules of the arena well! 

Well, I don't think they really "hack" here. I took both boys out back down a nice grass pathway next to a wheat field. I asked if it was ok to go this way, and one of the bereiters said, "yeah," with a shrug of the shoulders. But I guess that really meant, "if you want to risk your life, sure." I don't think either horse has ever been out there, even though it's right behind the barn. Four Seasons was pretty good because it was after his hour long difficult workout. But Salcido was crazy! Piaffing and levading and generally being wild. So we came back to the barn in a steep piaffing shoulder in. 

Once in the arena, Salcido did not relax much. Olli kept saying, ride him longer in the neck! Not so hectic in the walk! Make him take the contact! Well, we tried, but we were just a behind-the-bit ball of nerves. So we went ahead with some trot and canter. Still behind the bit but better and better gradually. In the second set we did some collection in the canter and rode in and out of the pirouettes until I felt like I had control over how small or big we made the pirouettes. Both he and Four Seasons are very well trained for pirouettes, which has always been a weakness of mine, so it's really fun and educational to feel such great pirouettes! We then did some changes. Olli wanted him 100% straight, no bending and no jumping left or right in the tempis. I tried my best, and we got some good 2s. Still not as straight and active as Olli wanted but better. 

Last set I did some trot work. This horse has an incredible trot, but not the easiest to sit. He is a bit long in the back and quite wide. But, wow, what a trot! He keeps the swing very well in the shoulder in but not so great in the half pass, especially to the left. Olli wanted me to really give him the rhythm with my seat and then gradually bend him more. 

Olli rides every horse in the same old style Passier saddle. I don't think there's a saddle I like less than the old Passiers, so sometimes I struggle with keeping my seat where I want it. But that's what everyone here rides in, so that will be my last time complaining about it.  (Out loud, at least.) They also don't seem very concerned about saddle fit. But the horses are incredibly fit and sound, so it doesn't seem to bother them!

At the very end of my ride I did some passage. Salcido is very talented for passage. Yesterday the passage we did was so amazing, but Olli was working with me from the ground with a whip. The horse is very sensitive to that, so Olli wasn't doing much, but I missed him today! He wanted me to think of riding extended trot into the contact and then half hating with my back to bring him to passage but use a quick leg to make him quicker behind. I got some good steps, but I was working a lot harder than Salcido. I only brought small spurs with me, and they don't ride their horses with a whip, unless it's for something specific. Four Seasons is terrified of a whip, but after my session with Salcido today, I asked Olli if he was ok with a whip, and he said, "yeah, sure."  So I think tomorrow I will use one. I know I need to be more effective with my leg without the whip, but based on how incredibly sore I am in every muscle of my body, I think I will use one tomorrow.

The assistant trainer here is riding a 5 year old stallion, Sir Olli, in the world young horse championships at Verden next weekend. He is just amazing, as is an 8 year old, Royal Ascot. There are so many truly international quality horses here, it's really amazing to watch them, let alone sit on them!

I hang out with Daniel in the afternoons while Jonathan works. We have been exploring the local towns - Lengerich and Tecklenberg. And today we went back to the farm and pet all the horses and brought them some apples. Olli's wife, Jutta was working in their barn with their two children, a little boy of 9 and a girl of 7. The boy, Max, was driving the fork lift all over the farm, moving giant bales of straw, etc. He then drove the John Deere tractor with the drag on it. Daniel was in awe. He is so amazed by tractors, but I think seeing a 9 year old boy drive one was just too much for him to handle.  He has a new idol now.  

Last night Daniel decided it was party time and didn't truly fall asleep until 2am... So I dragged myself out of bed this morning (while J & D slept so peacefully) and got to the barn a few minutes before 8, like I have been. No sign of Olli and not the normal hustle bustle, so I rolled some polos and waited. Cleaned a saddle and waited. I finally asked one of the grooms if she knew what the schedule was and if Olli was here. "I think he comes around 11," was all she told me. So... Shall I go back to the hotel and try to sleep?? Shall I go into town and steal wireless internet from the cafe I have been using? Or should I wait around and see if they want me to ride anyone? Of course, the latter! 

And they did! All of a sudden they tell me, "You will ride Dellenger."  As my good USDF certification has taught me, I want to know all about Dellenger before I hop on - breeding, age, level of training, difficulties, favorite itchy spots, does he try to kill people who ride him, etc. But when I asked his age, she said, "I don't know. Somewhere around 10?"  So I did not follow up with all my other questions. The Germans are not a chatty people. 

I asked if I could ride him in the outdoor arena, and they said sure, which I now take with a grain of salt. But he was a good boy. He is a lovely type - very elegant, super uphill with a very long, high set neck. He is very sensitive and was very nervous in the beginning but relaxed with some stretchy trot and serpentine lines. His canter is a bit disappointing because it's very big and open and hard to quicken the hind leg. I rode some trot canter transitions to make him jump more and loosen his back. Then we tried some collection in canter and finally some lateral work in trot. He gets very strong in the contact, especially on the R rein. 

When I came back in, more than one person asked me how he was and how I liked him. This seems like a very normal question, but NO ONE asks how the horses are and says anything about my rides. I am used to this from having been in Germany before, but it still always surprises me, since it's the first thing we do back home with EVERYONE. But I quickly realized that they were asking me how I liked him, because no one likes him. The young girl in the barn told me no one wants to ride him. Poor Dellenger. They were all so shocked (or maybe just thought I was stupid) when I said I liked him. He's still an incredibly nice horse!!?? Maybe not vying for any Olympic team any time soon, but a lot nicer than most of the horses in the US, and his problems are training problems, so you can't really blame him for that. So now watch me get to ride Dellenger every day, since I'm the stupid American who likes him...

Speaking of horses vying for the Olympic team (if he could keep his tongue in his mouth,) I then rode Four Seasons with Olli when he returned from teaching all morning. He was fantastic! I've got a much better feel for him now. And after Olli's lesson with Herr Meyer zu Strohen yesterday, he seemed to want me to ride him much more up and open in the neck, which feels so much better to me than having him so deep. We did a nice warm up and then started with trot work. This horse's trot is truly out of this world. And occasionally my butt was also out of the God awful Passier saddle, because, WoW that's a lot to sit. It was such a relief when he said, "Let's do some canter work."

We started with some pirouettes and then he wanted me to ride some changes. My single changes had been good in the warm up, so I think Olli was not afraid I would screw up as badly as I did yesterday on Salcido, since Four Seasons is much hotter. But, luckily, I didn't. At least not too many times. We did good fours and then some good threes and then Olli had to head into Münster for a show that is going on this weekend. 

Daniel and I explored a nearby town all afternoon. And hopefully tomorrow Jonathan can take some time away from work in the afternoon, and we can go for a hike in the beautiful Teutonberg Forest right nearby. 

Hans Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen came this morning to train Olli, Jutta and Anntin. Olli rode Four Seasons with him, along with others, and he looked super. 

I rode Highland, a 6 year old stallion, lightly this morning. He is a super horse. He reminded me so much of Wilmington, a stallion I used to ride. I wish I could try again with Wilmington now, I think I could do a much better job! This guy was a little stalliony in the beginning, excited to pass all the others in the indoor. Olli was on Four Seasons, Jutta was on a young mare, Annkia was riding Sir Olli, the stallion, so it was busy in that little indoor. But he soon went to work and was very good for me. He has huge gaits and a little bit of a slow hind leg, a lot like Wilmington but an even bigger trot. Olli just wanted me to do a loosening day with a little forward and back in the canter. 

I watched much of the morning, since Herr Meyer zu Strohen was there all morning, and then at 12 I rode Salcido. Olli was still getting help on a stallion who had been trailered in for him to ride. I thought they were almost done when I brought Salcido in, but I should have learned by now that my idea of a heavy workout is their idea of a warmup. They worked the piss out of this horse, who was quite talented for piaffe and passage. I warmed Salcido up and then did some collection in the canter on my own. The first day Olli called him "a diesel" and I remember thinking, what?! He's so sensitive! But now I feel what he's talking about (or maybe now after three days of me, he's getting duller and duller!) I rode him with a whip today, but he really doesn't have a great reaction to that, and Olli wants me to get a quicker reaction from my leg and NOT the whip. We worked first on some pirouettes, and those felt fantastic! He wanted me to be able to come in and out in a smaller or bigger pirouette whenever I wanted, so that I was really in control of how quickly he turned. He also wanted me to ride the full pirouette on the diagonal line, and REALLY collect with him REALLY straight on that line before I turned. He said, "He will turn, no problem! The problem is making sure he's straight and in front of you in collection BEFORE you turn." Then he wanted me to ride out of the pirouette still in the collection before I rode out into a bigger canter, so that he doesn't leave the pirouette on his own or fall apart coming out of it. I did a super pirouette to the left, and then I was so happy when Olli said, "yeah, super! Give him a break!" That I rode a terrible change afterwards ("That was a shit change!" were his exact words) instead of doing a nice transition to walk. Won't do that again!

Next we worked on the changes. I had a lot of trouble with the twos today, but luckily Salcido was incredibly patient with me. We did good fours and then good threes and one line of pretty good twos, but not "Olli good" so he wanted me to do the twos again. But Salcido was on his program, so he was onto the ones. We rode line after line of ones instead of twos. I kept trying harder, but then I was moving around too much with my upper body to give him good aids. "Quiet with your upper body, and just move your leg!" "You must really feel Right, Right, Left, Left, Right, Right, Left, Left, but not lean!!" Finally we did some good twos, and I gave him a break (mostly for me!) But then it was back to work for trot and piaffe and passage. This horse's trot is unreal. He has such a strange conformation of the back - kind of long, and incredibly wide underneath the middle to cantle of the saddle. Then a fairly short but totally flat croup. It makes him a little uncomfortable to sit, but I did my best German Man impression and SAT.
IN the corners, WITH bend
STRAIGHT on the longside with NO bend
UP in front, SITTING behind
ALWAYS more activity
Much better half passes today, although not enough bend for Olli's taste. And then *holy shit* piaffe and passage. I will really try to get someone to video soon. Jonathan came to pick me up and saw some at the end. He said, "I don't know anything, but even I know that was incredible." 

The biggest thing he had me focus on in the transitions was to keep the contact absolutely the same on the way out to passage from piaffe. (And into piaffe from passage, but that is easier.) I always had the hardest time with the piaffe to passage transition with Lancer, enough so that I don't really think I ever got a good one. These felt so perfect. Now, I know they were not perfect, because Olli told me so, but they felt it! It's so tempting to throw the contact away, even a little, when you want to ride out to passage, but the horse needs something to push back up into, and you need something to half halt against. It wasn't a lot of contact, but it was 100% even in the reins and totally unchanged from passage, to piaffe, and back to passage. Hard for me not to throw the reins away and pet him when he piaffes like that!!

Have I mentioned how sore I am? I ride 5 or 6 horses at home every day, and here I am only riding two. But the power with which these horses go and the intensity of my half halts and my activating leg aids is making me so sore I can barely move. I feel fine when I'm riding, luckily, but not in the afternoons and evenings! I'm trying to do my yoga at night and drink lots of water. I didn't pack any ibuprofen, but I think a trip to the pharmacy is in order for tomorrow. 

Jonathan, Daniel and I traveled pretty well, certainly as well as can be expected with an 18 month old on a transatlantic flight! This was Daniel's first time flying, so I really didn't know what to expect. But he is such an easy going kid, I was pretty sure he would be good. And Jonathan and I have traveled all over the world together, and I know that we have the same approach to things, which is: be as prepared as possible, and then go with the flow when the inevitable wrench gets thrown in the works. Luckily we had very few wrenches! We flew from Raleigh to Newark, and Daniel was so excited to see the planes and play with the buttons on the ceiling that turn the lights on and off and control the air. Everything ran on time, which is a small miracle. 

We let the boy run absolutely wild in Newark for our 3.5 hour layover, so that he would be as tired as possible for the next flight. We flew out at 4:25pm, and Daniel goes to bed every night promptly at 7:30, so I was a bit worried about entertaining him for 3 hours in such a small space. But another small miracle occurred when no one was seated next to us, so he had an empty seat to play in. A few good hours of sleep or Daniel, and one or two for Jonathan and me, and then we were there. I've flown into Dusseldorf a few times, so I felt like I *slightly* knew where I was going. 

We have an Opel Astra for these first few weeks. It's comfy and plenty big enough and super speedy! We got to our absolutely charming hotel - Landgasthof Strothman - in Lengerich around 8:30 and were served the most delicious breakfast and coffee while they got our room ready. 

Our only hitch so far is that there doesn't seem to be working internet. This is a little bummer for me but a serious problem for Jonathan, since he needs to work every day, and he has to have a good internet connection the whole time. The owners are being very sweet about trying to fix the problem. Apparently there was a horrendous storm yesterday, and they think it knocked out their WLAN line. Someone is coming in the morning to try to fix it. If not, Jonathan is going to make himself very popular at the local Internet cafe. 

I start at the barn tomorrow morning at 8am, so I am signing off now to try to get a good night's sleep. Thank you again to all of you out there for your support. I will send lots of pictures soon, it is absolutely gorgeous!

PS - I wasn't going to say anything, because I think you will all hate me, but it was so chilly when we arrived, we all had to find our jackets immediately. It finally warmed up to about 75 by the afternoon. I think I left NC at the right time...