Its been a really rocky past couple days (might be an understatement), but I think I am learning lots. As for the horses, three have primarly come under my care. One is a four year old oldenburg mare, bay, who was origionally started a little bit incorrectly, so I'm re-doing her training and adding to it. Shes a pretty solid lower training level horse right now. The next, is a 6 year old chestnut hannoverian gelding, called Westerwille (after a german politician). Hes one of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) horse that isnt a stallion. I actually have a ton of fun riding him. Hes a bit Fergus-y in that hes a fairly mental ride, and hes definitely has a politician streak in his personality. He HATES being picked up from long reins, but once he gets over that he is starting second level. The other day I began simple changes and counter canter with him! The third in my care, is the stallion Cabaret. I often accidentally call him Starr, because he reminds me so much of Starr in his expressions and build. He was given to me and Nadine to ride/work because hes had three months off, and needs to get back in shape. Katrin says that if we can ride Cabaret well, we'll be able to ride anything well. Right now, riding-wise, he feels like Starr on an off day when he is good and Wez/Misha when he is bad. Fortuantly though, that should change, as hes only been ridden twice... once by Katrin and once by me.

Katrin's wonderful. She has to be the most charasmatic person I've ever been around, and she is a phenomenonally beautiful rider. I enjoy my lessons with her, our frequent dinners, and the chance to have more of her and her riding "rub off" on me.

Earlier in this post I mentioned that it has been a tough time, and it has. Although my german horse vocab is rapidly improving, I won't deny that there is a language barrier. Perhaps even more than that, there is a cultural barrier. Although I am quite use to the groom work that I am doing, the entire german mindset and barn culture is so much different than I am use to, that I often encounter problems and frustrations because of the differences. Nadine and I have both struggled, but in two different ways. For her, I think, there has been some personality differences, while for me there has definitely been cultural differences. Someone remarked that I ride like an American, but at the same time, other germans who do not know who i am, have asked about me on teh side lines, saying that my riding is like a painted picture. Nicht schlecht.