Horse & Hound

I have not been in the stable for a long time, first because I started working full time, then because of the move, and the last few months cannot be blamed on anything else but me being way too comfortable in my new home.

Before the weekend I stumbled upon Anat in the supermarket, a woman who also comes and rides regularly, and speaking to her was nudge enough for me to decide that I would meet up with her today. I left Barak at home and brought Pita.

I unleashed her when we arrived, but I was not prepared for just how debonairly she would roam the place. When I started to bring the Shepherds I needed to nanny them in the beginning, Barak since the place is full of cats, but also Goshen since she was not used to horses. When I rode I often had trouble keeping the dogs from herding me and my horse.

Pita on the other hand, immediately made friends with the stable dog Whisky, an old Vizsla male and she confidently went up and smelled the horses when they were taken out of their stalls, although she intuitively restrained herself from entering both the stalls and the arena. All the horses are more or less bomb proof, so I am not particularly worried that she will get kicked. I saw a few occasions were she was sniffing around between their legs and when the horse just lifted the leg, Pita moved away, and I think that this were lessons enough to teach her that these creatures can actually move.

When I rode, she stayed in the stable chatting around with the people that were hanging there. The stable is with no walls and the stable alley is clearly visible from the arena, so I could always keep an eye on her, but there really was no need.

She loved rolling around in the manure, smelling, tasting, just like any dog. After we finished with the horses we went down to the fruit groves to pick some blackberries and mulberries, and as if she was not dirty already she found some really swampy areas, due to the irrigation, and after playing around there, the whole dog was muddy and needed one shower before she could even enter a car, and then one more shower to really clean her when we came home. Five minutes later she had passed out of exhaustion.

ָA Muddy and happy Pita
(Before the mud down in the grove)

I rode Noor, and I had heard that she had changed a lot and become lazy, so I did not have any high expectations on her rideability, but she surprised me. No doubt, she was a bit more stiff in certain areas than when I rode her daily, but she gave her face and she moved away nicely for the legs, and she stopped from all gaits, just as if I would have worked her yesterday. Had she had sliders, I am willing to bet that she would have slid!

All in all it was a very inspiring day and I will surely go back to my previous routine of going there at least a few times a week when I am not working. Surely it will be good both for my own well-being, but also for Pita's socialization and environmental training - and of course for poor Noor who probably was just bored to death from carrying kids around.

Work & Horse & Hound

My first two weeks at my new job have been totally fun and inspiring. Except for the design part, I am now also taken care of public relations and promotional materials. The future plan is that I will also start doing software quality assurance.

Yesterday I went riding for the first time in almost two weeks. I was alone in the stable and I mounted Noor bareback and brought the dogs for a trip in the fields around the moshav. We were out for a few hours and I was laughing at Barak most of the time. When he is at home, he is poking for activities and stimulation constantly. He still runs away occasionally to chase cats. Basically, he needs to get a lot of steam out. However, when we take him out like this, riding or running longer distances, he wants to turn back home all the time. Every time we came to an intersection, he wanted to choose the one that lead back to the stable. When I (and Goshen) chose another path, I could really see him sighing deeply and changing direction towards us. Far down in some olive grove he just laid down flat on the ground and refused to move. Goshen, who is almost 9 years old and full of arthritis, never quits and hardly pants, while Barak's tongue is hanging to the ground and he looks like he has rabies from all the white foam around his face. Pathetic... ;)

In the beginning Barak was the leader, but not for long

Goshen is not a quitter

Aikido vs horse riding

I started riding horses when I was six years old and that has very much influenced who I am. Not only did it shape my personality, but it has also helped developing my motor skills and balance. I was born with a less than average sense of balance and I did not walk before the age of one and a half. Besides that, I have a visual defect that prevents me from seeing our world in three dimensions, which makes my ability to evaluate distance somewhat impaired. Both these skills improved remarkably due to all my time spent in the saddle as a young child. My balance sharpened, and I learned to judge distances in my own peculiar way, good enough for the things that I wanted to do, but not until this day can I catch a ball flying towards me in the air. Luckily, I am not the least interested in ball sports.

About ten years ago I stepped into an aikido dojo for the first time. During my most intense aikido years, I was pretty much gone from riding horses, for practical reasons. I was living in the city, studying full time, with no time to go riding somewhere. Aikido, however, had in many ways the same beneficial effects on me like the horse riding. My balance improved, and my sense of depth was constantly challenged through every attack that came flying in the air, hand or weapon. Not until I was back in the saddle again, did I fully comprehend how the two practices go hand in hand, but also complement each other.

Previously, I could feel a bit "rusty" after not riding for a while, but now when I started riding again with the aikido in my system, it was like I had never been away. The aikido also turned out to bring more quietness to my riding, and a better posture. Now, as I regularly exercise both activities, they constitute a continuous positive spiral of influence on each other.

Both aikido and horse riding is a cooperation between two individuals, where you create something beautiful and/or demanding together. In aikido this includes two humans, while in horse riding a human and a horse is interacting. What constitutes the major difference is that during horse riding it is the responsibility of the human to make sure that the horse understands what we are doing. In aikido, the responsibility is equally divided between the two partners. What unifies the two art forms is the marvellous sensation of melting together as one, minimising the signals and cues to the point where there is nothing more than pure ki flowing through the two beings, allowing them to perform their dance effortlessly. Both riding and aikido can look very powerful, but correctly performed there are no hard encounters between the two bodies.

Just as it takes patience and love to teach a horse to understand cues and to perform the exercises you want him to do, the same goes for aikido. I am convinced that a warm and caring environment, characterised by trust and joy, will make the aikidokas grow more efficiently. That is probably a provocative idea for some, since we after all are talking about a martial art, with the fundamental element of serious combat. Nevertheless, I think that an early introduction of confidence and trust, is a great way to start. There is no way around the battles with your ego anyway during the different difficult steps on the path of the aiki. This journey through crisis - revelation - transformation also happens for a horse rider. There are no short cuts, only hours and hours of practice, humbleness and an open (and empty) mind. That is the only way you can truly tune in with your partner (human or equine). When you start reaching those splits of a second moments when you feel that not only your bodies, but also your minds, unite as one, then you know that you are on the right path. In a way, also riding is nothing more than AI KI DO - the path to harmony through the energy of life.

This honest little horse called Noor

Occasionally you meet a horse with a remarkable honesty and willingness to work and learn. Noor is such a horse. She is not pure-bred (Trakhener x Israeli Local Horse), and her conformation is far from perfect. She lacks some muscle mass on a somewhat long back, but with the right work that can be improved. Nevertheless, her attitude is worth more than any paper or perfect looks.

She amazes me in some way every time I work with her. Some horses have a lot of attitude and might have other ideas than what you are asking of them, although they know perfectly well what that is. That might call for some reinforcement to make them understand who is in charge. Noor, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to please, which means that if she gets winded up, or protests in some way, you can be pretty sure that you are doing something wrong, or that she simply does not understand what you are asking of her.

I had some problems with her left lead departure, but that turned out to be just a matter of riding her supple in her left side. Every horse (and human) has a strong and a weak side, but through some proper suppling exercises this can be evened out. It can be compared to learning to write also with the left hand if you are right-handed. Noor simply needed to get stronger in her left side and she is already much better, taking the left lead almost every time, with little support. Except for fixing the lead departures, she has started on the spin and she stops amazingly, only for the knees and a deep seat and without any rein pressure. One day I was told that she actually stops a little too good with the kids. When they wanted her to go down from a lope to a trot, she stopped in her tracks and the kid almost fell over her head! It took me one more session to clear out the difference between those two things. Now, of course, it demands that the kids squeeze her with their legs a bit to keep her in the trot. She will be the best teacher when I am ready with her. ;)

Up until now I have ridden her on a "cowboy snaffle" bit, which is like a jointed snaffle bit, but with shanks and a curb strap, which makes it into a leverage bit. I am not so fond of this kind of bit, but that is what all the horses are carrying and nothing else was available. I have used it with care and asked the horse to give to pressure mentally and not physically.

Noor is very broke in this bit nowadays and gives her head to the lightest pressure both laterally and vertically, so I wanted to give her a new challenge. I use a plain rope halter on her and I tend to keep it under the bridle when I ride, with the lead rope tied like reins. When we have been riding out on the trail I often give her release from the bit reins and only hold the halter reins. Today I decided to ride her with the halter reins in the arena, and with some minimal guidance to show her that the halter means the same as the bit, she was broke for the halter in no time. I was stunned that the transition went so fast. She gave her face and moved shoulders and hips, and she stopped on a dime from the lope, and backed up nicely. Pure joy!

Noor in the bridle with the rope halter underneath, moving in two-track towards the camera (I know that my hand position sucks, but I was not really riding and suddenly it was time for a Kodak moment and I just casually moved her towards the camera ;)

Noor in the rope halter, having a conversation with Pesach, a yearling Friesian/Quarter colt.

What I want now is a bosal, which is a more refined kind of bit-less bridle. The halter is all-right, but still not properly balanced on her face and not really aimed for riding. We don't have any bosal, but maybe I can get one myself in time. You can judge a rider on the level of severity of the tools that he or she uses. The better the connection between horse and rider, the less tools you need. Then in the end you might end up riding like this (Sorry for not being able to fit the whole video in the column):

Jojo + Noor = Love

Jojo & Noor

I am so proud of the little red roan. She is a mare with an amazing attitude, very honest and willing. She always tries her best, and if she gets winded up and protests, then I know that she does not understand, or that I am doing something wrong, and then I need to take one step back, relax us both and reconsider. We have had some trouble with the left lead departure, while the lead departure to the right has been working just fine. I have no problem moving her hip to the left, but I have noticed that she sometimes fall into a cross-canter, which could imply that she has some irregularities in her body that prevents her from carrying herself properly. However, she is not lame or tender anywhere.

I have been attentive to this, but still kept on working on first getting her soft and supple in all body parts and subsequently getting her into the correct lead on the left. I have tried to be very clear with the right leg, moving her hip over to the left, supporting her left shoulder slightly with the inner rein, while opening the inner leg and putting my weight on the outer side, but nothing helped. She consistently took the right lead, with the result that both of us got frustrated.

I realized that I needed to change something in the balance, so today, instead of sitting straight and putting my weight on the outer side of the seat, I put some weight in the inner stirrup while leaning slightly forward. The horse picked up the left lead, so I loped her off while rewarding her enthusiastically. I thought it was pure luck, but it worked one more time and I was thrilled. I stopped there for the day and went and pampered the horse in the shower.

Leaning inwards is of course not optimal, since it easy that the horse will drop her inside shoulder, but I will just have to be careful and consistent with the inner rein support until her left lead departure is so established that I can start straightening up to minimize the cues.

It feels like we have crossed a huge obstacle. I like her more and more and I am almost becoming a bit possessive over her, since we are working so good together. She is not in the riding school system yet since the kids are afraid of riding her (she bucked a kid off), but soon she will. Nevertheless, she will be mine as much as I want, and I look forward to keeping on working with her.

Horse & Hound

I have been with a car this week, children on full time and two extra dogs. The kids' mother took on a holiday with her boyfriend and we have backed her up. This means that I have spent every morning riding horses in the stable, since I could drive there. There is a new horse, Noor, a part Trakehner mare. She has a beautiful red roan colour and I would guess that she also has some Quarter horse blood lines in her. She is more close to the Quarter in size and she also have a quite typical Quarter horse stride.

Noor

Before she came to our stable she had not done any work for almost two years, but according to rumours some dressage before that. Anyhow, she is a very green horse, who needs some fixing. I have been riding her every day, but also other horses, so I have been busy and happy. In just a weeks time, Noor has gone from being completely overexcited, with her nose high up in the air on a stiff neck, to a relaxed and broke horse, with a soft face on a low head, and moveable shoulders and hips. I am very much in love with her. Only problem is, that she refuses to take the left lead in the lope. She has the most brilliant lead departure in the right lead, but on the left side she chooses the wrong lead all the time, although I really disengage her hip to the left side. Today I stopped trying after a while, stepped down, and lounged her instead. I asked her to lope and first she took the wrong lead, but then she changed all by herself. I rewarded her and let her lope a few laps, stopped her and asked her to lope again, again in the correct lead. Then I climbed up again and asked for the left lead, but she took the right lead. Then I was recalling how she switched before and as I asked her to lope on a really small left lead circle, she suddenly changed lead. I rewarded her and let her lope off on a straight line, along the rail for a few laps. I succeeded to get her to take the left lead once more. We still have some work to do.

Other than riding, we also take care of Martha and a German Shepherd female, Billie. Bille, almost two years old, was given away by her owners as they discovered that she became a large and demanding dog, with a lot of energy. Duh..? The lame excuse was that the woman in the family became pregnant. Bille is now living with Martha, hoping for a new home. Had it not been for Martha being in heat, we could have had all dogs together, but right now we do not dare to leave them alone together. Alas, Martha and Billie stay in their garden and we go there three times a day. On Shabbat we took a long walk with all the dogs and Martha was constantly courted by Barak and I was constantly behind him preventing him from mounting her. Billie is a beautiful dog, with papers. She is a high energy dog who needs some obedience, so she needs a calm owner, with experience, or at least a willingness to learn for the benefit of the dog.

The pack

Billie

Late summer adventures

When I look back on all the days I spend at home, acting like a desperate housewife, I sometimes feel that my life is a little bit boring. Then I can just look in my image library from the last few weeks, and my mind switches. Certainly, it is not that satisfying to be somewhat stuck at home a lot, but hopefully things will change soon. I am doing some graphic design and translation jobs from home, but in the beginning of October we have another appointed battle with Misrad Hapnim to deliver our wedding certificate, and hopefully my residency here will be a bit more legal shortly after that.

In the meantime the camera documentation proofs that I am living the good life, roaming this blessed land. One evening, we took the horses on a longer ride from the stables. We visited Beit She'arim and the Alexander Zaïd statue, and stayed there until the sun set behind the Carmel mountain. The breeze almost felt a bit cooling for the first time in three months. However, the extreme summer does not seem to let go of its intense grip just yet. We still sleep with the fan all night long, butt naked on the bed. I have neither used warm water for any shower yet, and it is mid September! People have a hard time believing me, but I am totally loving it!

Jojo and the black mare Laila

Alexander Zaïd statue in the sunset

Last Shabbat we took the kids on another kayaking adventure. This time we started off a bit further up North, in HaGoshrim instead of Kfar Blum. The water in the river was now definitely cooler than when we were there in August, but with the mercilessly frying sun above, it was with pure joy that we spent more time in the water than in the boat.

We succeeded to match our trip with Eid ul-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Ramadan, and it felt like all of Israel's 1,2 million Muslims had come to HaGoshrim to do some kayaking, or at least the adolescent ones. We all know what happens when adolescents with strict and religious parents go on holiday. They act like obnoxious testosterone-poisoned monsters, screaming, brawling and littering all around. All the boys tried to win the famous macho war, while the girls tried to squeal as high as possible if the boat rocked a bit too much. You who know me understand that this has nothing to do with bashing Muslims. I have enough Muslim friends to be able to speak up against bad manners among them. I do that with whoever deserves it.

Baptised? I don't think so. Blessed? Yes!

Beautiful Hasbani river, a tributary to Jordan river

Nevertheless, in between the herds of wild youngsters we enjoyed some quiet time on the river and after the kayaking we went to Kibbutz Dan for some time at the pool with the cousins of the boys. We got some nice tips for spots to camp on along one of the rivers that are well hidden from kayakers and the rest of the Israeli camping populace. After Sukkot we have five days in a row without kids and then we will put ourselves and the dogs on a river bank far away from civilisation. Or, as our tipper put it, "It is that far up North that if you meet anyone, it's Hezbollah".

Phoney license

Now I am well established in the stable in Sde Yaakov, and I will keep on going there to ride their horses. However, after seeing my riding skills, I was asked by both the owner and the instructor if I have an instructor's license. Of course I have none. I am not even an official resident yet (but in a month I will be). Besides, in Sweden it is not necessary, at least not when you are instructing adults.

I started to investigate this kind of license and discovered a corrupt system that is built on money and not competence. Several private "academies" (like this one) offer instructor education's that are certified by the Israeli Sports Ministry and accepted by the insurance establishment. They learn about security and first aid, as well as some methodology and didactics, which most likely enables them to keep students safe around the horses. However, this is not where the shoe hurts. These institutions accept students that never sat on a horse before. In 300 hours training you can go from a complete novice, to teaching other people how to ride. Any one who is an experienced horse rider understands that this is impossible if you want to maintain a high quality. For this you have to pay around 10,000 ILS (20,000 SEK)!

Here I come, with 30 years of experience from various horse disciplines, and I am not allowed to teach even adults. I would say that the Israeli horse-riding instructor license is a big fraud that dupes eager students into believing that they will learn from an experienced rider. Instead, most of these newly-baked instructors can teach beginners to hold on to a horse in all gaits, but that's it. And that is not riding, as far as I am concerned. It is just travelling on a horse, which is something completely different. Truth is that it takes years and years to develop your own skills enough so you can actually work a horse in a correct way, and even more years before you can channel this knowledge into other riders.

Anyway, I will not spend 10,000 ILS on studying on a level where I do not belong, even though it would give me a license. I will keep on sharing my knowledge and assistance with anyone who desires it. License or not.

More Gal and horses

A little review from Gal's second day in the stable with me. He was riding independently in a group of kids and out in the fields together with me. After that, he showered horses more enthusiastically than any of the other kids. He ate omelette and vegetables without hesitation in the stable, and when the day was over he did not even want to go home. Well at home, he asked for green peas...

Gal on the pony Don (The leader later left his side)

He ate lunch without any hassle

I had some really nice rides, here on the horse Fluk,

who is not far from doing all the reining manoeuvres

Give me a few weeks with him!

On our way out in the fields

Cooperation

Buddies

Passing the almost ripe pomegranates

Gal scraping water from Dina

Tonight me and Yoram will spend one (romantic) night at the beach, together with the dogs. Simple and unpretentious one-night camping, no zula, but only the tent. We go there in the afternoon and stay as long as we feel like it tomorrow. Red wine, entrecôte on the small grill, some easy breakfast, finjan and Arabic coffee. Not much planning or preparation. We built the idea yesterday evening. Review and pictures will follow.

Gal, the young horse man

Gal is scraping the water off of

the old mare Yochevet after showering her

The way that I view horses as excellent educators of children, is nothing new for the ones who loyally follow this blog. This week I have so far been in the stable every day, and today the kids were on our lot, so we decided that I would bring 5,5-years old Gal with me. Ziv is 10 now, and big enough to stay home alone, and he is neither that interested in the horse thing. Gal is instead, during his good moments, a very nurturing child, who likes animals a lot, as well as caring for them. On the other hand, he is the victim of two over-protecting "curling parents", who have pampered him into a quite dependent and demanding young boy. These two character traits in combination, made me realise that he is a perfect prospect for a young horse rider.

Yoram dropped us off this morning, and in the beginning Gal was following me around and I showed him the place. Then I started riding horses, so he had to take care of himself. The stable was full of kids his age, as well as teenagers and adults, so he was hardly alone - rather surrounded by more or less experienced people with whom he could create new and neutral relationships with. After a few hours I found myself "forgetting" all about him, and he did his own thing. I took him for a short ride on a horse, and later when I was riding again, another woman also took him for a ride. Other than that, he told jokes to the other kids, petted goats and Guinea pigs, and as the day was almost over I was looking for him, and discovered him showering one of the horses together with another young girl. She was explaining how to do, and he was listening eagerly. Then he scraped the water off of the horse like he never did anything else.

I think that his spine grew more today then it has during his whole life. Parents need to cut the cord and let their kids grow independent. Parents who are not used to horses, are furthermore often banned from hanging around in the stable. They simple do more damage than good, by getting hysterical as soon as a horse lifts a foot. Gal even functioned better when I let go off him and let him interact with the other people in the stable, although I am not his mother. He is still too young to start riding in a group, but next year he will definitely start. Some of the kids that has started this year, are not taller than Gal, or more mature for that matter, although they are above 6 years old.

To summon the day, Gal spent 6 hours running around in a stable, in 35 degrees heat, rode two different horses, and even trotted a little bit, showered and groomed a horse. All of this without complaining or whining even once. I can also mention that when we came home, he showered on his own and ate his lunch with good appetite, including a variety of vegetables.

I have a draft in my head for a blog post with the working name "Aikido vs. horse riding", about the similarities, but I am not sure when it actually will be written. Today Gal took up all my writing spirit, after a tough day.

Back in the saddle

Yesterday I finally went to Sde Ya'akov and rode horses in the small stable there. A good friend from Yoram's running group has a small riding school there for kids and adults. The horses are not any fantastic, pure-bred wonder animals and all of them are more or less shabby, but very well kept. However, as far as I have seen, also the backyard-bred horses around here mostly contain Arabian and Quarter horse blood, so they surely are decent horses.

Riding school horses that are not regularly ridden by someone who can correct them and loosening them up properly, often develop different irregularities, like stiffness on one side, or general stiffness in the neck and body, as well as a flat and sloppy stride. I was asked to ride three different horses who had different issues, but all of them seemed to be easy fixes if I would only give them some more sessions, or even on a regular basis. They wanted me to come back already today, but domestic issues prevented me, and instead I promised to come next week, as many days as possible.

We rode out in the fields for a while as I had finished the first horse, but the next two I was riding only in the paddock. Before I went there I had no clue as to how much I would ride, and where, so I did not have any hat. I quickly understood that our weekend mission will be to go to any nearby market to find me a light cowboy-style hat. In Sweden I had a nice camel-hair hat from the US, but now I giggle a little bit at that. Western riders in Sweden have cowboy hats as an important attribute, while here it is a necessity.

Hat or not, in the paddock they sprinkle water on the sand when you ride during daytime. Unless you do that, the dust will make it impossible to keep on riding. I was explained that the horses are used to it, and having the sprinkler in the middle of the arena helps the kids keeping the horses riding close to the fence. For me, I instead discovered that I was riding closer and closer to the sprinkler, searching the cooling rain drops. I think that both me and the horses enjoyed it a lot.

I definitely have found a new forum of expression, and I feel very inspired. It is one thing riding top-quality performance horses, but it is also very rewarding to work with these kind of horses, where you can see a lot of progress with little effort. I really hope that I will get the opportunity to do a good deed over there. I cannot wait until Sunday!

Cowgirl

Me and Samira

The guys: "She is really riding like a man!"

Well... I think that I am riding like a woman... ;)

Healing animals

During the last few days I have been harassed by an acquaintance on Facebook. He is from my hometown Malmö in Sweden and he has accused me of spreading Israeli hatred against Muslims, as well as that I support the "genocide" in Gaza and that I am generally biased and ignorant. What lit his flame was that I published the article about the Islamist extremists who burned down the UN camp for the Gaza children. How this makes me a person hating Muslims, I do not know, but I take this with a grain of salt. At first I tried to meet his statements, but I soon discovered that everything I said was severely distorted and thrown straight back at me. Then I denied him further fuel by just keeping my mouth shut. Nevertheless, although this particular guy has passed the limit for sanity, he still reflects the general attitude in my old hometown. It is not exaggerated to say that many people see Israel as the sole aggressor, using strong terms like apartheid state and genocide. The outspoken Anti-Semitism is of course not left far behind, but often so subtle and sneaky that even the most good-hearted persons just "happen" to speak in these terms now and then. People neither want to see the truth, because acknowledging complexity and mutual responsibility makes their image of the situation too wide and too difficult to handle. People who come and spend time in this region, with honest and open minds, and with an indiscriminative empathy for people on both sides, will inevitably see that they have to dismantle their simplistic attitude and start being constructive instead. Enough of that.

Yesterday afternoon we met up with Samir in the Pecan grove. He brought his two Arabian thoroughbred mares Samira and Noor. We were riding around under the trees chatting about things and I mentioned the accusations from Facebook, and there was not much more to say than that we constitute living proof of that I neither hate Arabs nor Muslims. We laughed about it and archived the matter.

Yoram also joined with the dogs, as well as another nice family we know, and a colleague from Yoram's work with her boyfriend. Beginners and children got guided slow rides on the horses under the trees, but me and Samir took the mares out in the fields a few times to race. This was the first time he saw me ride and although we had repeatedly told him about my experiences with riding horses he was not prepared for what he was about to see. I rode Samira, the younger mare, who up until now has been ridden only by Samir and his own sons and she is very powerful and sensitive. We were the faster ones and all Samir saw was the sand stirred up by Samira's hoofs and I also effectively stopped her at the end of the field, although she was coming on pretty heavily, we circled a few times, and then took off again in the other direction.

Me and Samira

I started riding at the age of six and was from the beginning a little girl gifted with a huge confidence. During the years I have come around many things, dressage, show jumping, thoroughbred horse racing, harness racing, and since the last 20 years also western riding in all its forms. This is where I found my thing, the approach that for me felt most natural and comfortable, for both horse and rider. I worked as an assistant reining-trainer in a stable in Germany for a while, but I also rode horses at home in Sweden, helping different people out with their horse businesses. During the last few years, my studies took all the time and horses where not regularly present in my life. However, a zebra does not easily loose its stripes, and yesterdays rides gave me a strong sensation of coming home.

This was only the first time we rode together and I am sure that we will have a lot of great time together with the horses. Both Samira and Noor are well broken, but could need some exercises to make them more supple and collected in the hand to be able to carry themselves better, and also to become more sensitive to leg and weight cues. Maybe we can even teach them some reining manoeuvres in time.

Recently I watched a Swedish show on web-tv, called "Ponnyakuten", in where kids having problems with their ponies got help from the famous Swedish horse trainer Tobbe Larsson. As I watched these kids learn and grow, I was filled with a warm sensation and nostalgia and I again acknowledged the fact that there is no better way to put some spine and sense of responsibility in a young child than letting it be around horses. Being a somewhat nerdy laughingstock in school, I had my life in the stable, and it is there I built my self-confidence and self-image. Many are the injuries I have had through the years, but nothing ever made me consider quitting horses. I hope that I can give the same privilege to my kids, and today that dream does not seem unrealistic at all.

Also our dogs got a healthy lesson yesterday, being around horses. Up until now they have been very excited around horses and they always want to run up to them, nipping their hind-legs to herd them, but yesterday they both behaved pretty OK, unleashed all the time. Barak came too close a few times and almost got his head kicked off, but I guess that he will have to learn it the hard way.