Endo..rphines and hardened noodles

Check yourself!
Why do you do like you do?
How are you being perceived by your partner?

I have just spent 10 days in Stockholm. First a week-long seminar with Endo Sensei, and then a few days more with the local heroes Jorma Lyly and Jan Nevelius. A whole week of Endo seminar consists of a yudansha part, only for black belts, and then an open weekend seminar. An Endo yudansha seminar is a privilege to attend, since it so rarely happens that you know that you actually will enjoy practicing with each and every one aikidoka present. It is extremely crowded on the mat, but every person in the room is advanced enough to handle such a situation and we all practiced under the highest concentration and commitment.

This kind of intense practice makes you transcend into breathing, feeling, thinking, dreaming and talking about aiki. As we practice, we refine not only our bodies, but our minds, emotions and spirit. This week led me to a metaphor of the refinement of your physical qualities - how another person perceives you when you touch each other.

Most beginners can be compared to unboiled pasta. They are stiff and inflexible, but at the same time very easy to break (their balance). The separate body parts cannot move irrespectively of each other and they often feel reluctance in their bodies for certain movements. They avoid deep contact and fall in a clumsy way as they go down. Then they learn from the teacher that they should relax...

After a while they can do that, and then they become like boiled noodles. Over-boiled noodles to be more precise! Now they learn how to fall softly and follow their partner, but they also move excessively, like the wobbly noodles they are. They do not keep their physical integrity and they show a lot of openings. This is a time where the more advanced aikidokas need to take care to not hurt the "noodles", since they in this stage often are quite ambitious and very enthusiastic due to their newly-discovered flexibility, and they happily let people throw them around although they are not really yet collected enough to always stay safe on their own.

The next phase is the longest one, since it will go on for as long as you keep on practicing aikido. This is when you turn into a metal spring, that gets thicker, tougher and heavier, without ever loosing its elasticity and ability to store energy. If you think of it, it reminds a lot of the physique of a wild animal. This is the quality of a true warrior...

Landed here for 5 minutes

Jan Nevelius has been here again and we have had five days filled with wonderful aikido revelations. He also visited Tivon one day, as well as our own little hojo, which was an honor. What happened there will stay there, but it did involve aikido, yes. The result from everything is that we have a lot of new material to work on, mostly in our own dojo, where we are more free to express what we want for ourselves.

On Wednesday I go for my annual February vacation in Sweden, which will span over four packed weeks, in Malmö, Stockholm and Västervik. I will manage family, friends, as well as a week with Endo Sensei.

My new job has somewhat eliminated my efforts to keep a steady pace on this blog, and my boss would probably be happy to know that. Nevertheless, I am not planning to shut it down just yet, since we are living in interesting times here in the Middle East.

Review of our move...

My guardian angel, Goshen

More than 10 days without any post and I do feel that I have neglected the writing, but for a good reason. Moving takes time and energy, and on top of that we have both been working full time. Destiny was however working in our favor, and our dear friends, the Jaeger's, had a visit planned since months back. Then all of a sudden it happened that we needed to move over new year, and "chick chack", we were blessed with the greatest support, both practically and spiritually, in the middle of all the mess.

We have moved to another neighborhood in Tivon, obviously a very nice one, if you ask the ones who know. We have a nice garden with great potential, and we are only 100 m from a descent into a wonderful wadi. That is also what I value the most, garden and the closeness to nature. We moved on the 30th of December and when we woke up on new years eve, me and the Jaeger girls went straight out into the garden and started raking leaves, completely procrastinating the kitchen than needed a basic unpacking to be able to handle the little come-together that we had planned to welcome the new year. Yoram came back from some errand and told me in his softest fashion that maybe there were more important things than leaves, right there and then, upon which I hissed at him a bit, but then went in and rolled up my sleeves. As it ought to be, since I would not have wanted him to arrange the kitchen under any circumstances.

The TV is according to my wishes squeezed into the smallest room, and the largest living room we are turning into a permanent hojo = home + dojo! But the hojo part is of course a joint desire! We came over some used, but decent, white tatamis and we have already laid out some of the mats on the floor. We will decorate the room in a dojo kind-of fashion, but the room will also serve as a cozy corner, with lots of pillows and blankets for good moments between aikido practices. On Tuesday evening we made our first aikido moves in the room, a completely spontaneous moment with the kids. We taught them to roll and me and Yoram threw each other in a few strong tenchinage's. When we started we were cold (houses here are freezing in the winter time), but after a few rolls, all of us took off the warmest clothes. Immediately, I had the idea that tatamis in the whole house would heat up the whole house... ;) Then we made dinner. This is the spontaneity that I have been dreaming about for so long, having the aikido as a closely integrated part of your life, enabling you to practice whenever you want, however you want, in addition to the scheduled practices.

The garden was not completely enclosed by a fence when we moved in, and that was one of the things that we needed to fix, since having the dogs in the garden will enable me to work full days without taking them out for a pee. However, some of the parts of the fencing area turned out to be more difficult than others, with heavy vegetation and other stuff, so the security of the fence is growing gradually. Goshen is not the problem, Barak is. Goshen showed already during the first few days, that she would stay in the unfenced garden as we left in the car, while Barak was leashed to a tree in the back yard. Goshen accepted, went back to him and came out and greeted us as we returned. Barak, on the other hand, turned out to be more difficult to contain, as we expected. He is after all a male, with intact balls (although they right now hang on a very loose thread), and he has the "vagabond gene". He wants to roam the neighborhood, and hadn't it been for his notorious prey drive on cats, then I would not mind if he took his tours ones in a while. He is of no danger for humans or dogs, but the cats should watch out. In the garden, his focus is on finding the weak spots in the fence, and we keep closing them. I think that this weekend we will close the last one, by cutting down a big bush and extending the grid fence in its place.

So, we are busy settling, exploring, decorating and placing our scent on the place. On February 2 I leave to Sweden for four weeks, and when I get back, the spring is here. I cannot wait to really dig my fingers down in the garden...

Jojo is quite busy...

Happy New Year from the Shanir Sanctuary!

Merry Christmas!

This year we are alone on Christmas eve, and although Yoram has to work half the day, it is on a Friday, so we can actually celebrate a bit. I set up a home-made glögg to soak yesterday, and today when I tried it, it tasted remarkably well.

I have boiled a batch of rice porridge for later making a saffron pancake in the oven. Other than that we have some herring, smoked salmon, and palamida instead of eel. I will make a Janssons frestelse. When Yoram comes home from work we will go to Afula to buy some pork products. They have a sausage that reminds a lot of Prinskorvar. Maybe I can find a small ham and some minced meat to make Swedish meatballs.

Yesterday I stuck some cloves into a couple of clementines and that is about as much Christmas decoration I could manage this year. At least it seems like I am advancing every year. Last year Christmas went by completely unnoticed. Maybe I have some kind of tradition up running once we get kids together...

Saffron buns, my style

My saffron buns

Since margarine (plastic!) is not crossing the threshold of my house there are some things that are not possible without access to real butter. The butter crisis in Israel is over, luckily, which enables baking again. To get a little Christmas feeling I baked saffron buns from whole wheat flour. I have gotten used to always choosing whole grain products of all staple foods, and I think that it works well for sweet pastries as well. It is just a matter of habit. I used Israeli white cheese (gevina levana) instead of kesella and pomegranate seeds instead of raisins, and loads of saffron!

At first, the dough did not leaven as expected since the cheese chilled the dough too much, but after putting the bowl on top of the toaster oven, things started moving. The somewhat experimenting recipe turned out very well for a first time and even the picky kids liked them. During the whole afternoon I terrorized the Jews in the house with my Christmas playlist. Christmas eve is next Friday and we are free from the kids. I am thinking about taking the opportunity to make some kind of Christmas dinner for me and Yoram. Last year the Christmas passed totally unnoticed. That will not do when I get kids of my own, so I better start building our intercultural family tradition.

House with a garden!

We are moving, already on the 1st of January! Now when I have a reasonably consistent income we can finally afford to leave this dump flat, with its moron neighbours. We did not look for long before we found a cute house with a nice garden, although it took some negotiations before we settled around the agreements. First offer was an unreasonable increase of the rent already on the second year, as well as us having to do all the painting ourselves, but after my brilliant husband cast his spells, we ended up on no rent increase and the landlords will do all the painting. We will just choose the colours and move in to a renovated house.

It is an old house, where the kitchen, toilet and bathroom are not too modern, but that's just the way I like it. I am allergic to new houses with a modern and clinical style. Houses like that have no soul and it is very difficult for me to feel comfortable in such a house. Right now I am planning the colours for the different rooms and it will be ranging from deep fuchsia to lime green, ochre, colonial blue and black. The kitchen and the bathroom will be quite creatively decorated.

There are four rooms and a pretty large hall. Except for the master bedroom, the boys' room and a combined TV room/office, we have decided to make the large living room into a permanent dojo. However, in between practices, it will also serve as a cozy living room, by just spreading out soft mattresses, pillows and blankets on top of the tatamis. Finally, my dream comes true to be able to practice aikido whenever I want, totally spontaneously.

Now there is no nursery included in this plan and after all we are planning to get pregnant during next year, but on the other hand we will not stay in this house forever. During the infant period it is definitely sufficient, and as far as I am concerned, the TV can give room for a nursery. ;)

Anna Veeder on Newsmill

For you Swedish-speakers I want to share my good friend Anna Veeder's article on Newsmill. Probably the sharpest reaction I have seen so far on the Stockholm suicide bombing.

En självmordsbombning? I Stockholm? Förlåt en luttrad israel, men är det inte hopplöst ute? Känns så... Netanya 2003.

Swedish blue eyes...

Yoram told me this morning, that the first time is the most scary one. Then you get numb. I don't even think that most Swedes got scared when the first suicide bombing on Swedish soil took place yesterday afternoon. Their naivety strikes me. The first eye witness went up to the trashed body and tried to resuscitate him, after removing a keffiyeh from his face. In the interview he said that the first thing that struck his mind was that the guy probably was a terrorist, and that he understood that something had exploded on his stomach. Hello?!? Did it cross your mind that there might be more explosives that did not trigger yet? A sane person would stay as far away from him as possible.

Luckily, the pathetic idiot only succeeded to kill himself, and he did not even succeed to shred his own body properly to pieces. His shortcomings make me think that he probably acted alone, and was not backed by any larger terror organization. But on the other hand, he might just be so stupid that he fucked everything up, although he had a mastermind behind him.

Nevertheless, those who think that this was a one-timer should reconsider. Radical Islamism is spreading and the global jihad hates everything that our freedom and democracy stands for. Imagine yourself all the possible targets. But, on the other hand, like Nima Dervish said: The ones who says that it has nothing to do with Islam is wrong, but the ones who blame all Muslims are also wrong. It is important not to further stigmatizing all Muslims for what some extremist lowlifes are on to, but we need to prevent terrorism.

I have lived in Israel for one and a half years now, and although no suicide attacks have been occurring here lately I am myself stripped off of any naive illusions from living with these people who grew up under a constant terror threat. I just hoped that the Swedes would never need to get numb. I guess those days are over.

New style

I have switched to another web browser, and since the blogger formatting is not compatible between the browsers, the text will look slightly different from now on. It really disturbs my aesthetic eye, but what can you do..? After a while we have forgotten how it used to look. Maybe.

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

I have a job!

For months and months I had nothing to do. Then everything came at once. We started to plan for the tattoo studio. They wanted me as a Swedish teacher online. One guy asked if I could sell horse-back vacations on the telephone. I am not a sales person and the teaching job was too much effort for very little money. What finally made me trash both of the latter opportunities was that all of a sudden the perfect job landed in front of my nose.

My new boss is a friend of Yoram, from his running group. He has a software company that develops applications for many different purposes and clients, but also applications for iPhone and iPad. He needed a designer and there I was. I have now spent my first two days as an employee developing interface graphics for his iPhone and iPad applications. I am making lots of cool stuff and I can go completely crazy in Illustrator, which I love so much. I work full time, but get paid by the hour, which I kind of like, since it gives me a better overview of how I earn my money.

Here comes the best part. My office is in Ramat Yishay, merely 5 minutes from here with a car. Besides that, I have the freedom to work from home when I need to, which is completely amazing. This means that I can go to the office in the morning, handling all the meetings and discussions with my colleagues, and then go home to the dogs (and the kids some days) and keep on working at home in the afternoon and evening. It is a bit sad that I cannot ride horses almost every day anymore, but with my flexible hours I am sure that I will be able to squeeze in a few rides here and there. And the tattoo studio, well, that will definitely happen, but it will be someone else that helps Assi by answering the phone when someone calls.

Skin City opens on the 1st of January

We are going to open a tattoo and piercing studio together with our good friend (and fellow aikidoka) Assi Goldstein, who is a brilliant tattoo artist (for you who have Facebook, look here for some of his work). He lost his job in Haifa and we decided to invest in a studio together with him. The place is in Yokneam, close to Kiryat Tivon, and we plan to open on the 1st of January, under the name of Skin City. We will renovate together, and then I will spend a lot of time there in the beginning, as a somewhat assistant to Assi.

On Tuesday, we spent the hole day wrestling with Israeli bureaucracy. We were not sure how to register the company, to make it as smooth and economical as possible, Assi alone, or with me also on the paper. Yoram was already excluded since he is employed and that would affect the taxation of the tattoo studio. We went to the Israeli Tax Authorities in Haifa, where we were juggled around between different people for hours. We wanted to know whether I at all can open a file on my present visa, and in that case how my husbands salary will affect my taxations. Why would it do that, you might ask? Well, in this country women are not considered capable of having their own business, so when a woman opens a business, it will automatically be written also on her husband. Don't ask me what unmarried women do. Her father maybe..?

Of course did not two persons give the same answer. One of the offices we were directed to, turned out to be manned by a previous neighbour of Yoram's. From that moment and on, things ran a lot smoother. This is something that happens to my husband all the time. I am not sure whether it is pure luck, or that he simply has friends everywhere. He is also THE negotiator. I would never do business without him. He is a walking bargaining machine and he has a way of getting a smile out of the grumpiest clerk.

Anyway, we found out that it is possible for me to open a file and we even found a grey zone that separates me from Yoram, which means no taxation calculated on his income. The afternoon we spent in our accountant's office, going over other options. How we in the end decided to register, we will keep to ourselves. Contract for the place is signed, file is opened, bank account is opened, equipment is ordered, and we also went to the DIY store and bought stuff for fixing up the place, such as paint for the walls. Things are moving forward!

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):

I wanna shove your garbage up your ass!

We went to the beach today and it was a sad story. First of all, the fishing park Dag-Bakfar opened a channel through which they poured out contaminated water from their fish ponds, straight out into the sea. It probably did not contain poison, but left-over fish food, dead fish and algae was enough to make it all but attractive to step into the water. The dogs, however, did not mind, and they happily bounced around in the green soup, and when it was time to leave they stank of fish. It was not that nice and they got a nice shampoo when we got home.

Except for the soiled water, I was again gasping in disgust over how much garbage was left on the beach. What the f**k is wrong with these people? What makes a human being so disconnected to our environment that he without blinking leaves piles of garbage on this beautiful place? I simply cannot understand this. I suppose that these trashy people will not read this anyway, since their education level probably don't enable them to comprehend my language. I am so angry!

Hot Moroccan Tilapia

Karin in Rehovot inspired me (Swedish blog post) to make Moroccan fish, but in true Jojo tradition, I can never keep to a recipe. I just merely used it for inspiration. I planned a mild couscous that I thought would fit well balancing the spicy fish dish.

Fish:
Fry sweet pepper, fresh garlic, crushed tomatoes, paprika powder, harissa and some salt in a nice olive oil, until soft. We used Tilapia fillets (St Peter's fish) for this dish. Lay the fillets (skin up) on top of the sauce and let it simmer under a lid until the fish is cooked. Add the coriander during the last few minutes. We used canned crushed tomatoes, for the simple reason that the large tomatoes in the supermarket were pale and unattractive. If not, I think that I would have scolded and peeled fresh tomatoes. You can also use fresh chili, but we bought harissa, which also brings some sourness (it contains vinegar) into the composition. It worked out very well.

Couscous:
Wet the couscous with some hot bullion, after taste. We actually used chicken/vegetable bullion! Fry the onion in (real!) butter and add the spinach. Add some salt if the butter is without salt. Mix the couscous with the spinach/onion. Add pine nuts that have been slightly roasted in a dry pan.

A musty red wine is appropriate to a spicy dish like this!

Both dishes (Click to enlarge)

A small step for man...

One lunch last week I boldly prepared a sauce to serve with the spaghetti for the kids. During my 37 years I don't think that I ever met a kid who did not appreciate a nice tomato sauce on their spaghetti. That was until I met my two bonus boys. They loudly refuse anything that might make the food on the plate the least "wet", except for occasional uses of some sugar-saturated ketchup!

I prepared Cornelius' tomato sauce, which is as famous and delicious, as it is simple. To make it more approachable for the kids, I passed it in the blender into an orange-red creamy and smooth sauce. I poured it over the spaghetti and mixed before I put up on the plates. On the side they got sliced chicken fillet, which I had fried in fresh za'atar herb, sesame seeds, some sesame oil and soy sauce.

The kids ate, and I was amazed. However, my biggest victory came a few days later, during the weekend, when Yoram tried to make a tomato sauce to serve with the pasta. He makes a more complex sauce, with more different veggies inside, but although he also passed it, the kids noticed the difference. To my surprise, the kids said that they liked my sauce better, which is probably the first time they ever gave credits to my food like that. The biological parents food is always the best, of course, and in particular Mum's food. Yoram looked a bit stunned, but I just sucked it in.

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