What a Week, Part Two

For Wednesday, we had planned a trip into the forest. They walked and I rode Ria. We had packed lunches , so we could stop and have a picnic.

DH got Ria out of the pasture for me and I groomed her. Then he saddled her up.



Before we headed out on our trip, Edith and Antje wanted to try riding. Because DH was busy with his concrete, I led them a little bit back and forth in the lawn. Then I got on myself and we headed out.

Despite the pressures of keeping up with the horse, I think they really enjoyed themselves. We talked and laughed and enjoyed the scenery.



When we got to the picnic tables for lunch, I had a lot of trouble keeping Ria from eating everything at the table. Everything included my ham and cheese sandwich. Apparently she forgot she's a vegetarian. I ended up eating my sandwich while holding onto her a good bit away from the table.

Then she kindly posed for pictures with the Fluff Club. Yes, that is Fluffy on her head.

I used a picnic table as a mounting block and we headed on home. Ria started getting a little bit frustrated about being held back and did some silly dances, while others took pictures of the scenery and the fluffs.



Once we got onto a path where I was sure they couldn't get lost, we decided to part ways so that Ria wouldn't have to wait anymore. Right as we were about to split off, we saw a huge herd of deer in one meadow. I'm not sure that I've ever seen that many together in this country before. The Germans managed to get several pictures before they ran. Ria and I headed home.

Shortly after we crossed the railroad tracks, Ria went totally berserk. She was backing up and threatening to go up her back legs. I couldn't see anything but I'm sure she must have. She was eager to get home and we were it within sight of the house but she would not go forward. I quickly got my cell phone out of my pocket and try to call DH. No answer. I yelled loudly hoping he was outside. No response. Without other options, I dismounted. It occurred to me that Ria probably had seen a snake. We have a species of poison snake here and the horses have encountered at least one in the pasture before. I looked carefully and cautiously led her through the problem area. It went fine. But I couldn't get back up so had to lead her the last 10 m home.

DH was outside but he hadn't heard us yell. He helped me get her tack off. Because of the heat of the day and the exercise, she was very sweaty. I had to take the hose and give her a shower.

By the time I was done and she was back in her pasture, I was aching and exhausted. She had, of course, immediately rolled in the dirt as soon as I let her in the pasture.

Because we planned to go out to eat that evening, I knew I had rest so I did. Then DH and I both showered and got ready to go.

We planned to go to a Chinese place a friend recommended, but when we got there we found they had nothing vegetarian on the menu and very limited fish options! We headed abck to the cars to go to a pizza and pasta place, but ended up going to Empire, the American diner-like place that DH and I often choose for nights out. The vegetarians were very happy because they had really good veggie burgers. The rest of us had steaks, which were not up to Empire's usual quality.

After dinner, we came home and DH made Irish coffee. This is coffee with whiskey and whipped cream for anyone who doesn't know. He even insisted on putting whiskey in my tea! It was a very pleasant evening.