Tierra
Well-Known Member
Ive just got home after a slightly amusing couple of hours at the stables and thought id share
Firstly - its cold here today. Id seen the forcast which said -4 and about -14 with the wind chill. Head out in my little car DREADING driving over the bridge to the next island (where horsey is kept). I passed a gas station with a huge display showing the temperature.. -9 degrees; whaaaaaaaaaat?!
Arrived at the yard pretty much set on the idea of lunging because well, it's freezing! We have quite high winds, its snowing a LOT although not settling much atm.
On the yard was the head rider armed with his bright orange snow shovel; wielding it somewhat like a weapon. Wrapped up like eskimos next to him were his two trainee riders; both quite young guys one of who doesnt speak amazing danish.
"NO SNOW! ZER WEEL BEE NO SNOW ON MY YARD!" was what the head rider was roughly yelling while running up and down like a gopher on speed manically shovelling the tiniest bits of snow (the yard had clearly been gritted... very little was settling on it but he has slight OC issues ;p)
As i was skuttling past, said head rider (allan) came over to me and explained in very broken english that the large indoor arena was out of bounds for an hour or so due to him giving a demo on working horses from the ground.
At this point he asked what was wrong with me (it was freeeeeeeezing, i had tears rolling down my face from the wind) and i mumbled and whined about the cold. He laughed and wandered off. (Ive already been dubbed the strange english girl who fed her horse rubbish, and treated it funny... they're a little protective about how they do their horses here
)
I grabbed a cavesson and lunge line and went to see jack, who was flat out snoring and looked as though he'd created some kind of nesting system in his bed (probably to keep warm). Dragged horsey out of bed and put cavesson on. At this point the snow was getting heavier and i could still hear very military style "NO SNOW! NO SNOW!" being yelled outside accompanied by a shuffling of feet which i assume was the two half terrified trainee riders.
Being the soft sap i am, i figured stripping horsey of all rugs to lunge, even indoors, was mean so i went and grabbed the outer shell of his duo which had been on the rug warmer / dryer thingie over night.
Rug on, horse ready, off we went.
"You no turn horse out today"
"Not turning out, lunging"
"Why horse carpet on?!"
"Like, its -9!! he gets cold"
By this time, id lost all feeling in my fingers and toes, probably had mascara streaming down my cheeks as my eyes were still running and just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.
"Still cold?"
"Yes, im bloody freezing"
"Gief horse"
"Huh?"
"Gief horse! Markus, take girl, warm up" (oo er!)
"Why no sidereins on horse?"
"Cos i dont like them..."
"Fine, need more string"
"String?"
"Yes! Another string!" (At this point he was shaking the lunge line in his hands and out of nowhere, one of the manic shovel wielding guys appeared with a second lunge line)
Markus (the second of the shovel wielding duo) then shuffled me off to the cafe which over looks the arena and promptly found me a hot chocolate.
Allan was lunging jack and, much to my surprise, nattering away in danish while doing so. It was at this point i realised his demonstration had commenced and somehow, my horse had become part of it. He lunged him for a while with the rug on, before removing and doing some harder work. Then through the rug back on and summoned me down.
Id still not thawed out tbh and had no clue what he'd just been using jack for.
"Sparrow back"
(Jack has picked up the nickname jack sparrow for some bizarre reason)
"thanks.. What were you talking about in the demo?"
"Providing service to full livery"
I did my best at this point not to giggle.
"Markus! take horse, put carpets on"
He then turned back to me, winked and said "see you in march when denmark thaws. Goodbye!" turned on his heel and marched off (collecting his bright orange snow shovel on the way to attack the tiny scattering that had accumulated at the entrance to the large indoor arena)
Anyway, im back home, thawing out a little but waiting for OH to come home and start the wood burner. Hopefully its going to be getting warmer here again tomorrow ;p
Firstly - its cold here today. Id seen the forcast which said -4 and about -14 with the wind chill. Head out in my little car DREADING driving over the bridge to the next island (where horsey is kept). I passed a gas station with a huge display showing the temperature.. -9 degrees; whaaaaaaaaaat?!
Arrived at the yard pretty much set on the idea of lunging because well, it's freezing! We have quite high winds, its snowing a LOT although not settling much atm.
On the yard was the head rider armed with his bright orange snow shovel; wielding it somewhat like a weapon. Wrapped up like eskimos next to him were his two trainee riders; both quite young guys one of who doesnt speak amazing danish.
"NO SNOW! ZER WEEL BEE NO SNOW ON MY YARD!" was what the head rider was roughly yelling while running up and down like a gopher on speed manically shovelling the tiniest bits of snow (the yard had clearly been gritted... very little was settling on it but he has slight OC issues ;p)
As i was skuttling past, said head rider (allan) came over to me and explained in very broken english that the large indoor arena was out of bounds for an hour or so due to him giving a demo on working horses from the ground.
At this point he asked what was wrong with me (it was freeeeeeeezing, i had tears rolling down my face from the wind) and i mumbled and whined about the cold. He laughed and wandered off. (Ive already been dubbed the strange english girl who fed her horse rubbish, and treated it funny... they're a little protective about how they do their horses here
I grabbed a cavesson and lunge line and went to see jack, who was flat out snoring and looked as though he'd created some kind of nesting system in his bed (probably to keep warm). Dragged horsey out of bed and put cavesson on. At this point the snow was getting heavier and i could still hear very military style "NO SNOW! NO SNOW!" being yelled outside accompanied by a shuffling of feet which i assume was the two half terrified trainee riders.
Being the soft sap i am, i figured stripping horsey of all rugs to lunge, even indoors, was mean so i went and grabbed the outer shell of his duo which had been on the rug warmer / dryer thingie over night.
Rug on, horse ready, off we went.
"You no turn horse out today"
"Not turning out, lunging"
"Why horse carpet on?!"
"Like, its -9!! he gets cold"
By this time, id lost all feeling in my fingers and toes, probably had mascara streaming down my cheeks as my eyes were still running and just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.
"Still cold?"
"Yes, im bloody freezing"
"Gief horse"
"Huh?"
"Gief horse! Markus, take girl, warm up" (oo er!)
"Why no sidereins on horse?"
"Cos i dont like them..."
"Fine, need more string"
"String?"
"Yes! Another string!" (At this point he was shaking the lunge line in his hands and out of nowhere, one of the manic shovel wielding guys appeared with a second lunge line)
Markus (the second of the shovel wielding duo) then shuffled me off to the cafe which over looks the arena and promptly found me a hot chocolate.
Allan was lunging jack and, much to my surprise, nattering away in danish while doing so. It was at this point i realised his demonstration had commenced and somehow, my horse had become part of it. He lunged him for a while with the rug on, before removing and doing some harder work. Then through the rug back on and summoned me down.
Id still not thawed out tbh and had no clue what he'd just been using jack for.
"Sparrow back"
(Jack has picked up the nickname jack sparrow for some bizarre reason)
"thanks.. What were you talking about in the demo?"
"Providing service to full livery"
I did my best at this point not to giggle.
"Markus! take horse, put carpets on"
He then turned back to me, winked and said "see you in march when denmark thaws. Goodbye!" turned on his heel and marched off (collecting his bright orange snow shovel on the way to attack the tiny scattering that had accumulated at the entrance to the large indoor arena)
Anyway, im back home, thawing out a little but waiting for OH to come home and start the wood burner. Hopefully its going to be getting warmer here again tomorrow ;p
