Tranitional Haflinger Horse Race

Picture it ... a field of golden ponies all running like thoroughbreds. It happens. In Meran, Italy the race  season is kicked off at Maia Racecourse of Merano by these noble little ponies running like the big boys on Easter weekend. With much fan fare, including a parade through the streets, the Haflinger star in not only a horse raise, but demonstrations of western riding and even a trotting race.

 In this video we see the snippets of the whole spectacle. The first half shows the parade with people in traditional costume playing music as the they walk through the seats. Many beautiful Haflinger ponies are show cased in the procession also. With riders of all sorts and sizes. At marker 3:17 we see a pair of cute girls. One in traditional dress and the other just a tot riding in a western saddle. The parade ends with a street cleaner.

Then on to the races! Men and woman ride these golden wonders what is sure to be an exciting race.I love to see the Haffies on their way to the field. In America these would be the ponies leading that big race horses to the track to at this track today, they are the stars. This next video shows more of the race and even tells a bit more about it, unfortunately it is in German, but it is still fun to watch.

 Apparently at the Meran Mais Racecourse they also have a Haflinger steele chase. Now that would be something to see too!

Had a ball!

It has been at least 6 months since I rode her. Six months of her lazying about the pasture, getting a little grain treat here and there. Maybe pulled up to have her feet trimmed but other than that, she has been living the life. Today I show up and realized this is why I have Corrie. We pulled her out of the pasture and did a little grooming, saddled up, little ground work and got on.

Corrie was wonderful!

One of the first things I spied is that my trainer got one of these balls. (Sorry I left my phone in the car so I couldn't take pictures.)  She sniffed it and nudged it. Was a little worried about it rolling toward her, but we did a little ground work around it and she was fine.

Hoped on and walked around the arena. She was just as quiet as can be. Looked at the paper bags in the corner a bit. We faced them, took baby steps toward them until she touched them with her nose. After that she was fine with them.

I didn't do a lot of work with her. I rode her around and played with the ball. My trainer came out and rode with us.

Corrie didn't like my trainer's horse. I don't know why. She was letting her annoyance be known too! I started playing with the ball. She would rub on it. Eventually she would would send it flying with a good nose push. After a few of these nose pushes we noticed that she only pushed it to my trainer's horse when he went by. She is a character!

Mostly I just walked around. A little trotting. Corrie has not been worked in forever and right now she is going to be worked only 2 x a month. Not enough time to really "do" anything but enjoy her. And I plan to. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

 These are my Valentine's Present and Past 

Abby and My Mom

Rocky

Ike and Madison

Sophie

Zoe

Remington Steele

Corrie

Rebels Hope

NEXT Weekend

Oh I really was going to go. I just forgot one little part of planning in the midwest, check the weather before you make plans, and not just noting the temperature. It was supposed to be in the lower 30's today. Not bad for this time of year.

Yesterday was so cold a trainer I know canceled lessons, and she will ride in anything. It was only supposed to be in the 20's but still. I thought she would ride in that. I thought to myself, I better check that weather again.

Sunday forecast:

Mostly Sunny Hi 30° RealFeel® 16°

RealFeel® 16°???

Ummm ...  Okay I admit it. city life is making me soft and if I am planning on not going up every weekend maybe I should choose a good weekend.

Next Sunday ... 

Hi 42° RealFeel® 45°

That is a bit better. And I have Monday off.

NEXT weekend it is.

I am actually really disappointed. I have been jumping around the house singing I am going to see Corrie for a few days now. Mike thinks I am a bit strange and says he understands but of course he doesn't. Not his fault. How could he possibly understand this strange attraction for a beast that literally could kill you if it wanted too. Not that Corrie would have murder on her mind, unless you are keeping a handful of peanuts from her and then I think she would only think it.


I have been down every weekend for awhile now. It is really taking a toll on the both of us. I just could not figure out what it was. Looking forward to the weekend is the highlight of the week. Then it would come and their would be an ache down deep that just couldn't be satisfied. I needed something. When the realization came, my horse, I just miss my horse. I decided to take action. Why sit around acting like I don't have a horse when I do ... she is just far away. So I can't see her every weekend. Once or twice a month? I think I can do that. Makes the money I pay for board at least a little more reasonable.


Until next weekend Corrie ... I miss you!

Damn It I DO still have a horse

I still have Corrie and this weekend screw that my car is aging! Screw that it is a 2 hour drive! Screw that it cost a lot in gas! I am going to see my horse Damn It!

Finding Horses Where I can

This weekend was another one of those weekends that I just needed to get out and do something. I wrote about it on my other blog, Country Girl in Chicago. We went to the Oriental Institute of Chicago. A fabulous museum and I managed to find horses.
This was a very large relief from Assyria. There were several reliefs from this time period that I found very fascinating. 

  The next three are all from the same relief. They are beautiful and portray nobles hunting lions. This first one gave me a bit of pause. I was unsure why the driving was using three reins. On one of my favorite horse sites someone pointed out that there are three plumes. I had missed that. So this chariot is being pulling by three horses.





This one is actually behind the first one. So these riders are following the chariot. Notice no saddles. Below you can get a bit of a better view of the bridle and the  tack that was on the horses. Looks something similar to some arab costumes in the  modern day arab shows.

  

Here we have moved on to Persia or Iran. The bridle here is rather interesting as in the bit that was used. If you look at the nasty bit below you will immediately feel sorry for the horses of this time period. It is really rather hideous. The center ring was for the reins, the holes above and below the center ring are what held the bride to the bit, cheek pieces basically.











This bit really is nasty. The mouth piece is lined with lots of metal points.

These final photos show the first saddle that uses a tree. It is a Nubian saddle and the next photo shows how it is used.










Well that sums the horsey part of my trip to the Oriental Institute of Chicago. I really love to look at the history of the horse and how he has worked along side of man. How we treated him and what his role was.

Regrets

Regrets ...

Today I was thinking I am not so much disappointed about my life at this moment, just the fact that the 10 years before that I really wasted. There was so many little things I could have done during my 30's that I didn't.

Speaking mostly of the horses, I had a wonderful little driving pony that I let sit for most of his life. Ike was fully trained when I got him. I had a cart, I had a harness, I did not have experience with driving. I wish I had looked harder for a trainer to help me with driving. How much fun I missed out driving him!

All I said for all of Madison's life was what a cute little driving horse she would have been. I had the time. I had the experience to start her out. I would have been getting more experience in driving if I had just done it with Ike.

Now where are those horses? I can not even type it. I still have a hard time thinking about it. So much wasted talent and life. Both mine and theirs.

Those are just two of the many examples that is hard to swallow now. Where did the time go? Why didn't I just get up off my ass and doing some of those things? What am I missing out on now that I should just do?