I HAVE A HORSE!!

Things that are unexpected but AWESOME: this.

(Sorry to my non-horsey friends, don't feel obliged to read this).

Last Monday, I gathered up my courage, donned my Rutgers Equestrian Team jacket, and headed over to the riding club to talk to people and figure out how to get myself on something other than the buffalo.  I wandered aimlessly around the club for half an hour until I talked myself up to approaching the trainer. I said I was interested in riding lessons.  She coolly appraised me, read my jacket very carefully, and then asked what I had done.  Like a good American, I launched into everything with Austin, all my experience with babies, and so on.  She interrupted me halfway through my explanation of Fish and just said, bluntly: "This time next week.  Bring your riding gear, we'll put you on something."

This time next week I showed up dressed to impress.  My boots were clean, my breeches were clean, and I put on my Studentenreiter Konstanz polo because a) it looks fancy, b) it has my name on it, and c) it would signal that I've ridden in Germany.  I arrived a half hour early to check out the lesson and watch the horses go, and there was one horse in particular that I was hugely fond of.  He was a little bay thing who was giving his rider a seriously hard time, throwing his head every which way, not listening, and taking off randomly around the ring.  "All that girl needs to do is stop messing with his face," thought I.  "If I got on it, I could make him look like a million dollars in 10 minutes."  I said this, sure in the knowledge that the trainer would not put me on the crazy horse having never seen me ride before.

As soon as the lesson was over, I mosied on over to the trainer.  "What have you done again?"  "Jumpers."  Short and to the point because I'm learning.  "Where are you from again?" she asked. "The US."  "America..." she said, "then you have soft hands. Want to ride that one?"  And she pointed at the crazy bay thing.  I grinned like a small child and said, "Most definitely!"  "How did I know?" she said, and actually smiled.  

The girl on the bay thing was more than happy to hand him over to me (with a highly sarcastic, "Here, now he's your problem.").  I hopped on and we set off.  And I a) made him look like a million dollars, and b) did it in 5 minutes.  The next time the trainer looked over at us, Crazy Horse was going around like a little star, happy and relaxed in a lovely frame.  She was quite pleased with us, and let me hop him over some fences.

At the end of the riding lesson, the trainer called me over to the side of the ring and asked me how long I was going to be in Germany.  I said I would be in Celle until April, and she exchanged glances with a lady standing at the fence.  "Good," said the trainer, "because we have a jumper for you."  asdfhghjlk.WHAT?  The lady at the fence said, "I was watching you, and you ride very typically American."  I must have made a face, because the trainer quickly said, "No no, that's not a bad thing!"  Fence Lady said, "My horse needs to be ridden like an American, and the German style of riding is far too harsh on her.  She's somewhat insane and doesn't deal with it very well, and I can't ride her myself because I'm having a baby in two weeks.  Would you be interested in trying her out, and if you like her, you can take her?"  So we arranged for me to come check out the horse today.

Her horse is a lovely little chestnut thing with a big blaze and three sexy socks.  And as I discovered when I got on her, she is the Hannoverian version of Austin, which I'm fine with.  Unlike her brothers and sisters in the barn, who are all tanks, this thing is a sleek and sexy sports car.  She's fast, she's agile, and she anticipates like nobody's business.  But because she's a warmblood, and not a Thoroughbred, she's quite level headed.  When you tell her she can't go, she doesn't get upset and throw temper tantrums like Austin.  She just trots for three more strides and then attempts to go again.  You can't argue with her, said the owner, you just have to a) be very quiet, and b) accept that she's never going to be a normal animal.  She's a sport horse.  She's insane.  She hasn't been ridden in over a month.  You can't mess with the fences when she's in the ring because she flips out when she can't jump them.  I love her to pieces.

I have the mare all to myself until October, and then I'll start half-leasing her with another girl, where I can have her 3-4 days a week.  And this half lease will cost me, wait for it...82 dollars a month.  Which is practically free.  Also, the owner is a Grand Prix jumper, who teaches jumping lessons at the farm, which I can join in on.  Oh.  My.  God.  And she was practically beside herself that I was so happy about riding her horse, because, from what I understand, nobody else is.  Apparently everyone who rides her jumps off because they say she's too fast.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, is as fast as Austin when he was mad at you, so this doesn't bother me.

And that's how I went from riding the buffalo to half-leasing a serious sport horse, in the span of two days.

And I am working on pictures!

EDIT EDIT:  Did I mention everyone at the barn is ridiculously nice?  I'm already friends with the trainer's daughter.  ALSO, the guy who is in charge of the entire Landgestüt (where Hannoverians are bred and trained) has horses at this barn.  I met him, he was quite nice!