Goodreads.com

Have you ever wondered what books your friends are reading? Are there novels in your colleagues' libraries that you'd enjoy? Or some that aren't worth the time and effort? Sign up for Goodreads.com to read book reviews from your trusted network. Swap thoughts on the latest biography or romance novel and even join an online book club to meet new literary friends. Then get off the computer and spend some time with a good old-fashioned book.

A very dear friend of mine from Canada recommended this side to me and I totally love it! Best side ever! Makes so much sense!!
As you all know I read alot and buy lots of books every month. With this side it´s easy to find good books I will enjoy reading. Just perfect!

Lack Of Energy

Sleepy Milva. We both seem to lack some energy right now.
I played 25min online using the 45´rope. Very nice travelling circles in canter both leads :))).

Parelli February Shipment

Audio CD
"Audition Tips"
Learn how to achieve success and enjoy the process with tips from our Audition Coach and Evaluator 4-Star Parelli Professional Kristi Smith. Plus gain an insight into the journey Kristi has taken to be the 'best me that she can be' for her horse, family and the students she coaches. A great example of the WE of Parelli.

February Mastery Lesson
Pat's Lesson - Developing a Feel On Line With Merlin
Linda's Lesson - Creating A Connection in a Round Corral with Apollo and Marion

February Savvy Times
This month's issue features articles on The Power of the Drive Line, Riding in Groups, Surfside Savvy, Turning Negatives into Positives and more...plus your stories from around the globe

Springbreak

One week of my vacation has already passed and I have to admit it was not very horsey like. We did lots of other fun stuff though. Last friday we did some shopping in Lund, on wednesday we are gonna go up to Göteborg and soon we are gonna go down to Berlin and we will squeeze in some days in Denmark as well.
Yesterday I took a 30min walk with Milva. I think a little break won´t hurt us.

War Horse

War Horese had premier in Sweden yesterday and Shawn took me out to see it.
I liked the book much better than the movie though. It was too much Hollywood over it for my taste.
I played with Milva twice at liberty this week and didn´t have time to ride Orkan. Next week will be better though.
This week my priorities have changed a bit and I must say it feels good like that.

Eventing Training In Böckeberga With Anita & Orkan

I followed Anita and Orkan to Böckeberga today for their eventing training. It took a little over an hour to get there and Orkan is just awesome in the trailer. You don´t even feel that a horse is standing there behind.
Both did an awesome job at the training. They truly were the most harmonious couple there and Orkan was just super calm and jumped all the fences without hesitation and ears forwards.
I got very upset over on rider though who was really very unfair to her horse and to be honest I didn´t like the trainer either.
When one rider fell off and the horse ran around the trainer catched the horse and then pulled on the bit very hard a couple of times. Why oh why??? I don´t get it! Wouldn´t it be more logical to reward the horse after coming towards you instead of punishing??
Don´t people get it that punishing a prey animal never works??
Another rider rode a 3,5 year one. Same question again - why? And then people wonder why there horses go lame, have pain in the backs,....
With Milva 25min walking in the ridinghouse due to heavy rain and other people being in the ridinghouse I couldn´t do anything else.
Now I´m continuing my busy evening with finishing my english muffins and cream of mushroom soup for Shawn. You can´t buy those things here so homemade it is.

Spring On It´s Way?

30min walk with the munch. It sure feels like spring today and the snow is melting. Busy but fun weekend ahead.

What The Dog Saw written by Gladwell Malcolm

As always with Malcom´s book - a masterpiece. I finally got to buy and read all his books and I sure hope he soon comes out with a new one!

What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?
In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from The New Yorker over the same period.

Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

"Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head." What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.

First Foal Of The Season Is Born

A little filly got born on Valentine´s Day.
Walking with Milva 30min in the afternoon while it was snowing. I think we finally came to the point where we both starting to enjoy our walks together. Of course the more I walk with her the calmer she gets and combining the 7 games in our walks sure helps.
40min in the ridinghouse.
20min undemanding time watching another boarder lunging her horse while I gave Milva scratches. I can´t stop wondering if people realise how much they desensitize their horses with constantly clicking with their tongue and making all other weird noises and using the longeing whip constantly. Horrible!
I put a buble around Milva and me so it wouldn´t bother her too much.
Our liberty circles are getting better and better on both leads. Very nice close range circles to the right again in walk and trot! To the left she nicely stretched forwards downwards, her back coming up and a nice soft expression on her face. She gave me some lovely trot canter transitions but has right now a bit of a hard time to maintain gate. It has nothing to do with not wanting though but strictly with struggling with balance and strength. Which will come with the time naturally so for now it´s important not to discourage my little pumpkin.

Secretariat

Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?

He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray.

He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword.

The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance.

In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

Job 39:19-24


finally got to watch it

My Name Is Earl

one of my favourite shows. Milva reminds me of Earl, he has always his eyes closed in pictures as well. Just like Milva. I don´t know how many pictures I have of her having her eyes closed.
Yesterday I had my 9th day at work, due to two extrashifts it turned out to be a long long week, but now I´m off 5 days and then I only work 2 days and then 3 weeks of and maybe maybe we can tape my freestyle level 3 audition.
I took two walks with Milva today 2 x 25min.
The first one was involuntary. Dupont went through the fence and had a hell lot of fun in the big field. I was worried if I would put Milva back in the turnout that the horses would join Dupont´s chase. I already could picture all three turnout herds stampeding around.
Instead I marched of in the opposite direction and hoped Dupont wouldn´t see us and follow us. I did alot of z5 driving which is the perfect preparation for our future trailrides.
After our warm up I played 30min at liberty in the ridinghouse. Very nice close range circles to the right. I really thing she is getting uncertain of herself on the right lead and that´s why she changes direction. I made a point out of leading her lots on the right side while walking, which I think might helped too.
Close range circles are no problem anymore anyway to the right so now I´m gonna start asking her to make them a little bit bigger every day without pushing it.
Very nice troting circles to the left and some canter as well. She totally stays connected with me all the time and I only need to use a very light phase 1 for transitions. Way cool!
She got a bit sassy in the canter but that´s alright for now.

Before The Storm by Marion Dönhoff - Kindheit in Ostpreussen

One of my favourite books ever. The first time I read it I must have been around 10 years old and didn´t quite understand everything. Still fascinated by Marion Dönhoff´s life I read other books from her in that early age. She always was and still is one of my favourite writers.

Marion Countess Donhoff is a member of an aristocratic East Prussian family, an accomplished writer and, for many years, a member of the editorial staff of DIE ZEIT. She rode several hundred miles west from her ancestral home at Friedrichstein through freezing weather and deep snow to escape the Red Army as it moved west across her homeland.

Where is her homeland? Try looking for East Prussia on a map sometime. You won't find it. You won't even find Friedrichstein. All the place names were changed and all the territory taken from German hands. No German signs or placenames survive in what was once a prosperous kingdom almost seven centuries old at the time of its desctruction in 1945. Grave markers were pulled up and used for paving stones as the Poles and Russians eradicated the last vestiges of German language, culture and property.

Grafin von Donhoff's account of those times doesn't dwell on her own losses, or sufferings, which were considerable. All the men in her family either fell on the Eastern Front serving a Fuhrer they'd come to despise, or were executed for joining the July 20, 1944, plot which nearly assassinated Hitler at Rastenburg, Hitler's East Prussian Headquarters.

Instead, she draws a portrait of her childhood Kingdom before it was crushed. The book includes some great maps and photographs. Considering the important role East Prussia played in Europe's history, it is surprising how little is available today on its history. Countess Donhoff's classic book remedies that.

If you are interested in European history, you'll enjoy this book. In my opinion, it's a classic.

Wintermorning

Another beautiful wintermorning with sparkling snow.
Milva and I took a 25min walk around the pastures combined with the 7 games and lots of sideways from all 5 zones.
20 min liberty with very nice close range circles at liberty to the left!!! Troting circles to the right and left with a nice downwards stretch and her body arched towards me. Perfect!

Blissfull Morning

What a difference 8 hours sleep make! Putting my foot down about the feeding situation was one of the best things I have done.
I happily enjoyed my morning coffe in the company of Pat and Linda and December´s Mastery Manual. Peaceful, stressfree and blissful!
Still do not understand the reasoning of the stable owner but there is no sense in rumbling over things, people and situations you can´t change or have any influence over.
Like Shawn and my Dad are saying, I´m simple too nice so it´s easy for people to use me and soemtimes I´m just too blue eyed and don´t see through people.
I guess it´s a fine line between being used and helping sincere, equaly nice people.
I went to the stable around 10.00 a.m. Took Milva for a 25min walk and left again.
Milva was her lovely, mild self except for one "Oh boy" moment. That moment accured when all three herds came stompeding towards us on the way home.
Milva´s head and tale went up in a split second and she snored like a dragon. Without thinking much I used a very effective phase 4 and that was the end of that story and she behaved appropiate afterwards.
Thinking about yesterday, we ran into some problems with circling to the right again. No problems online but at liberty she would switch lead again. I thought about being smart and using a corner for small circles to the right. Well, that didn´t work. She would still take off to the left instead and when I tried to squeeze her through she got pretty tight. How interesting. Back to online and no problem. Hm.
In the end I asked her for small circles at liberty around me - very tight ones to the right and when she lowered her head and relaxed I stopped.
Very interesting session indeed.

Friday

Feeding situation is taken care of. The horses will be provided with free food until spring. The second alternative would have been that the stable owner feeds at 10.00 am - which sure is not breakfast anymore in my eyes.
For my own memory: 30min liberty with Milva

For my own memory:
Played with Milva yesterday for 10min then the jumping trainer arrived and I had to quit. I was not happy about that of course. Due all the snow and ice it´s not possible to use any outdoor rings either.
Today: 30min online and liberty. Started out with liberty, stick to me with transitions and over 5 cavalleti. Sideways away and towards over a cavaletti. Lay down, spin, backing up. Then I had to take her online cause 2 other people came in the ridinghouse.
Frustrated? Yeah, got to admit it, I am. Also with the feeding situation. We in the turn out stable pay as much as the people with boxes, except their horses get feed 3 x a day and turned out and in. We in the turnout do everything ourselves and I feed the horses every single morning. Coming home so late from work I feel I have enough now. Sure, it the stable owner would pay me for doing it. Yeah, maybe. But for not getting anything back. No, I don´t think so anymore....
Need my own farm dear universe!! Like tomorrow if you please!!

Raining On Your Parade?

A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband.
She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:

" Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"

"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"

"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. " That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late.. So, where are you staying in Rome ?"

"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome's Tiber River called Teste."

"Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it’s gonna be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump."

"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."

"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant.

Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."



A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome .

"It was wonderful," explained the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot. And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"

"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."

"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me.."

"Oh, really! What'd he say ?"


He said: "Who f%^&*d up your hair?

Liberty Circles

30min liberty with the munsch. Very nice troting circles to the left. I didn´t bother to ask her to trot to the right today because of my limited time. Instead I took her online and asked her to trot to the right until we reached the sweat spot a la Karen Rohlf, which didn´t took long.

Monday Morning

35min liberty with Milva, circles to the left are going very well, nice arch in the body towards me, ears forwards and she stays engaged to me most of the time. BUT! Circles to the right were pretty messy. Well, actually no suprise there she never really liked to go to the right, not online either. But liberty shows the truth especially if you are not in a roundcoral and are using the whole arena instead. But there is no problem that can´t be solved. When I ask her to go the right she follows me suggestion and stays on the circle for maybe one circle or less and then she switches lead by herself. After I few tries I didn´t make any improvements and took her online again, worked her through until she totally relaxed and blow out air, released her to liberty again and asked her first left lead and then switched to the right lead, got 3 very nice circles and quit.
30min freestyle with Orkan, mostly follow the trail in walk and a little bit of trot but then I couldn´t stay warm any more and quit.

Wintermorning

-23 this morning. Very early morning in the stable for a photoshoot. We got some very lovely pictures taken and despite the cold it was alot of fun.
Milva´s face is just adorable!
Our plan was to capture the sunrise and get that special light. Unfortunately it was overcast and pretty windy so that special light never came out. I still love the pictures very much though and we are just gonna try another time again.

Beautiful Winterday

-20 again
In the morning 20min walk with Milva and then with the help of Tinka mucking out outside.
In the afternoon 30min walk and then 40min liberty.
I also managed to watch the January Mastery Manual and got some good tips to improve our liberty session.

Friday Fun!

-21 this morning.
1 hour of liberty with Milva. I only planned to play for 30min but when I looked at the watch for the first time one hour had passed.
Time flies when you have fun! My little introvert mutated to an extrovert again and pretented to be an arabian. Well, not that strange considering that there is some arab blood in all Trakehners.
Circling game was a blast, lots of troting and a bit of cantering.
40min freestyle with Orkan, bulls eye, clover leaf, follow the trail and million transitions. I still need to get used to the sadle, especially in canter and I have a hard time to sit in trot with Orkan´s huge steps.

Milva´s big brother - Imperio

http://youtu.be/NRg1THlaK04
Milva is his little bohemian sister who went to walddorf school instead of university and who is all artsy and about expressing herself.
Imperio is the serious older brother.

Brrrr

-18 this morning but at least sunny.
Patricia fed the horses this morning because I got my hair done.
When I came to the stable in the afternoon I took Milva for a 20min walk over the snowfields in the sunshine. It was simply beautiful and very relaxing.
Totally love the noise of the snow under my feet.

Cold Wave In Skåne

picture taken in January
-15 this morning, but that didn´t stop me from playing with the ponnies.
With Milva warm up online cause there was a second person in the ridinghouse. I guess the weather didn´t stop her either.
I took the oportunity and asked Milva to lay down exactly next to me without wandering off or scraping the ground too much and the A-student she is, of course she followed my request and flopped down at the requested spot - awesome pony!
After the lady had left we played at liberty, sideways, backing up, spins and figure 8s in trot - super engagement from her side and we finished with cirlcing game in which she mutated to an arab again for a few minutes and she was punking around behind my back - bucking and flipping her head.
After she bucked behind my back a few times in a row I turned around when she was about to do it the next time and scared the s*** out of her.
The only thing I did was to turn around and she flew up in the air with all four legs and then took of in galopp squeeking and bucking - too funny.
After that she behaved like a super student again though and gave me some very nice circles in trot and one change of direction in trot and then a few more circles on the other lead.
I rode Orkan today again and we started where we finished of the last time. He is such a super smart boy as well and sure reminds me more and more of Milva.
He is starting to offer more and more and asking more and more questions.
He totally understands the point of the question box now.
I could ride figure 8s without touching the rein and then he offered alot of stopping and backing up - too funny me think. I also rode lots of circles without touching the rein and change of direction and follow the trail. He was blowing out lots of air and stretching nicely downwards and his steps got bigger and bigger and I could feel his back coming up - way awesome!
Now I can´t wait to start Milva under the sadle!

Liebster Blog Award

I got my first blog award from my dear savvy sister Janine. We became really close friends through our blogs and are in contact with each other over mail almost every day. Parelli sure connects the world :)
http://enzo-janine.blogspot.com/