Well Christmas is only two days away and like every year I have not started any preparations. It seems every year I want to start earlier and end up starting later. But Oh well, soon the holiday stress is over. This last week has only been about Christmas and there is nothing like the holiday season to make you miss home, friends and family. But it is certainly a lot easier when you are surrounded by people who make it feel like at home.

So as I wrote last week our Christmas party was on Saturday. It was a very nice and entertaining evening. Through the week we had two more practises for the quadrille and thankfully everything turned out just perfect. Last week with the first two run-throughs I thought that there would be no way for me to get my horse through. She hated having a horse so close behind her but at the same time did not like looking directly in the hind end of the horse in front of her. She also made it quite clear that no horse was to come from the side either. All in all I thought there is no way I would succeed and I wanted nothing more than to ride Focus. But after giving her a little time she came around and for the final performance she was very good. She was very hot and strong but still she kept it under control...all except one time where the pony behind her came a little too close. After a little explosion we managed to go on. The other horses we also well behaved. We had one little incident at the very end where one lady turned left instead of right. But her mistake was excused as it was the first time she had ridden through with us. The original rider had a family emergency and therefore the lady who leased the horse rode him last minute. But something like this is all about fun and little mistakes make the performance.

The children also performed a small Pipi Longstocking skit. It was the hit of the night. First I helped Mirjam get all the kids and ponies in order to perform. As we got off our horses after the quadrille we saw that all the ponies were outside still on the field, in the rain, the children had forgotten o bring them in. Quickly we brought the ponies in and put their red bandages on and the potato sacks over their backs to carry the cookies. As the children started their performance, everyone started to roar with laugher and as I looked around I saw that one of the miniature ponies was rolling in the corner as he was wet and that in combination with the potato sack he was very itchy. So the children proceeded on with their skit. Then they mounted the ponies and rode away to meet with the Shetland pony pulling the carriage at the other end of the hall. Suddenly the same pony that had rolled earlier started to paw and the mother of the rider standing next to me said “Oh no, he is going to roll” and just then the pony buckled in the front legs and the six year old girl jumped backwards off the rolling pony, but was not fast enough to save to cookies in the sacks hanging over his back. . Then in excitement the other pony started to buck with the five year old boy on top. Quickly one of the older children pulled him off. Then the carriage came in, but something was missing. It was planned that the “Weihnachts Man” (Santa) would be on the carriage, but he was not there. In a moment of panic Mirjam looked around and then suddenly the Weihnachts man came through the big door (It turns out he had forgotten his gold cane in the stable and had to run all the way back through the mud and water and get it without getting dirty and without anyone seeing him). The children had no idea that Santa was coming and they were very excited. The smallest child (2 years old) was so fascinated with him. She only wanted to ask him questions like, “Mr. Weihnachts, man did you see the Christmas tree?” and then she started to sing Oh Christmas tree for everyone to hear. Then she proceeded to ask why he was wearing gloves. Quickly our Santa answered “Because where I come from it is very cold”. Then the questions were becoming a little much so Mirjam gave her some cookies to eat. Then she had an Almond stuck to her nose from the cookie and after a few minutes of trying to pick it off it finally broke loose and she held it out to Santa and said ‘Look Mr. Weihnachts man, it’s from my nose”. Of course, everyone understood this the wrong way. But it she sure was the hit of the show. The vaulting group also performed very well. I did not get to see it as I was putting my horse away but from what I heard they were very good. After everything we enjoyed a nice big dinner of GrunKohl (Green cabbage) and sausage along with Gluwein (Hot red wine). Both are much better then they sound. The evening ended around 11:00. All in all it was a great night.

Today I was in Neuss city and did a little shopping for something to wear for my Christmas plans. I though quickly I would run into the bank and change some Canadian money for Euros. Well I only put the money on the counter and the man there immediately started to speak English with me. So 20 minutes and a nice conversation about what I was doing here in Germany for so long later I was out of the bank. It is so refreshing to meet people with so much interest in the rest of the world.

As for Focus this week she was back in full work after a short break. And we are going full steam ahead to get her fine tuned for Young Riders in the spring. This week we worked a lot on the trot work, especially the transition between shoulder-in and half-pass. We also worked a bit on the canter work. Focus finds canter pirouettes rather fun, but she must learn to do them when I want them. Because they are something relatively new she wants to do them whenever I want to ride a volte. But a little inside leg further back and problem solved. We will see what this next week brings. In 6 weeks she is possibly going to ride her first S-dressage with Mr. Reisch. We will have to see how things work out as the early shows can become conflicting with getting her home and quarantine and so on.

This week was a lot of hard work and stress not only because Christmas is coming but also because Mr. Reisch was sick with the Flu and therefore could not ride form Wednesday until Sunday. But between us four girls we managed to pull everything together and all was ok.

Well for this week that’s all.....

Wishing all well for the Holiday Season

Focus and Erika

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Frohe Weihnachten und Guten Rutsch