This afternoon Claudia and Frank paid us a visit. We had Ryder in several of their classes this past winter. Now they have Icelandic horses. Is this a coincidence or what? This spring they purchased two of Misty Circle’s horses, Katla and Giff. And they temporarily have Katla’s foal Perla. (Perla will be going to her new home in Sterling in June.) This foal was the one that was born in December and then appeared for sale on Craig’s List.

Katla and Giff are 20 and 24 respectively. They’re two older and very wise mares. The two have a considerable amount of riding miles under their hooves. I know a lot of people who’ve

ridden them over the years. I last rode Katla two years ago, at a gathering at the old Sutton library. It was at about that time that Misty Circle (who then owned both mares) brought them over here for a lengthy ride. She then also owned Cindre, who ended up at the Reindeer Farm.

Claudia and Frank recently purchased a stock trailer. These two waste no time once they decide to do something. They’re now primed for a late spring series of riding adventures. According to Frank (who like Claudia is also German) “Horses are for riding, so this is what we’re going to do!”

Our afternoon ride went okay. Pete and I took Raudi, Tinni, Hrimmi, and Rainbow out on the trail, and Frank and Claudia took Katla, Giff, Perla, and their dog Sally. It was probably good that there wasn’t any traffic going to and from the trail; otherwise, the vehicles would have had to have stopped and waited for us to pass. It sort of reminded me of my taking horses, dogs, and goats on outings.

From the get-go, Raudi was an idiot. She was bouncing down the road as I was walking her – and once on the trail she bounced even more. She also squealed any time Perla, the foal, got in her vicinity. Raudi settled down on the ride out the trail, but she began head tossing, bucking, and bolting on the return trip. So I dismounted after a bit and put a body wrap on her and took her to the front of the group. We then walked the rest of the way home. When walked, she behaved. In fact, she walked nicely on the trail, which was uncharacteristic of her.

I felt pretty crappy about walking – it’s sort of an ego thing. I suppose that I ought to have gotten back on her once she calmed down. But it actually felt good to walk, in fact so good that we just continued on our way.

We returned to our place and then spent a some time in the sunshine, chatting with Claudia and Frank, mainly talking about saddle fit. We showed them innumerable saddles and pads. None fit. As I told Frank “You aren’t going to get out of having horses cheap.” Then I added “I thought this when we purchased Raudi. I went to Animal Food Warehouse and got two brushes, a halter, and a lead rope, and then called it good. Little did I know that saddle fit would be an issue.”

The Sihlers finally left. They are good people. I hope that they sometime ride with us again. It depends (I think) on how much they were bothered by Raudi’s ongoing antics.

Next: 85. 3/26/14: Horse Training: What Raudi Knows