I'm always nervous before a solo trip. Just about every time, I have dreams before leaving of missing flights, cancelled flights, and flights gone awry (the three nights leading up to this trip, for example, I dreamed that the seats were just falling out of the plane, of being in South Carolina and leaving for the airport 25 mins before takeoff and driving from a nondescript city through a broken down ancient looking church ruin with delicate green summer grass and flowers, which should have been in France or Italy, then into a ferry boat, and of forgetting to pack my room away before flying home and remembering an hour before boarding, then making waffles instead of either heading to the airport or packing. I'm never stressed in the dreams or when I wake, but they're probably signs of subconscious nerves ...) and then there are the real worries. This time the worries were, will I recognize Imke (who I'm staying with, and who I met once about five years ago)? Will she remember me? Will we get along? Will I have enough time to revise for my exams? ... Always the day before I think it'd be easier if I just stayed home, stayed in the flat, and always as soon as I get where ever it is I'm going I realize that yes, it might have been easier to stay home, but this is definitely more exciting, more worth while, better.
I shouldn't have worried!
Such were my thoughts before setting off on Tuesday April 5 to Germany. I've never been before, and haven't seen Imke, who I'm staying with, since we first met when I was 14, and even then only very briefly. I haven't ridden a horse (which is what I'm going to to) since last semester - at least 5 months.
Imke lives in Vaals, which is in the Netherlands but right on the border of Belgium and Germany. She has her horses in Belgium and German towns very near, so I got to see all three countries.
The first day we went to the barn to meet the horses and do a quick intro ride. I was on Woheeda, a mare Imke bred who is 87% Arab and the rest pony. She's a great horse, and was my mount for the rest of the trip. The day after, we headed off to ride a few days in the Eifel, a forest park in Germany.
Imke's pasture
the street
After the test ride
Day 1 in Eifel
We stayed at imkes in the morning and headed to the barn to pack everything and load the horses (Woheeda and Sadie) and drive to the trailhead at Eifel. It started to rain and hail (of course) as soon as we had finished saddling up. But, luckily, it was only a small cover of clouds and they soon moved on. We headed down the trail, with Lotta the cattle dog bounding like a spring alongside us, crossed a creek and a big river, trotted straight up a steep hill after, passed green fields and huge draft horses, and trotted up and down hills before arriving, after about 1.5 hours, at Imke's friend Tony's house. It's a beautiful house, built in the 1600s and with a few paddocks and horse areas outside. It's a classic German house I think - white building with brown wooden beans running through it. Very nice. We rode right through the village into the driveway, untacked, and then sat down for a delicious dinner of salad and rice with a creamy chicken and mushroom sauce. So good! Then we spent the rest of the evening talking over chocolate and coffee with tony and her husband Andre, and poking new holes in my stirrup leathers to adjust the length. Day 1, a success.
Heading out.
The town (a view from the car)
Our first stop
Day 2 in Eifel
We had a big breakfast of coffee, hard boiled eggs, bread rolls, ham, and cheese, then saddled up and headed off. Our destination today was Romerhof, where there is a bed and breakfast type place with pastures and stalls for the horses. We walked down the sidewalk, through the mainstreet, into Zum National Park entrance and mounted up there. We rode down a long winding path, bordered by deep green moss and spindly trees and covered with fallen pine needles and pine cones. All we could hear were the birds singing and the hushed hoof beats of the horses. It was raining lightly, and the trees were interwoven with airy mist, making the landscape seem almost that of a fairytale. We rode on for about two hours, then stopped for a snack and to leave the dog, who had lost a toenail on the first day and was limping, with Imke's friend.
The second stop
After the break, we rode on, walking and trotting, another hour and a half or so before reaching an area of farmland. We rode past pastures, windmills, and farms to our destination for the day, a dairy darn which also provides accommodation for visitors and riders. After unsaddling and putting our horses in a pasture, we had coffee and cake and then relaxed a while before dinner. Day 2, another success. 4 hours riding, 1 for lunch/dropping off the dog.
Day 3 in Eifel
Today we rode to the next town over, Ruitzhol, which was about a 4.5 hour ride with a 30 minute stop for lunch. Today, unlike the first two days, was bright and sunny and fairly warm. We were greeted with a big breakfast, just like yesterday, and then went to catch and saddle the horses. We tied them to posts to groom them, and tied Sadie a tad too long. She began to eat some grass, caught her head somehow in the lead rope, and panicked, swinging her head straight into mine as I was standing at her shoulder brushing away the dirt. Her halter slammed into my eyebrow, giving me a little Harry Potter like lightning shaped scratch. This is significant to me because it's only my second ever horse related injury (amazingly, after 18 years of being around them. The first was when I was about 7 years old and Quincey, my dad's horse, kicked me in the shin. Also very superficial.)
Anyway, she was quickly calmed down and we cut her lead role off the post and finished saddling with no more problems. Around 11, we set off.
Our stopping point day 3
The route we followed for the first hour or so was the same as yesterday's, up the road, past the farms with the windmills in the distance, and down through forest roads. We mostly walked on concrete, as the parallel forest paths were flooded during winter, but at one point decided to see if they were OK to ride in. Not such a great idea...the paths were full of swampy mud and deep treacherous puddles disguised with grass coverings, and fallen tree branches and sticks covered about half the trail. These are also a hazard as they might catch in the horses' breast collars, resulting in panic and potential injury. So, after a while we had to do some cross country riding over a small stream and up and down steep banks to get back to the main road, where we happily continued on our way.
Woheeda is a great mare, but she is the type of horse who pretends she can't walk or trot as quickly as she really can, so I was constantly urging her on, urging her on...she finally got the message.
After a few hours, we got to the town and walked through it for about 30 minutes while kids, cars, tucks, tractors, and motorcycles sped noisily past...interesting stretch. Amazingly there was only spook, from Woheeda, when 7 motorcycles passed at once from both directions. Understandable spook there... We arrived at the next bed, breakfast & stall at around 4 and were greeted with a nice sand pasture for the horses to roll in and coffee and cookies for us. Swell.
Day 4 - final day in the Eifel
We left at around 10 this morning, after another big breakfast of rolls and coffee. As we were saying goodbye, Hermann, the farmer, inclined his head to me with a firm handshake and said, "lady." I felt like nobility (even though in truth he had really forgotten my real name, hence the 'lady'...). We headed out, back up the path we arrived on but this time bypassing the long trek through the town in favour of a more quiet forest trail. The horses were in fine form (wooo heading home! They think to themselves) and the route was pretty similar to the one we took to get there, so it was peaceful going. We finished the ride with a river crossing, the same as on day 1, and a long smooth canter back to the trailer.
Then, after unloading the horses, car, and trailer, we headed off to Imke's friends' bday party. Nice day.
Overall, Eifel was wonderful, with great horses and such nice and extremely welcoming people at every stop. The only downside - a lot of riding on asphalt.