Wow...

Words...they can hurt and they can heal..they can take your breath away and make you laugh out loud. Words that are written down can be rememberd forever and the ones that comes out from a mouth can be forgotten too soon. Some words should never have been said and some should have been said.. I love words and how you can play with them, you can do anything you want with them.

I read the blog of a friend a couple of weeks ago, on how she didnt feel at home and was restless. I commented on it and wrote something like that you dont have to feel at home, yourself is the only home you need. and if your not restless, if you are too comfortable you wont have the guts to go out there and find something else, something better! I didnt sign my name under the comment. Today I read another post in her blog where she wrote about my comment, on how she loved it and had never looked at it that way. And that whoever wrote it, she wanted to say thank you. That made me really happy. My words helped there and Im so happy for it!

friends in every part of the world. With good friends you can feel at home pretty much everywhere! This is south of Germany

Love the town you´re in

I love the town I live in! It has everything I need. Nice shops, good cafes and restaurants, trainstation, close to an airport and I have my horse in a stable just 10 minutes from here! That is really all I need right now. And its just about an hour to Copenhagen! Love it love it love it!
Im going to another horse show this weekend.. to work as usual. Going to be one of the ringsteward. That means I will be with one of the judges all the time and write down her scores for each ride... Iv never done that before so Im a bit excited, but its also a hard job, Im not going to be able to have any breaks, I will sit in the same chair the whole day and it will be cold, Im gonna have to watch each and every ride, the really bad ones and the good ones ofcourse. But Im happy to do this job, its a big responsibility and if I do it well I might be able to do it on bigger shows in other countries and I would really like that! I never thought of it before but its a great way to get to go to bigger shows, such as the OKC Futurity or Derby.. All I have to do is do a good job and get the judge to like me and put in a good word for me at other show managements...exciting exciting...I just wished I would get a judge that I know, I would feel so much more comfortable and relaxed then. This will be a big challenge, but I like challenges and I feel like this is one I can handle.

<3 Europe

I dont know any better place then Europe! To be able to be in one country in the morning, another one by lunch time and spent the night in a third is pretty amazing! So many different cultures and people are together in a place thats not that big. Yesterday I drove from Aachen in Germany to Utrecht in Holland. Aachen is just five minutes from the dutch border and then there was another 1,5 hour to Utrecht. I love Holland! It is a country I could see myself live in. Driving in Holland sucks, there are too many cars in too small country and it takes forever to get anywhere, its better to just park your car and take the train I would think. Driving in the citys are dangerous, every dutch person rides their bike everywhere and the streets are very narrow. So there are millions of bikes that you have to share the streets with. Holland and Sweden are pretty similar but not when it comes to drivers licanse, in sweden you can practice with a parent or someone older then 25. But not in Holland, you have to do everything through a driving school, which makes the licanse so much more expensive ofcourse. But its for the better, I can imagine all the kids running over bikers and their parents next to them getting heart attacks, there wouldnt be and dutchies left.

Me and a friend at the 2009 German NRHA Futurity. One of the most fun shows Iv ever been at!

Spots on the brain

There will always be a fight between the different horse breeds, quarters and paints are not best friends, neither of them like the appalosas and the arabians are not that popular either. I have a quarter horse and will never again have any other breed. Iv had an arabian, and he was very very nice but those are rare. Alot of arabians are "spooky" and are not that easy going. Iv had a paint and he was okay too, Im just not a big fan of the colors..Iv never had an appalosa but I have ridden one when I worked in Germany...he was a pain in the ass...Rocky...Rocky the stallion..He was in training with us for a stallion presentation where they show the appi studs so they get approved to be just in breeding or something like that. The presentation was devided in different parts, there was a reining part, pleasure and a trail part. Since my boss had no interest what so ever in pleasure and trail I was the one who got to get Rocky ready for this presentation. Appalosas are famous for their spots, but its not just on their skin they have them..A lot of them also have spots on their brain..and so did Rocky..He was the "studdiest" stallion we had, I had to have help when I walked him to the arena so he wouldnt stop outside some other horses stall and strike at them with his front leg. But once I got on his back he could be an angel! He moved really nice and listened very good to be in the trail, but every now and then Rocky had a bad day, and when he had a bad day, so did I.... As long as I would just sit on him and let him do and go wherever he wanted there was no trouble, but if I just touched him a little bit with my spur or leg he would go mad..He would buck, kick, jump or do anything to get me off his back. The good thing was that he was so big and breed to be a pleasure/halter horse, they are not so athletic so his movements were very slow and big. It was not hard to stay on him but there is always a chance, and since he was a stallion he would probably try to fight the other horses in the arena if he came loose.
My boss didnt want to ruin his reputation by having a crazy appi in the barn, or risk the lifes of others so after the stallion presentation we decided it was time to send him home.
Rocky had amazing color and looked good, but he did have spots on his brain...and thats what I dont like about the appi world, it has so much to do with color. They will probably breed mares with Rocky, and get beautiful offsprings that might win alot of halter classes, but who knows how they will be in the head...Thats one of the best thing with quarter horses, color does not matter, its more important to have a good minded individual than a flashy halter class winner.

Here it goes..

I think Im going to be sick... My whole body is aching, I have a very sore throat and can hardly swallow and I even think I have a fever... Not good.. Not good at all... I just wanna lay in a warm bath, drink 20 cups of chai latte and close my eyes.. Everything just feels a whole lot harder when you have something... Im guessing swine flu...or just a flu.. or the normal cold, I dont know what it is but its not making me happy. On top of that, Germany has chilled down big time, in some parts not too far from where I am right now its even snowing...I love winter jackets.... Well well, I better finish of my chai latte here in beautiful Regensburg and head to my meeting! Ciao!

Thoughts in the window

I grew a couple of centimeters today.. An owner to one of the horses the barn´s owner has in training came yesterday to see her horse. Its been a few weeks since she was last here and a lot of things have changed since, we have a new tackroom and are getting ready to start building some new stalls. When she wanted to get showed around, the barn owner put a hand on my shoulder and said " Sofia will do it, she is the hostess of these stables." that made me feel pretty good about myself...That would make anyone that has a dream about managing the stables of a big time reining trainer feel good. I gladly show people around the stables, and plan trail rides, halloween parties and all the other things Im planning for the stable. Its alot of fun and all the girls there are so friendly and fun to be around. all except one...sometimes I just feel like hitting her with a broom. She. Gets. To. My. Nerves. Its like as if she loves to bring people down when they are happy, to remind everyone that we have no right to be happy because in some countries people are starving! I really dont get her.. M, a 15 year old girl in the barn who is always there with her mother, has bad days quiet alot. Shes 15, I dont remember if I had a single awesome day when I was 15. You´re supposed to be grumpy and a pain in the butt then. M has an amazing sence of humour and we can all have so much fun with her, but yesterday she had one of her days, she was unhappy ( cant blame the girl, her best friend died in a car accident about two weeks ago) and just not very upbeat. While she was cleaning her horses stall she said " O I just hate cleaning stalls" and then Ms Party Pooper bitchy mrs P ( lets call her that) says " O you just hate everything dont you?! The only thing you like is yourself!! You are just so selfish!"
Im not always the brightest and dont always say the right things, but that is not something you say to a 15 year old who´s friend just passed away. Its just not a very smart move.
She has something bad to say about everything! When me and R talked about throwing a xmas dinner in the stable this winter and that everyone should help with cooking she said " I cant cook so Im not coming".. Duh..thats why we should all help dumdum...
Or she gives me a nice comment when I ride Grace " That reining that you are doing..how hard can it be? all you do is run in circles isnt it? you dont really ride you just sit and let the horse run as it wants" Those comments makes me want to take my rein, hit her horses ass with it so he runs of bucking and she flies off. yes.. Im a mean mean person when I want to be...
Or when Im sweaping the aisle singing she says " Its almost like you just fell in love.. you are so happy" and I answer " No no, Im just happy, this is how I am when Im happy".. Party Pooper " O my.. I bet you are a real pain in the ass when you are in love"
See what I mean? I really dont get this ladys problem, she´s around 40 and single...maybe thats her problem... The rest of us in the stable are pretty damn close by now to hit her with a broom next time she opens her mouth..

To be there for someone

Everyone has bad days every now and then, I had one yesterday when I felt like the feel and talant I had for riding horses was completly gone.. I just wanted to lay down and cry right there in the sand.. Thats when you need friends around that are there for you, they dont ask dumb questions, dont say the wrong things, they are simply just there. Help you and support you a bit. I felt so worthless last night but thanks to the friends there in the barn I didnt feel suicidal worthless.. They helped me unsaddle my horse, put night blanket on her and lock up the tackrooms. Thats all you need sometimes on a bad day, a little support.

Today when I came to the barn I was in a much better mood, determined that today it was going to work and my horse was going to feel awesome. I could tell however that the barn owner did not have a good day, he is usually the laughing joking kind of guy, but today he hardly said a word. He just had a really bad day and on top of that his girlfriend does not allow him to smoke anymore. So today it was my turn to be there for someone, after I had ridden Grace I changed water in all the buckets and swept the aisle, I also promised to come by tonight and bring in the horses for him.

Its not harder than that to make someones bad day be just a little bit better. Just change some waterbuckets and your good deed of the day is done.

Wiiiind

Its been very windy down there the last couple of days..we didnt even have any electricity in the barn this weekend. No electricitry means no light, no light means no riding in the indoor arena... and the wind and rain made it hard to ride on the outdoor. So we decided to go to an uhhm.. old peoples home (? or whatever you call it..) that they closed down last month to get some shelfes and other stuff for our new tackroom. The place was HUGE with wide long hallways, perfect for a wheelchair race...There were plenty of wheelchairs for all of us so we were racing around there for a little while, until we got kind of freaked out by being there.. It looked like they had just dropped everthing and walked out of there.. there was still pens and papes on the desks, photgraphs of children and grandchildren in the windows, and beds with pillows and blankets in them...it was a creepy feeling.. especially with the wind blowing hard and making noices outside the window.. The building is going to be torn down any day now..making space for a new, more modern one..We were all relived when we were done carrying everying in the trailer and could drive back. I hope I never end up in one of those homes, and If I do, when Im dead Im gonna come back and haunt my children. moahaha! I actually had the idea of having an old peoples home at a farm, with horses, cows, chickens, cats and everything. For all those old farmers and country people that cant stand the thought of living in a city or being locked up. I think it would be good for city people too, getting out on the country, be around animals and get fresh air... I dont think its a bad idea at all actually..
I have lots of ideas all the time, some of them are really bad but this one was pretty decent.

Independence day

I was just reading the blog of a friend of mine that has recently moved to the states to be an au pair for a year! I must say that is very brave..dont know if I could handle that. I have no problem living on my own, working on my own and travelling on my own. But to live in another familys house, looking after their kids.. I dont know.. have a small feeling I wouldnt feel that comfortable doing it.

Anyway, she wrote that she was looking forward to celebrating independenc day over there and that made me remember the time I had my real 4th of July.

I was in North Carolina working in a 40 horse barn, riding riding and riding. on the 3d the guys that I worked with said they were all taking the next day off and I had to be all by myself.. well me and José that did the cleaning and feeding..I got really pissed off, I didnt want to be left alone with 40 horses while everyone else was off celebrating 4th of July! I went to bed early that night and woke up even earlier by Bryant ( my boss) knocking on my door.

" Sophie!! Get your ass up, you have to ride Smoke, Spook and Belle and at 9 am Liz and Diane is coming to pick you up. You get the rest of the day off."

So at 5 am I was sitting on my first horse for that day and had two more to go. It was so typical Bryant, he tried to be all macho and mean but he was really a super nice guy and when he felt I needed a day or two off, he´d give it to me.

So at 9 am Diane and Lizzy came down the driveway to the ranch in Dianes truck. We went for pancake breakfast down at the firestation, county fair in Selma, Baseball game in Smithfield and finally fireworks also in Smithfield. It was just the american dream for me. Down at the fireworks we were all laying down on the back of Dianes truck watching the amazing colors explode on the dark sky.

I know Bryant felt really strong for Independence day, being a Vietnam veteran he was a very patriotic man, and I know he felt good about giving me a real American Day experience.

One of these days Ill go back to see him. He might have yelled at me alot, and I was close to tears more than once, but he learned me so much. He is one of the few trainers Iv met that still has a real love for horses, that can say that his heart broke when Gunner ( one of the best horses he ever showed) was taken away from him and that does not treat his horses like machines. Yes he was a hard trainer, the horses didnt exactly have a veccation when they were there. But thats what trainers do, they train horses..train to show and compete and hopefully win something. And if you want to win, you cant be super soft with them all the time. But Bryant knew when to be hard on them, and when to give them a break.

I have experienced one 4th of July, and it was fantastic. It was a real southern small town celebration and my next Independence day I want to celebrate in a big city.

So this has absolutly nothing to do with Independence day.. but how can you not take a picture of these two blue creatures? I think you either love them or hate them..Personally, I love them. Not sure if I would love to have them in my own garden, but in someone elses...they are fantastic