Trail Ride

A group of "horse" friends from Grosskitzighofen, the village (462 inhabitants) we used to live in before moving to where we now live, have undertaken a 50km ride to a spectacularly located stable near us to stay for a few days. They invited us to join them for a day and as we a) only have one rideable horse and b) I am not riding at the moment, my wife took off this morning with Rosie our Quarter horse in the horse trailer. I met up with them at the lunch break at a very nice hotel. It was a very hot day and I think all taking part, including the horses, would have enjoyed using the outdoor pool. It was also nice to see our ex-horse Silvan who we gave to a friend Maria last year. Silvan was suffering from massive health problems because he was getting to eat far too much grass and was "underused". Maria had learnt to ride on him when we were in Grosskitzighofen and had just finished her teacher's training course and had the facilities in Grosskitzighofen to keep him on a field with less grass and more importantly to keep him regularly exercised. Rosie and Silvan recognised each other straight away & Rosie could not be parted from his side for the whole ride.

After lunch, our dog Flash joined the group for the return to the stables. Luckily I  followed the group by car as thunderstorms started and Flash, who is incredibly frightened by them and threatened to hide in the forest, had to be collected. However, it was only one or two kilometres from the stables so he had a good run out.

The photo was taken just after I collected Flash. The clouds are hiding the Alps in the background. The thunderstorm was coming from the left of the riders. It stayed dry until the moment they got back to the stables. The whole evening you could see the lightning storms over the Alps which had then moved on towards Switzerland - quite spectacular.

We had a very pleasant evening with the group in their wood cabin. Our thanks to "Chief Cross Eyes" and all the Singold Valley Tripper Trapper Teepee Freestyle Riders. Perhaps with less Andechser beer, Zweigelt wine, Williams Schnapps, Ramazotti etc you will be able to agree on a name for the newly formed club/society. My personal thanks to Alois who kept me filled with coffee; I was driving and the only sober person. We hope that the group (whatever they are called) will one day ride over to stay with us.

More photos of the ride on Flickr