Lots to tell since my last post a month ago.
To start with we have been on holiday to the Schwabische Alb ( wikipedia ) in southern Germany. The reason was I was competing in a gliding competition there at a site called Hahnweide. Great fun, great people and some good flying. Although one flight was particularly memorable. Due to a mistake I made earlier in the day a wound up starting a 381km flight at 3pm. Way to late. The team at base and the organisation were getting worried by 7pm when then had not heard from me. They assumed I must have landed out by then and were worried it was not a good landing. Being out of radio range they could not contact me. In the end a team mate managed to get through on my mobile phone and I assured them I was still flying and would be home soon. The search plane was called off and I landed back at 8:20pm just half an hour before sunset !!
We only flew on 5 days out of the 8 so this left time to explore the area. First we went to pick up my wife's saddle which had been sent away to be fixed at the factory which just happened to be only 40 minutes drive from the airfield. Very interesting. The factory makes only western saddles. I am sure we have all heard the debates as to whether Pullman, Parelli, Continental etc are better. Well they are all made in the same factory, by the same folks according to designs of the contracting companies. I have had folks tell me that the stitching is better on the Continental compared to the Parelli. They are stitched on the same machine by the same craftsman. The only saddles that stood out in the workmanship stakes were the Pullman where far more of the saddle is hand made rather than by machine. To my eye the workmanship on all the saddles was superb.
We then went to find a yard to keep our horses at in the future. We are thinking that when we retire we may well move for at least part of the year to the area. We found a great yard after some searching. It is what is known in Germany as an Active Yard. All the horses (60 in this case. Mares and geldings) are all kept in one herd on a large concrete area. The area is split up a little so it is not just a big sea of concrete but several smaller areas all linked together. There is a covered area with straw in it to act as a shelter in poor weather, but the horses do not have separate stables. The clever bit is in the feeding. All the horses either wear or have implanted a small id microchip. This chip can be read by sensors connected to a computer. The feed is given out in small "walk through" stalls. There is a barrier which prevents entry and a one way gate that allows exit from the small stall. A horse goes up to the barrier and a sensor reads the chip in its' neck. If the computer determines the horse is due some food the barrier raises and the horse enters. The correct amount of feed is then released into the feeding trough which the horse eats. When finished the horses exits through the one way gate. There is a similar system to provide access to hay. Again there is a stall which the horse enters but this time the computer opens a shutter which gives access to the hay. Of course this can be on a timer to make sure the horse only gets a certain amount and then the shutter lowers. Thus the food intake can be easily tailored to the individual horse.
The horses quickly learn to wander around the yard "testing" the feed stations to see if it is time to be fed. This keeps there minds active as they have to in effect forage for their feed. It means also they can have their feed rationed out throughout the day and not just fed in a big bowl all at once.
The horses I saw were very very content. There was lots of herd interactions going on but apparently they have very few injuries and very happy horses.
I was also impressed with how friendly all the folks who had horses there were. They have a lovely club room and were frying pancakes as we arrived. Very soon we were eating pancakes, drinking beer and I was trying to chat about horses in German.
Having been away for the better part of two weeks I have just got home from riding Filly. I had taken her down to the big field yesterday for some gentle play and grazing, but having come off a night flight did not feel like riding. Today however we went straight back down there, did all the prepare to ride in the field and I rode her. Ritchie brought Bonitao down to keep us company and give Filly a companion to keep her calm. Frankly she didn't need him. Soon we were off exploring the field a long way from Bonitao with no signs of nervousness from her at all. Walk, trot and a lovely little canter which she offered. To be honest when she offered the canter I was a little nervous she was going to relive her attempts at being a race horse. But she just did this lovely bouncy little lope and seemed to really enjoy herself.
I got off grinning like a Cheshire cat. Live is as good as your last ride they say. Tonight live is very good.
To start with we have been on holiday to the Schwabische Alb ( wikipedia ) in southern Germany. The reason was I was competing in a gliding competition there at a site called Hahnweide. Great fun, great people and some good flying. Although one flight was particularly memorable. Due to a mistake I made earlier in the day a wound up starting a 381km flight at 3pm. Way to late. The team at base and the organisation were getting worried by 7pm when then had not heard from me. They assumed I must have landed out by then and were worried it was not a good landing. Being out of radio range they could not contact me. In the end a team mate managed to get through on my mobile phone and I assured them I was still flying and would be home soon. The search plane was called off and I landed back at 8:20pm just half an hour before sunset !!
We only flew on 5 days out of the 8 so this left time to explore the area. First we went to pick up my wife's saddle which had been sent away to be fixed at the factory which just happened to be only 40 minutes drive from the airfield. Very interesting. The factory makes only western saddles. I am sure we have all heard the debates as to whether Pullman, Parelli, Continental etc are better. Well they are all made in the same factory, by the same folks according to designs of the contracting companies. I have had folks tell me that the stitching is better on the Continental compared to the Parelli. They are stitched on the same machine by the same craftsman. The only saddles that stood out in the workmanship stakes were the Pullman where far more of the saddle is hand made rather than by machine. To my eye the workmanship on all the saddles was superb.
We then went to find a yard to keep our horses at in the future. We are thinking that when we retire we may well move for at least part of the year to the area. We found a great yard after some searching. It is what is known in Germany as an Active Yard. All the horses (60 in this case. Mares and geldings) are all kept in one herd on a large concrete area. The area is split up a little so it is not just a big sea of concrete but several smaller areas all linked together. There is a covered area with straw in it to act as a shelter in poor weather, but the horses do not have separate stables. The clever bit is in the feeding. All the horses either wear or have implanted a small id microchip. This chip can be read by sensors connected to a computer. The feed is given out in small "walk through" stalls. There is a barrier which prevents entry and a one way gate that allows exit from the small stall. A horse goes up to the barrier and a sensor reads the chip in its' neck. If the computer determines the horse is due some food the barrier raises and the horse enters. The correct amount of feed is then released into the feeding trough which the horse eats. When finished the horses exits through the one way gate. There is a similar system to provide access to hay. Again there is a stall which the horse enters but this time the computer opens a shutter which gives access to the hay. Of course this can be on a timer to make sure the horse only gets a certain amount and then the shutter lowers. Thus the food intake can be easily tailored to the individual horse.
The horses quickly learn to wander around the yard "testing" the feed stations to see if it is time to be fed. This keeps there minds active as they have to in effect forage for their feed. It means also they can have their feed rationed out throughout the day and not just fed in a big bowl all at once.
The horses I saw were very very content. There was lots of herd interactions going on but apparently they have very few injuries and very happy horses.
I was also impressed with how friendly all the folks who had horses there were. They have a lovely club room and were frying pancakes as we arrived. Very soon we were eating pancakes, drinking beer and I was trying to chat about horses in German.
Having been away for the better part of two weeks I have just got home from riding Filly. I had taken her down to the big field yesterday for some gentle play and grazing, but having come off a night flight did not feel like riding. Today however we went straight back down there, did all the prepare to ride in the field and I rode her. Ritchie brought Bonitao down to keep us company and give Filly a companion to keep her calm. Frankly she didn't need him. Soon we were off exploring the field a long way from Bonitao with no signs of nervousness from her at all. Walk, trot and a lovely little canter which she offered. To be honest when she offered the canter I was a little nervous she was going to relive her attempts at being a race horse. But she just did this lovely bouncy little lope and seemed to really enjoy herself.
I got off grinning like a Cheshire cat. Live is as good as your last ride they say. Tonight live is very good.
