back in Switzerland

I am back in Switzerland again. The trip home wasn't too bad. I don't like to be in a plane for 8 hours. It's soooo narrow and stinks sometimes. It looks like everytime when I come home it's getting harder ! As soon as I am in the plane I miss everything from Canada. This time it's very bad ! Like I already discribed before I miss all the silence, horses, cats, people.... And I found out what I totally forgot to do : ride Seven (how can I tell if he is the best horse in the world when I never rode him ??), go to a horse auction and go on a pack trip in the moutains. So, that sounds like a really good reason to go back ! :D

my last day in Canada

It's my last day here in Canada. I will catch the plane heading to Europe in the afternoon. First,I will go for a walk in the rain. Check out the stores and let the town vibes affect me. I don't look forward to go back to Switzerland, to be honest. I guess I left my heart in the mountains, the Robson Valley.... where the nights are so dark, the sky is full of stars and the only sound you hear in the night is a car /semi from time to time and otherwise just silence. Or coyotes howl. Oh how I wish to be there right now !!! I already miss it. And I not even left the country yet....

final stretch

My time in Canada is almost finished... :( I took the Greyhound bus at 6 am to Prince George and there the plane to Vancouver. Now, I am at my friend's place til tomorrow. We have a good time, talk, eat and laugh a lot. I continue my journey to London tomorrow. I will take the plane in the afternoon. I don't wanna leave but everything has an end... right ? I got lots of invitations to come back... which I maybe will do.. ;) I will have time to find out what I want during winter. All I know now it will be pretty hard to live in a city again. All the noise, smells and planes... I will miss the dark sky with millions of stars.. I will miss the mountains, so close... and sure I will miss the people I met or went for a visit. Of course I also will miss my room mate, Shy. No one will sleep on my legs anymore or sit on my chest and purr ! :( All the horses... especially Alberta. I guess it's a good thing to be in Vancouver first and then return slowly to the noisy city Glattbrugg again. It's kinda a retraining from the countryside to the life in the city.... I prefer the country life, to be honest.

wonderful trail ride

Reg and I went for a trail ride yesterday. He rode Seven and I could ride Colt. Colt is a nice horse, nice trott. He was pretty hungry yesterday. :) First, we went to check out a trail to Swift Current Creek. The trail begins pretty good, wide and no bush grows into the trail. Then after awhile the bush gets thicker and trees are fallen down. Reg had to jump off the horse to cut some trees. It is a beautiful up there. Nice and quiet. It's like you are in another world. We rode as far as we could to a creek, another one then the Swift Current. It was amazing just to watch the water roars down the hill.... I totally forgot to take pictures of this creek I was so fascinated of it !!! Reg and I crossed the river over a fallen tree. It was a bit creepy to see the water roars under your feets and you only have to make a wrong step and you get wet... We made it across the creek and went to check out the trail on this side of the creek. It was a bit disappointing 'cause the bush got thicker and thicker the more you followed the trail. So we decided to climb up a hill and enjoy the view. Then, we went back to the horses and rode back to the trailer. Our goal was the trail to Little Lost lake. The trail started steep and the horses needed a bit of speed to climb up the trail. After we detoured throu the bush, 'cause there was a big tree across the trail, we came in a nice forest. Ceders gave the forest a touch of a rain forest. Nice, I really like that. It was like we dove in a different world ! Almost like Narnia :D And then there was the Little lost lake. Quiet, nice and wonderful. We tied the horses up which they liked so they can eat again :) We were alone which was good. I don't like to be at a place like this with hundreds of tourists... The lake gave me a feeling of calm and the sun made me sleepy. I realized I need places like that from time to time. This is a place where I can breath and enjoy a beautiful piece of nature !!! Before the sun went down we climbed on the horses and rode back to the trailer. It would be amazing to see the sun go down over the lake but then we would have ride back in the dark... and some places on this trail would be a bit tricky in the dark. I really enjoyed this whole day and I can't get enough of it. I really hope to go in the wilderness one day and just ride or hike in this wonderful area.

one thing I realized

When I came here in April I had no problem with jumping on a horse I don't know. So I jumped in Bandit's saddle and went for a trail ride. I completly trusted him... til I found out he tends to rear ! GREAT ! I sit on a box of tnt. And soon, he went up in the air ! My trust in horses was half way gone ! After my rides on Bandit in the clinic with Trish it was completly gone ! What now ??? I had to find it again. I tried so hard and worked and worked... finally, it came back piece by piece. The last two month I could ride Cody without my safety vest in the arena. For every other horse I wore the vest. I didn't take my vest to Edson just my helmet. I trusted Kidd enough so I can ride him without. This is a big improve for me. But still I won't ride Bandit even I found my trust again. It's not worth. All this, I noticed when I was out in the bush on Kidd's back watching out for places where cougars could hide.

visit in Edson

After my hard work at the Chris Irwin Clinic I went with Linda to her place in Edson. We had a good time together. I saw all the funny animals (again) : Cruiser, Mikey, Pluto, Pepper Ann, the stallions Banner and Rio, my cutie Kidd, Bam Bam, the Chicken Mafia,... Monday, we just relaxed, worked with horses (I worked with my cutie Kidd in the round pen :D) and then in the evening we went to Hinton for supper with Krissi and Lennard. Yesterday we went for a 2 hour trail ride in the bush. I had the chance to ride Kidd again. He is grown and has a good balance now. Kidd is not spooky at all. He really enjoyes the fact that he can walk in front of Scooty (boss) without getting punished for that :) I had to laugh when I saw that. I also was surprised when we met a few cows in the bush and Kidd pinned his ears at one cow. He dares to do much more then the last time I saw him. He is a horse again :) That's so nice to see. It was a pleasure to ride him. We had to keep an eye on the trees 'cause of cougars. It was a bit creepy to ride in the bush and not to know what's around the next corner. The good thing was I wasn't nervous at all ! I was sooo proud of myself.

Chris Irwin clinic II

We headed for Whitecourt on Thursday Sept, 17th. On Sept 19th and 20th was the Chris Irwin clinic. We went two days earlier to get the horses used to the new environment and Birgit and Mayo took a lesson at Chris'. I took Alberta with me. She was a bit nervous when her friends left her. The good thing was she could see her buddies when they were in the arena. The first evening I only lunged her which turned out pretty good. She is a good girl. The first ride the next day was also good. Then, the next day she got a scratch on her cheek which was pretty swollen and hurt. It was the first day of the clinic. So, Missy was good on the lunge line but as soon as I rode her and used the sidepull she showed me that her cheek is aching. Alberta was after a short time pretty pissed and I didn't dare to ask her for forward. All she did was try to rear, hop around or stall... She also refused to bend to the right side. It wasn't fun to ride !!! So Petra suggested a horse change. I got one of Chris' lesson horses, Thunder. We had a good time and he was a good teacher ! I had quiet to work on him. :) I also rode him the second day of the clinic 'cause Alberta's cheek was still infected. The second day was pretty busy for me, twice in the saddle and once round pen work... BUT I got my Bronze Certification for riding. :D I am soooo happy ! Linda, my friend from Edson and Mireille came to audit the clinic.