Strange Coincidences ;)

Yeah, I know what you're thinking after you've read my description of Karina. You think she is one of those horse monsters created by stupid humans who have no idea how to handle a horse. No, no, nothing of the kind. Karina, beside spirit and ambition has also a heart of a true Horse – huge and forgiving. She forgave her handlers (they were more like torturers, but that's a long story) in both previous stables I've kept her before I found a decent one, but she has not forgotten. To everybody who knows how to deal with a horse, she is sweet and kind (oh, is that a coincidence?). But if anyone tries to force anything upon her, Karina turns into an apocalyptic monster. As I've said – no short cuts. That means no whip (used as a punishment, not a direction – directions given with a whip she easily accepts), no yanking on the reins (as one of our acquaintances tried – he did that only once, guess why), no side reins, no tying up her legs by a frightened farrier. Another farrier, a wise and sensitive woman, has no need to secure Karina's legs in any way – but she knows how to handle a horse (or maybe is that a coincidence again?)

In the previous stable, anytime I came to see my horse, I kept on hearing how mean and bad horse Karina was. She was constantly in heat, she was rubbing her tail on the stall walls, she was kicking the walls, she pulled a mean face when someone came close to her, she was eating too much, and she.... Oh, there were so many complaints about my horse, that I can't even recall them all. Stable owner even tried to convince me that Karina should be sterilized, because she is suffering due to her constant being in heat. When I explained to him that he was wrong (well, I'm only a veterinary medicine student, so what the heck can I know about equine reproduction), and that Karina's hormonal imbalance is caused by the lack of light (he kept her locked in the dark stable almost for months on end – Karina went out almost only when I came to her and took her for a walk), he wouldn't listen. In his opinion Karina needed at least strong hormone suplementation, and it would be best if she would just be sterilized. Because she is a monster, she has nymphomania and hell knows what else. In fact it would be best if I put her out of her misery, because she is never going to be a 'normal' horse. I guess he must have known better than a veterinary medicine professor (equine medicine specialist), who couldn't find anything wrong with Karina. I told the stable owner that the cure for all her issues was fresh air, sunlight and free movement in the paddocks, but he had his own opinion. And he kept on feeding Karina with grain instead of hay, paying no attention whatever to my begging him to give her hay. Since we couldn't understand each other anymore (that guy used to be my friend once, or so I thought), I found Karina another stable. We moved there in the end of april this year, and in two weeks all of abovementioned Karina's 'problems' were gone. Yeah, that must have been a coincidence again!

In the new stable Karina spends outside 24 hours, she eats mostly grass and hay, she gets just a handful of oats, not more, and only because she is used to getting some. Otherwise grass, hay and straw would be enough, because she never works hard. I keep on asking stable owners if there are any problems with Karina, but I've never heard any complaints. Again Karina is that sweet, kind horse I have bought. And now, when I have discovered Marijke de Jong's Straightness Training, everything seems to be finally returning on the right track.