Cowgirls in Deutschland

I've made a German friend since being in Münster- her name is Katharina and she has a horse!  One day she asked if I liked to ride horses, and I responded with a resounding YES!  Then I remembered... Oh wow....I haven't ridden a horse in about seven years...This little tidbit didn't seem to phase Katharina though, and on Sunday we took a drive out to Münsterland (maybe a fifteen minute drive from downtown) to the farm where she keeps her horse, Cheval.  Now this farm is legit- it's got endless acres of corn, great big open pastures, tractors, pigs, chickens, horses, guinea pigs, dogs, and more!  Luckily it was the most beautiful fall day- the first truly glorious day I've witnessed in Münster since arrival, reminded me rightly of Boston fall days...

Katharina rents out Cheval, and so there were some girls there to ride him which we had not anticipated, but luckily they agreed to let me ride him for a half hour or so, and Katharina and I are planning to do a few hour ride on Thursday, if the weather holds up.  Anyways, got on the horse, and it really was like riding a bike!  As I said, don't think I've even touched a horse in seven years, but it came back to me right away, despite this being my first time in a Western saddle.  It definitely helped though, that Cheval was incredibly well-behaved and didn't spook at all.

Walked, trotted, cantered along the great open fields, and fell in love with riding again!  Afterwards, we went to feed some of the other horses and spent a while just playing with them- I love them so much!  Katharina said we could keep going (although I've never ridden in the winter...) but the thought of continuing to interact with the horses out on the farm is actually super exciting!  I'm generally a happy and cheerful person, but there are only a few things that make me really happy in the moment, and besides being surrounded by friends I love, riding and being around horses is one of them, which is actually kind of funny since I've always been a city girl.  I have absolutely no idea what I want to do when I get back to the States next year, but I always knew I wanted to be in Boston because I love the city, the people, and know it so well.  But I've always kind of had this curiosity in the back of my mind to spend some time in the Midwest or South and experience a completely different kind of life than the Northeastern that I have lived in nearly my entire life.  This all goes back to my newfound obsession with country music that began this summer.  So who knows, if I keep finding happiness on the farm and with the horses, maybe I'll look to go move out there for a while- who knows?!