07-10-2025, 03:13 PM
“Basti, when are you going to the show, actually?”
“On Sunday, Frank. We'll be leaving in the morning with the horses.” ”And when are you going?”
“Unfortunately, not until Monday after work. One colleague is sick and the other one is on vacation and won't be back until Tuesday. But the horses are going on Sunday and so is Tanja. Who are you taking with you, anyway?”
“All of them. After all, it's the Bavarian Championships of the VWB. You want to make an impression on the others,” I grinned at Frank.
“And Dennis is showing off in the VWB classes again?”
“Of course, but not only in the VWB classes, even if he doesn't know about his luck yet. And I hope you'll keep your mouth shut and not ruin my surprise.”
“Of course not. I want to live longer.” Frank bared his pearly whites.
“Good for you. I have to go. Mommy cooked and besides, I still have a few things to prepare at home. After all, the show lasts a whole week. I wanted to iron my outfit today and stuff.”
“Well, I won't keep you any longer, I have to go too. Tanja is expecting me, we wanted to go to the disco tonight. I wish you luck.”
“I wish you luck too, see you tomorrow.”
Frank got into his car and I grabbed my dog, Sam, a Golden Retriever cross, swung myself onto my mountain bike and cycled home. It was now 7 o'clock in the evening on this Friday in mid-May. But wait – some of you are probably wondering who I am and what I've just written here. So, let's start from the beginning. My name is Sebastian von Fahrenwald, but everyone who knows me just calls me Basti. I'm 17 and live near Munich, actually on the beautiful Lake Starnberg. My parents have a villa there, not far from our riding stable. Actually, it's a stud farm, but I hate that term. My parents are rolling in money. Enough that I could buy a horse every month and still have enough money left over for the next generation. Although my parents would probably have to turn to my older brother, who is now 19 years old, for that. He has moved out of our home because he is completing his training in Augsburg. He is also the only one who knows so far that I'm gay. I told him about half a year ago, just before he went to Augsburg. He took it pretty cool. Since then, he keeps asking me if I've finally found a boyfriend when he calls or stops by. How I hate this question. Worse than my grandma. But back to me.
I have been riding for as long as I can remember. I started with the little pony that my parents had in their stable. After that, I learned the art of English riding. Three years ago, I switched to Western riding. I saw a tournament that was held near us. We talked a little with my parents, and a month later, it was during the summer vacation, we flew to America, more precisely to Texas, and bought our first Quarter Horse. I have already mentioned this mare here. It is April (April Morning Dew). (Please pay very close attention to the fact that the name is pronounced in English.) I competed in my first shows with her, and I still do. Meanwhile, I have six of my own Quarter Horses, and I wanted to slowly retire April from showing, but she objected to that. Last spring, we wanted to go to a show and leave her at home for the first time. She went on a rampage in her stall and smashed everything that wasn't stable enough, so we took her with us to the show, and since then she has been shown again by us. I only show her rarely. My best friend Dennis usually rides her. There's another thing about her. In a way, you could compare her to the horses from Lord of the Rings. The Mearas that don't let just anyone ride them. Besides me, the only one who could ride April was Dennis. Anyone else who tried to put even one foot in the stirrup had to experience what it means to be left in the dust.
Dennis, still 16, had been with us at the riding stable for 5 years. His parents were not really poor, but they couldn't afford their own horse. Nevertheless, they respected Dennis's dearest wish, to ride. They paid for him to take riding lessons, first on an English horse, and later in the Western riding style. That was about a year ago. I can still remember exactly how Dennis would always stand at the fence with a dreamy look in his eyes and watch me ride. His eyes would light up especially when I rode April. At some point, he and his parents came to visit us at a show over the weekend. He was so fascinated that his eyes really stood out among all the spectators. A few weeks after this tournament, he was standing at the fence at our house again. I had just stopped to take off my sweater because I had gotten warm. He stared at April. I watched him as he couldn't take his eyes off her. Suddenly he looked up at me.
“You? Basti?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think I could maybe...? Would it be possible...? Would you mind...? “It was cute how he hesitated. I smiled to myself.
“If you finally come out with your wish, then I can also say whether it is possible.”
“Well, it's a bit uncomfortable for me, but do you think I could ride April sometime? I'd like to try western riding.”
“Is it the western riding you're interested in, or April?”
I grinned at him, and he blushed.
“Well, don't look like that. You can try it. The only problem is that April only lets me ride her. At least no one else but me can get on her. But you're welcome to try your luck.”
While I was still talking, I had already dismounted and watched as Dennis climbed over the fence. He was visibly nervous, but also overjoyed that I had granted him his wish. He approached April cautiously. She watched him very intently. First of all, we adjusted the stirrups to the appropriate length. After all, I was 1.92 m tall, and Dennis was only 1.77 m. He took the reins hesitantly and put his leg in the stirrup even more cautiously. His whole body trembled. He grasped the horn of the saddle and slowly pushed himself up until he was finally sitting on April. Until now, this was always the point at which the rider was guaranteed to be back in the dust. But not with Dennis. April still stood quietly, her head turned slightly to the side, following his every move. I don't know if she realized how important this experience was to him, or if she just liked him. In any case, I have rarely seen a rider-horse combination that harmonized as well as these two. While he was riding off, I explained the first steps of Western riding to him. He was extremely adept. After half an hour, I almost had to pull him off the horse, he was so enthusiastic. His eyes were a little moist. And from that day on, he and I were best friends, too.
Last fall, he rode his first competition with April. I will never forget how happy he was about his first victory in Western Horsemanship. After that, he sat with April in her stall for another two hours, talking to her. He thanked her and fed her one carrot after another. April snorted contentedly and laid her head on his shoulder. At that moment, I had made a decision. Dennis should become her new owner. First of all, I discussed the matter with my parents at the show, after all, they were the ones who had paid the money, even though I was registered in the papers. My parents agreed immediately. They knew that Dennis would take good care of April. But now came the more difficult part of my plan. The morning after my conversation with my parents, I found Dennis' parents, Reinhard and Renate, at the spectator stands. They were watching a reining competition. I asked them to come with me to one of our two vans. This van looked like a normal truck, but it was a horse van and had room for six horses. In the front part of the truck was a kind of caravan with a table, shower, refrigerator, bed, etc. There was space for equipment between the living area and the horse area. A short time later, I was sitting in my “living room” with the two of them and my parents, offering them something to drink.
“I wanted to talk to you. It's about Dennis and April.”
“We already suspected something like that. You probably don't want Dennis to ride her anymore. We can understand that, but I suspect that it will be a real blow to him.”
“Well, Dennis' world will change a bit. However, you have to give your consent.”
“What should we give our consent for? It's your decision.”
“Renate, please let me finish. I, or rather we, need your consent to make this possible.”
“So, what our son wants to say,” my father intervened. ”He wants to give your son April. For his 17th birthday. And since the horse also needs to be taken care of, we need your consent.”
The two stared at us with wide-open eyes.
“There are no conditions attached to this gift either, just two requests. We want April to stay in our stable and be treated well for as long as she lives. And maybe a third request. It would be nice if I always had the opportunity to ride April, if I feel like it.”
It took a few more words from my parents, but eventually they were both convinced and we told them our plan. At the beginning of next year, the papers were to be rewritten in America, and then on the Saturday before the Bavarian Championships, Dennis's birthday, I was to hand over the papers to him. Unbeknownst to Dennis, he was to be entered not only for the VWB classes but also for the AQHA show. Everything went smoothly. A week ago, the papers arrived at Dennis' parents' house by mail and were given to me so that I could hand them over to Dennis tomorrow.
So I arrived at my house, lost in my thoughts about the show. A pleasant smell came from the kitchen.
“Hi Ma, I'm home. Is dinner ready yet?”
“No, not quite yet. You still have time to take a shower first.”
So I went back outside through the kitchen and crossed the small path that lay between the main house and my bungalow. I had been living in my brother Frederick's bungalow since he moved out. I went to my bathroom, put my clothes in the washing machine, and turned on the shower. After the water reached a comfortable temperature, I stood under it and rinsed the sweat of the day off my body. Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the kitchen, getting on my mother's nerves.
“What's for dinner?”
“Something sensible. You'll probably only eat hot dogs and stuff like that all week.”
“Mom, that's not true. I always eat my breakfast cereal. And that's very healthy.”
“It would be, if you would just give up the chocolate cubes and the chocolate milk.” my mother smiled at me. ”But now it's time for dinner. Why don't you get your father, I'll serve dinner in the meantime.”
So I went to get my father and we all went to eat. Sam also got his food, usually the only way to keep him from begging. Since nothing particularly exciting happened during dinner, I took the opportunity to make something clear. We may have money like air to breathe, but that doesn't mean that I didn't grow up very normally. Okay, I didn't necessarily have to watch the price when I went shopping, although I usually did, but we didn't throw our money out the window either. We don't have a housekeeper or a butler either. Just a gardener, because our property was really huge, and a cleaning lady who came once a week and helped my mother, because she works as a secretary for a lawyer three mornings a week. So she was actually always at home when I came back from school. On top of that, she also does the bookkeeping for the riding stable. I helped her occasionally, since I was supposed to take over the business at some point later on. My father is responsible for all other organizational matters. Strictly speaking, the two worked hand in hand and it was not really possible to draw a clear dividing line. We also have a few grooms and the like in the stables. Neither of us in the family shies away from mucking out a horse box.
Even if it may seem that I'm a spoilt brat, that's absolutely not true. I didn't get much more pocket money than the average either. OK, in terms of the pure amounts, it was more than most, but for that I also had to buy everything myself, apart from food and the costs for the tournaments. So also clothes and so on. I think that's actually quite good. That way, you learn how to budget your money for the entire month early on. And if I didn't have any money left at the end of the month, then I couldn't buy an ice cream at the nearest kiosk or anything like that. Begging my parents for money didn't help either. That only happened to me at the beginning though, by now I knew how to spend my money.
After dinner, I had a short discussion with my parents about how things should go on Sunday with the trip to the show, because it was well known that the day before departure was always extremely stressful and there was hardly any time for such things. After the briefing, I went to my bungalow and set up my ironing board because I still had to iron some shirts for the show. I was just about to start with the first shirt when my phone rang.
“Hi Basti, you're finally home? I've tried to reach you four times already.” Dennis hadn't been at the stables today because he wanted to celebrate his birthday with his parents. After all, he wanted to be at the stables tomorrow and then sleep at my place overnight because we had to leave quite early on Sunday. His parents were understanding and there were never any problems with it. So at least they didn't have to get up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, since Dennis lived about half an hour from the stables.
“Why didn't you leave a message on the answering machine?”
“Like you check it. And secondly, I just wanted to clarify something about tomorrow.”
“Well, let's have it then.“ I waited eagerly to see what he wanted to clarify.
“Well, you better not get me anything great.” I smiled quietly to myself. “I don't want anything from you.”
“Well, you'll get something. But just a little something. That's what we agreed.” Don't tell on me.
“Then that's fine... I'll probably be there around noon. My grandma is coming over for lunch, and after that I'll be on my way right away. Fortunately, my parents are driving me tomorrow since I have so much luggage with me.”
“Well, your parents are worth their salt.”
“I agree. See you tomorrow then, I still have to finish packing.”
“I still have to do that too, but I was held up by some weird guy again.”
“Yeah, you too.”
“With pleasure.” If only he knew how true that was.
“Fine. So good night.”
“Nighty-night, big guy.”
And with that, our conversation was over. I went back to my shirts. After two hours, I was done with the roughest part of packing. The tournament clothes were neatly stored in three garment bags. The two pairs of chaps were added to the normal luggage, and the two hats were placed in the hat boxes, ready to hand. The duffel bag was packed, except for my toiletries. After I had let Sam, who was staying with me in the apartment, out the door again, I undressed and went to my bed. While I was still pondering which outfit I should wear for which start, I fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up around nine o'clock. Overdressed, I put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and went to my parents in the kitchen. After breakfast, I packed my clothes in our Jeep, because we would load them later in the van. When I had filled the Jeep to bursting with my clothes, we drove to the stable. The boxes had already been mucked out and I got straight to work. Luckily, I had already twisted (thinned out) and cut the manes during the week, so I only had to correct them briefly. Which also took me some time. Then I started clipping the horses (the white hair on the feet is trimmed with the long-hair trimmer, the ears are shaved clean and the whiskers are also shortened). A quick glance at the clock told me that Dennis would probably be here soon. So I grabbed the giant bow that I had bought specially and tied it around April's belly, where the saddle is. Then I left the stables and leaned against the entrance gate, lit a butt and waited for the birthday boy to arrive.
Dennis wasn't long in coming either, and I gave him a warm hug and showered him with congratulations.
“So, now we come to your present. It consists of two parts. A big one and a small one.” Dennis looked confused and his parents grinned at me.
“Which one do you want first... Although the small one is the more valuable. I think we'll start with the big one.”
So I grabbed Dennis' hand, pulled him behind me into the stables and went straight to April's box. There April was standing in her box, nibbling happily on some hay. Dennis stared at her with wide-open eyes. Incredulous, he looked from me to his parents, back to April, and so on.
“You're all kidding me, right?”
“Not that I know of. This is my gift to you.”
“My parents would never allow that.”
“Yes, my son. Your parents also worked on Basti's plan,” Dennis's father intervened.
“Are you serious? April is my horse now? For real, completely?”
“I'm completely serious. And if you don't believe me, take a look at this.” I gave him the papers where he was listed as the new owner. His eyes became huge again. Then the tears came. He cried, he cried with happiness. Three happy faces looked at him as he went into the box and hugged his horse.
After what seemed like an eternity, he came out of the box and hugged his parents, thanking them profusely.
“Oh, and I'm not thanked at all,” I played, exaggeratedly offended.
“No, I don't know how I could ever thank you.”
“You already have.”
“Huh?”
“With your look. That was more of a thank you than a thousand words could express.”
Then he fell on me, pressed me tightly and whispered a “thank you” in my ear. When he let go of me again, we went to our riders' room, which was more of a small inn, completely glazed on one side, so that you could see into the riding hall below. My parents had also arrived in the meantime, having been shopping in the meantime. The other people present also congratulated him. We clinked glasses of sparkling wine and orange juice. Well, the adults drank the orange juice and we drank the sparkling wine straight from the bottle. No, that was the other way around or something. Oh well. In any case, Dennis couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face the whole time.
After the small celebration in the Reiterstüberl, we went back to the stables where our horses were now. I had already done the clipping in the morning. Now we washed all the horses in the washing box first. No, it's not comparable to a washing box for cars. It's just a separate cleaning area with a hose that also has warm water. The horses were shampooed and in the end we were probably wetter than the horses, and we stood together under the horse solarium with the last horse. That was necessary, even though it was already relatively warm, so you still had to be careful that the horses didn't catch a cold, otherwise we could cancel the starts right away. After that, all the horses were sprayed with shine spray and given a light blanket with a neck and head piece that wasn't really warm but kept the dirt out. Finally, all the tails were plaited and put into a so-called “Schweigsack” – a cloth cover that keeps the dirt off the tail. Thus, the horses were prepared for the next day.
While we set about cleaning the equipment and polishing it to a high shine, the horses were allowed to enjoy themselves in small groups in the horse walker (a machine that moves the horses in circles in both directions). The saddles, bridles and breastplates were all made of light brown leather and decorated with silver in various places. A saddle of this quality costs around €7,000. It's a steep price, but in the end it works out, because the useful life of the saddle is not really limited. With proper care, it will last a lifetime. Of course, you only use these saddles for showing; for normal training, you have one or two good training saddles. Generally, a well-made saddle fits most horses, so you don't need a special saddle for each horse. Of course, each horse had its own pad (saddlecloth), and for competitions, there were extra over-pads that you simply put on top of the horse's own pad, and of course, color-coordinated with the rider's outfit.
After we had cleaned everything, we started to put the things into the trucks. The saddles, bridles, halters were put in the designated places. The cleaning supplies and the “make-up box” for the horses were stowed away. We put a lot of other equipment in as well. Finally, we packed our own things into the living area of the truck. We also packed some concentrated feed and hay for the horses in one of the trucks, as this was rarely available at the shows, and if it was, it was extremely expensive. And with my five horses now included, plus Dennis' “new” horse, and Frank and Tanja's two horses on top of that, we had enough space in the horse area to store everything safely.
Another rider from our stable was traveling with us. Martina was already 20 and actually quite nice, or at least she could be, but mostly she was extremely bitchy and snooty, so she preferred to do her thing alone and avoided us. It should be fine with me, because she was extremely annoying. Actually, she was just jealous because, despite years of riding lessons and numerous training camps, she had only rarely managed to beat me or even Dennis. During the whole afternoon, when we were still up to mischief, she also prepared her two horses, and after we had already packed everything, she was still busy making her horses look beautiful. It's a shame when the horses are just as bitchy as their owner.
Frank and Tanja were also there in the afternoon, preparing their things and helping to load the transporters, and we had a lot of fun with it. The two had been together for over five years and had married half a year ago. They had met here at the stable and the party after the wedding also took place in the stable's restaurant. It was a great party. Fifty invited guests and it went on well into the night. After we had finished the last preparations for tomorrow, we sat comfortably in the riders' lounge and had a drink. At some point, we had to leave because we had to leave early the next morning. After a last look at the stables, Dennis and I drove to my house, where my mother had prepared a small snack for us. Then we both took a shower and shortly afterwards we were lying in my double bed. I had offered Dennis the sofa bed in my living room for his first sleepover, but he preferred to sleep in my bed. On the one hand, it was a torture for me, but on the other hand, I felt so safe with him. I wondered if we had forgotten something important, but I didn't have long to dwell on it, because soon I was peacefully in Morpheus' arms.
Maybe I should say a few words about Sam. He was our stable dog, so to speak. In the morning, when my father went to the stable, he always took him with him and the dog then stayed at the stable all day until I took him home in the evening. I thought it was very practical, so I didn't have to go for hours of walks every day, since he got enough exercise during the day. And Sam was a pretty active dog. He would romp around the area all day, and sometimes you wouldn't see him for half a day. However, he was so well trained that he never left the stables. But then he would have gotten into trouble. We got him from the animal shelter a little over 2 years ago, because our old dog had died. The animals were generally in very good condition, even though it was obvious that they lacked domestic care. As I crept along the corridors with my parents, I stopped in front of Sam's kennel. He looked at me from the back corner of the 5 square meter area that he could call his own. He sat there extremely intimidated. His eyes literally screamed for us to take him with us. After I had permission, I went to the kennel and stood at the entrance. After all, it was the “house” of this dog, and I was only the guest. Sam tilted his head and looked at me intently. I slowly squatted down and continued to look at him. You could see him wrinkling his nose and trying to smell something. After a short time, he began to get up, came slowly towards me and stopped in front of me. Then I could see it. His fur on his back was extremely short and ragged. It looked like whole tufts of hair had been pulled out of him in even strips.
“He's never done that before. As soon as someone enters the dog house, he goes to the farthest corner until they've left,” the animal keeper informed us.
“What happened to him?”
“Apparently, he was beaten with a belt by his owners. They apologized by saying that he had defecated in their apartment.”
“Well, a brilliant achievement. He's only half a year old, right?”
“Pretty much, actually.”
I turned back to the dog.
“Well, little one, you had some fine masters.”
Sam tilted his head again and came a little closer. I carefully moved my hand towards him, very slowly. Immediately, his head went back a bit and he took cover.
“It's okay, little one, no one will hurt you anymore.”
He seemed to understand me. His body relaxed again and, curious as he was, he stretched his head towards me again. Just as carefully as the dog moved towards me, I moved my hand towards him. Inch by inch. I let him sniff my hand thoroughly at first. When he had smelled enough, he turned to the side, but without letting my hand out of his sight for a second. Slowly, I put my hand on his soft fur and let it stay there for a while. I could feel him breathing out clearly.
That was that. A glance at my parents and our new dog would be this poor little worm. After another half hour, all formalities, vaccinations and the like were completed. Fortunately, the animal shelter already knew us, since we had also gotten our last dog here. They knew that Sam would be fine with us. After he had received his last injection from the veterinarian, I was allowed to pick him up. He curiously eyed my parents while sitting next to me in the back seat of our jeep.
The first few months were very exhausting, because as soon as someone spoke a little louder or made a quick movement, he immediately disappeared into the furthest corner of the room. That's why he was only out and about near our house at the beginning, because we didn't want to confront him with so many people at once.
I also found out very soon how he had probably been beaten. It must have been a belt. Because I was about to put on a new pair of jeans and removed the belt from the old trousers. As soon as Sam saw what I was doing, he hid under the coffee table. I immediately realized what was going on and dropped the belt and sat down next to the coffee table. After I had calmed him down enough to come out from under the table, I took him into the bedroom. I sat down next to the belt. Sam looked at me with big, frightened eyes.
“Hey, Sam, you don't need to be afraid. I just want to change. Nobody wants to hit you.”
Again he tilted his head. That was probably his way of saying that he had understood me. I put my hand on the loop of the belt, and Sam flinched.
“Don't be afraid, have faith in me.”
I slowly picked up the belt and put it in front of Sam, but left my hand on the buckle. He looked at me and the belt shyly. He was always curious and so he was in this case, too. Slowly, his nose went towards the belt. I gently stroked his head and scratched behind his ears. We did this training every day, and after a good week, I was even able to put Sam's hated object on his back without him getting scared.
There was only one problem with this test we passed together: since then, he has had a thing about tug-of-war with me. I must have bought my 8th belt since we got Sam. Another development also became clear. Sam listened to my parents, but only as long as I wasn't around. The only thing that helped then was bribery in the form of dog biscuits or something...
The next morning I was awakened by a draft on my chest, which was unpleasant at first. When I looked closely, I noticed that Dennis must have turned in his sleep and now his head was on my chest. This sight was both appealing and repulsive. On the one hand, I was frightened by the unintentional closeness of Dennis, but on the other hand, it was what I had wanted for a long time. But being so absorbed in these impossible dreams of hope was simply torture for me. I didn't know how to react. How should I, after all, I had only experienced such moments in my dreams until now. In my dreams, I had always caressed the boy's cheek tenderly, gently stroked his neck and watched him sleep. I was doing that at the moment too, I was looking at Dennis. And it was just beautiful. Dennis lay peacefully like an angel on my chest and it seemed that at that moment he was one with the stars, the earth, the universe, indeed the whole universe. How I would have liked to have taken his head in my hands and awakened him with an intense but tender kiss. Yes, how I would have liked to. But unfortunately I was much too cowardly, and besides, I didn't even know if Dennis felt the same way and if he was gay at all. And even if he was, it was probably just an accident that he was lying on top of me like that.
If I hadn't been so absorbed in my ruminations, I would have certainly burst into tears because of the situation. And it was definitely humiliating. My dream boy was lying on my chest and I didn't even dare to breathe so that he wouldn't wake up. I was too afraid that I would destroy this moment for eternity.
But what was that? Dennis slowly turned away from me. Had he noticed that I had been looking at him the whole time? Although that was simply impossible. Completely out of the question. How could he have noticed, after all he was still deeply asleep. I was worrying about nothing.
So I got up and went to take a shower. The warm water would clear my mind and eventually I would laugh at this moment. But at this point, a thousand other thoughts were running through my head. Should I talk to Dennis? Should I talk to my parents? How would they react? What would they do? Would they understand?
After a quarter of an hour I was finally ready and had made a decision. It was probably wrong, but it had to be done. If not today, then when? So I went over to the kitchen.
“Good morning, Basti. What are you doing up so early?”
“Morning mom, I couldn't sleep anymore.”
“Since when can't you sleep? I don't know of anyone who can sleep longer at a stretch than you.”
What should I say? That Dennis had driven me crazy with his presence? Pretty bad, so quickly make up a white lie.
“Oh, Dennis started up a whole sawmill, right in my bedroom. You would have woken up voluntarily too. And besides, I can still get some sleep on the drive.”
“Oh, I see... Yes, I know those sawmill arias from your father.”
“Where is Dad, by the way?”
“He's at the bakery getting rolls.”
“Why is that? I thought you bought extra ones to bake yesterday.”
“That's right, but we can burn them in the fireplace in winter after your father has made briquettes out of them. But he should be back in a moment.”
I was now sitting in my seat and poured myself a large cup of coffee when I heard the jeep's engine outside. Shortly afterwards, my father was standing in the doorway and stopped abruptly.
“Christa, would you please give me the calendar?”
“Not necessary anymore. I've already put a red cross on it.”
It's nice when your own parents make fun of you, so you really don't need any enemies anymore. No, it wasn't that bad, and inside I was grinning to myself. But I wanted to take advantage of this good mood.
“Ma, Pops, I need to talk to you.”
“What's up?”
“Please sit down.” Two skeptical pairs of eyes looked at me. I swallowed another big loaf and then started.
“I have something important to tell you. This is anything but easy for me... So, I'll make it short, otherwise I'll never get it out. I'm gay.”
Silence. Suddenly, the whole table was quiet. My father reached for the rolls, while my mother poured herself some coffee. Somehow I felt like I was in a wrong movie.
“Have you actually listened to me? I said I'm gay.”
“We already understood that,” my father answered me now. ‘But we already know that. But it's nice that you still trust us.”
“How?’ I blushed bright red.
“I think I'll have to explain that then. When you were at the last tournament, Klara (our cleaning lady) and I cleaned your bungalow. And I also wiped the living room cabinet. And then I noticed a magazine.” I just hope my mother noticed my even redder head and didn't go into the details in more detail. ”And even if I'm no longer so hip, as you call it, I'm not stupid. So I put one and one together and it was clear to me what was going on.”
“That's right. But that doesn't change the fact that you're our son, and whenever there are problems, we'll stand behind you.”
“Thanks, Dad. And thanks to you, too, Mom, especially for not describing your find in more detail.”
“Oh, you mean the magazine with the naked men and stuff? I flicked through it a bit, and there are some really cute guys in it. If I was young again, I'd order one of them.”
“Mom!”
“Oh son, even parents, as unlikely as it may seem to you children, have a sex life. And don't worry, I won't say any more about it. But since we're on the subject. Always take care of yourself. Use condoms, that's what they're for.” I nodded silently. No sooner had the blood left my head halfway than my mother managed to make me blush again. “And now let me hug you.”
First there was a hugging orgy, then I was grilled about whether I had found someone yet, which I denied, but said that there was someone I could imagine as a future boyfriend. My mother still meant, she would have there a suspicion, which she did not want to express however, like me, also. Afterwards I began my breakfast, naturally muesli with Schokostückchen and chocolate milk and in addition the mandatory cup coffee - one is adult. We talked a little more about what my future husband should look like, until I said that we should change the subject, since Dennis would probably show up soon. And I was right. After he had also had breakfast, my parents drove us to the stables.
At the stable, it was still quite early in the morning, and it was just 9 o'clock. Except for us and one of the grooms, Hans, there was no one there. We made our way to the stable while my father drove one of the transporters to the stables. My mother had gone home again to get some food, dog food and the papers. She would then drive the Jeep behind us later. My father would drive one of the transporters and one of the grooms would drive the other. Tanja and Frank arrived at the stables while we were getting the first horses ready for the journey. The horses were given padded leggings that reached above the knee on their legs and were loaded one after the other. When all the horses were stowed away, I went through my equipment again, just to be sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. At half past ten, Dennis and I packed ourselves into the front transporter, along with the dog, and set off, followed by Tanja and Frank's horses, which Hans was transporting. My mother was behind our “train” in the jeep.
I didn't really notice much of the drive, because as soon as we were on the highway, I must have fallen asleep. So I'll take this opportunity to introduce you to all my horses. First of all, there's Sunny (Pinball's Sunshine), a 7-year-old sorrel mare who was mainly at home in reining, but also did well in trail. Then there was Woodie (A Wooden Pine's Jack), a 6-year-old bay gelding, who was mainly a trail horse but also good at western riding and reining. Maid (Maidenly Pride), a 5-year-old palomino mare, was also perfect at trail and reining, and I was currently training her in western riding. She had very good potential but, due to her age, was not yet as perfect as she should be. Then there was Rosie (Rosebud's Lady), an 8-year-old chestnut mare who was a truly perfect western riding horse but also performed very solidly in pleasure and trail. And last but not least, my youngster Blue (A Blooming Smell of Blue), a 4-year-old black gelding that I had brought over from America just this winter. He was a really great horse in Pleasure, and he was also already really good at Hunter under Saddle. At the moment, I was in the process of introducing him to the first jumps for Hunter Hack, and this week was supposed to be his debut in “show business”. Besides, I taught all the horses showmanship myself, and I was able to use them in horsemanship.
Meanwhile, we left the highway and I was gently but firmly awakened by Dennis. Sleepily, I looked at him.
“So, enough snoring, about a quarter of an hour and we'll be there. You want to look halfway fit when we get out, don't you?”
“That's right, but if anyone snores here, it's you. Or why do you think I was up so early this morning?”
“So bad? Well, I didn't hear anything.“ He said and showed me his tongue.
“Worse!” I also had a nice tongue.
“Boys, behave yourselves. Or do you want me to hear the other parents grumble about you again?”
“Oh, Torsten, don't be like that. We're always well-behaved.”
“Of course, just as well-behaved as a young dog.”
“Woof!”
With these words, we then also reached the show grounds. It was past 1 p.m. because we were stuck in traffic for quite a long time on the way around Munich. First, we went to the registration office to find out which stable tent our horses were in. Then we got the wheelbarrows out of the transporter and put the sawdust, which was provided for all riders, in the horses' boxes. We had rented two more boxes, one for the not so expensive equipment like cleaning supplies, the other for the food we had taken with us. After the boxes were prepared, we unloaded the horses and brought them to their respective boxes, with Sam constantly jumping around at our feet. When we had also stowed the equipment, I first went through the schedule, which was in the program booklet. With four starts, it was relatively tight, since I also had to change horses and possibly change clothes. I clarified this with the show office first, who immediately took action and took it into account in the starting order, so that I had enough time for the changes there. After all that was settled and we had eaten a bite, we set about familiarizing the horses with the facilities. Which meant warming up in the show arena and in the warm-up arena that was available for the riders during the competition to prepare the horses for the start. Unfortunately, the obstacles for the trail were not freely accessible for the horses, so we could not show them to the horses. It was hard to tell where Sam was, but he was probably at one of the food stands, begging for something. I couldn't chain him up all day or anything like that. Since I was already used to such things, I hadn't packed much food.
In the meantime, some friends of ours had arrived with their horses. Little by little, they also rode their horses off. I was still waiting for Maik, who was 18, and his brother Sascha, who would turn 17 at the end of the year. As I was cleaning Blue, the two of them came into the stable tent, where we were also, with their horses. Maik was pushing a large wheelbarrow of sawdust, while Sascha was carrying a pitchfork.
“Hey you two. I thought you weren't coming today.”
“Well, as if we could just leave you alone. But the highway from Passau here was totally full. Why do the Whitsun holidays in northern Germany have to end a week before us? It took us almost six hours, normally we can do it in half with a trailer.”
“Oh, don't get upset. Better give them a hug.” We had only seen each other four weeks ago, but I was still really happy to meet them here. After I had hugged them both, I went back to getting Blue ready to ride. I had just finished saddling when Maik and Sascha unloaded their horses.
“Basti, who are you saddling?”
“Sascha, I'd like you to meet Blue. My new golden horse.”
“He's yours? Wow! He's a real beauty!”
“Then take a look at how he moves.”
“I will, but first we have to stow the horses and equipment. And then we'll also ride our four, and then I'll take a look at Blue.”
“Ok, I'll see you later in the hall.”
“Oh, where is Dennis?”
“He is currently riding Rosie dry for me.”
I led Blue out of the stable tent, mounted and rode to the hall. On the way, I saw that Martina, the bitch, had also arrived. Visibly annoyed, she got out of her car. I grinned to myself and began to warm up.
After I had put Blue back in his box, I went with Dennis to our “kingdom” and we ate a few sandwiches with sausage. After we had finished our meal, the horses were also given something to eat. When we had taken care of all eight, we still had to braid the horses' manes. Not in the classic style, as you know it from English riding, but with sections of the mane about half a centimeter to one centimeter wide being separated off with elastics in matching colors. I was just on my second mane when Maik and Sascha had finished warming up.
“Oh, Basti, I wanted to tell you: your Blue is a really awesome horse. How old is he?”
“He's four.”
“What? And he's already so cool at his first show?”
“It surprised me a bit, too, but I don't mind. But what else? Didn't you bring your caravan?”
“No, after one of our Jeeps packed up last week, Ma had to drive our stuff in her little Golf.”
“Oh, shit. So where are you sleeping now?”
“In one of the horse trailers, at least it's not that cold anymore.”
“Don't be deceived. It's still relatively fresh at night.”
“That's right, but we have our good sleeping bags with us. We're used to it from before.”
Until they got a caravan last year, the two of them always slept in a horse trailer. And even though they were experienced in such survival skills, I didn't want to put them through that. There were always shower containers, similar to the porta-potties, but the weather wasn't really pleasant enough yet to sleep more or less outdoors. But then I thought of something.
“If you want, you can use our second horse trailer.”
“Isn't that occupied by Frank and Tanja?” Maik wanted to know.
“Actually yes, but Frank's cousin lives about 10 minutes by car from here and they are staying with her. So the trailer is free. And even if it wasn't, we'd still have enough space in my van, because there's an extra bed above the driver's cab.”
“Well, if we could have it, that would be really great. It makes moving before the show and everything so much easier.”
“Sure, I'll just finish the manes here, then you can put your stuff in there.”
“Great. Thanks a lot.”
“Hey, I'm not going to let my friends freeze to death when the second van is practically empty. You just have to arrange something with Frank and Tanja about moving during the day.”
“That shouldn't be a problem. Then let's get the manes done so that we can get to bed soon. After all, it's almost 10 and I have to work with Moddy first thing in the morning.”
“Well, you only have to prepare two horses each. I have five, so don't complain,” I grinned at them. ”But that reminds me. How's your new Sascha doing?”
“He's fine, but he still has a week of quarantine ahead of him (horses that are flown in from America have to be kept in quarantine for a few weeks before they come into contact with other horses to prevent the risk of disease or similar) before he can leave the stable. But you'll see him at the next show.”
“I'm looking forward to it.”
And with further information exchange, we all set to work on the various manes.
“Damn, Maik, I just remembered that the second trailer doesn't have electricity yet. Are you coming to the registration office with me?”
“Sure, after all, it's about our electricity.”
So we left the other two alone and sorted everything out with the registration office, which only collected the money and gave us a connection cable. More or less, everything was billed at a flat rate. One day of electricity for the transporter cost so and so much, one week a box, this, and a start that. Well, it was easier logistically than having a separate electricity meter for each electricity consumer. After the money had changed hands, we went back to the stables.
“... well, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you in any case,” I heard Sascha say.
“Hey, no conspiracies against me here, not that I'm beaten by my former horse...”
“Don't worry, if I'm not at the start, you're welcome to win.”
“You're too gracious. I guess I'll always have to be grateful to you.” Dennis stuck out his tongue at me. ‘And he calls himself a friend.”
“Oh, so everything worked out with the rewriting, I see,’ Maik asked.
“Of course. You should have seen the look on Dennis's face. Unfortunately, I forgot my digicam.”
“The two of them knew about it too.”
“Dennis, everyone knew except you.”
Meanwhile, we were back to grooming the horses.
“So, done. Now fill up with water again, and then we can get ready for bed.”
After we had refilled the horses' buckets with fresh water and Sam had joined us after a bit of shouting, we all grabbed some of Sasha and Maik's things and took them to our second trailer. I briefly explained the technology to them, then Dennis and I said goodbye.
'Well, that's settled then. You won't be doing much tonight anyway, and if you have any problems, don't try things out, just ask me or Dennis. The technology is quite sensitive.
'Don't worry, we'll take care of it.
“Well then, I wish you a good night, you don't need any help tomorrow morning, do you?”
“No, it's just me and Moddy, the two of us can manage it. We'll also give your horses fresh water.”
“Great, that's nice. Then we'll disappear.”
After we had all said good night, Dennis and I went to our trailer. After the evening washing ritual, we went to bed. Even though we didn't have to get up extremely early, we were still quite tired. Such an arrival day at a tournament is quite exhausting and so it happened that I heard Dennis breathing peacefully next to me just a few minutes after going to bed. A short time later, I too had fallen asleep...
“On Sunday, Frank. We'll be leaving in the morning with the horses.” ”And when are you going?”
“Unfortunately, not until Monday after work. One colleague is sick and the other one is on vacation and won't be back until Tuesday. But the horses are going on Sunday and so is Tanja. Who are you taking with you, anyway?”
“All of them. After all, it's the Bavarian Championships of the VWB. You want to make an impression on the others,” I grinned at Frank.
“And Dennis is showing off in the VWB classes again?”
“Of course, but not only in the VWB classes, even if he doesn't know about his luck yet. And I hope you'll keep your mouth shut and not ruin my surprise.”
“Of course not. I want to live longer.” Frank bared his pearly whites.
“Good for you. I have to go. Mommy cooked and besides, I still have a few things to prepare at home. After all, the show lasts a whole week. I wanted to iron my outfit today and stuff.”
“Well, I won't keep you any longer, I have to go too. Tanja is expecting me, we wanted to go to the disco tonight. I wish you luck.”
“I wish you luck too, see you tomorrow.”
Frank got into his car and I grabbed my dog, Sam, a Golden Retriever cross, swung myself onto my mountain bike and cycled home. It was now 7 o'clock in the evening on this Friday in mid-May. But wait – some of you are probably wondering who I am and what I've just written here. So, let's start from the beginning. My name is Sebastian von Fahrenwald, but everyone who knows me just calls me Basti. I'm 17 and live near Munich, actually on the beautiful Lake Starnberg. My parents have a villa there, not far from our riding stable. Actually, it's a stud farm, but I hate that term. My parents are rolling in money. Enough that I could buy a horse every month and still have enough money left over for the next generation. Although my parents would probably have to turn to my older brother, who is now 19 years old, for that. He has moved out of our home because he is completing his training in Augsburg. He is also the only one who knows so far that I'm gay. I told him about half a year ago, just before he went to Augsburg. He took it pretty cool. Since then, he keeps asking me if I've finally found a boyfriend when he calls or stops by. How I hate this question. Worse than my grandma. But back to me.
I have been riding for as long as I can remember. I started with the little pony that my parents had in their stable. After that, I learned the art of English riding. Three years ago, I switched to Western riding. I saw a tournament that was held near us. We talked a little with my parents, and a month later, it was during the summer vacation, we flew to America, more precisely to Texas, and bought our first Quarter Horse. I have already mentioned this mare here. It is April (April Morning Dew). (Please pay very close attention to the fact that the name is pronounced in English.) I competed in my first shows with her, and I still do. Meanwhile, I have six of my own Quarter Horses, and I wanted to slowly retire April from showing, but she objected to that. Last spring, we wanted to go to a show and leave her at home for the first time. She went on a rampage in her stall and smashed everything that wasn't stable enough, so we took her with us to the show, and since then she has been shown again by us. I only show her rarely. My best friend Dennis usually rides her. There's another thing about her. In a way, you could compare her to the horses from Lord of the Rings. The Mearas that don't let just anyone ride them. Besides me, the only one who could ride April was Dennis. Anyone else who tried to put even one foot in the stirrup had to experience what it means to be left in the dust.
Dennis, still 16, had been with us at the riding stable for 5 years. His parents were not really poor, but they couldn't afford their own horse. Nevertheless, they respected Dennis's dearest wish, to ride. They paid for him to take riding lessons, first on an English horse, and later in the Western riding style. That was about a year ago. I can still remember exactly how Dennis would always stand at the fence with a dreamy look in his eyes and watch me ride. His eyes would light up especially when I rode April. At some point, he and his parents came to visit us at a show over the weekend. He was so fascinated that his eyes really stood out among all the spectators. A few weeks after this tournament, he was standing at the fence at our house again. I had just stopped to take off my sweater because I had gotten warm. He stared at April. I watched him as he couldn't take his eyes off her. Suddenly he looked up at me.
“You? Basti?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think I could maybe...? Would it be possible...? Would you mind...? “It was cute how he hesitated. I smiled to myself.
“If you finally come out with your wish, then I can also say whether it is possible.”
“Well, it's a bit uncomfortable for me, but do you think I could ride April sometime? I'd like to try western riding.”
“Is it the western riding you're interested in, or April?”
I grinned at him, and he blushed.
“Well, don't look like that. You can try it. The only problem is that April only lets me ride her. At least no one else but me can get on her. But you're welcome to try your luck.”
While I was still talking, I had already dismounted and watched as Dennis climbed over the fence. He was visibly nervous, but also overjoyed that I had granted him his wish. He approached April cautiously. She watched him very intently. First of all, we adjusted the stirrups to the appropriate length. After all, I was 1.92 m tall, and Dennis was only 1.77 m. He took the reins hesitantly and put his leg in the stirrup even more cautiously. His whole body trembled. He grasped the horn of the saddle and slowly pushed himself up until he was finally sitting on April. Until now, this was always the point at which the rider was guaranteed to be back in the dust. But not with Dennis. April still stood quietly, her head turned slightly to the side, following his every move. I don't know if she realized how important this experience was to him, or if she just liked him. In any case, I have rarely seen a rider-horse combination that harmonized as well as these two. While he was riding off, I explained the first steps of Western riding to him. He was extremely adept. After half an hour, I almost had to pull him off the horse, he was so enthusiastic. His eyes were a little moist. And from that day on, he and I were best friends, too.
Last fall, he rode his first competition with April. I will never forget how happy he was about his first victory in Western Horsemanship. After that, he sat with April in her stall for another two hours, talking to her. He thanked her and fed her one carrot after another. April snorted contentedly and laid her head on his shoulder. At that moment, I had made a decision. Dennis should become her new owner. First of all, I discussed the matter with my parents at the show, after all, they were the ones who had paid the money, even though I was registered in the papers. My parents agreed immediately. They knew that Dennis would take good care of April. But now came the more difficult part of my plan. The morning after my conversation with my parents, I found Dennis' parents, Reinhard and Renate, at the spectator stands. They were watching a reining competition. I asked them to come with me to one of our two vans. This van looked like a normal truck, but it was a horse van and had room for six horses. In the front part of the truck was a kind of caravan with a table, shower, refrigerator, bed, etc. There was space for equipment between the living area and the horse area. A short time later, I was sitting in my “living room” with the two of them and my parents, offering them something to drink.
“I wanted to talk to you. It's about Dennis and April.”
“We already suspected something like that. You probably don't want Dennis to ride her anymore. We can understand that, but I suspect that it will be a real blow to him.”
“Well, Dennis' world will change a bit. However, you have to give your consent.”
“What should we give our consent for? It's your decision.”
“Renate, please let me finish. I, or rather we, need your consent to make this possible.”
“So, what our son wants to say,” my father intervened. ”He wants to give your son April. For his 17th birthday. And since the horse also needs to be taken care of, we need your consent.”
The two stared at us with wide-open eyes.
“There are no conditions attached to this gift either, just two requests. We want April to stay in our stable and be treated well for as long as she lives. And maybe a third request. It would be nice if I always had the opportunity to ride April, if I feel like it.”
It took a few more words from my parents, but eventually they were both convinced and we told them our plan. At the beginning of next year, the papers were to be rewritten in America, and then on the Saturday before the Bavarian Championships, Dennis's birthday, I was to hand over the papers to him. Unbeknownst to Dennis, he was to be entered not only for the VWB classes but also for the AQHA show. Everything went smoothly. A week ago, the papers arrived at Dennis' parents' house by mail and were given to me so that I could hand them over to Dennis tomorrow.
So I arrived at my house, lost in my thoughts about the show. A pleasant smell came from the kitchen.
“Hi Ma, I'm home. Is dinner ready yet?”
“No, not quite yet. You still have time to take a shower first.”
So I went back outside through the kitchen and crossed the small path that lay between the main house and my bungalow. I had been living in my brother Frederick's bungalow since he moved out. I went to my bathroom, put my clothes in the washing machine, and turned on the shower. After the water reached a comfortable temperature, I stood under it and rinsed the sweat of the day off my body. Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the kitchen, getting on my mother's nerves.
“What's for dinner?”
“Something sensible. You'll probably only eat hot dogs and stuff like that all week.”
“Mom, that's not true. I always eat my breakfast cereal. And that's very healthy.”
“It would be, if you would just give up the chocolate cubes and the chocolate milk.” my mother smiled at me. ”But now it's time for dinner. Why don't you get your father, I'll serve dinner in the meantime.”
So I went to get my father and we all went to eat. Sam also got his food, usually the only way to keep him from begging. Since nothing particularly exciting happened during dinner, I took the opportunity to make something clear. We may have money like air to breathe, but that doesn't mean that I didn't grow up very normally. Okay, I didn't necessarily have to watch the price when I went shopping, although I usually did, but we didn't throw our money out the window either. We don't have a housekeeper or a butler either. Just a gardener, because our property was really huge, and a cleaning lady who came once a week and helped my mother, because she works as a secretary for a lawyer three mornings a week. So she was actually always at home when I came back from school. On top of that, she also does the bookkeeping for the riding stable. I helped her occasionally, since I was supposed to take over the business at some point later on. My father is responsible for all other organizational matters. Strictly speaking, the two worked hand in hand and it was not really possible to draw a clear dividing line. We also have a few grooms and the like in the stables. Neither of us in the family shies away from mucking out a horse box.
Even if it may seem that I'm a spoilt brat, that's absolutely not true. I didn't get much more pocket money than the average either. OK, in terms of the pure amounts, it was more than most, but for that I also had to buy everything myself, apart from food and the costs for the tournaments. So also clothes and so on. I think that's actually quite good. That way, you learn how to budget your money for the entire month early on. And if I didn't have any money left at the end of the month, then I couldn't buy an ice cream at the nearest kiosk or anything like that. Begging my parents for money didn't help either. That only happened to me at the beginning though, by now I knew how to spend my money.
After dinner, I had a short discussion with my parents about how things should go on Sunday with the trip to the show, because it was well known that the day before departure was always extremely stressful and there was hardly any time for such things. After the briefing, I went to my bungalow and set up my ironing board because I still had to iron some shirts for the show. I was just about to start with the first shirt when my phone rang.
“Hi Basti, you're finally home? I've tried to reach you four times already.” Dennis hadn't been at the stables today because he wanted to celebrate his birthday with his parents. After all, he wanted to be at the stables tomorrow and then sleep at my place overnight because we had to leave quite early on Sunday. His parents were understanding and there were never any problems with it. So at least they didn't have to get up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, since Dennis lived about half an hour from the stables.
“Why didn't you leave a message on the answering machine?”
“Like you check it. And secondly, I just wanted to clarify something about tomorrow.”
“Well, let's have it then.“ I waited eagerly to see what he wanted to clarify.
“Well, you better not get me anything great.” I smiled quietly to myself. “I don't want anything from you.”
“Well, you'll get something. But just a little something. That's what we agreed.” Don't tell on me.
“Then that's fine... I'll probably be there around noon. My grandma is coming over for lunch, and after that I'll be on my way right away. Fortunately, my parents are driving me tomorrow since I have so much luggage with me.”
“Well, your parents are worth their salt.”
“I agree. See you tomorrow then, I still have to finish packing.”
“I still have to do that too, but I was held up by some weird guy again.”
“Yeah, you too.”
“With pleasure.” If only he knew how true that was.
“Fine. So good night.”
“Nighty-night, big guy.”
And with that, our conversation was over. I went back to my shirts. After two hours, I was done with the roughest part of packing. The tournament clothes were neatly stored in three garment bags. The two pairs of chaps were added to the normal luggage, and the two hats were placed in the hat boxes, ready to hand. The duffel bag was packed, except for my toiletries. After I had let Sam, who was staying with me in the apartment, out the door again, I undressed and went to my bed. While I was still pondering which outfit I should wear for which start, I fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up around nine o'clock. Overdressed, I put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and went to my parents in the kitchen. After breakfast, I packed my clothes in our Jeep, because we would load them later in the van. When I had filled the Jeep to bursting with my clothes, we drove to the stable. The boxes had already been mucked out and I got straight to work. Luckily, I had already twisted (thinned out) and cut the manes during the week, so I only had to correct them briefly. Which also took me some time. Then I started clipping the horses (the white hair on the feet is trimmed with the long-hair trimmer, the ears are shaved clean and the whiskers are also shortened). A quick glance at the clock told me that Dennis would probably be here soon. So I grabbed the giant bow that I had bought specially and tied it around April's belly, where the saddle is. Then I left the stables and leaned against the entrance gate, lit a butt and waited for the birthday boy to arrive.
Dennis wasn't long in coming either, and I gave him a warm hug and showered him with congratulations.
“So, now we come to your present. It consists of two parts. A big one and a small one.” Dennis looked confused and his parents grinned at me.
“Which one do you want first... Although the small one is the more valuable. I think we'll start with the big one.”
So I grabbed Dennis' hand, pulled him behind me into the stables and went straight to April's box. There April was standing in her box, nibbling happily on some hay. Dennis stared at her with wide-open eyes. Incredulous, he looked from me to his parents, back to April, and so on.
“You're all kidding me, right?”
“Not that I know of. This is my gift to you.”
“My parents would never allow that.”
“Yes, my son. Your parents also worked on Basti's plan,” Dennis's father intervened.
“Are you serious? April is my horse now? For real, completely?”
“I'm completely serious. And if you don't believe me, take a look at this.” I gave him the papers where he was listed as the new owner. His eyes became huge again. Then the tears came. He cried, he cried with happiness. Three happy faces looked at him as he went into the box and hugged his horse.
After what seemed like an eternity, he came out of the box and hugged his parents, thanking them profusely.
“Oh, and I'm not thanked at all,” I played, exaggeratedly offended.
“No, I don't know how I could ever thank you.”
“You already have.”
“Huh?”
“With your look. That was more of a thank you than a thousand words could express.”
Then he fell on me, pressed me tightly and whispered a “thank you” in my ear. When he let go of me again, we went to our riders' room, which was more of a small inn, completely glazed on one side, so that you could see into the riding hall below. My parents had also arrived in the meantime, having been shopping in the meantime. The other people present also congratulated him. We clinked glasses of sparkling wine and orange juice. Well, the adults drank the orange juice and we drank the sparkling wine straight from the bottle. No, that was the other way around or something. Oh well. In any case, Dennis couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face the whole time.
After the small celebration in the Reiterstüberl, we went back to the stables where our horses were now. I had already done the clipping in the morning. Now we washed all the horses in the washing box first. No, it's not comparable to a washing box for cars. It's just a separate cleaning area with a hose that also has warm water. The horses were shampooed and in the end we were probably wetter than the horses, and we stood together under the horse solarium with the last horse. That was necessary, even though it was already relatively warm, so you still had to be careful that the horses didn't catch a cold, otherwise we could cancel the starts right away. After that, all the horses were sprayed with shine spray and given a light blanket with a neck and head piece that wasn't really warm but kept the dirt out. Finally, all the tails were plaited and put into a so-called “Schweigsack” – a cloth cover that keeps the dirt off the tail. Thus, the horses were prepared for the next day.
While we set about cleaning the equipment and polishing it to a high shine, the horses were allowed to enjoy themselves in small groups in the horse walker (a machine that moves the horses in circles in both directions). The saddles, bridles and breastplates were all made of light brown leather and decorated with silver in various places. A saddle of this quality costs around €7,000. It's a steep price, but in the end it works out, because the useful life of the saddle is not really limited. With proper care, it will last a lifetime. Of course, you only use these saddles for showing; for normal training, you have one or two good training saddles. Generally, a well-made saddle fits most horses, so you don't need a special saddle for each horse. Of course, each horse had its own pad (saddlecloth), and for competitions, there were extra over-pads that you simply put on top of the horse's own pad, and of course, color-coordinated with the rider's outfit.
After we had cleaned everything, we started to put the things into the trucks. The saddles, bridles, halters were put in the designated places. The cleaning supplies and the “make-up box” for the horses were stowed away. We put a lot of other equipment in as well. Finally, we packed our own things into the living area of the truck. We also packed some concentrated feed and hay for the horses in one of the trucks, as this was rarely available at the shows, and if it was, it was extremely expensive. And with my five horses now included, plus Dennis' “new” horse, and Frank and Tanja's two horses on top of that, we had enough space in the horse area to store everything safely.
Another rider from our stable was traveling with us. Martina was already 20 and actually quite nice, or at least she could be, but mostly she was extremely bitchy and snooty, so she preferred to do her thing alone and avoided us. It should be fine with me, because she was extremely annoying. Actually, she was just jealous because, despite years of riding lessons and numerous training camps, she had only rarely managed to beat me or even Dennis. During the whole afternoon, when we were still up to mischief, she also prepared her two horses, and after we had already packed everything, she was still busy making her horses look beautiful. It's a shame when the horses are just as bitchy as their owner.
Frank and Tanja were also there in the afternoon, preparing their things and helping to load the transporters, and we had a lot of fun with it. The two had been together for over five years and had married half a year ago. They had met here at the stable and the party after the wedding also took place in the stable's restaurant. It was a great party. Fifty invited guests and it went on well into the night. After we had finished the last preparations for tomorrow, we sat comfortably in the riders' lounge and had a drink. At some point, we had to leave because we had to leave early the next morning. After a last look at the stables, Dennis and I drove to my house, where my mother had prepared a small snack for us. Then we both took a shower and shortly afterwards we were lying in my double bed. I had offered Dennis the sofa bed in my living room for his first sleepover, but he preferred to sleep in my bed. On the one hand, it was a torture for me, but on the other hand, I felt so safe with him. I wondered if we had forgotten something important, but I didn't have long to dwell on it, because soon I was peacefully in Morpheus' arms.
Maybe I should say a few words about Sam. He was our stable dog, so to speak. In the morning, when my father went to the stable, he always took him with him and the dog then stayed at the stable all day until I took him home in the evening. I thought it was very practical, so I didn't have to go for hours of walks every day, since he got enough exercise during the day. And Sam was a pretty active dog. He would romp around the area all day, and sometimes you wouldn't see him for half a day. However, he was so well trained that he never left the stables. But then he would have gotten into trouble. We got him from the animal shelter a little over 2 years ago, because our old dog had died. The animals were generally in very good condition, even though it was obvious that they lacked domestic care. As I crept along the corridors with my parents, I stopped in front of Sam's kennel. He looked at me from the back corner of the 5 square meter area that he could call his own. He sat there extremely intimidated. His eyes literally screamed for us to take him with us. After I had permission, I went to the kennel and stood at the entrance. After all, it was the “house” of this dog, and I was only the guest. Sam tilted his head and looked at me intently. I slowly squatted down and continued to look at him. You could see him wrinkling his nose and trying to smell something. After a short time, he began to get up, came slowly towards me and stopped in front of me. Then I could see it. His fur on his back was extremely short and ragged. It looked like whole tufts of hair had been pulled out of him in even strips.
“He's never done that before. As soon as someone enters the dog house, he goes to the farthest corner until they've left,” the animal keeper informed us.
“What happened to him?”
“Apparently, he was beaten with a belt by his owners. They apologized by saying that he had defecated in their apartment.”
“Well, a brilliant achievement. He's only half a year old, right?”
“Pretty much, actually.”
I turned back to the dog.
“Well, little one, you had some fine masters.”
Sam tilted his head again and came a little closer. I carefully moved my hand towards him, very slowly. Immediately, his head went back a bit and he took cover.
“It's okay, little one, no one will hurt you anymore.”
He seemed to understand me. His body relaxed again and, curious as he was, he stretched his head towards me again. Just as carefully as the dog moved towards me, I moved my hand towards him. Inch by inch. I let him sniff my hand thoroughly at first. When he had smelled enough, he turned to the side, but without letting my hand out of his sight for a second. Slowly, I put my hand on his soft fur and let it stay there for a while. I could feel him breathing out clearly.
That was that. A glance at my parents and our new dog would be this poor little worm. After another half hour, all formalities, vaccinations and the like were completed. Fortunately, the animal shelter already knew us, since we had also gotten our last dog here. They knew that Sam would be fine with us. After he had received his last injection from the veterinarian, I was allowed to pick him up. He curiously eyed my parents while sitting next to me in the back seat of our jeep.
The first few months were very exhausting, because as soon as someone spoke a little louder or made a quick movement, he immediately disappeared into the furthest corner of the room. That's why he was only out and about near our house at the beginning, because we didn't want to confront him with so many people at once.
I also found out very soon how he had probably been beaten. It must have been a belt. Because I was about to put on a new pair of jeans and removed the belt from the old trousers. As soon as Sam saw what I was doing, he hid under the coffee table. I immediately realized what was going on and dropped the belt and sat down next to the coffee table. After I had calmed him down enough to come out from under the table, I took him into the bedroom. I sat down next to the belt. Sam looked at me with big, frightened eyes.
“Hey, Sam, you don't need to be afraid. I just want to change. Nobody wants to hit you.”
Again he tilted his head. That was probably his way of saying that he had understood me. I put my hand on the loop of the belt, and Sam flinched.
“Don't be afraid, have faith in me.”
I slowly picked up the belt and put it in front of Sam, but left my hand on the buckle. He looked at me and the belt shyly. He was always curious and so he was in this case, too. Slowly, his nose went towards the belt. I gently stroked his head and scratched behind his ears. We did this training every day, and after a good week, I was even able to put Sam's hated object on his back without him getting scared.
There was only one problem with this test we passed together: since then, he has had a thing about tug-of-war with me. I must have bought my 8th belt since we got Sam. Another development also became clear. Sam listened to my parents, but only as long as I wasn't around. The only thing that helped then was bribery in the form of dog biscuits or something...
The next morning I was awakened by a draft on my chest, which was unpleasant at first. When I looked closely, I noticed that Dennis must have turned in his sleep and now his head was on my chest. This sight was both appealing and repulsive. On the one hand, I was frightened by the unintentional closeness of Dennis, but on the other hand, it was what I had wanted for a long time. But being so absorbed in these impossible dreams of hope was simply torture for me. I didn't know how to react. How should I, after all, I had only experienced such moments in my dreams until now. In my dreams, I had always caressed the boy's cheek tenderly, gently stroked his neck and watched him sleep. I was doing that at the moment too, I was looking at Dennis. And it was just beautiful. Dennis lay peacefully like an angel on my chest and it seemed that at that moment he was one with the stars, the earth, the universe, indeed the whole universe. How I would have liked to have taken his head in my hands and awakened him with an intense but tender kiss. Yes, how I would have liked to. But unfortunately I was much too cowardly, and besides, I didn't even know if Dennis felt the same way and if he was gay at all. And even if he was, it was probably just an accident that he was lying on top of me like that.
If I hadn't been so absorbed in my ruminations, I would have certainly burst into tears because of the situation. And it was definitely humiliating. My dream boy was lying on my chest and I didn't even dare to breathe so that he wouldn't wake up. I was too afraid that I would destroy this moment for eternity.
But what was that? Dennis slowly turned away from me. Had he noticed that I had been looking at him the whole time? Although that was simply impossible. Completely out of the question. How could he have noticed, after all he was still deeply asleep. I was worrying about nothing.
So I got up and went to take a shower. The warm water would clear my mind and eventually I would laugh at this moment. But at this point, a thousand other thoughts were running through my head. Should I talk to Dennis? Should I talk to my parents? How would they react? What would they do? Would they understand?
After a quarter of an hour I was finally ready and had made a decision. It was probably wrong, but it had to be done. If not today, then when? So I went over to the kitchen.
“Good morning, Basti. What are you doing up so early?”
“Morning mom, I couldn't sleep anymore.”
“Since when can't you sleep? I don't know of anyone who can sleep longer at a stretch than you.”
What should I say? That Dennis had driven me crazy with his presence? Pretty bad, so quickly make up a white lie.
“Oh, Dennis started up a whole sawmill, right in my bedroom. You would have woken up voluntarily too. And besides, I can still get some sleep on the drive.”
“Oh, I see... Yes, I know those sawmill arias from your father.”
“Where is Dad, by the way?”
“He's at the bakery getting rolls.”
“Why is that? I thought you bought extra ones to bake yesterday.”
“That's right, but we can burn them in the fireplace in winter after your father has made briquettes out of them. But he should be back in a moment.”
I was now sitting in my seat and poured myself a large cup of coffee when I heard the jeep's engine outside. Shortly afterwards, my father was standing in the doorway and stopped abruptly.
“Christa, would you please give me the calendar?”
“Not necessary anymore. I've already put a red cross on it.”
It's nice when your own parents make fun of you, so you really don't need any enemies anymore. No, it wasn't that bad, and inside I was grinning to myself. But I wanted to take advantage of this good mood.
“Ma, Pops, I need to talk to you.”
“What's up?”
“Please sit down.” Two skeptical pairs of eyes looked at me. I swallowed another big loaf and then started.
“I have something important to tell you. This is anything but easy for me... So, I'll make it short, otherwise I'll never get it out. I'm gay.”
Silence. Suddenly, the whole table was quiet. My father reached for the rolls, while my mother poured herself some coffee. Somehow I felt like I was in a wrong movie.
“Have you actually listened to me? I said I'm gay.”
“We already understood that,” my father answered me now. ‘But we already know that. But it's nice that you still trust us.”
“How?’ I blushed bright red.
“I think I'll have to explain that then. When you were at the last tournament, Klara (our cleaning lady) and I cleaned your bungalow. And I also wiped the living room cabinet. And then I noticed a magazine.” I just hope my mother noticed my even redder head and didn't go into the details in more detail. ”And even if I'm no longer so hip, as you call it, I'm not stupid. So I put one and one together and it was clear to me what was going on.”
“That's right. But that doesn't change the fact that you're our son, and whenever there are problems, we'll stand behind you.”
“Thanks, Dad. And thanks to you, too, Mom, especially for not describing your find in more detail.”
“Oh, you mean the magazine with the naked men and stuff? I flicked through it a bit, and there are some really cute guys in it. If I was young again, I'd order one of them.”
“Mom!”
“Oh son, even parents, as unlikely as it may seem to you children, have a sex life. And don't worry, I won't say any more about it. But since we're on the subject. Always take care of yourself. Use condoms, that's what they're for.” I nodded silently. No sooner had the blood left my head halfway than my mother managed to make me blush again. “And now let me hug you.”
First there was a hugging orgy, then I was grilled about whether I had found someone yet, which I denied, but said that there was someone I could imagine as a future boyfriend. My mother still meant, she would have there a suspicion, which she did not want to express however, like me, also. Afterwards I began my breakfast, naturally muesli with Schokostückchen and chocolate milk and in addition the mandatory cup coffee - one is adult. We talked a little more about what my future husband should look like, until I said that we should change the subject, since Dennis would probably show up soon. And I was right. After he had also had breakfast, my parents drove us to the stables.
At the stable, it was still quite early in the morning, and it was just 9 o'clock. Except for us and one of the grooms, Hans, there was no one there. We made our way to the stable while my father drove one of the transporters to the stables. My mother had gone home again to get some food, dog food and the papers. She would then drive the Jeep behind us later. My father would drive one of the transporters and one of the grooms would drive the other. Tanja and Frank arrived at the stables while we were getting the first horses ready for the journey. The horses were given padded leggings that reached above the knee on their legs and were loaded one after the other. When all the horses were stowed away, I went through my equipment again, just to be sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. At half past ten, Dennis and I packed ourselves into the front transporter, along with the dog, and set off, followed by Tanja and Frank's horses, which Hans was transporting. My mother was behind our “train” in the jeep.
I didn't really notice much of the drive, because as soon as we were on the highway, I must have fallen asleep. So I'll take this opportunity to introduce you to all my horses. First of all, there's Sunny (Pinball's Sunshine), a 7-year-old sorrel mare who was mainly at home in reining, but also did well in trail. Then there was Woodie (A Wooden Pine's Jack), a 6-year-old bay gelding, who was mainly a trail horse but also good at western riding and reining. Maid (Maidenly Pride), a 5-year-old palomino mare, was also perfect at trail and reining, and I was currently training her in western riding. She had very good potential but, due to her age, was not yet as perfect as she should be. Then there was Rosie (Rosebud's Lady), an 8-year-old chestnut mare who was a truly perfect western riding horse but also performed very solidly in pleasure and trail. And last but not least, my youngster Blue (A Blooming Smell of Blue), a 4-year-old black gelding that I had brought over from America just this winter. He was a really great horse in Pleasure, and he was also already really good at Hunter under Saddle. At the moment, I was in the process of introducing him to the first jumps for Hunter Hack, and this week was supposed to be his debut in “show business”. Besides, I taught all the horses showmanship myself, and I was able to use them in horsemanship.
Meanwhile, we left the highway and I was gently but firmly awakened by Dennis. Sleepily, I looked at him.
“So, enough snoring, about a quarter of an hour and we'll be there. You want to look halfway fit when we get out, don't you?”
“That's right, but if anyone snores here, it's you. Or why do you think I was up so early this morning?”
“So bad? Well, I didn't hear anything.“ He said and showed me his tongue.
“Worse!” I also had a nice tongue.
“Boys, behave yourselves. Or do you want me to hear the other parents grumble about you again?”
“Oh, Torsten, don't be like that. We're always well-behaved.”
“Of course, just as well-behaved as a young dog.”
“Woof!”
With these words, we then also reached the show grounds. It was past 1 p.m. because we were stuck in traffic for quite a long time on the way around Munich. First, we went to the registration office to find out which stable tent our horses were in. Then we got the wheelbarrows out of the transporter and put the sawdust, which was provided for all riders, in the horses' boxes. We had rented two more boxes, one for the not so expensive equipment like cleaning supplies, the other for the food we had taken with us. After the boxes were prepared, we unloaded the horses and brought them to their respective boxes, with Sam constantly jumping around at our feet. When we had also stowed the equipment, I first went through the schedule, which was in the program booklet. With four starts, it was relatively tight, since I also had to change horses and possibly change clothes. I clarified this with the show office first, who immediately took action and took it into account in the starting order, so that I had enough time for the changes there. After all that was settled and we had eaten a bite, we set about familiarizing the horses with the facilities. Which meant warming up in the show arena and in the warm-up arena that was available for the riders during the competition to prepare the horses for the start. Unfortunately, the obstacles for the trail were not freely accessible for the horses, so we could not show them to the horses. It was hard to tell where Sam was, but he was probably at one of the food stands, begging for something. I couldn't chain him up all day or anything like that. Since I was already used to such things, I hadn't packed much food.
In the meantime, some friends of ours had arrived with their horses. Little by little, they also rode their horses off. I was still waiting for Maik, who was 18, and his brother Sascha, who would turn 17 at the end of the year. As I was cleaning Blue, the two of them came into the stable tent, where we were also, with their horses. Maik was pushing a large wheelbarrow of sawdust, while Sascha was carrying a pitchfork.
“Hey you two. I thought you weren't coming today.”
“Well, as if we could just leave you alone. But the highway from Passau here was totally full. Why do the Whitsun holidays in northern Germany have to end a week before us? It took us almost six hours, normally we can do it in half with a trailer.”
“Oh, don't get upset. Better give them a hug.” We had only seen each other four weeks ago, but I was still really happy to meet them here. After I had hugged them both, I went back to getting Blue ready to ride. I had just finished saddling when Maik and Sascha unloaded their horses.
“Basti, who are you saddling?”
“Sascha, I'd like you to meet Blue. My new golden horse.”
“He's yours? Wow! He's a real beauty!”
“Then take a look at how he moves.”
“I will, but first we have to stow the horses and equipment. And then we'll also ride our four, and then I'll take a look at Blue.”
“Ok, I'll see you later in the hall.”
“Oh, where is Dennis?”
“He is currently riding Rosie dry for me.”
I led Blue out of the stable tent, mounted and rode to the hall. On the way, I saw that Martina, the bitch, had also arrived. Visibly annoyed, she got out of her car. I grinned to myself and began to warm up.
After I had put Blue back in his box, I went with Dennis to our “kingdom” and we ate a few sandwiches with sausage. After we had finished our meal, the horses were also given something to eat. When we had taken care of all eight, we still had to braid the horses' manes. Not in the classic style, as you know it from English riding, but with sections of the mane about half a centimeter to one centimeter wide being separated off with elastics in matching colors. I was just on my second mane when Maik and Sascha had finished warming up.
“Oh, Basti, I wanted to tell you: your Blue is a really awesome horse. How old is he?”
“He's four.”
“What? And he's already so cool at his first show?”
“It surprised me a bit, too, but I don't mind. But what else? Didn't you bring your caravan?”
“No, after one of our Jeeps packed up last week, Ma had to drive our stuff in her little Golf.”
“Oh, shit. So where are you sleeping now?”
“In one of the horse trailers, at least it's not that cold anymore.”
“Don't be deceived. It's still relatively fresh at night.”
“That's right, but we have our good sleeping bags with us. We're used to it from before.”
Until they got a caravan last year, the two of them always slept in a horse trailer. And even though they were experienced in such survival skills, I didn't want to put them through that. There were always shower containers, similar to the porta-potties, but the weather wasn't really pleasant enough yet to sleep more or less outdoors. But then I thought of something.
“If you want, you can use our second horse trailer.”
“Isn't that occupied by Frank and Tanja?” Maik wanted to know.
“Actually yes, but Frank's cousin lives about 10 minutes by car from here and they are staying with her. So the trailer is free. And even if it wasn't, we'd still have enough space in my van, because there's an extra bed above the driver's cab.”
“Well, if we could have it, that would be really great. It makes moving before the show and everything so much easier.”
“Sure, I'll just finish the manes here, then you can put your stuff in there.”
“Great. Thanks a lot.”
“Hey, I'm not going to let my friends freeze to death when the second van is practically empty. You just have to arrange something with Frank and Tanja about moving during the day.”
“That shouldn't be a problem. Then let's get the manes done so that we can get to bed soon. After all, it's almost 10 and I have to work with Moddy first thing in the morning.”
“Well, you only have to prepare two horses each. I have five, so don't complain,” I grinned at them. ”But that reminds me. How's your new Sascha doing?”
“He's fine, but he still has a week of quarantine ahead of him (horses that are flown in from America have to be kept in quarantine for a few weeks before they come into contact with other horses to prevent the risk of disease or similar) before he can leave the stable. But you'll see him at the next show.”
“I'm looking forward to it.”
And with further information exchange, we all set to work on the various manes.
“Damn, Maik, I just remembered that the second trailer doesn't have electricity yet. Are you coming to the registration office with me?”
“Sure, after all, it's about our electricity.”
So we left the other two alone and sorted everything out with the registration office, which only collected the money and gave us a connection cable. More or less, everything was billed at a flat rate. One day of electricity for the transporter cost so and so much, one week a box, this, and a start that. Well, it was easier logistically than having a separate electricity meter for each electricity consumer. After the money had changed hands, we went back to the stables.
“... well, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you in any case,” I heard Sascha say.
“Hey, no conspiracies against me here, not that I'm beaten by my former horse...”
“Don't worry, if I'm not at the start, you're welcome to win.”
“You're too gracious. I guess I'll always have to be grateful to you.” Dennis stuck out his tongue at me. ‘And he calls himself a friend.”
“Oh, so everything worked out with the rewriting, I see,’ Maik asked.
“Of course. You should have seen the look on Dennis's face. Unfortunately, I forgot my digicam.”
“The two of them knew about it too.”
“Dennis, everyone knew except you.”
Meanwhile, we were back to grooming the horses.
“So, done. Now fill up with water again, and then we can get ready for bed.”
After we had refilled the horses' buckets with fresh water and Sam had joined us after a bit of shouting, we all grabbed some of Sasha and Maik's things and took them to our second trailer. I briefly explained the technology to them, then Dennis and I said goodbye.
'Well, that's settled then. You won't be doing much tonight anyway, and if you have any problems, don't try things out, just ask me or Dennis. The technology is quite sensitive.
'Don't worry, we'll take care of it.
“Well then, I wish you a good night, you don't need any help tomorrow morning, do you?”
“No, it's just me and Moddy, the two of us can manage it. We'll also give your horses fresh water.”
“Great, that's nice. Then we'll disappear.”
After we had all said good night, Dennis and I went to our trailer. After the evening washing ritual, we went to bed. Even though we didn't have to get up extremely early, we were still quite tired. Such an arrival day at a tournament is quite exhausting and so it happened that I heard Dennis breathing peacefully next to me just a few minutes after going to bed. A short time later, I too had fallen asleep...