Alpha Core

Tom already went to Paradisio with some friends last year, when I couldn’t join. Since then Tom promised to visit the park together with me again, and that’s what we did a few days ago. After his last visit Tom posted quite enthusiastically about how amazing everything was and I really have to agree with it! We had a lovely day with lots of beautiful, friendly, funky and sometimes also a bit scary animals. Read more

This picture was taken during our stable fest at the beginning of August 2008. In the course of this the riders, and amongst them Noli and me, sported a short show for the audience.  I’m carrying the German flag, representing the dressage riding, whereas the riders in the background, riding western, are carrying the American flag. The audience was thrilled by our performance and Noli, me and the other riders and horses had a lot of fun as well.

This is Noli – my horse. Or to be more precise with everything: her given name is Magnolia and she is a pony of the kind ‘Deutsches Reitpony‘. Noli was born in the stable were I took riding lessons when I was a child. In this stable every child could choose a horse or a pony to look after it, which basically meant grooming it regularly. I happened to choose a pony mare, named Towy Valley Marguerite, but because this name really is a lot too long, she is called Margie. After a while the owner decided that Margie should have a foal. And that’s where Noli occurs in this story. She was born in 1994 when I was 12 years old. Ever since then I also took care of her and on my 15th birthday my wish came true and Noli was my present. We changed stables then and Noli is now living in an open stable near Hamburg. The picture on the left side is taken in summer, when Noli was standing on a meadow and the picture on the right side shows the two of us going for a hack in winter.

Some time ago I went with some friends (Guy and Joris) to a zoo, called Paradisio (in Belgium). The good thing about this one is that many animals there (not all unfortunately) are being kept in rather big pens or even open territories and as such, aren’t crammed into tight little cages as all too often happens in zoos.

As an example of just one of these territories, there’s e.g. a complete island surrounded by water – just some bridges connect to it – on which ring-tailed lemurs live freely. When they feel like, they can come to fool around with the passing visitors or just hide in the dense vegetation.

What was one of the most breathtaking events was the bird show: eagles, vultures, owls, etc. are flying above the heads of the audience. The best was when a huge vulture was flying directly towards me and over my head, so close that I could’ve touched it if I wanted – probably would’ve bumped my head if I didn’t duck down, not very sure. If you ever wanted to see a bird show and didn’t do so yet, then go to this one, it’s really amazing! Read more