Riding From The Heart Webinar

Can you see my screen, Marcella?

I can see it well, and I, I love how, how the doggy is feeling the horsey.

Right? It's all about the seat, and it doesn't matter.

This is great. And, you know, we were talking about writing from the heart. Looking at this picture with the dog and the little horsey, my heart opens up.

I know, right?

It's so cute.

It's so sweet. It's so good. And we like bringing some humor into it and writing from the heart. So we named this because, you know, Marcello will go into it because I feel like there's so much like, you have to do this and you have to do this, and the rigidity. And rigidity never, in my opinion, regardless if it's writing or not writing, really leads to, you know, the, the good outcome. So writing from the heart. A Journey to Deeper Connection. And before Marcela turns into a pumpkin because it's midnight in Germany— so thank you, Marcela, for hanging out late with us just to accommodate the US time zone. I just want to quickly introduce myself. I'm Sandy Colling. I'm originally from Germany. I've been riding since the age of 5, and horses have always been a big part of my life, big passion. I Then went ahead and I combined my passions of travel, horses, culture, language, and created European— sorry, Euro Equestrian Connection. And so linked arms with Marcela, Dr. Marcela Pekka, who I love that picture of you, Marcela, and your 2 horses. It's just such a great picture. So why don't you just give us a brief intro of Oh dear, talking about myself.

Well, I did not get to start riding at the age of 5, which is probably one of the reasons why I got into this issue of seat and all of that. I've just been always the kind of little girl that was seeking out horses. So, and yeah, it's just, I In hindsight, I think it was just written in my soul. And so the more opportunities I got, the more I then moved into this writing. But in a way, I did get a late start. Some lessons that are not that productive as a teenager with my hard-earned own money. And then later on, when I was studying in the US, I got more into it. There were opportunities. And yeah, then of course, I did graduate studies in political science. So there were times where horses really had to go on the back burner to get my degree. And but then again, as soon as there was any chance, it got more and more. And to make a very long story short, I ended up— after having to go back to Germany, I ended up doing horses full-time. So So it is my passion, and it's now also my chosen profession. And yeah, I haven't regretted it.

That's awesome. So I'm gonna stop the screen share for a minute because I think you guys have seen enough pictures of us. And Marcella, I'm gonna hand the mic back to you because I love, I love what you said to me, you know, and it's so true, and it's So simple, right? In fact, talking about simple. So a friend of mine posted on Facebook today. She's an equestrian, she breeds, and she posted on Facebook today. She says, I had to order this book because I was just curious. The book literally is titled How to Learn Riding a Horse in a Weekend. And it has the topics, everything you'll learn. And I'm like, in a weekend. And I'm like, cool, I know, right? I was like, okay, how to learn writing in a weekend. So can you beat that, Marcela?

Yes, I can beat that. And I can offer you that, um, you take writing as a pursuit that, um, will never end. And in a way, um, I, as a, as a young person, I had a lot of exposure, and I really do appreciate that as a background. But I got a lot of exposure to music. I did a lot of singing. I played the piano. And I really took for a very, very long time piano lessons. And so you, you don't do the fast stuff when you do something like that. But there will be rewards in all of those steps in between. So yeah, you play a lot of scales, you play a lot of simple things, and it's going to be Before you really hit literature.

Exactly.

Personally, I really embrace that, and I find part of what also fascinates me in the writing is that in a way this writing pursuit and my, my hard thing is really the classical dressage.

Yeah.

And I love how anachronistic it is. Yeah. Because it's not something you can get to a certain baseline, and this is where the hard Is the most important one. But you can also, if you choose, refine and refine and refine.

Of course. Right.

And I'm trying to think of the name. There was an— God, I don't remember the name right now. A cellist, an internationally renowned cellist.

Is that Perlman?

No, no, different name. I'm drawing a blank. At the age of 90-something, he was practicing his instrument. And then somebody said, Master, you know, you're still practicing? Yes, I'm discovering something new every time.

Mm-hmm.

And I personally find that very intriguing, especially in our day and age where everything is fast. You know, give me, give me 5 seconds, soundbite and I'll explain everything to you. No, it's a—

Learn to ride in a weekend, right? Exactly. Yeah. So that being said, the topic today is around our seat. And as we all know, without a seat, we can have the best horse, you can have the most talented horse, you can have the whatever. But if you don't have a good balanced seat— so talk to us a little bit about that because that's what, you know, tonight is really about.

Seat is a big issue. And I also remember times where in a way, and I'm not a talented rider, you know, I don't know, I had to work on it. And there are very few people who just kind of get on a horse, they have a really great balance already, they have a lot of trust in their body, and they learn a few things Rather quickly. And then there are the regular folks, and I, I do feel like I'm part of those too. And there's, there's a lot of learning, or can be done about my own body, and then in together with the horse. And in a way, I always joke with my students, but I mean this joke seriously. Writing in a way is easy.

Yeah.

Basically, all you have to do is you have to sit in the middle. You have to feel your body as an entity, but also in its parts. That allows you to feel the horse's body, also parts and the whole horse. And then you need a clear visualization of what do you want. And then the aids are happening.

Yeah.

So in a way, that sounds really simple, and on some level it is, but for a lot of us to get to that point, it's not always that easy. So we're talking about finding the middle, we're talking about symmetry, and we're talking about feel— lots of it. And that is a challenge, you know, for humans, for horses. We're not robots that are machines that are completely balanced. And So we have 2 non-symmetrical bodies trying to find together. And, you know, I'm not in the best balance every day. If I had a stressful day, I, I'm kind of out of it a little bit. And then I go to the horse, and I do have to find a place to get back to that, to that feel for me, for the horse, and then finding together. So. Always we're looking for balance— mind, body, spirit. And if you can figure these things out, then there comes the ease in the writing. But sometimes we're sort of standing in our own way. And when I say that as we, I know from my own experience.

Uh-huh.

Oh, no. Where I was like, oh, come on, why, why can't I get this figured out? But because I was actively thinking about it, how can I get this figured out? I also use that, of course, when I teach people. So let me just check that I'm not losing my, my track of thought here. Yeah. What's difficult for the most people is also finding that baseline of not doing. A lot. Yeah. And this is, this is challenging depending on what kind of culture you're from, what kind of personality you are.

Control freaks.

Yeah. Yeah. And, um, and, and also your life experience. Yeah. So when, when I, when I kind of look at my own development, I'm, I was raised in working hard. Yeah. And, um, And then I also embrace that. And certainly in a, in a lot of places it works, but not on the horse. Yeah. So what I teach is, and what I also do for myself, is really to kind of cool everything down. You see that a lot in riding because people have been taught you have to drive every step.

Mm-hmm.

So you see people that are moving every single step, but that also means that the horses have to balance us out. In order to, to find that ease in forward with us doing all kinds of weird things. And so this is something that I try and give students some handle on. And once they, they start realizing, oh my God, I can tone everything down, you know, you, you find an internal space.

Mm-hmm.

And that space feels really good. And that is the space that the horse really likes, because then the horse can be himself, herself, and we're not constantly interfering, but we're, we're starting to really have a conversation. And that means I'm, I'm saying something, but I'm also listening, and I'm— Marcela too then waits for the answer. So, Yeah. So that's a path out of this doing, doing into being. Yeah. And I, I do think it's a human desire to, to experience this being part, because sometimes life is hard and there's a lot of doing.

Absolutely. And I think not just for writing, but I think in general. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I mean, when you talk to runners, you know, they run. And then they find that flow. And, and, or other people, if they do something they love to do, or music, of course.

Yeah.

I think humans always strive for that flow. And in writing, you certainly can get it. And once it happens, it's like, oh my God, this is it.

Magic.

So that's the magic. So if you want to, I have a few ideas for you that you can, next time you're with your horse, you can try out a little bit. And certainly you can beforehand start thinking about, okay, what type of rider am I? Am I the active person? Is it easy for me to tone down? Or other way, do I have to get to a place where I'm a little bit more active, which is more a mental activity? And a strength, an internal strength that then gets into the seed and into the aids. So my experiment. And first of all, in order to, to do something like that, it's really important to have a safe space. What I mean with that is that if you're trying something out that's different than what you've done with your writing before, You really need to do it in a place where you don't have the onlookers, the ones that know everything better, or the ones that like to comment on what other people are doing. So it is really, I think, important because you want to feel. And so for that you have to have a safe space. So either outdoors where nobody is watching, or when the arena is quiet, or if you have a nice riding community. Now, maybe then you all try it out together. For some horses, what I'm going to tell you to do, you might actually want somebody that leads the horse. Yeah, it always depends on the horse. If you're doing funny stuff there, that they're not getting worried.

Right.

So that is important too. And yeah, so if you have somebody, a good friend or something, that leads the horse, actually it's anyway a good exercise because then you have a chance to get back into this happy childhood mode. You know, when— because a lot of us were serious about our riding, my own experience too, and then at some point something happened as soon as I got on the horse. It was very serious.

Yeah.

And, um, and that takes away some of the relaxation that if you have a sensitive horse— and actually all horses are sensitive, some compensate better than others, but still, you know, they like sensitive. So if you want to get there, you really also have to combine that with that childlike thing of Oh, I'm sitting on a horse and look at the trees. And, and how wonderful is that? Yeah. If you watch kids, they, they sit upright. They don't do anything with their legs. They're just easily going with the movement of the horse.

Yeah.

For some of us, we have to kind of refine that.

I love that. Yep. Yep.

So find that That child's fascination with, oh my God, I'm sitting on a horse. Yeah, how wonderful is that? And what I then would like you to try out. First of all, legs hang. Act as if you don't have any. Act as if you don't know any leg aids. Yeah, then find the middle. I do that with my students in a way all the time, and the find the middle would be. that you actually, when you sit on your horse, that you kind of go one way. Then you notice, you know, for me now I'm sitting more on the right half of my butt. Then I go over, then I'm sitting more on the left, and then you can easily go back and forth until you're really sitting square on your butt. What helps, and you don't need a friend that's a riding expert, but just somebody that looks from behind. Are you sitting in the middle of the saddle? Of course, the horses are also not always letting us sit in the middle since they have their imbalances. But if you have somebody that can walk behind you that can say, hey, this is the middle, and I swear, I mean, I've gone through that process. For some of you, the middle will feel, oh my God, I feel a little off. Yeah, because if you have your own horse, they tend to have like one leg that's— I call it a little bit Posty. Yeah, where they are a little bit more stiff, so they kind of push you over a little bit, and then your body gets the information. And if you're not watching out for it, then off the middle is the middle. So finding the middle, left, right, and then seeing what it feels like. Still not riding, we're just being on the horse. And then basically finding, finding the middle. Front, back. Yeah. Again, you know, you can do that even in standing if the horse would get nervous otherwise. Yeah. Where you stabilize your upper body and then you would go forward until— you can try it out on a chair beforehand— until you're sort of sitting on your pubic bone. You don't want to go there. Yeah. But that's one extreme. Then stabilize your upper body. You go back until you're really sitting on your seat bones. I call that the water skiing seat that unfortunately is still sometimes used, like with big moving horses where people can't compensate softly. And so they're basically sitting back, often then holding the reins up.

Oh, water skiing. I get it now because you do have to lean back. Okay. Right.

Yeah, right. And so you don't want that either. And then you can, from those extremes, yeah, you can also make, make the back and forth smaller until you have a middle. That part is interesting for a lot of people that have been used to sitting on their seat bones all the time. Yeah, depending on the level of education of the horse, you do use your seat bones occasionally. However, a lot of horses Nowadays we've got a lot of different breeds and all, and we've got horses that are not that strong as, for example, some of the old-fashioned warmbloods. And a lot of Iberians are a little bit more soft in the back. And so you really want to find that middle part where you're not with your complete weight on your seat bones. In fact, my students even know when, for example, they take a turn and the horse has a difficult time, I say, okay, pull that seat bone a little bit up. inside your body when you, when you take that turn to give a little bit space for the horse and for the horse to feel, oh, I can carry you. Later on, you don't need that anymore. So that might be for some of you also a new middle. And then the important part there is, and this is why it's so important, because with that middle between pubic area and seat bones, you can find a much more refined sense of where your center of gravity is, because it's somewhere a little bit below where the belt line would be. It is a little bit behind the navel and a little bit closer to your spine. So over time, you can develop a sense where it is. You can do that in standing off the horse too. And Once you have that and you have what I call a neutral pelvis, then you can start organizing your entire spine in such a way that you follow your natural curvature of the spine. A lot of us have too much tension, like, you know, opening up here too much. Yeah. Or falling forward. All of that That does something to our spine. And of course, you know, I'm, I'm in at the age now where I'm like, I want to keep writing for a long time to come. Yeah. And I'm at the age now where I'm like, yeah, and I need to really keep my spine and my back healthy in order to do that. Not a thought that one has as a 20 or 30-year-old. So the interesting part is that if, if it's good for your spine, it's good for the horse's spine because we have basically 2 life centers that are closely intertwined. So if you end up trying this out or if you have questions, feel free to contact me. You know, we, we have contact at the end of this. So, um, when you then found that neutral— yeah, and the neutral can always be refined— but once you found it, then I will ask you without legs to walk the horse on. You can help yourself with a little bit of voice, but simply to do the walking on of the horse Only by shifting your center of gravity a centimeter forward. If you, if you have a kind of like, how, what, stand on your 2 legs, like when you're talking to somebody, and then slow motion observe what your body does before you start walking, because that's the same thing with which you ride on, on the horse. A lot of people are doing a big push. Not necessary. Yeah, I keep— I just this weekend I had a clinic with new students and I did that with all of them, and I've done it with a lot of people in the meantime and their horses, and there's no horse, not even a big heavy coldblood, that did not realize what's going on the third try. The first try, a lot of horses that are used to a lot of input, they're Yeah, and then you, you kind of see, you know, they're thinking this thing. And then I say, relax, to the rider. Do it again and use a little bit of voice. Yeah, like, walk on. And then the horse goes, okay. Yeah. And then when they do it the 3rd time, it's smoothly. Yeah.

Nice.

And this is such a simple little thing, but it's one of those steps that you can take to really get to this that we're all aspiring to, riding with fine aids. Yeah. And then if you want to continue this experience, your horse is walking long rein, your legs are hanging. Some of you might struggle with that, so be kind if, if you struggle with letting the legs just hang. I've got more tips on that, but that would go too far. And then let your horse walk And then feel how your hips are being moved from the horse's hind legs. And then you can experiment. You can kind of let your hips move, and then you say, oh, okay, hips don't lie. You do bigger walk with the hips and see if your horse follows. You do smaller steps with the horse, see if your horse follows. They will. And then you can try Um, even with no reins, to make the movement smaller, smaller, smaller. Breathe out, stop moving the hips, and see if your horse says, hmm, I think she wants me to halt.

Yeah.

Um, of course that can be refined with more aids, but this is, this is just something that, um, my goodness, it's so central, and I've never learned that. Nobody taught me that. And as I, you know, studied seeds and all of that more, I got into those kinds of things. And I like it that way. And the horses do too. So.

What I like about it, it's, it may not be easy, but it's simple. And once you kind of like, we want to overdo things, we want to overthink things, you know, because it can be so complicated and can be But if we just take it back to ground zero and level 1, it can be so— and it's beautiful because it's with ease and with joy. And that's where that heart-centered comes from, right? It's not that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And once, once it's, it's in here, it is easier than a lot of other efforts. And the other thing is too, I mean, we're 2-legged creatures, then we're sitting on a horse. So But the logic of how we move our bodies on our 2 legs is not that different because then we have the pelvis, we're, we're with that on the horse, and the hind legs of the horse are substituting our legs. So on that level, um, I always say it's no rocket science. Everybody can learn it, um, you, and, and try it out. You don't have to be a super sportive person because it's simple. Right. And then, yeah, yeah.

Simplicity is, is a beautiful thing, right? And, um, so just talk for a couple minutes, Marcela, because you said this so eloquently, and I touched on it earlier, um, well, when we talked the other day, um, you know, basically everybody— or not everybody, but a lot of trainers say everything in riding is in the But then that forced seat is, you know, what oftentimes I see is taught. I mean, you know, heels down and this and that.

Yeah.

How, like, when you teach, do you, do you teach a lot with visualization? Do you teach a lot? Do you, do you? Because it's hard to teach feel, right? Like, do you have tools around How you teach that way, if that makes sense what I'm saying?

Um, I, when I teach riders on their horses, yeah, um, I, I teach with, um, all sorts of approaches because, um, a lot of people work well with visual— visualization.

Yeah.

Um, but, and I use images, whichever comes to mind. But what's interesting is that not every image works for every person. So in a way, it's trial and error, um, how I try to do it. Or I teach feel, for example, feel, um, you know, what do you feel under your butt? Where do you feel what? Yeah, because everybody, um, has different places where they feel more. So it's, it's kind of a conversation with the student.

With the students.

Yeah. And the thing with the seat is that when you get relaxation, or I often start, um, um, upper body, when somebody is very scrunched together, they can't even access that flow in the seat. So I, I do that very individually. Um, and when I teach, um, on my writing simulator, I also, um, do it very individually if somebody has, um, tension. Um, Where can I start, um, to, to get everything relaxed? That is individual. Everybody is different. Every person is individual.

It's different, and every horse is different, but not every Joker's Pluto is different. So talk to us a little bit about Joker's Pluto and how you implement him.

My dear Joker's Pluto. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is something, um, I don't even know how I had that idea, but, um, years ago I had this thought of Riding Simulator, Riding Simulator Studio, because I see a lot that is difficult for the horses. And, um, and where can you go and get lunch lessons?

Yeah.

And I remember taking lunch lessons as a younger person, but these were really— that those were horses, you know, they had backs like boards. I mean, you know, imagine me as a— learning to sit the trot. Um, nah. Yeah. Um, that was not easy for the horses. And if they had that as a job all the time, of course they only could tighten their back. But that way you don't learn to sit.

Right.

And you don't learn to feel. So the horses suffered. The people are not getting better. So the next generation horses suffer. It's just this never-ending thing. And, um, somehow I got this idea with the riding simulator. I researched this thing, um, different ones, and I settled for Joker's. Pluto is the barn name. Joker is the, um, the, the maker called it Joker. And, um, I just love this thing. I've been working with it now for 2 years. Yeah, 2 years only. And I said, I'm still discovering new things. It's a very simple writing simulator. It works purely kinesthetically. So there's no electronics involved, which is good for me. And it is my studio also. Safe space. I always find that important. Comfortable space. And this writing simulator, as a kinesthetic thing, gives every rider super direct feedback. So it has happened that I had people come in after an injury once they were released to, to ride again. And the body, of course, responds. Yeah, whenever there's an impact, it does stuff to protect itself. But that also means that then there are tensions. And the great thing with this riding simulator is that I sometimes start with just having the person sit on it, not doing anything. We talk. Yeah, we talk, we breathe, we relax. And because it's a kinesthetic one that works with springs, there is a certain vibration that the body gets. And that alone will already start releasing tensions and release muscles that are tightened up. And it will also release muscles inside. that are tightened up. And then of course there are certain exercises. If somebody is very tense, I often do some work with the shoulders or this or that. And yeah, in those courses, I'm doing them now together with a colleague. She adds a lot of hands-on magic. I, I always say it's magic with this whole thing. And we do the courses in such a way that people get on It's a flex chair, moving chair, and then Joker. And they do that twice. And the second time in the afternoon, people sit on Joker. Changes have happened.

That's amazing.

Yeah, I find that amazing because, yeah, this is the thing. Learning to ride in a weekend. No, you won't. But you can, you can get a real push. For a makeover in your seat, actually in one weekend. And this is—

I like that. A makeover in your seat in one weekend.

Yeah. Yeah. So, and it's really amazing. So far I had nobody that didn't take something out. And where also people give me then the feedback that, oh, my horse really liked it. Yeah. Where the horse, of course, realizes, oh, something is different. She's doing something different and they like it.

So, so, so basically students come to you for a couple of days or whatever, do your course, for lack of better terms, and then they take it to their horse and they give you feedback. I guess it's feedback from the horse through the rider. That's really cool. I love that.

Yeah. I always ask about the feedback because it's not about bouncing around on Pluto. It's really about what do you take from it to your horse. And the thing that makes it effective is because we're basically doing neurological patterning. Yeah. And, and that is the part that I find so fascinating. And people who, who've been to courses and who've been to sessions with Joker, the first time you sit on this thing 20 minutes and you're, you're done. Yeah, you need a break. Um, and that, that is because the neurological system is working very actively, um, which is good, but it's not the frontal cortex, you know, my intellectual person, but it's the stuff that I usually would have a more difficult time getting to.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, so we, we don't, in a way, don't have to understand what's happening, but the body gets, gets a new sense. So, for example, the sitting middle thing. Yeah. Also people after injuries or whatnot, or horses that are crooked. And if you ride your horse all the time, second time on Joker, the middle is there. And then because of neurological patterning, they can go back to their own horse and say, hey, I know what middle feels like.

Look.

Yeah. And then the horse can start working with it, and the horse gets their neurological—

Of course. And then they get their neurological reprogram. That's so cool. I love that. I never, I never really looked at it from that side. And, you know, here in full transparency, I have not experienced Joker yet, but I'm going to.

You will.

Because, and this is where I want to share with you Um, and Marcella, let me know if you can see my screen. I can see it. Um, we are going to take you to Marcella's studio, and you will be able to have 2 days. And I called it a boot camp for lack of better terms, but I kind of like the— what did you call it?

Writer's seat makeover.

Writer's seat makeover in 2 days. So you won't You will learn how to rhyme in the weekend.

That's it.

Wink wink. We are— when I say we, I am taking you to Marcella's studio from America to Germany. And Marcella's in the studio right now, and Joker is somewhere behind her. And we have room for 8 lucky eyes. Ah, there. There's a teaser. There we go. For eight lucky, I want to say ladies, but people because we also have some men. And we have been featured on rideeta.com. So here's also a website that you can look at, and it's going to be from the seventh through the sixteenth. So two days will be exclusive rider transformation. with Marcela, with Joker. And, um, yeah, yeah. And 2 trainers, 2 trainers. And, um, you know, Marcela just talked a little bit. Do you want to maybe just go a little bit into the— I mean, not 100%, but just a little bit of what they can expect in the 2 days? Is it like what you just talked about, or—

Yeah, yeah. So, um, a lot of basic stuff, um, and, um, the First day, people will be sitting exclusively on a riding pad. So no stirrups involved. Yeah. And so that kind of again breaks it down to the real basics. Yeah. And also to the necessity to just let the legs hang. And then we'll do basic stuff. We do also, yeah, individual, like everybody brings their body and their life history to that. And so we just kind of see where, where we can do what so that people get a, get a new feel for their body on Joker. Steffi is also a movement trainer, and so she's been, she's been, or she's going to do a few exercises, not things where you have to do extra workout in addition to everything else, because of course women And don't have that much time to, you know, do a lot of stuff on the side. That's always an issue. But reevaluating certain things we do every day, like walking, for example, like sitting on a chair, getting up on a chair, turning, you know, all these everyday movements, or bending over, picking stuff up. A lot of people have been taught to use their body in a way that's not conducive. And so we'll be doing some of those exercises, and that too will help you find that lightness in your own body. Yeah, I love it. It feels better. Yeah. And then it's basically, you can prepare your right after you're through with your day by just when you walk to do it a little bit more consciously. It then will become natural, or how you get down on your chair, how you get up on your chair. So you're basically contributing to your health just for you without the riding. And then you don't have the issue that after a day in the office you're like, oh my God, my back! And now I need to ride. Yeah. So, and yeah.

I love it.

We'll be doing some of that stuff. We'll be also, as needed, doing some mental health stuff. little training. Yeah, this is something that I'm big on. As you might suspect, I'm not the most calm person by nature, but, but the 2 horses I have now, um, they've been really educating me. And so, um, so this is also something that I'm observing with a lot of people and their horses, that the horses need a much more centered, quiet person than what we Usually can offer them after a hard day with a lot going on. Today's world is so busy and so hectic. And then we get some help in really having the barn when we go to the horses to have that really like, you know, that bubble of—

Bliss. Bliss.

That's why we all do it.

Exactly. I love it.

And the second day in the studio, um, we'll be looking probably also doing some work with the feet. Um, you will, you will feel your feet completely different after that. And then you get, um, onto Joker's Pluto with stirrups. Um, and then we add, um, stuff as needed. Um, so yeah, that you—

I love it.

That you have things that you can feel for once you're back home and on your real horse again.

So you'll get a deep dive into Joker's Pluto. And then of course you're not gonna— well, I shouldn't say of course, but it's a long ways to travel just for 2 days at Marcella's. And so we're also going to be visiting, um, Hohenzollern, which is, you know, a castle. We're also going to be going—

Let me interrupt you. Sandy put a trip together that is really Awesome. And it's a mix of Hohenzollern Castle because castles are really special for Germany, just, or Europe in general.

Absolutely.

Esslingen with the medieval center is there. What else? Marbach, the statestadt Marbach.

So, Sandy, you've just put together, you know, one highlight after And I think what's really going to be interesting too is going to the Stuttgart Reit- und Fahrverein, so the riding club. So Stuttgart is the town where you know the area and the region that we're going to be going to Baden-Württemberg, and Stuttgart is a rather a bigger city, and it has many many riding clubs. But we're going to be visiting the Stuttgart Reit- und Fahrverein, which is the riding and Driving club has two indoor arenas, has all kinds of you know um um you know disciplines that are ridden there. We are going to go to a Reiterklause, which is like a casino, not a casino, but like a restaurant that looks into one of the indoors, and we can watch some bolting going on. Marcella, you said right? We're gonna get a tour of the Stuttgart Radonfahrverein. I think so.

Yeah, I've talked to the lady, and I. I think for American visitors it is interesting because it's a whole different structure on how writing is organized.

Exactly, completely different. So it's super interesting. Yeah, we're also going to be— and I have to look at my cheat sheet here— we're also going to be going to, um, the Schloss Liechtenstein in Tübingen. Tübingen is another old university city.

Hang on, it's a little bit further It's a, it's a little castle on the Swabian Alb.

Right, but we're also going to Tübingen.

Yeah.

And Tübingen. So Liechtenstein is the castle that we're going to, and then we're gonna go, for those, for those of you who like to shop, um, haha, we are going to Lustau, and we are going to have a VIP trip to Lustau. What is Lustau? Lustau is Dover Saddlery on And as Marcella said, the location we're going to actually has a view to Hohenschönhausen.

Which is really cool. Yeah. You can go shopping and see the castle.

And it's so funny when I used to go, when, you know, years ago when my kids were little and we'd go to Germany, my first stop was always Lörrach. And Connor says, oh my gosh. He says, I remember sitting in the shopping cart because, yes, it has shopping carts at Lörrach. stuff in the front, and he was falling asleep while I was like trying on breeches and looking at halters and looking at bridles. And they also have the coolest dog collars and stuff. So, so we're gonna—

Fun stuff.

Fun stuff. So it's a really— it's a traditional horse, horsey and non-horsey. It's gonna be an amazing, amazing 10 days, 9 nights, 10 days. We have a beautiful location in Esslingen that we're gonna be staying at. And of course, of course, the highlight is going to be Joker, Marcella and Stephanie and Joker. So if, um, you are interested and you like what you heard, I'm just going to share my screen one more time. Um, you can go to euroquestriantravel.com. The whole itinerary is there, and, um, we have an inaugural special. You'll never get it at this price It was the the trip is four thousand eight hundred ninety-seven dollars for single and double occupancy four thousand five hundred ninety-seven dollars. But we're offering it to you because we're so excited to really bring this joker and everything else to America for really thirty-eight and thirty-six hundred dollars and bring a friend, right? Bring a friend, save a couple hundred bucks that you can spend at Lustau. And it's gonna be lots of laughs, lots of fun, lots of community. Oh, good food too. Oh, that region is so good. Spätzle und Schätz. Oh my gosh. So, you know, we really, really want to invite you and a friend to join us. And I have also put together a 6-week virtual journey throughout Germany. And if you decide you want to join us, you will be getting it for free. So that being said—

That's pretty cool. Yeah, uh-huh.

It's a great little course. It has— it goes through, um, all of Germany, different regions, horses from different regions, but it also has culinary, um, you know, highlights of that region. So it's, again, it's equestrian and non-equestrian. And, um, I just have become so passionate about this, this whole thing and linking arms with Marcella. We really have a beautiful product for you. And I hope it's something that you're interested in. And I'm just gonna— well, if you have questions, just send an email. We will send— and if you have questions for Marcella, her email.

Yep.

Her email, it was on the thing. I'll send you the recording. You can look at it again or reach out to me. I'll send you Marcella's email address. If you have specific questions for her and Joker, because those I cannot answer. Any other questions about the trip, I can answer. So whoever you need to talk to, and we would love, love, love to have you join us. And I'm so excited. So it's July 7th, July 7th through 16th. And so you'd have to leave America on the 6th because you'll get there on the 7th. The first day is just getting there, and then the next 2 days. I can't wait to experience Joker, um, because I haven't experienced him. Um, Marcella, anything that you want to say at the end to wrap it up?

I'm looking forward to doing this and having the group here and having fun. So that's the important part— learning in fun.

Absolutely. That's exactly so. Thank you so much for joining us, everybody, and, um, hope to see you in Stuttgart.

All right, bye-bye.