Dear Rita,

It’s Friday afternoon in Vechta, Germany, and I have just completed a most unusual activity in my daily routine—shoveling snow—which is a distant, more strenuous cousin to sweeping the aisle. All German riding instructors will, at some time or another, use the following quip when handing you a broom: “Learn riding through sweeping.” This is a quip, by the way, not a joke. Germans do not joke about learning riding.