Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day on this side of the Atlantic.  What a nice day I've had!  It started with a Skype Breakfast in Bed with my daughters... they had set their Dad up to bring me breakfast in bed along with the iPad so they could Skype me - how sweet is that?  After a lovely chat & lie-in, with hyper-terriers curled up beside me in non-hyper mode, it was time to haul myself out of bed...

It was a beautiful warm spring day and we decided to walk up to Reillanne market with the hyper-terriers.  There are lots of teeny-tiny flowers starting to appear everywhere - I think we are going to have a very verdant spring here after all the rain we've had, it should make for some nice photos.

After lunch (potato and jalapeno soup YUM, my favourite!) we went up to see the horses and gave them both a good scrub for a photo shoot.  Aero is moulting like mad, Flurry not so much, but it won't be long before he joins in as well.  Sneak preview of the photo shoot :

You'll find out more about this during the week!

Cinnamon had a go at horse-riding.  She had read the book and she knew that she should first introduce herself to the horse :

(by the way this is NOT my gobsmacked face)

Well, actually, it was more like Flurry saying :

HELLO!  YOU'RE VERY SMALL! CAN I EAT YOU?

and yeah, she snapped at him right after this photo.  He'll know not to try eating Small Brown Dog paw again...

Once I put her on his back, she was surprisingly not too petrified.

and I was even able to step away from her

I suspect if I was sitting on Flurry as well she'd be quite comfy, snuggled into me. I don't know that she'll ever match Frances Taylor's BeAnneDuvet, though!

After fun & games with the horses, we came home to find dinner had dried out, but fortunately it hadn't actually reached cremation point yet, so once I chucked a bit of hot water into it, it kind of reconstituted itself - duck cassoulet with lentils (and a glass of white wine..... ahhhh).

The weather has turned a corner and I reckon Spring is just a breath away.  No more excuses, it's time to get my saggy butt back in the saddle.  It WILL happen this week, and keep happening thereafter.

For those who have been waiting with bated breath (all two of you) here is The Gobsmacked Face :

Poor Aero thought I was going to assault him and ducked.  Bless.

(all photos in this post are courtesy of The LSH)

A Big Day

Today was a Big Day for me.

I'm sure there's lots of people out there who will go "Huh?" and plenty more who will go "What a wuss!" but for me, it was a milestone.

See that?

Dark bay ears... hacking out alone... with me on top!

Chips (pronounced Sheeps, not Tchips) came with us, which I wasn't to happy about initially, but it turned out Aero looked on her as a companion, not a predator.

We had a mostly uneventful forty minute hack.  The bit that was not Mostly Uneventful was when two big black dogs came charging at us, barking ferociously.  Fortunately, Chips turned out to be a useful decoy and she distracted them while Aero and I made our escape.  We were both a bit worried about her for a while, but she reappeared eventually (unscathed).

Aero was a bit lazy heading out and a bit turbo-charged heading home, but the feeling of tension throughout his body that was apparent even when walking in hand three months ago is gone.

This week has been great with both horses, I had a really good arena session with Aero on Monday where I felt like I was actually getting somewhere with him, followed by another good session with Flurry on Tuesday (after I chipped all the muck off him!)

I'm not sure if I'll get to ride on Thursday (Cinny has to go to the Vet) or Friday (the farrier is coming) but even if I don't, it's been a good week.

Go Aero!

A Little Horse Update

I have a confession to make.

Between the weather being less than ideal, a host of deadly sheep surrounding the arena, and the threat of marauding wolves in the forest, I've been a bit of a wimp for the last two weeks.  Call it SAD, January Blues, Le Cafard, missing my buddy MC, or whatever you like, but I've been in a bit of a funk, finding it hard even to get the dogs out for a decent walk.  I did manage to take Flurry out for a hack the week before last but it was bluddy freezing and my hands and feet were completely numb by the time I got back. Not to say I didn't enjoy it - it's always nice tramping through the woods with my little Flurry, but it just didn't leave me champing at the bit to get out again any time soon.

After the heavy rain last weekend, everything was plastered in mud for the first half of this week (including the horses!) and it was still c-o-o-o-o-l-d!

Muddy Ponies!

But by last Thursday, I'd given myself a figurative kick up the bum and convinced myself to get back in the saddle.  I took Flurry into the arena for half an hour, he was lazy but obedient, and I felt a bit better for doing it.

On Friday, I did the same with Aero, with my usual caution when dealing with him!  I tacked him up, took him up to the arena and led him around on either rein.  The sheep seemed to be gone and he was quite relaxed, but just as I was leading him towards the mounting block, his head shot up, ears pricked.  I looked back towards the gate, and there was one of the other liveries, with her horse on a lead.

I've met her a few times, but she doesn't seem to ride - she turns the horse out in the arena, he rolls and goes ballistic for ten minutes or so and then she take him back to his paddock.  We talked for a moment, and she asked if it would disturb me if she let the horse loose in the round pen.  I told her to go ahead, and I'd mount Aero if he was calm once her boy had blown off steam...

Well, Aero could have cared less!  He completely ignored the other horse's antics, so I mounted and we worked away.  He was calm, attentive, obedient - what more could I want?

Very happy (possibly even ecstatic), I finished up after about forty minutes and had a nice chat with the other lady who was now giving her Boy a pick of grass.  We swapped numbers and she is hoping to hack out with me & Mr Safety Flurry in the next week or two (her Boy is a bit of a scaredy cat and doesn't like to go out on his own).

Buoyed up by Thursday & Friday's rides, the plan for Saturday was to walk the dogs in the morning and go for a trek with the LSH in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, the dog walk turned out to be twice as long as planned and I was wrecked afterwards - in no shape to ride!  So on Sunday, we made sure the dogs only got a short walk and took the boys out for a hack in the early afternoon.

It was one of those uneventful hacks - we were out for an hour, the weather was ok, Aero led, Flurry led, we walked, we trotted, we weaved in and out of trees, they were both great, there's not much more to say, really.

I am, however, going to order a pair of hind boots for Flurry.  Both horses are suffering with the wet conditions (it is MUCH MUCH wetter than it was here last year), their frogs seem to be shrinking before my eyes and becoming more tatty looking every day.  Flurry seems just a little tender on his hind feet, and I think in order for us to be able to tackle 3 hour+ treks with a clear conscience, I will have to boot him on all four feet, for the moment anyway.

Off to the on-line boot shop I go!

Stable Horses

I did very little with the horses last week - just one gentle arena session each.  The LSH and I planned a long hack on Saturday, but we reduced our initial plan from "a three hour hack" to "a picnic hack" (of undefined length).

The weather has cooled down quite a bit since last week, but both horses were still relaxed and content as we groomed and tacked up, so it's not the warm weather last week that had them so chilled out.

We went a route that I've done part of with Flurry but Aero has never seen before.  Guess who led?  Yup, Aero!  He was alert and interested in everything, but relaxed and happy the whole time, striding out on the buckle end of the rein.  Flurry and the LSH followed along behind us, with Flurry (who is barefoot behind and booted in front) taking the odd detour to avoid particularly rocky stretches.  He has become quite clever about picking out an easy path on rocky ground - to some it might seem like meandering, but if you watch what he is doing, he is avoiding rough, stony ground as much as possible.
Through Reillanne forest at EveryTrail
At the first scenic spot we passed, Flurry very purposefully left the track and strode over to the top of the ridge to admire the view.  The LSH is becoming used to his little quirks (Flurry loves to stop and admire the view), and allowed him to do what he wanted, so Aero and I turned back and joined them at the edge of the cliff.  The valley stretched out below us, with the Luberon in the distance to the left, the village of Viens and the Mont de Vaucluse straight in front, with Mont Ventoux just peeping over its shoulder on the right.  Aero stood beside Flurry as they both stared into the distance, then he turned his head around and nudged my left foot.  I scratched his neck, rubbed his ears and pointed at Ventoux - "See that, Aero?  One day we're going to do that!"  We all looked at the view for another moment or two, then we turned and made our way back to the track.

"So can you ride all the way to the top of Ventoux?" the LSH asked.

"I'm not sure," I replied "But it's definitely a walking route.  It'd be rough going near the top but probably doable..."

We carried on to the next viewing point at Reclapous, where once again, both horses (and their riders) stopped and drank in the view.  There was a heavily mustachioed Frenchman there, standing beside a QatQat (my spelling, not correct, but it means a 4X4 vehicle!) twiddling with the dials on a piece of electrical equipment which had a big aerial.  He looked up and greeted us cheerfully.

"Bonjour Monsieur, vous chassez un chien?" I replied with a grin (you're hunting a dog?)

"Mais oui," he responded ruefully.

Gosh I wish I had one of those tracking things for Cookie, I thought, but my language skills definitely don't extend far enough to get the ironic nuances across, nor could I engage in a conversation about our naughty wannabe cat/chicken/rabbit/mole murderess.

We looked at the view for a few minutes and then continued down the hill along a path towards the car park.  This was familiar territory for me, I've walked here with the dogs loads of times, and I knew that the easiest route for the horses was to leave the roadway and follow a path through the woods.  Flurry took the lead for a while, marching along determinedly, weaving through the trees as he followed the path.  The LSH is really starting to trust him, he just sat there, ducking branches as necessary, and letting Flurry find his way.

"He's great to follow the path," he said.

I just smiled... that's Flurry!  Drop the reins and he'll pick his way along whatever route you point him at!

Aero, meanwhile, was quite content to follow behind Flurry's fuzzy dun bottom.  Again, I felt he was alert and interested in all that was going on around him, but there was no tension whatsoever in his body.  I sat and enjoyed the ride, and found myself with an idiotic grin on my face as we marched along - the same face-splitting grin I wore on most of Le Big Trek!

We passed two dirt-bikes between Reclapous and the car-park.  The first one had plenty of space and motored past us cautiously, but we met the second on a narrow stretch.  He stopped and turned his engine off.  When I thanked him, he replied "C'est normal" - if only all other trail users were so polite!

Eventually we came to a spot we deemed suitable for our picnic and dismounted.  I removed Aero's bit and allowed him to graze.  Unlike the time I went to the river with MC, when he never really settled during our picnic, he put his head down and cropped the grass with single-minded determination, apart from an initial half-hearted attempt to share my ham and cheese baguette.

Flurry was being a bit of a pain, he wanted to eat the LSH's baguette, drink his water, try the packet of cashew nuts... anything except eat grass, basically.

We remounted and made our way home.  Both horses were calm, settled, contented - I think "stable" is the word I'm looking for!

This is all I have wanted for Aero, that he would be relaxed and confident in his new environment and enjoying his new rôle.  I feel that he has really and truly turned a corner.  Suddenly anything is possible.

The maps are out...

Who is this horse and what has he done with Aero?

Who is this horse nuzzling the muzzle of the demonic-horse-eating-sometimes-invisible-killer-death-donkey-from-hell?

What on earth happened?  Suddenly, the Killer-Death-Donkey-From-Hell is not scary!

Today, Aero and I did about half an hour in the arena in walk, trot and canter.  Initially, he spooked at some barrels at the side of the arena, but his spookiness felt different somehow - it didn't feel like I was sitting on an unexploded bomb, it just felt like he needed to check the barrels out before he could be sure it was safe to pass them, and once he'd had a look at them he was fine.

After he decided that the barrels were ok, he was calm, sensible and a even little lazy in the arena.... quite a lot like Flurry, actually.

Amazingly, I didn't feel like a beginner, struggling to cope with his big, bouncy trot - in fact I even did a couple of steps in sitting trot from time to time.  Is he more supple in the back (and therefore easier to ride), or was he just pootling around in a teeny-weeny trot the whole time?

Although it was a very gentle session, he worked really well, bending equally in both directions, stretching down beautifully into the contact when we did Long'n'Low and he finished up with a nice little bit of foam around his mouth :

A closer look at his "white lipstick!"

I'm beginning to think the osteopath has a lot to do with this... or maybe, as Allison said on my last post, it's a combination of everything - he's settled more, he needed a break and the weather is nice and mild.  Who knows!

I kept the session short because I was so happy with him, but we practised leg-yielding in walk and did a few walk/canter transitions just for fun, as well as walk and trot circles & turns.

This is more like the horse I've known and watched for the past thirteen years!

New Improved Aero?

Why do I always end up with the filthy horse?  Usually it's Flurry who has plastered himself in muck, but today it was Aero.

He even made sure he got it all over his face, too.

Not only did I have the dirtiest horse, but I also had to fit twice as many hoofboots as the LSH... moan... grumble... but eventually I was ready and we set off, walking through the lavender field across the road from the farm.  Our plan was to do this loop :

heading towards Reillanne following a footpath and then coming back up through the woods and fields - about 5.5km.

Aero's happy ears in front!

The New, Improved, Aero led almost the whole way.  Apart from one "SQUIRREL!!" moment early on (I think it really was a squirrel, it was light brown and had a long bushy tail) he was foot-perfect.  He was interested and looking around, but the underlying tension I'd been feeling in his body in October and November is gone.  Has he settled in?  Recovered from the trauma of the long journey?  Decided that he likes being a trekking horse?  Was his back sore and the osteopath fixed it?  Did he need a break?  Or is he just feeling ultra-mellow because of the warm weather?  Time will tell... but for now, I'm enjoying it!

Flurry settled into riding-school "follower" mode behind Aero, so the LSH got lots of photos of Aero's bum.

Believe me, there's loads more but they get a bit boring!  

Then the LSH wanted us to turn around and face him for a posed one, which is harder than it might seem... Aero trots away from Flurry.  Flurry speeds up.  The LSH slows him down.  Flurry shakes his head and snatches at the bit.  The LSH nearly drops his camera.  I stop Aero and turn him around.  He poses beautifully for precisely one second and then decides that he wants to rejoin Flurry.  I correct him.  He pokes his head out, makes faces and fidgets.  Meanwhile, Flurry continues to try to creep forward, ruining the LSH's focus.  Eventually we both say "Ah fekkit, that'll do."  

Yes, it's a little out of focus.  Blame Flurry.

This was the same route that I covered in Show me the Way to go Home and I was still a little uncertain about the start of the second half of the trail.  There are acres and acres of featureless oak woods, criss-crossed with tracks and trails of various sizes, many of which just peter out, and all of which look similar.

The scrub oak woods

We put Flurry in front to find our trail, and despite the fact that we both know he's good at finding his way, I have to confess that, once again, we doubted him, saying that "worst case, we make our way to the road and follow it home."  Eventually I recognised the place where the track Flurry was following veered off to the right and Flurry most emphatically veered off to the left.  We are now calling him "our little homing pigeon."  

No, LSH, not that way!

We passed close by some hunters at one stage, we heard gunshots from some distance away and then saw a large black dog at the far end of a field, and then further on we could hear a clochette ringing nearby - hunters put bells on their dogs so that they can track them.  We talked extra-loudly, just to be sure they wouldn't think we were deer.

When we got to the top of the last ascent near the farm, we dismounted and let the horses graze.  We also removed their bits - it's easy to do with the Micklem bridle, and it's something I want to get into the habit of doing when they are given permission to graze.  I got lazy and sat on a log, and Aero was checking me out for carrots rather than grazing at first, but he got the idea eventually!

Carrots??

After about ten minutes, we carried on home.

I spent some quality time with Flurry, brushing the sweat patches off his face,

Aww, no mum, not behind my ears!

**smooch** well alright so...

but only if you brush my 'tache as well!

Afterwards, we visited our local hostelry and enjoyed a couple of these in the sun!

2013 is looking pretty good so far.

Back to Horses

The horses, I hear you shout, what about the horses??   We're back in Provence five days now and I haven't mentioned the horses, in fact it is (GASP!) THIRTY-SIX DAYS since I did a proper horse post and in fact it's just as long since either Flurry or Aero were ridden.

Before I talk about my beloved equine quadrupeds, I must mention jetlag.  In my youth, I shrugged off jetlag as being like "A couple of all-nighters."  If only it was so simple now.

I was shagged when we got to California.  My stomach was in bits and I couldn't sleep, but in the excitement of it all, I kept going.  There were a couple of mornings when I looked in the mirror and thought "jeez, I look like death warmed over" but family and the festive season helped me over the worst of it.

Jetlag is always worse in the other direction.  We've been waking up at 2, 3, or 4 am since we got back, unable to get back to sleep (him) until 6 or 7 am (me).  I've visited the horses every day but had no energy for anything other than picking out their feet and grooming.

Even grooming was a bit much for me - both horses were plastered in mud, sporting dreadlocks and dags throughout their manes, tails and extra-long coats.  Every day, I chipped off another layer, and every day they did their best to replace what I had removed.  The plan was to hack out on Saturday, and to be fair, by Saturday morning, they were reasonably clean - my hard work was worth it!

The weather was glorious - about 15C, with the sun shining non-stop.  We decided to do one of the easy, one-hour routes that we all know well, heading across the road, through the woods towards the Couvent de Notre Dame, then back up, crossing the road again and looping around at the back of the farm.  

Coming back up towards the road from the Couvent de Notre Dame

Bearing in mind that Aero is probably more horse than I need at the age of fifty, was I nervous about riding him again for the first time in ages?  I actually can't remember when I rode him last, I'm sure I rode him since the osteopath visited, but I didn't mention it in the blog so I can't be precise about when, where or for how long.  Anyway, no, I wasn't nervous - if Aero is going to be silly (nervous/tense/jumpy/excited) then it won't make any difference whether he was ridden the day before or three months before, he'll get wound up no matter what.  Before we set off, I said that if he was getting silly, then I would just lead him the whole way around, but both boys were so relaxed with the warm weather that I was pretty sure it wouldn't come to that.

I was right (I love it when I can say that!!), they were both very relaxed but very happy to be going out and doing things.  Flurry led most of the way, but Aero went in front a couple of times with no issues whatsoever.  We had a perfect First Hack of the New Year, and we agreed that if all our hacks are like this in 2013 we'll... ehhh... be complaining of boredom!!

Approaching the back of the farm,
with the snow-covered Alps in the distance

My camera is having battery issues at the moment so the LSH was on photography duty. You can probably tell from the improved quality!

Looking back to the Alps through the forest

Me & Aero posing with the Montagne de Lure in the background

We did the serious French trekker thing of leading the horses at the beginning and at the end of the ride.  It does make sense, it surely helps them warm up and cool down properly, but it also gave us a chance to ease out our tired and cramping legs after an hour's riding.

After riding, we came home, had a quick lunch (a glass of 7Up and a banana!!) and went out again to the Montagne de Lure.  We've been threatening to go there for the last three months to try to catch a view of the Alps bathed in the evening sun.  We were surprised to find that there's a ski station near the top - it seems to be a very easy, family oriented slope, with lots of kids and learners around.  We went for a short walk with the dogs.  Cookie was crazy in the snow, rolling and wriggling in it to her heart's content.  We found it tougher walking in the snow than the dogs, and turned around after about fifteen minutes.  Unfortunately, we never got the amazing view of the Alps that the LSH is looking for, the road was closed after the Ski Station and the view eastwards was blocked by the mountain's peak.  We'll have to try again, using an approach road on the eastern side of the mountain.

We drove home in the middle of a superb sunset, so much so that the LSH parked at the side of the road, leaped out of the car and snapped this lovely shot of the nearby village of Lincel.

It's good to be back.

Aero's Diary - The Osteopath's Visit

Monday
I had my first riding lesson in French!  It worked out ok... I learned a few new phrases and promptly forgot most of them, but I'm sure some of them will eventually sink in and lodge in my brain.

I did my usual cautious thing of leading Aero around once in each direction, but he was very calm and placid - tired after all his trekking over the weekend, I'd say.  I mounted and then we stood for a while, as I went over the things we are struggling with with Alexandrine.  It was interesting, that at the end of the lesson she remarked that he was tense as soon as I sat on him, but as we stood there and talked, he relaxed more and more... a point to remember, perhaps.

Before we got moving, we practised flexion to each side, with Alexandrine reminding me to release the rein when I get a response.  Once we started walking around the arena, I continued flexing him, to the inside down the long side as we went straight, and then turning a 10M circle at the corner.  The next step was to turn a 10M circle using just the outside leg to move the shoulders, and use rein only if I needed to.  All of this went well, and we progressed to leg yielding, so Alexandrine could see the issues I was having.

The first issue was that Aero's rider was a bit thick - I made a stupid approach to the long side which started us off crooked before we ever tried to go sideways.  Once she corrected my approach, we did a sort of jerky, stop/start leg yield from the quarter line outwards.  To improve things, we started leg-yielding along the fence-line, with a stop half-way along and a reward if he gave a couple of good steps.  We also started throwing in a bit of trot work from time to time, just to keep Aero thinking "forwards."  The fence-line leg yielding got quite good, and we finished up with a lovely, stretchy, over-the-back trot - best I've felt from him yet!  I think that the leg-yielding (when properly performed!) had loosened up his hocks & hips, resulting in the much freer movement.

Points I have to remember : RELEASE when I get a response.  Can I please have it engraved on my corneas so I can see it all the time?  No?

Tuesday & Wednesday
Aero had a day off on Tuesday, while I rode Flurry to Reillanne and back, then on Wednesday we had our big, long, exciting picnic ride to the river - but there's no point in rehashing that!

Thursday
I gave Aero another day off (he deserved it) and rode Flurry in the arena, trying out the Micklem bridle in its "Bitless" configuration for the first time.  I think the Bitless progression will merit a post of its own, so more on that later.

Friday
This was the day the Osteopath was coming to see Aero.  I rode Flurry part of the way down to Reillanne with MC, she was taking Quieto home for a couple of days.  I did a nice loop, going down one way and back another - it took a little over an hour and was very pleasant.  Flurry was in lazy mode.

The Osteopath duly arrived.  She was young, petite and slim - she reminded me of the YD a bit - and she was accompanied by two cute and well-behaved Jack Russell terriers!  They busied themselves checking everything out while she and checked Aero over.  Sure enough, he had some stuff going on.  Now I'm feeling guilty I didn't get her out sooner.

His sacrum was tilted, up on the left and down on the right, we are assuming this was caused by leaning against the ramp of the truck for hours and hours while travelling from Ireland to France.  This crookedness in his sacrum was causing him to over-push with the left hind, and compensate for this by throwing out his right shoulder, which manifested itself as the reluctance to bend right that I could feel.  Everything else she found was linked to the sacral issue.  There were three lumbar vertebrae out of line - this was the warm and slightly tender spot I could feel behind the saddle.  His withers was also "stuck," three cervical vertebrae were out of line and he had a lot of tension around his poll, which was caused by the other misalignments.

He has to have two days off, followed by a gentle lunge (that might turn out to be a walk in hand!) followed by a day when he's only ridden in walk and trot, on the arena or out on the trail.  After that, it's back to normal work, but I am to let her know how he's getting on and he may need another visit.

Poor Aero!  I hope this treatment makes him feel better and better!

My Superstar Trekker!

On Tuesday, I had a very nice and completely uneventful trek with Flurry.  I rode down to Reillanne, met up with MC, Quieto and Doug the Dog and we rode back to the Farm via a different route.  Oh, wait, I saw my first sanglier(wild boar) - that was an event!  Doug chased it through the woods beside us.  All I saw was a large, dark creature running ahead of Doug - Flurry was mildly curious but not particularly alarmed and we continued on our merry way.

MC suggested a picnic trek for Wednesday - about one and a half hours each way plus picnic time at a nearby river.  I thought for a while... would I bring Flurry and have a nice, relaxed ride, or bring Aero and face the unknown?  

Flurry had done a good three hours on Tuesday on top of three hours on Sunday, I felt he deserved an easy day after that, and Aero had had Tuesday off and really needs to be exposed to as much trekking as possible, so the decision was pretty straightforward - Aero it was.

We both arrived at the farm at about ten, tacked up and set off, leading the horses, as is now the norm.  After a short distance, we mounted and continued.  Guess who led the way?

Happy Ears, leading the way!

Apologies for the blurry photo, but I had to share the "Aero's Happy Ears" picture!  He was calm, attentive, not at all jumpy, and what is most important to me, he was happy, striding out confidently and enjoying the scenery.  He led the way until we turned off the trail he knew and headed into unknown territory.  After that, he wasn't balky or spooky, but he was a little more tense, so Quieto took over the lead and he followed along easily.

After a very pleasant trek through the ubiquitous oakwoods, we finally arrived at the  river Largue, let the horses have a paddle and then settled down to eat our picnic.

The river Largue

MC tied Quieto up, but I wasn't confident enough in Aero to tie him up - I held him the whole time. 

MC, Doug and Quieto

He didn't really "get" the whole picnic idea, and never settled to graze contentedly like Flurry would have - he was constantly on the move, circling around me at the end of the lead rope, picking at the grass for a moment or two and then wandering off again in a new circle.

Ok, I'll graze for five seconds before I wander again...

I gave him the pieces of chopped carrot I'd brought him, but he still wanted my water, my sandwich, my cereal bar... I kept telling him that his picnic food was all around but he didn't really believe me!

When the time came to tack up again for the return journey, I tied him up to a tree so I would have both hands free.  He stood absolutely fine as I went to and fro picking up his gear - next time I will tie him up but stay nearby while I eat.

We came home via a different route, and this was where it got interesting.  The first issue was three baying hounds as we rode through a farmyard - Aero looked, but, actually, the hounds were no problem.

Then we met a tractor, carrying a load of wood down from the forest on the narrow pathway.  Again, no problem, we ducked into the trees and avoided it.

The path got fainter and fainter, until it became clear that we were following a sheep trail through the forest.  Ok, MC had gone slightly off course, but we could see the proper trail beneath us.  We were on a steep hillside, covered in stunted oak trees, far too low for us to duck under on horse-back, so dismounting and leading the horses back down to the trail was the obvious thing to do.  MC went first, with a slightly heart stopping moment as Quieto half-slid, half-fell down the slope behind her.  Aero and I descended by a different route - we had the advantage of MC being able to spot an easier way down for us!  A slight scramble/slide/jump later, with Aero popping down neatly slightly behind/beside me, and we were back on the trail again... or were we?

The trail once again became fainter and fainter, and eventually gave way completely at a point where there had been a bit of a landslide.  MC thought she could see the trail above us, so we headed back into the oak-woods, this time scrambling UP the steep slope. Up and up, eventually we faced into an almost vertical ascent, where Quieto had a major slip and ended up scrambling up the ascent with difficulty.  I went left of where he had his slip, and tackled the ascent, praying that Aero wouldn't launch himself after me and knock me over.  I needn't have worried, he completely understood what he had to do, I climbed slightly above him, got onto a level-ish bit, clucked at him and he popped up beside me, and then continued to climb while I hung onto the lead-rope that was still tied around his neck.  What a little star!

We had to have a brief stop because Quieto had pulled off both hind boots, leaving one behind where he had had his bad slip.  MC held both horses, who stood like angels while I went back and fortunately found the boot very quickly.

We consulted "maps" on my iPhone, which gave MC a good idea of where we were, so we continued upwards and upwards towards where the trail should be.  It was less steep, but still very over grown - both saddles were being scraped by low branches nearly every step of the way.  Aero at this stage was walking behind me, it was way too narrow for him to walk alongside, but he really seems to be getting the idea and wasn't treading on my heels at all.

Eventually, huffing and puffing (the two mature ladies, not the horses!) we reached the trail and remounted.  We had one final bit of excitement, though.  As we went through the grounds of Le Couvent de Notre Dame (we shouldn't have been there, shhh!) two sheep ran across in front of us.  The temptation was too much for Doug, and he gave chase enthusiastically.  Aero wasn't bothered, either by the appearance of the sheep or the dog chasing them, but unfortunately Doug didn't reappear, despite calls of "Au pied!" from MC.  We had to turn back and tiptoe past the priest's house once again, hoping that Doug wasn't tucking into fresh, juicy sheep as we went.

He reappeared, looking slightly guilty but fortunately not blood-stained, and we all carried on towards home.

Guess who led on and off for the rest of the way home?  Yes, my formerly anxious and unsettled little ex-dressage horse!  Himself and Quieto took it in turn, sometimes walking alongside each other, sometimes Aero in front, sometimes Quieto.  Yeah, Aero rushed a little from time to time, but not in a worried sort of way, more in a "I know we're heading home and I'm hungry and Flurry's all on his own" sort of way.

Superstar Aero!

I could not be happier with this little horse!  This is the sensible, reliable Aero who has lived with us for twelve years, and today he proved himself sure-footed and intelligent as well.  He is finally settling into his new rôle and learning that it's FUN!

This trek would have been a disaster if we had attempted it two weeks ago, I'm pretty sure he would have freaked out climbing through the thick woodlands, but he has now de-stressed to the extent that he can analyse what's going on, figure out how to handle it and learn from his experiences.

Happy me and happy Aero!

'Twas a Grand Weekend - Part 2

Saturday was a rough night.  We had friends staying overnight - they weren't the problem!  We had a lovely evening, sitting by the fire and chatting, while sampling my pickled garlic - no, the pickled garlic wasn't the problem!  Then we went out to the Carluc restaurant in Céreste and had a lovely meal - but, no, indigestion was not the problem, either!

No, the problem was that our neighbours were having a party.  Now, they had very cleverly invited us and apologised for the noise in advance, but at 2am, I was thinking that I'd definitely have gone around to ask that the music be turned down if I was at home in Cork, and I quite possibly would have called the Gardai when the thumping rhythms were still pounding through the walls at 3.30am.  I had ear-plugs in, and I did sleep on and off, but it was not a restful night, and I was worrying about our friends, who had driven from Belgium on Saturday - an eleven hour road-trip - and were facing another eleven hours as they continued on their way to Spain on Sunday.

I needn't have worried, they said that they slept fine.  I hope they weren't just being polite, but I do think that their room was better insulated from the noise than ours.

Quieto waiting for "Mum"

Undaunted, we headed up to the horses shortly after nine.  They're horsey folk, too, I got to know them through Dressage Ireland, and they were keen to see our set-up here in Provence.  They Ooh'd and Aah'd over the incredible view from the arena, they liked the herd-living aspect of the Farm, they especially liked the sturdy field-shelters in every paddock, but most of all they were blown away by the beautiful, green, crisp, sweet-smelling hay!  There's none of the mouldy, dusty crap we get in Ireland here!

We said our goodbyes (and thanks for the Barry's Tea, guys!) and started to get ready.  The horses were reasonably clean, so grooming and tacking up went quickly, with the LSH paying particular attention to Flurry's Renegades, making sure they were good and tight.

We set off, leading the horses once again, and headed into the woods on the other side of the road from the Farm.  This time, there were two dogs coming with us - Doug and Chips, who is a wiry, energetic spaniel type.  We mounted after a few minutes, but, literally within seconds, Flurry had broken his boot again - both he and Aero spooked at the dogs, and I guess he trod on it and pulled it off, with the cables once again being pulled out of their tracks.  

We decided to try him without his hind boots, and agreed that if he was uncomfortable, the LSH and I would head back home.  So the LSH took off the other hind boot and tied both boots onto his saddle, remounted and we carried on.  After about twenty minutes of following a track through the woods, we joined a marked walking trail which leads all the way down to Reillanne.

Aero was very good - mostly!  He spooked at the dogs a couple of times, particularly Chips, she is smaller and more active than Doug, and would suddenly shoot out from behind trees or bushes, intent on her hunting games, but frightening the living daylights out of Aero in the process.

I noticed that the times when he relaxed and settled the most were the times when we were riding along roads or particularly wide tracks.  Going through the thick woods or the scrubland we crossed, he gets more nervous and jumpy.  This makes perfect sense - to date, any hacking he has done has been has been on country roads and through stubble fields.  In his eventing days, open fields and moors would have meant a cross-country gallop with his blood up, but he has never come across this kind of heavily wooded, rocky terrain before - it's all really new to him and he's trying to figure out what he's meant to do here.  I've noticed him eyeing up heaps of stacked logs in the forest - perhaps he's wondering if they are cross-country jumps?

I did my level best to just sit in a relaxed manner all the time and keep the reins loose, but occasionally, I would have to pick them up and tell him to slow down, as he attempted to power-walk down steep slopes, or if his tension escalated into trotting sideways behind Quieto - not fun on a narrow, tree-lined trail, but to be fair, he wasn't bad at all!

We got off and led them once, because we had to pass along a section of broken trail with a drop to one side and low trees overhead - the sort of situation where you're definitely better off on the ground.

The couple of times we trotted, Aero was still rushing and I felt terribly uncomfortable on him.  I ended up going into the forward seat, which felt a little better, but goodness me, I felt insecure doing it in a dressage saddle!

It really was a lovely trek, as you can see from the photos.  I had forgotten my camera (but I remembered the boot repair kit!) so the LSH snapped away with his iPhone as we went along.  Of course he was on super-safe Flurry, so he had no worries about his horse spooking or getting silly and making him drop it!

After about an hour and a half, we arrived at MC's house.  We offered the horses water, which they declined, MC offered us Diet Coke, which we accepted, we chatted a while and then we turned around and headed back the way we came.

Aero was better on the way home.  Chips came back with us, and although he spooked at her once or twice, I think he's getting used to our canine companions.  He came close to a meltdown at one point, though.  As we approached the point where we would have to lead the horses over the broken trail, we had to pass through a narrow, trappy thicket of trees.  The LSH said he thought maybe we should dismount, but had a go at it anyway, but part of the way in, he said, no, we definitely need to be on foot for this.  I stopped Aero before he went into the thicket, but he wanted to follow his dun friend no matter what and wasn't impressed at being stopped.  Flurry then went out of view, and he started to get really upset, spinning and dancing on the spot - so much so that I couldn't dismount.  Come back, I yelled, I'm in trouble, and a couple of seconds later the LSH appeared leading Flurry - they had gone a little deeper into the thicket where there was enough space to dismount, and then turned back to us.

Aero calmed down enough for me to get off, but he was still quite tense, and was inclined to rush and step on my heels as we walked along.  Eventually, I got cross with him and gave him a sharp tug on the reins and a slap across his chest.  You know what?  It worked.  He behaved much better, and in fact once we remounted and finished the trek, he was calm, attentive and walking along at the buckle end of the reins, even as we approached the Farm!

Definite Progress!

Trek to Reillanne at EveryTrail

I only "tracked" the trip on the outward journey, which measured 6.3km, giving us a total of 12.6.  It says it took two hours to cover the 6.3km, but I think we were only riding for three hours all told... not too sure about that.

Equipment assessment : 

Flurry's left hind boot (Renegade) came off with cables pulled loose once again.  I am taking it home to disassemble, clean and reassemble

Flurry managed fine without his hind boots, although there were a handful of "ouch" moments when a rock pinched him somehow

Cavallo Sport boots were excellent, although Flurry's heels were "shiny" afterwards, they did not seem to be painful

Aero's Renegades once again were fine, although he does seem to feel some of the sharper stones through them, on his front feet.

Aero's numnah slipped badly once again.  I will definitely have to use an alternative when trekking

I need a new saddle (Did you hear that, Santa?)