Fete du Cheval

Went to the Fete du Cheval on Sunday at the Western Horse Farm where I had my lesson last year. They had a load of stuff organised, a rallye in the morning that I would have loved to have done, and all afternoon there were demostrations of different disciplines. Jo asked me to go along because she was doing a showjumping demo on Socianda and I had to do the commentary in French. Luckily she'd written it all down for me in English so all I had to do was translate. Don't have any pics of the jumping as I was holding a microphone, but Socianda did brilliantly and jumped up to 1m15

After that we had a Western Trail demo, which as far as I could tell was TREC in a Western saddle

This lovely horse was a 21 year old Anglo who did everything in just a headcollar, and his rider didn't need spurs, maybe because she didn't feel the need to do the whole macho cowboy thing? Or is that just me being unfair on the boys.....?

After that we had a dressage demo, this rider was apparently runner up in the Championat d'Aquitaine, she did a freestyle to music,

Then there was a lovely team of Bretons...

...and finally some Western reining. This is Frederick, who runs the place, on his stallion Smart which apparently won the National Championships last year.

I actually quite like his riding, apart from this:

And there was another chap on a gorgeous palomino QH

His sliding stops were a bit less dramatic

....and that mane looked fab doing the spins, although to be honest I don't really see the point of doing that to a horse either.

Then we had to go home because the SNO was reaching her sell-by date, which is a shame as the dressage lady was going to do a garrocha demo later in the day, would like to have seen that.......and they also had some fun barrel racing, and Socianda came second beating all those Western horses. Stewart took some video, it looks so much fun:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsdivu_jo-barrel-racing-for-fun-at-western-show-july-12_sport?start=3

A very soggy jumping competition......

Trundled off to a pony club near le Bugue today for a little jumping comp, good job we took our wellies!!!

Fina and Polo were super well behaved, Polo got a clear round and Fina had one refusal, basically because she was going so fast she went barreling past a fence before Ali could steer her at it!! I think she rather enjoys her jumping .......

Isabelle's lot from Beaumont were there, so the girls actually had someone who knows what they're doing to walk the course with for once

It rained during the course walk, of course. But stopped as the girls' class started, luckily.
Rather an unusual setting, they'd cut the sand school out of the side of a hill, we were basically in a quarry. Decided to invest in an official photo:

And here's the team shot with all the Beaumontois

Even though they didn't go clear, they still got a rosette, which was nice of the organisers......

By the time Jo's class was on, it was seriously chucking it down.....

So as soon as she'd finished, we left, before the river in the car park got any wider....

House full of wet stinky clothes now......

It's that time of year again.....

Time for the Beaumont Christmas TREC! Got up at stupid o' clock to load the boys in the dark and the rain, Gandalf won't load unless we put all the lights on in the car and open the doors at the front of the trailer. Ches doesn't care because he knows there's hay in there!

Drove to Beaumont in the rain. Unloaded and tacked up in the rain, you get the idea. Lots of other nice dry clean horses emerged from various trailers all rugged and booted, ours were muddy and hairy, never mind. Went down to the map room, there were various letters to add to the map, not sure about the significance of them, never mind, got on and got going. In the rain.....

Ali's pony wasn't too chuffed about leaving his mates and going out with strange horses, lots of ears back and at one point tried to kick Gandalf Never mind, still loads better than the pony from hell we ended up with last year......

Arrived at checkpoint one in the rain, nice bit of hot soup to keep us going, the team behind arrived and Ali's pony, recognizing some of his mates, got a bit unneccessary and started rearing, had to read him the riot act, he soon settled down. We carried on, in the rain, mostly went the right way, got to checkpoint 2.

Glass of wine and some charcuterie this time, and we were handed a piece of paper explaining that the letters on the map are for the clips you have to punch your card with, but you must only clip the card if the clip is where the letters are, there may be some letters without clips or some clips in the wrong place, so don't clip the card with those..... 

It's not usually so complicated!

On we went, still raining, the tracks were getting nice and muddy by now, at one point we cantered up a hill, well the other three did and Ches set off after them but couldn't work out why he was running and not moving, he'd found a huge patch of mud and was just wheel spinning in place, the others looked back to see me laughing and laughing....he eventually got some grip and we charged up the hill.......

Last checkpoint and more wine and nibbles, Ches managed to knock a tray of them out of the guy's hand sadly for him it was all meat so even he didn't try to eat any off the ground. He did try to eat the plastic bin bag though......

Back to the stables, still raining, put the boys in a box with some hay, and hung around waiting for the rest of the teams to come in. The littlies on the Shetlands arrived back, the SNO had a brilliant time, Mike possibly less so trudging through the mud for 9kms.

Then it was food time, slap up lunch by a local traiteur with more wine of course and chocolates, we had to keep an eye on the SNO who kept trying to sneak off and steal the chocolates from the other tables.

Then the prizes, we were't last in the club section (!) but came fourth out of 7, and got an extra prize for the best fancy dress.We got a bag containing some enormous dried sausages, jars of paté and walnuts. And Mike got a bottle of bubbly for trudging round in the mud.

Our own TREC "Truc"

Having been to a couple of TREC competitions here in SW France and had a lot of fun, some friends and I decided to organise our own, nothing official, just to give our friends an idea of what it’s all about.

So what is it all about? Invented in France in the 70s, le TREC ('Technique de Randonnée Equestre de Competition') was designed to test how good a horse and rider are at going anywhere and doing anything. There are 3 elements to a competition, the POR (Parcours d’Orientation) which is basically orienteering on horseback, the Control of Paces, which involves cantering as slowly as possible over 150m, the slower you go, the more marks you get, if you drop into trot then you get no points, then walking as fast as possible back over the same distance, this time the faster you go, the more points you get. This bit is incredibly difficult, particularly as in France at least the 150m is not in a straight line and it’s a marked corridor 2 metres  wide, and if a hoof goes out of line, it’s no points again. The final element is the PTV (Parcours en Terrain Varié) or obstacle course. This involves 12 or 16 obstacles depending on the level you compete at, some ridden, some in hand, such as walking over a bridge or through water, under low branches, jumping a log, opening and closing a gate, mounting from the off side, in short, things you might encounter when out and about.

I can organise that, I thought, how hard can it be?

So after weeks of trudging round a 12km route for the orienteering checking that all the paths were passable, organising food, people to man checkpoints, printing maps, getting the obstacle course together and sorting out somewhere to put all the horses, we were ready to go.

All last week, it was warm and sunny. Saturday, the day of the TREC, it rained. Luckily I’d thought to laminate the maps, I had predrawn them to make things easier, in a proper competition you have to copy the map from a master copy before you set off on the ride. We had four teams, the first one went out at about 9.30. After they’d gone I realised that my checkpoint people were standing around drinking tea instead of getting out on the course so I had to chase them out sharpish.......

Then team two left 15 minutes later, one of them was on my horse, I didn’t realise at first that the dog had gone with them........I sent out the final two teams at 15 minute intervals, then set off in the car after the dog. Tracked the dog down, Team two were doing well, so I went back to base but never got there as on the way I found Team 4 going up the busy main road having misread the map. I escorted them back to the proper route before an impatient French driver could wipe them out, and decided it’d be a good idea to check where the rest of the teams were. Team 1 was steaming ahead and already at checkpoint 2, Teams 2 & 3 arrived together at the first checkpoint and stopped for coffee & biscuits, then I got a call from Team 4 who were lost again.

I went to find them and got them back on track, then had to go in search of Team 2 who had somehow managed to miss checkpoint 2 completely much to the consternation of the people manning it, but they managed to find checkpoint 3. By this time Team 1 had finished the ride, but there was no sign of Team 4 again. So I went to find them again and pointed out the route through the vines. I drove round the rest of the ride making sure the others were on track, then went back for Team 4 again who had gone the wrong way and ended up in a village 3km off the marked route. Teams 2 & 3 finished the ride, we waited for Team 4. Everyone else untacked the horses and went for an excellent lunch cooked by our hosts and all cheered when Team 4 eventually arrived back!

After lunch it was time for the PTV. It was raining again. The competitors had to start off on foot and negotiate a maze of poles on the floor, then mount from the off side with the horse preferably not moving out of the circle marked on the floor. There was a wooden bridge to cross, a couple of the horses were not happy with that, a log and brush jump to go over, a slope to ride up, a slalom and low branch (well, string of flags in this case), another circle marked on the floor for the horse to stand still in for 10 seconds (quite a few of them didn’t manage that) and a corridor of poles to ride through. Some of the obstacles like the corridor and the slalom get more points the faster you go, so there were horses and ponies bombing about all over the place.......

After that we did the COP, and it was very difficult, I think only a couple of people got any marks at all for that phase!

I totted up all the marks and dished out the rosettes and prizes, then we put the horses away and all retired for a drink and a barbecue.  It was a lot of fun but I don’t think I’ll be organizing more than one a year!!

Beaumont Bivouac day 2

Day 2
I wake early in my comfy bed at Jo’s, grab some breakfast and we load Socianda to get to the stables nice and early as we want to get going in good time. Needless to say, the French are all faffing again. Our 3 horses are soon all tacked up and ready to go and we stand around waiting for the others.....

They finally get going at 9.15. We are apparently doing 42 km today, and will be back at Beaumont by 5.30. No way is this happening at this rate, I think. We set off along the road to Limeuil, where the two rivers, the Dordogne and the Vézère, meet. We troop along the bridge admiring the view.

We troop through the town and get photographed by the tourists. Then we head up into the hills.

Normally this would not be a problem, we have hills round us too. But the ground here is all really stony and Gandalf and Seraphina struggle with this and try to walk up the grassy sides of the track shoving Ali and I into trees and gorse bushes as they go. The arabs have all gone ahead tripping along like mountain goats but we lag behind as we don’t want to push our two.

We get to the top and go into some woods. Down another very stony track. Then the call comes from the front “Demi-tour!”, we’ve gone the wrong way, we all turn around and I find myself at the front of the column for once and Gandalf is not obliged to trot every two minutes to catch up. We like this.

 Down another track in the woods, another wrong move and another demi tour. We start to get annoyed, I get my map out and for the first time consider striking out on our own.

Eventually they find the right path and we go down the hill. And straight back up another very stony track, this time in full sun which is starting to heat things up a bit. I start wondering why we haven’t had a water stop for the horses, I expect G & S are wondering the same thing! A difficult (and for us, slow) climb to the top reveals a stunning view across the Dordogne valley but also leaves Gandalf breathing heavily.

I go marching up to Luc and ask how much more of this there is as our two shod hooves out of eight can’t deal with the stones. He agrees that the terrain isn’t great and we veer away from the intended trail and take the road.

I look at the map and see the lunch stop is still a few km away. We trudge on all the way back down the hill, past a nice looking restaurant with happy people emerging from air conditioned cars in the car park looking forward to a gourmet lunch. I take out our emergency cake bars and grimly ask myself why I’m doing this again......

Eventually we arrive at Mauzac, a very pretty little place by the river. We’ve been on the trail for nearly 5 hours thanks to the wrong turns in the woods and the horses have had enough. We unsaddle and water them and even cadge some hard feed from Isabelle’s lot as they need the energy. I hear Luc telling Stewart he can get some footage of them cantering on the next stretch by the canal to Lalinde and take my map over and get him to mark the route back on it as no way will ours be up to doing that. We eat lunch, watch a couple of the other horses try to kick each other, they obviously haven’t run out of energy, then saddle up and head out on our own, just me & Ali. We ride down the right of the canal, where the trees are for shade.

A little while later, after presumably a load more faffing, the others come charging past on the other side of the canal in the sun. We wave, and amble on.

They all come to a sudden stop as Luc’s horse has a massive spook at some water sprinklers and he has to get off and lead it past! We continue to follow them as they walk down the other side of the canal, then they cross to our side and canter off and we lose them round a bend in the track.

We amble on towards Lalinde, the horses manage a little trot but we don’t do much as they are so tired. We arrive in Lalinde and see a lorry across the river which looks familiar. It’s Isabelle come to give us a lift back!

We cross the bridge, unsaddle the horses and Gandalf, who knows a lift home when he sees one,  goes straight up the ramp (of the same lorry he didn’t want to go in at the Label Loisir) like he’d been doing it all his life.....

Seraphina, however, had other ideas.....

It’s quite a steep ramp and she didn’t want to go up it. Gandalf called her from inside, she refused to put a foot on the ramp. I tried all the usual tricks, backing up, putting pressure on with the headcollar, nothing. Isabelle found a lunge line to put round her back end, she pulled back against it. By this time, we’d attracted quite an audience of tourists to watch the pretty pony being uncooperative. The temperature was in the mid 30s and I am seriously considering tying her to a tree and leaving her there when I try one last trick of lifting her front feet up on to the ramp. She seems to realise that she won’t win this argument and stops pulling and simply steps up the ramp. We all wish she’d had this revelation half an hour ago........

We pile into the lorry, along with Isabelle’s lovely 3 legged Collie, and take the easy way back to the stables. I check out my iPhone app and we’ve still done 30 of the 42km planned for that day. Not a bad effort for a couple of unfit cobs......

But I prefer my own rides, which involve more water stops for the horses, beer stops for the riders and a whole lot less faffing......!

Beaumont Bivouac day 1

“We’re doing a 2 day bivouac next week”, says Isabelle, the owner of the riding school in Beaumont “why don’t you bring Ali’s pony over and she can come with us?”

Right, OK, I think, how hard can it be?

As with the Naulet trip, it takes me over a week to organise everything. I reckon Seraphina would be much happier with Gandalf around, so I have to get a team of people roped in to look after the SNO and the other animals so I can go too. I get Tanya to drive the horses up to the stables the day before, I organise hay, camping gear, lunches & food for the evening barbie.

Wednesday morning, I wake at 5.30 as a huge thunderstorm is threatening the tiles on the roof. I get the last of the gear in the car, it’s lashing down with rain. Get the kids in, SNO not happy to be woken so early, then take her up to Tess’s, still lashing down rain, set off for Beaumont, in the rain & dark. It occurs to me that Isabelle might cancel due to the weather but in the absence of a phone call, carry on anyway.....

Once past Bergerac, the storm vanishes. Past Issegeac, the ground is bone dry, we have escaped the weather! Arrive at the stables, unload the kit, get the horses ready, leave at 9 was the plan, actually it’s more like 10, gotta allow for French faff time........

There are 14 of us in all, 2 leaders, 9 kids, us 2 & Jo on Socianda. We’re told to stay at the back, my usual position when riding with a group, problem with a group this size is that we’re trotting more or less all the time to keep up. Gandalf and Fina very excited, Ali asks to be on the lead rein for the first bit, Gandalf jogging about, does some nice piaffe and lateral work in his attempt to go and see the horses in front (who all pull faces at him).

Undeterred, he bounces on, Fina doesn’t even bother trying to keep up with him. After the first canter Ali relaxes so we forgo the lead rein.

We ride through some fantastic countryside but annoyingly I lose my hat silk on a tree in the woods somewhere. Some of the horses ahead of us are silly, one spooks at a water filled ditch, one doesn’t like an automatic waterer, G and S wait patiently until they get over it and we can carry on. During one canter, one of them tanks off and reduces its rather overhorsed rider to tears.......they are all arab types, some of whom do endurance, all of whom are mega fit as they work every day, ours look very short and fat in comparison.
We stop for lunch in some woods, the ground crew have provided ropes to tie up and buckets of water and our picnics, all very civilized. We are on part of the pilgrim’s route to Santago de Compostella, we will ride all the way there one day.....

Seraphina acquires a fan club, she seems quite happy with the attention.

We continue in the afternoon, catch a glimpse of the river before turning away from it again, ride through maize fields, up stony tracks in the woods, then we are back at the river again and we arrive at the stables where we will spend the night. A drink for the horses, then we ride down to the river and go for a paddle. Gandalf not keen as usual, but went in anyway. Seraphina not fazed at all, stuck her nose in the water and pulled faces like she does......

Back to the stables, put the horses in their little paddock, sit and watch the show as the owner fails to start his tractor and has to jump start it so the horses can have a delivery of hay. Ours stand by the gate looking at us hungrily, I have to send Ali to scrape the last bits of the old bale up to give them while they wait.

Horses fed and watered, we wait to be fed. And wait, as French faffing recommences and the barbie refuses to light. Someone goes off in search of firelighters, luckily we are more successful in the search for a bottle opener so we have aperos and eat all the crisps and olives while we wait. The kids put their tents up, one of them gets kicked by her horse and cries a lot,  Ali gets locked in the loo and I have to go and rescue her, still we wait. Finally after dark, the barbie is ready and we eat some barely scorched burgers in time honoured fashion. I have accepted Jo’s offer of a proper bed with alacrity, so she and I retire to civilisation for the night, leaving Isabelle & Luc in charge of the kids in the tents.......

Stewart's pics and videos of day 1 here

Yeeee Hawwwww.....!

Had a brilliant afternoon yesterday at the Western Horse Farm. Jo took Socianda and I rode one of their horses, a snowflake Appaloosa called Flashy. It was the first time I'd ridden a properly Western trained horse and he was fantastic.

They are trained to voice commands, neck reining and shifts in bodyweight so are incredibly light to ride. If I inadvertently put a slight contact on the bit, he started going backwards! He was being a bit lazy at first so Frédérick, the instructor, gave me his spurs, I have never , ever worn spurs of any sort before, and these were huge!!!

As soon as he felt the slightest touch (I was worried about hurting him!) off he went, so I didn't really need to use them......All you do for "go" is click your tongue, for canter you make a kissing noise, the first time, he shot off and took me by surprise!

We did a bit of "barrel racing" round cones and Flashy knows his job so well that I didn't have to tell him what to do, as soon as he saw them he came out of the corner running, and did the most incredibly tight turns....

Excellent fun, loads more pics here and a video here (thanks to Stewart)

And here's the link to Frédérick's place.

Definitely going back for another lesson......