Another lake ride

So  today we rode to the lake. The weather forecast lied to us about it being sunny. Until we were almost home of course, then a bit of sun broke through, just in time to get this pic of Kinna cantering like a sensible big grown up horsie

She has been a total star today, no spooking, no bucking, no throwing her toys out of the pram about not being allowed to graze, no acting up when a load of baby Lippizaners came hooleying up to the fence (why do they breed so many? Are they destined for lasagne or Ikea meatballs?)

We have been past massive tractors, several bonfires, lots of yapping dogs (some loose), through dense woodland requiring some contortion from her rider, over ditches, up and down steep banks, through massive puddles and she has calmly done it all

 

She really has exceeded my expectations today :-)

She even went for a splash in the lake

Sky on the other hand was a pain in the arse, because she wanted the grass, so there was the usual protest in the form of planting, going backwards, stopping dead and doing a little prance about, so that, coupled with the fact that she was cold due to the lack of sun, caused the SNO to bail out when we got to Jane's, so she went to the lake in the car with her father and Sky got to spend all day in the field being chased around by Maverick. She must have annoyed him as she's got a huge bite mark on her back!

Managed to get her to do a bit of sensible cantering on the way home though.....

What's going on with the weather?

We've been here in south west France for ten years. Every year we have been able to do lots of great outdoors stuff in February becasue this is not the UK and we get good weather......right?

Not this year. This year is has been so wet we have been reduced to hacking on roads only so we don't end up skating on horseback :-/

We usually do a ride to a local lake in February, but it's far too wet to use the tracks in the woods. I had a quick look through my photos from the last ten years and here are some pics of previous February weather

So here we are, Feb 2003, our first full year in France, my two old dogs Paddy and Roisin in the sun:

Feb 2004, before I had my own horse, riding Gimy, my friend Marianne's Trotter, not actually sunny but look at the nice dry ground:

Feb 2005, with Gimy and Marianne's TB, Faco, in a not at all muddy field......

Feb 2006, my first year with Gandalf, he was having a hooley with Gimy, blue skies:

Feb 2007, Ali and her pony Flecha, more sun, nice dry ground:

Feb 2008, we rode the horses to the lake for a picnic, sun:

Feb 2009, back to the lake:

And again in Feb 2010, cold but sunny:

February last year, bit of a blip, we actually had snow, but the sun was still out!

This year? All I have are lots of photos of filthy, soggy ponies hacking out in the rain....

Ah well, it can't go on for ever, can it?

Lake ride

Well today Chester and Seraphina have been  total stars. As it was a sunny bank holiday, Ali & I went out for the day, we rode all the way from here to the lake, which is 14kms each way. We have been cantering all over the place, Ches has pretty much got the hang of going straight into canter from a walk, not even a hint of a buck (presumably because it's too much like hard work with me on board), not too much pulling, the only annoying thing is his constant quest to eat so as I'm encouraging him to stretch forward and down he always tries to get a sneaky mouthful of grass...

Only one spook,at a dog that sneaked up on us behind a hedge, but the others spooked at it too.....

We collected Jane & Ocarina on the way and spent the rest of the time failing to keep up with her, when she walks, ours have to trot and when she trots, we canter!!

Ches was fascinated by the donkeys near the lake, he wanted to go and investigate them but the ran away from him!

Mike met us with a picnic, and we went for a play in the water with the horses...

Can't believe the weather, it's nearly 20 degrees in November!

The ride to the lake

Had a greaty day today, all that preparation paid off, the sun came out, lunch was fabulous thanks to Harveys Restaurant and we raised  €100 for Equine Rescue France.

Some pictures:

More pictures here

Trial run....

...of the Lake Ride today, we did the whole thing. Lovely sunny frosty morning.....

....still sunny by the time we got to the lake nearly 3 hours later, met a nice English couple out walking their dogs, they stopped to admire Gandalf so I got them to take a pic:

However, by the time I'd got round the lake to the beach and stopped for my flask of tea and sandwiches, the clouds had arrived

So after lunch, time for a quick drink and splash in the lake then it was time to go home.

It took 3 hours to get to the lake, 12kms all at the walk, then 2 hours to do the 8km return journey. Not a bad day out.....

Today we decided to do a "trial run" of our sponsored ride that's planned for March 13th in aid of Equine Rescue France. We rode from Bonneville to the Lac de Gurcon, about 10 kms each way, to check that the paths through the woods were passable. It started out sunny, but then it clouded over and it was cold! Mike met us at the Lac with the girls and a picnic, but it was a rather hasty affair due to the temperature.......

Still, we now know our route is fine, mostly through the woods with a bit of vineyard, hopefully it'll be warmer next month!!