Today I watched this video online, made by Frédéric Luneau, one of the best horseback archers in France. The subtitle for those of you who don't speak French is "Training programme for the old, the clumsy and the hopeless" ;-)
Except that Fred is none of these and makes it all look easy. I could probably manage to throw axes at bits of wood, but I can't juggle, and as for the yoga and leaping on to the horse from the ground - no chance!
But riding without a bridle has to be worth a try. So today for the fist time, we did just that. Gandalf was very easy to steer with just a neckstrap, maybe because he's so used to being ridden on a long rein without a "contact". As we were in the little pen, we were restricted to walking, but I intend to try this at a faster pace when I get the chance......even shot an arrow or two :-)
Ali had a go with Sky too, who was predictably a bit unsure to begin with but proved quite receptive after a while.
So, Easter holidays are here and we've just been back to la maison en France for a week. Not exactly a holiday, mind you. Spent most of the week running around catching up with people. And drinking wine. Quite a lot of wine, as you do.......
Had lined up some riding lessons for Ali back at the club in Porte Ste Foy. Of course she wanted to ride Kinna. Pretty much as soon as we arrived, Carole was phoning to see if we wanted to come and see the horses getting fitted for their new hoof boots before their endurance comp at the weekend. So we went up there and got to catch up with Howard as he told me all about these new boots, Floating Boots, that he gets from Spain.
Like the look of them, even the sole is flexible......
Then it was down to see Tess and her horses who are in a new home and seem very happy and relaxed there. The yard owner has a Mérens mare who is fabulous, the SNO certainly thought so!
Back up to the stables for Ali to ride Kinna - and the little darling did her Tigger impression specially for us ;-)
Got actual sunburn up there standing by the school, having arrived looking like a pale English person. And that was just day 1......
Ali had another lesson on the Saturday on the lovely Nanou, who showed some really nice moments during the flatwork lesson
But the highlight of the week was going to Kinna's first endurance competition. After the usual crack of dawn start and endless drive, we arrived, unloaded, and she was like an overexcited kid, those funny-coloured ears were flicking at everything.....
She didn't want to stand still, pulled away from the trailer, stuck her head in the locker to get at the hay in there, reminded me of the SNO when she's on a mission to get into trouble......when we went for the vet check, she couldn't keep her feet still and even tried to eat the pot plant I thought all this excitement would mean a high heart rate......but no, it was only 28 bpm!!
Her winter coat is coming out in handfuls and where her skin fell off last year there's nothing left, she looks like a bit of a welfare case! They'll have to put suncream on her! But she is on good form, once she was saddled and wearing her new floating boots, she was impatient to be off.
John was intending to keep her at the back, but by the time they came back, she was out in front.....
.....and looking like she could go round again!
Then there was an argument about having water poured over her, she didn't seem to think that was necessary, although it was pretty hot by then (and I was well on the way to getting sunburned again) and more fidgeting and trying to go off and visit other horses or otherwise trying to get John's attention whilst he was trying to get his other horse ready for the 20k ride. Kinns seems to like him, she follows him about. The second vet check gave a heart rate of 48, not so good, but still not bad for a first time out. She came joint 7th with Carole and Valerie's horses both of whom have done this before a fair bit.
So a good day out, the two girls from Carole's on their ponies did very well for a first go, one of them came first as her pony had a returning heartbeat of 32. I miss those guys, can't wait to get back out there this summer.....
Went down to do the horses the other day and as we had a bit of time, we decided to get on and ride even though we didn't have our tack with us (or a decent camera either, just the ancient iPhone someone has lent me since mine no longer works - getting them really clean on a 40 degree wash cycle isn't good for them, apparently- so apologies for the state of the pictures)
I rode Gandalf I the rope headcollar and practised some of the moves we learned at Sheila's the other week.
He was a bit hesitant at first, probably thinking "what are you doing this time, woman?" but he was very easy to guide and we did some lateral work at walk and trot.
Nice to know the controls still work without all our usual equipment! But I think ditching the saddle long term is not an option, makes my legs hurt!
Ali had a little go on Sky too, she's much better at riding without a saddle than I am....
But I don't think either of us is ready for this yet.....!!
Haven't been around for a couple of weeks as we've been on our annual holiday to the UK. This time we went to Anglesey where wifi apparently hasn't yet been invented......
Stayed in a great holiday cottage near Beaumaris, discovered a great little ruined castle just up the road and a moody windswept beach down the road, yomped the kids around both!
We did the usual tourist stuff, including yomping small children up Snowdon (they were unimpressed)
....although we had to give up and turn back 2kms from the summit due to rather a lot of weather arriving, horizontal sleet, fog etc......Mike had already run up to the top though - and said you couldn't see a damn thing up there when we met him on his was back down!
Rather stunning countryside up there - the bits we could see, anyway.......
Of course we also went riding, a fun ride to the beach where we did some great canters, I managed to get a few shots before the rain arrived and forced me to put the camera away
Great scenery in Wales, horses everywhere on Anglesey, could be a cool place to live if you were waterproof ;-) The sun did put in an appearance occasionally though, like the day we arrived and the day we left......
Was just talking to Ali about when I learnt to ride and it got me thinking. Remember when you were learning to ride and your instructor told you all theses things, like always lead from the left with the lead line in both hands
never let a rope drag on the floor
always keep your hands down and together
Always mount from the left
A lot of it is sound safety stuff that was drilled into us, but experience has changed what I do. A lot....
Now my rules are things like never start something you don't have time to finish, always reward for the smallest try and be firm, consistent and calm no matter what happens.
Although very occasionally I really do have to mount from the left ;)
After being a star at the rallye on Sunday, I did some more with Ches today. We can now stop without touching his mouth at all, and we can stand still without fidgeting.....he is just starting to realise that he doesn't have to fight the bit all the time, today I really felt like he was "listening" to my hands for the first time. I think he has been hauled about by his mouth in the past which is why he keeps trying to snatch the reins, he always puts his head straight down whenever he stops and it's become a habit now, even when you have little or no contact....
Here's a little video We did some walk trot transitions too and he wasn't too bad at those either.
Then I made Tanya get on and he was a good boy for her too, another video
He doesn't like the round pen much though, I think he finds it pointless, he's very forward going out on a hack and seems generally more interested in what's going on. So we are going to do more rides and rallyes with him as he seemed to enjoy himself on Sunday!
After that I did a bit of groundwork, seeing if he's do a turn on the forehand for the Interdressage test, he does strange things with his feet sometimes, at one point he was standing with his hind legs crossed like he does in this video
He does have a funny way of going sometimes, he seems to drag his hinds at the trot and really rolls his hips from side to side, maybe it's the way he's built? The long back and short legs......
Anyway, he's a funny little character, and I think he's going to make a nice little cheval de randonée, he's so cool out and about, today on the campsite Tanya's dad was burning a load of tree branches and using a chainsaw and he never turned a hair.........
Went to pony club today, took Choccy along. As Ali's group were going out for a ballade, Éowyn and I tagged along as far as the vines so Choccy could have a run round. The cheeky little mutt decided she's rather tag along with the riders, and as the instructor didn't mind, off she went!
When they got back, she discovered how much fun there was to be had charging around in the sand school......
....then found a friend to play with......
....and even had a sit on the very patient Enzo!
The instructor said she was a LOT better trained than Éowyn.......
Well today is the National Day of the Horse here in France which means that lots of riding centres had open days so we went along to one of them. Had a job to drag Éowyn away, we are going to have to find her somewhere to have lessons I think!
Probably not at this place though as they seem to be very much into Horseball and Alienor is very much into jumping.......
Needed to move the big boys up to the field with grass in it, so we got up early and got on with the job, Gandalf did a great job babysitting!
Maverick was a bit stressed due to being out of his confort zone so spooked at everything, Gandalf just carried on regardless as usual. When we went in the woods, Éówyn wasn't too keen on having to duck under branches, he just ignored her noisy protests......
He did his usual PR job with the locals....
When we got there we put them in the stable for a while and helped to finish off the fences. Hopefully they won't be going walkabout now, we'll be putting the battery on the new fence!
As a reward for helping, Ali got her first driving lesson.......
Well, the great little Fjord has arrived at my friend Rochelle's place and we went to see her today. She has dealt brilliantly with the transport down here and being in a new place all on her own. When we arrived, Rochelle was leading her about the place, she seemed relaxed but interested.
Aftr a very nice lunch we brought her in and gave her a bit of a haircut, here's before:
and after! The Fjord mane is always two colours, black in the middle and blond either side, it looks so much better when it's trimmed.
The traditional cut involves having the blond bit shorter than the black bit like this:
Might take a while for me to get proficient enough to do that though, or maybe even zigzags like this!:
Then we tacked her up, she's not used to a bit so wasn't too sure about it, she's only been ridden in a headcollar before. But she went for a little walk no problem, we went to see the sand school (with Chocolate and Rochelle's dog Willie keeping an eye on us).....
....then we went into the round pen. This would've been a better pic if Jane (who took it) had got closer to the rails!! But you get the idea......
She was a little bothered by the bit and obviously didn't understand what it was for, but that's just a matter of education. Apart from that, she was a little star, the only other thing that bothered her was the fly repellant spray, but like Sky & Kinna, she'll get used to it. Looking forward to following her progress!
I thought all this excitement would mean a high heart rate......but no, it was only 28 bpm!!
