Tails From Provence
What happens when a horsemad Ould Wagon moves from Cork to Provence with 2 horses, 2 dogs and a Long Suffering Husband? Why, she gets a third dog, discovers Natural Horsemanship à la Française, starts writing short stories and then discovers a long-buried talent for art, of course…
Horse Diary
Yay! I’m back to keeping a horse diary!
I’ve been working one horse each day, so as not to strain my back – I really dread the thought of being out of action again, so I am being super-careful with it.
Weds 16th
I took Aero up to the arena and practised what we had learned in our lesson on Monday. He was a superstar – did everything pretty much perfectly, even backing up. I really toned down the signals I was giving him, so that a lift of my hand was enough to get him to trot and a slight movement of my shoulders was all it took to bring him back to a walk.
Then I rode him – just for fifteen minutes – and I didn’t feel entirely crap on him!! His leg-yielding was good and I practised going from working long-and-low to a normal frame and back again.
Thursday 17th
Flurry’s turn. The last time I mentioned him, I said I needed to get on his case. Did I?
I took him for a 20 minute walk on the road. It was 21C, and with his thick coat he had already started to sweat by the time we pushed our way through the woods into the arena. No rest for the wicked, I told him, and in we went for a thirty minute schooling session. I was insisting on bend and on him NOT leaning on the bit. The other thing I have to insist on more is not allowing him to rush when he leg-yields. I think he has learned that by rushing, he can get out of doing it ‘properly’ so I’ll have to revert to leg-yielding a couple of steps followed by halt, followed by leg-yield another couple of steps etc etc.
Friday 18th
A red-letter day – my friend MC and I rode together for the first time since December last year!
MC & Quieto
She finally got the all-clear from her surgeon after her hip-surgery – yippee! It was Aero’s turn to be ridden, but to be ultra-sure that we’d be safe, I decided to ride Flurry instead. I didn’t want to risk any drama, especially since Quieto, her horse, has been off for as long as his Mum. Both horses were perfect gentlemen, so we were two happy bunnies. Seeing as I’m trying to build up my back and she’s trying to build up her hip, we just did an hour. Flurry was barefoot throughout and I was really pleased with him, he was marching along as happy as anything.
Saturday 19th
We rode together again on Saturday, and this time I rode Aero. MC’s daughter joined us on a young grey Arab who had been broken by Alexandrine two years ago. He hardly ever gets ridden, but he seems like an honest little chap. He was happy to be out and about, having fun. And Aero?
C’mon Mum, hurry up!
Well, ten minutes into the ride, I found myself thinking “What a difference a year makes.” This time a year ago, riding Aero was like sitting on an unexploded bomb. Every rustle, every bird-call, every suspicious-looking branch made him stop in his tracks, heart pounding, ribs pressed out against my legs. Now, he strides along, in front or behind, perfectly relaxed, not at all bothered by Chips the dog, who was bounding through the trees beside us, or by the strange horse.
Time for a carrot?
But not only has he turned into a confident trekker, he has also (hope I’m not tempting fate here) FINALLY grown a tough, sturdy hoof. We went along some of the horrible gravelly roads that I dislike, but he strutted along as if he was on level turf. His frogs have improved in the last couple of weeks, since I got back into a routine, and the sulci are filling in as his frogs beef up. Last year, his soles yielded to thumb pressure – this year they are tough and hard. Most interestingly, I’ve noticed that the rhythm of his walk has changed. His natural walk never had a clear four-beat rhythm, it was “12” “34” “12” “34” instead of “1234” “1234.” This was how he went, mounted and unmounted! I was leading him from the paddock to the farm along the road and it suddenly struck me that I was hearing “1234” “1234.” It can only be caused by his barefoot state.
Sunday 20th
On Sunday, we rode out as a herd! Five of us – yes, five! I don’t know when I last rode in a group that size! There was me and Aero, the LSH and Flurry, MC and Quieto, her daughter and the little Arab and Alexandrine on her current breaker. It was the breaker’s second trek and he behaved like a champ. In fact, the two Irish horses were probably the worst behaved of the whole lot! Flurry was in Tank mode at the start and just wanted to march along as fast as possible. Aero was great most of the time, but when we came to a field where we sometimes canter, he got a bit excited and started jogging and scooting sideways. I forgave him!
Mon 21st
I practised the in hand work with Aero, he’s so good at following! I run, he trots, I stop, he stops, I go backwards, he goes backwards. After we finished, I washed his tail and pulled his mane a little. It’s quite long, so I will do it by degrees.
Tues 22nd
Another lesson with Alexandrine. This time it was Flurry’s turn.
Who? Me?
I asked could we do 50/50 in-hand work and ridden work. The in-hand work was interesting. She picked me up on a few points where I was giving mixed messages. First of all, I had to make sure that Flurry was attentive and ready to do what I asked him. When I ask him to move his quarters away, I should make sure that he ends up facing me, asking “What now?” I had been happy with him just moving his quarters obediently – no! It needs to be a little more than that! Then when I send him off on a circle, I should make sure he’s a step or two away from me before I start, and I should make HIM move, not me! I need to control the whip better, too… I definitely took some homework away from that.
Then there was the ridden part of the lesson. Annette, you’ll be delighted to hear that she’s getting on my case about my hands!! She told me EXACTLY what Katy said to you in your second lesson! After some discussion about hands and Flurry being soft and not leaning, I showed her last week’s homework, where I move Flurry’s shoulders. That went ok, but the lesson went downhill after that – for the first time, I struggled to understand what she was asking me to do. What I THINK she wanted was for me to ride a square in walk, with a quarter pirouette at each corner, but I didn’t understand that at the time. She told me to ride each corner by moving his shoulders around, but initially my legs refused to do what I asked. I’d “put right leg on” and discover that my left leg was clamped against his side – AGH! Eventually I was applying the aids moderately ok, but she kept asking me to do something else with my outside leg – use it on the girth but sometimes use it behind the girth was what I thought she was saying but it didn’t make sense… she ended up riding Flurry to show me what she meant. Aha – the penny dropped. His quarters were falling out, she was asking me to use my outside leg to control his back end when necessary. That was when I made the quarter pirouette connection…
So it was a frustrating end to the lesson but a good lesson overall, when I think back on it.
There’s more on the way, but I think this is more than enough for one blog post!
A New Experience
Life here is still full of new experiences.
Yes, I was an Ikea virgin until this week. I’d heard the tales, of course. The bewildering choice, the labyrinthine layout, the crowds, the delays in collecting purchases… what was I letting myself in for?
Apart from a hiccup at the start, when we went into the storage area instead of the showroom, we found our way around easily enough.
There seemed to be a class outing from the local technical college going on :
We saw these lads emerging later on in groups, having bought “things to be assembled.” I’m guessing “Ikea Assembly Expert” will look good on any CV.
We were mostly shopping for office furniture and, kudos to us, we kept our focus really well. I wanted to get cushions, too; our hideous couch is uncomfortable as well as ugly and I thought a few cushions would help. So apart from cushions, it was all about the office furniture. Oh wait, there were glasses, too. And a cutlery set. And Daycent Mugs for the cuppa Barrys. But apart from cushions, glasses, cutlery and mugs, we were totally focussed on buying office furniture.
We quickly (it was only two hours, not bad at all) finished in the showrooms and made our way into the warehouse.
Where someone proved yet again that you will never fully remove the boy from the man…
and I discovered that Ikea also do headaches. No assembly required.
We eventually found all our brown boxes and queued up to pay. Finally, all was in the jeep except for those darn things we had to collect at the special pick-up point. Me & the dogs waited, some of us patiently, others less so.
and finally, we got back home, seven hours after leaving.
After dinner, we started assembling. These were my very first Ikea project :
And no, I did not “just have to match the correct lid to the correct bin.” Humph. Look at all those handles!! I had to attach every single one!
Buoyed by my success, I proceeded to my second ever Ikea project – my new office chair. It was a bit more complex than the bins.
The LSH was busily assembling tables while I was doing all that. One end of his office looks pretty good now.
The other end? Judge for yourself.
I’m currently sipping my tea from one of the new mugs and admiring the new cushions. They look great! Mind you, draping a sheet over the couch helps a lot, too.
I’ve also indulged myself and ordered two of these :
I reckon they’ll look pretty nice mixed up with the other square ones.
The Foire Agricole
This day last year we wandered up to the Foire Agricole in Reillanne, wondering what it would be like. It turned out to be beyond our expectations, a happy celebration of Provençal country life; but we could only stay a couple of hours because we had to leave for Lyon, to collect the horses early the following morning. Yes, it’s one year since the horses arrived!
This year I was on my own, the LSH being away on a business trip and, once again, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The area they have used for the Foire for the last three years now has a municipal building on it. Where would they hold the Foire this year, I asked Alexandrine. On the street and in the square beside the community centre, she told me, but the horse stuff would be held near the tennis courts. It didn’t sound great to me, it seemed like everything would be all strung out, so I wasn’t sure if it would have the same buzz as the previous year.
I wandered down the main street. There were mostly the same exhibitors and the same displays, but what caught my eye first were these lovely guys! They weren’t here last year!
They were doing carriage rides all day, up and down the main street. Yeah. That’s the main thoroughfare, jammed with people later on in the day. L♥ve the attitude to Health & Safety in this country! Please don’t ever change and turn into a Nanny State like Ireland!!
I continued to wander, just to get a feel for the layout. There were horses still arriving, to be tethered on picket lines along the main street.
A sweet mare and her twin foals, ridden to the fair with the foals following along. They’re very like a set of plastic statuettes I had when I was a child!
The picket line. No racism here – horses, donkeys and mules were tied up side by side.
Arriving at the Foire
I continued up around the back, by the community centre, past pens of sheep, goats and poultry – the same exhibits as the previous year. I decided to focus on what struck me as different.
There were definitely no llamas last year.
Nor was there anyone doing wood-carving with a chain-saw.
This lavender still has been doing the rounds of local Fêtes. I stopped to listen to an explanation of the process but the speaker was too fast for me and I only understood bits of what he was saying.
He handed around lavender water and lavender oil for people to sniff. They both smelt divine but the the oil was stronger, which was the point he was trying to make.
The large bottle is the lavender water, the small bottle is the oil. Maybe next year I will understand everything he says and be able to give a good description of the whole process!
As I continued to wander, I heard “Clong clong clong” in the distance, getting steadily louder. There was a frisson of activity in the crowd – what was happening? Ah! Late arrivals!
The crowd parted like the Red Sea as these guys came trotting up the road, bells swinging and clonging all the way.
I happened to be standing beside their pen. They strolled in as if they did this sort of thing every day, led by the boss goat and the berger, with a helper bringing up the rearguard. They quickly settled down to eat their hay – a mixed herd of dairy goats and sheep.
I met up with some English friends and sat & chatted for a while, looking out over the regular Sunday market, which was in full swing side by side with the Foire.
I made some new contacts, who I hope to blog about at a later date, but here’s a teaser :
Then I dashed home to let the dogs out and returned in time for the horse demo.
It was quite a way out from the rest of the activities and, as a result, the crowd of spectators was small. The whole demo was done by Alexandrine and her pupils – I think that’s a real mark of respect from the local community for her achievements this year. There were ridden demos, in hand demos and mounted demos, showing the kind of work she does, and she finished up with very polished performance with Max.
A couple of truffle-hunting dogs entered the arena once she had finished, but the crowd must have been all horsey people and they started to drift away, which was a bit sad for the dogs and their owners! I have to confess that I left, too. My own dogs had been alone for most of the day and I wanted to get them out for a decent walk before it got dark.
Once again, the Foire Agricole did not disappoint, although I didn’t like its layout this year. This was its fourth year in existence and next year the location will change once again. They plan to block off the entire street beside which the horse arena was located and hold the Foire there. I think it will work better. I’ll let you know in twelve months time!
Have a look at my Art!
Commissions
Tails From Provence 