Tails From Provence

Provençal Winter

It seems that Spring is just about here, so maybe it’s time to write about the Provençal Winter.

This wasn’t our first winter in Provençe, we were here from the end of December to the beginning of April last year, during which we experienced the coldest spell the area has endured for years. For three weeks, the temperature didn’t rise above 0°C, and for almost a week of that it didn’t even make it above -7°C. What we didn’t realise at the time, though, was that last Winter was quite dry. This year, we weren’t expecting another intense cold spell like last year, but we didn’t expect it to be quite as wet or as snowy as it has been.

Mud has been a constant in my life since the end of November. I actually thought the horses were dirty when I took these photos. Little did I know what lay ahead of me.

By the beginning of February, Flurry regularly looked like this :

inspiring what turned out to be the most popular post I’ve ever written!

Aero’s speciality is the rasta look.

and I’ve spent many happy (?) hours chipping mud bobbles out of his mane.

There are time when the local trails are so muddy I even hesitate to walk the dogs on them. It’s a thick, cloying kind of clay which adheres to everything it comes in contact with – the sort that clings to your boots and quickly adds a kilo to the weight of each leg as you slip and slide through the woods. A couple of times, Cinnamon and Cookie have come home wearing mud-clogs which doubled the size of their little paws, and with mud-plastered bellies – the only solution was a bath, much to their delight (not!).

The mud makes me reluctant to ride as well. It’s the one downside of using hoofboots. First of all, you need to get the hoof de-mudded. Then you need to make sure that the heel bulbs are scrupulously clean so there is no risk of irritation when the close-fitting boots are in place. After spending 45 minutes de-mudding all four hooves and scraping enough muck off the horse to make him rideable, you ride out. Then you have to spend another 25 minutes cleaning the muck off your boots when you get back.
Is it any wonder I haven’t been riding much?

There is a family (mum and daughter) who keep a yearling at the farm. Early on in the Winter, there was a day of rain which led to a gigantic puddle appearing near the stables. This was such a rarity that they came out especially for a couple of days to lead the yearling through the water.
It’s not a rarity anymore.

That’s actually a walkway down to the stables

There’s a track leading up to the paddock where Flurry and Aero live. When I’m paying a flying visit, just to say hello, dispense carrots or pick out feet, I drive the jeep up to them. There have been days when the track is so thickly coated with a layer of sludge that I literally waltz along it. This would be hilarious if I was a seventeen year old boy, but I’m a fifty year old woman and all I see are the looming tree trunks and fence posts. It’s not funny at all!

Then there was the snow.

Late in November, there was a sprinkle of snow overnight. I got quite excited about it and I made sure I got a photo of a small patch of white in the shade of one of the field shelters. Little did I know, folks, little did I know…

Snowfall is not an everyday occurrence here. We could see that last year, in the way that the locals reacted to the one fall of snow we had. It was just like being in Ireland, everyone was ooh-ing and aah-ing about how pretty it was for the first two days but got a bit fed up with it after that. I’ve lost count of how many times it’s snowed this year. Proper snow – not like the little sprinkle in this photo.

When we had the first Proper fall of snow, it was very exciting and I rushed out to take photos.

The view from our house

Snow-covered tree

Snow-covered roof tiles

That snow didn’t stay long, so the next time, I got a bit excited again and went out and played with the dogs in it and took loads more photos.

Where’s Cinnamon?

Garden seat

Snowbound car (he managed to get it out!)

The view of the Alps that day

It was really pretty up at the farm.

Icicles on the Abri

Snow covered arena

Christmas tree!

Lavender field

To be honest, the snow was fun and I’m not going to moan about it. We got out and enjoyed it a lot.

Out and about in the snow!

Last year, I was nursing a broken wrist when it snowed and I was absolutely petrified I would fall and hurt it some more. I hobbled around in the snow like a nervous old lady, clutching the arm of whoever was close to me. I’m happy to report that I was much more like myself this year. And yeah, I did fall on my butt a couple of times but at least I was sensible enough not to put a hand out to save myself!

Lonely building

The local graveyard

Montbrun les Bains in the snow

Some of the farm’s smaller inmates decided to look very cute in the snow.

Whiffling muzzles

This is Grisou, aka Horse-Eating-Killer-Death-Donkey-From-Hell.

And this is Caline, his best little girl-buddy.

(I may have spelled their names wrong. Grisou means “the grey one” and Caline means “soft and fluffy” as far as I can make out.)|

But it hasn’t all been rain and snow. There have been some good rides on sunny days..

and great walks in the mountains with the dogs…

When I saw this little guy sticking its head out through the leaf mulch in the woods in early February, it was a sure sign that Spring is on its way – although it proceeded to snow heavily again the next day!

But Spring is definitely en route now. Fruit trees are ready to explode into bloom.

There are flowers popping up everywhere.

Insects and lizards are waking up from their winter slumber.

I haven’t been quick enough to get a photo of a lizard, but they make for a great new Hyper-terrier game.

The Holm oak trees are finally shedding their dead leaves

as the new growth pushes through.

After all the rain, every ditch, drain, river and stream is full.

It’s been a long, wet Winter, but I think we are going to have a very green Spring.

PS Click on any photo to see a larger version of it.

I’d Forgotten

I’d forgotten how much I love this little horse and how much he loves and trusts me. I’ve been so tied up with trying to “connect” with Aero that I’d forgotten how it feels to ride out on Flurry, facing fearlessly into the unknown, or to walk along in front of him on a difficult trail while he followed carefully behind, putting his feet where I put mine, occasionally nudging my shoulder.

It’s time to ‘fess up. The important people (that would be Anne) know already so it’s time to go public.

I don’t spend all my days lounging around, or dog-walking or playing with my horses. I’m surgically attached to my laptop for hours every day, writing the story of Le Big Trek – I’m hoping it’ll turn into a book that one or two people might even want to read – and it has brought the memories flooding back. Steep climbs, near-vertical descents, tiny bridges, rushing streams – wherever I asked him to go, he went without hesitation. Without him, there’s a real possibility we’d never have got out of Ceréste!

So today, with the sun shining and my laptop somewhat frazzled, I decided to take Flurry out and just enjoy him.

Mud and all.

WOOHOO! I didn’t break my horse’s feet!

The maréchal-ferrant visited this morning. That’s “farrier” to those of you who aren’t attempting to build up a French equestrian vocabulary.

Some of you might remember that the LSH and I had to do a bit of emergency trimming on Flurry’s front feet last week in order to get his Cavallo hoof boots on. We did just as much as was necessary that day, but I found myself looking at his hooves and thinking “The heels need to come down more. I can see that the wall can come down at the quarters and the toe can come back a little too” so the following day I went up to the farm with nothing on the agenda except a little rasp wielding.

I lowered his heels. I thought maybe I could go further, but I erred on the side of caution and restrained myself. I trimmed off raggedy bits of frog. I trimmed the bars. I rasped the wall down a little all the way around and then rounded off the edges – mustang roll, bevelling, whatever you want to call it. I am amazed at how thick his hoof-wall is – I will take pictures next time, I promise!

I just did his front feet, because I thought the back ones looked pretty good.

So today, when Eric the maréchal-ferrant checked him, I was delighted when he said he didn’t need to do anything. He said I could go lower with the heels! He said the back feet didn’t need anything! He told me what to watch out for with the bars – simply, make sure I don’t leave them higher than the heel buttresses – and he showed me how to trim the frog at the heel to leave it nice and open. Most if this was communicated via a combination of charades and sign-language, by the way, my French is getting worse because I haven’t met up with MC for ages.

I had been eyeing up Aero’s feet too, and thinking hmm, I think I could have a go at these now.

Aero’s front feet are looking much better. The heels are opening up nicely and the walls are good and strong. Yes, the frogs are still a bit puny, but that’s due to all the wet and to me not exercising him enough, I’m confident that they will improve quickly. He has started to wear the right front much more evenly – good news.

The left front is still wearing unevenly, but that’s due to the abscess which he had last summer. The good news there is that we’re finally at the bottom of the hole from the abscess – yippee! It should be grown out within another month or two, along with the thickened wall caused by the infection, and the hoof should start to return to normal.

I’m definitely feeling confident enough to tackle a bit of routine maintenance on both of their feet now. I’m not going to do anything adventurous with Aero’s front left, but I’ll keep an eye on the heels and watch out for the white line spreading. He tends to grow “wings” on the outside of his hind feet, too, so I will need to rasp them from time to time, but otherwise he needs very little done to the back feet.

Comparison photos – sorry today’s pic is a bit out of focus, but I think it still shows a clear improvement in the shape and in the heel area. Once there is less mud everywhere, I will take a few better ones!