Tails From Provence

There’s a WHAT in the Woods?

…”Oui, un loup,” he said.

Non, I repeated, only it sounded more like noooooooooo.

But, non, vraiment, there is a wolf around, the gendarmes saw it fifteen days ago near the lac (it’s more of a pond, really) beside the Auberge Pierry – about a kilometer from our house.

Holy shit seemed like the only fitting reply. And there I was, getting my knickers in a twist because the troupeau of mouton have taken up residence in the woods beside the arena (and just when Aero was going so nicely, too). It seems there are bigger things to worry about than woolly bleaters with bells around their necks and their accompanying savage guard dogs.

Savage horse-eating killer death sheep

Georges mentioned the wolf because he was explaining why the chiens de protection with the sheep are so important, and so ferocious. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t pulling my leg.

Gulp. Do my dogs really have to go out for a pee last thing at night?

Who is this horse and what has he done with Aero?

Who is this horse nuzzling the muzzle of the demonic-horse-eating-sometimes-invisible-killer-death-donkey-from-hell?

What on earth happened? Suddenly, the Killer-Death-Donkey-From-Hell is not scary!

Today, Aero and I did about half an hour in the arena in walk, trot and canter. Initially, he spooked at some barrels at the side of the arena, but his spookiness felt different somehow – it didn’t feel like I was sitting on an unexploded bomb, it just felt like he needed to check the barrels out before he could be sure it was safe to pass them, and once he’d had a look at them he was fine.

After he decided that the barrels were ok, he was calm, sensible and a even little lazy in the arena…. quite a lot like Flurry, actually.

Amazingly, I didn’t feel like a beginner, struggling to cope with his big, bouncy trot – in fact I even did a couple of steps in sitting trot from time to time. Is he more supple in the back (and therefore easier to ride), or was he just pootling around in a teeny-weeny trot the whole time?

Although it was a very gentle session, he worked really well, bending equally in both directions, stretching down beautifully into the contact when we did Long’n’Low and he finished up with a nice little bit of foam around his mouth :

A closer look at his “white lipstick!”

I’m beginning to think the osteopath has a lot to do with this… or maybe, as Allison said on my last post, it’s a combination of everything – he’s settled more, he needed a break and the weather is nice and mild. Who knows!

I kept the session short because I was so happy with him, but we practised leg-yielding in walk and did a few walk/canter transitions just for fun, as well as walk and trot circles & turns.

This is more like the horse I’ve known and watched for the past thirteen years!

New Improved Aero?

Why do I always end up with the filthy horse? Usually it’s Flurry who has plastered himself in muck, but today it was Aero.

He even made sure he got it all over his face, too.

Not only did I have the dirtiest horse, but I also had to fit twice as many hoofboots as the LSH… moan… grumble… but eventually I was ready and we set off, walking through the lavender field across the road from the farm. Our plan was to do this loop :

heading towards Reillanne following a footpath and then coming back up through the woods and fields – about 5.5km.

Aero’s happy ears in front!

The New, Improved, Aero led almost the whole way. Apart from one “SQUIRREL!!” moment early on (I think it really was a squirrel, it was light brown and had a long bushy tail) he was foot-perfect. He was interested and looking around, but the underlying tension I’d been feeling in his body in October and November is gone. Has he settled in? Recovered from the trauma of the long journey? Decided that he likes being a trekking horse? Was his back sore and the osteopath fixed it? Did he need a break? Or is he just feeling ultra-mellow because of the warm weather? Time will tell… but for now, I’m enjoying it!

Flurry settled into riding-school “follower” mode behind Aero, so the LSH got lots of photos of Aero’s bum.

Believe me, there’s loads more but they get a bit boring!

Then the LSH wanted us to turn around and face him for a posed one, which is harder than it might seem… Aero trots away from Flurry. Flurry speeds up. The LSH slows him down. Flurry shakes his head and snatches at the bit. The LSH nearly drops his camera. I stop Aero and turn him around. He poses beautifully for precisely one second and then decides that he wants to rejoin Flurry. I correct him. He pokes his head out, makes faces and fidgets. Meanwhile, Flurry continues to try to creep forward, ruining the LSH’s focus. Eventually we both say “Ah fekkit, that’ll do.”

Yes, it’s a little out of focus. Blame Flurry.

This was the same route that I covered in Show me the Way to go Home and I was still a little uncertain about the start of the second half of the trail. There are acres and acres of featureless oak woods, criss-crossed with tracks and trails of various sizes, many of which just peter out, and all of which look similar.

The scrub oak woods

We put Flurry in front to find our trail, and despite the fact that we both know he’s good at finding his way, I have to confess that, once again, we doubted him, saying that “worst case, we make our way to the road and follow it home.” Eventually I recognised the place where the track Flurry was following veered off to the right and Flurry most emphatically veered off to the left. We are now calling him “our little homing pigeon.”

No, LSH, not that way!

We passed close by some hunters at one stage, we heard gunshots from some distance away and then saw a large black dog at the far end of a field, and then further on we could hear a clochette ringing nearby – hunters put bells on their dogs so that they can track them. We talked extra-loudly, just to be sure they wouldn’t think we were deer.

When we got to the top of the last ascent near the farm, we dismounted and let the horses graze. We also removed their bits – it’s easy to do with the Micklem bridle, and it’s something I want to get into the habit of doing when they are given permission to graze. I got lazy and sat on a log, and Aero was checking me out for carrots rather than grazing at first, but he got the idea eventually!