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…
Meet the Inmates Part 7 – Bubu and Galion
Little Amante jumped the queue of impending ‘Meet the Inmates’ posts by breaking his automatic waterer last week. I’m pleased to say it was quickly repaired. When I went to feed the horses that evening, it looked like this once again.
Phew.
Anyway, after the little guys (Grisou and Caline), the next horses I see every morning are Bubu and Galion. They’re also the first stop on the ‘Tour de la Ferme’ which I usually make in the Jeep. Sometimes I use the quad and very, very occasionally I have used the Fiat 500.
Galion is another retiree. I think he was 18 when I arrived, which would make him 22 now. His Mom was still riding him a little when I arrived, and she joined me for one hack, long ago. Galion did a lot of dressage in his working life, so he found the forest trails a little strange. He clung to Aero for security, which was a wee bit ironic given that Aero was not exactly a woodlands boy at the time! But that was the one and only time I’ve seen him ridden. His Mom had a baby two years ago, and that was the end of her riding, for the time being anyway.
Hurry up and feed me, woman!
He’s the boss of the two, and likes to steal Bubu’s food if he possibly can. So sometimes I have to separate them while they eat, depending on whether Galion has interesting goodies in his feed, like carrots or apples or a handful of coarse mix. He’s another one who’s difficult to keep condition on in the winter. At times he just seems to lose interest in his food and ends up leaving half of it for Bubu. Bubu’s owners aren’t too happy about this because he can be a bit giddy when he gets too much food!
Nom nom nom, carrots today!
Galion went barefoot late in life, maybe three years ago. It took him a while to adjust but he’s comfortable now and his feet seem pretty good.
Why are you hanging around now we’ve been fed?
Galion’s Mom also happens to be my osteopath. She’s great!
Bubu was a skinny yearling when I arrived. I’m surprised (and sorry) that I don’t have any photos of him when he was a baby, because he has grown into a stunning boy.
Really hard to get a good photo of this boy! He never stays still!
He’s the son of Victoire, who used to live with Grisou and Caline until she was PTS at the start of the summer.
Victoire, before cancer struck
Bubu’s owner has broken him herself, with help and advice from Alexandrine when needed. She has taken her time with him, which is always a good thing. It took him a long time to mature but, this year, he has finally developed an adult mind and is working very well now. Alex has hacked him out, but his owner has yet to do that – hopefully in the autumn, when the weather has cooled down a bit.
Bubu at last year’s clinic
He attended the clinic with Pauline Beulze last autumn and was very well behaved.
The long-term plan is to do some dressage, but basically he will be a ‘pet’ horse for life. If his family treat him like they treated his mother, he can look forward to a long and comfortable life.
The hay on the ground is always more interesting than the hay in the feeder. Funny, that.
Meet the Inmates Part 6 (Just what you don’t want to see in the middle of a drought)
Hungry Hungry Hippos vs Tricklenets
Remember I bought some Tricklenets (slow feeder hay nets) a couple of weeks ago? I thought I’d let you know how the Boys (now affectionately known as the Hungry Hungry Hippos) are getting on with them.
Hungry Hungry Hippos at their palloxes
Day 1 – I hung one Tricklenet from a tree. It rained that night. The net fell down and I extracted it, empty, from the mud the following morning.
Day 2 – I left one full Tricklenet hanging from a tree. It did not fall down this time. Woohoo!
Day 3 – About half the hay was left. Apparently it’s harder to eat hay from a Tricklenet if you can’t fling it around in the mud. I refilled and rehung.
Day 4 – Once again I picked the net up off the ground, almost empty. Must learn to tie better knots.
Day 5 – I found one empty Tricklenet hanging from a tree. They seem to have the hang of it now, I thought. I guess I need to hang two a day. I left two full Tricklnets hanging from two trees.
Day 6 – Yay! Two half empty Tricklenets hanging from two tree. This is great! I’ll just have to fill and hang every second day!
Day 7 – Instead of hanging from the tree, I tied them at ground level. It’s better for horses to eat at ground level, right?
Day 8 – Hmm, two Tricklenets lying empty and forlorn at the bottom of two trees. Apparently, tying the Tricklenets at ground level made it too easy for the Hippos to extract the hay. Right, let’s forget the idea of it being better for the horses to eat at ground level. After all, we’re not aiming for any fancy schmancy dressagy stuff. I’ll go back to hanging the nets. Trying to eat hay from a swinging net seems to slow the Hippos down. So once again, I left two full Tricklenets hanging from two trees.
Day 9 – Two empty Tricklenets hanging from two trees. So much for swinging nets slowing the hippos down… I stuffed the two nets to the gills and hung them once again.
7pm, day 9 – Better go see how much they have left…
This much.
So are the Tricklenets working? Are the Hippos eating less than before? Given that they get two forkfuls of hay each per day in their feeders PLUS one fat Tricklenet each, I don’t think there is any actual reduction in consumption. I think that they ARE actually prepared to spend all day picking hay out of the Tricklenets one strand at a time. But, on the other hand, it’s keeping them amused all day.
And of course, some Hungry Hungry Hippos also steal from their neighbours.
You get extra points for that.
gif file from giphy.com
And the word of the week is…
Éternuer
Sneeze.
This is one word I cannot get to stay in my brain, no matter how many times I hear it. Hopefully by including it as a word of the week, I will manage to remember it in future. It’s especially important because I seem to be having allergies this summer for the first time ever.
ATCHOO!
The correct reaction is “À tes souhaits” or “À vos souhaits” if you don’t know the person very well.
Rather then the religious “Bless you!” or the Irish “Oh Lord bless us and save us!”, you are just saying “To your wishes” – hoping the sneezer’s wishes come true. This is where is gets interesting…
If they sneeze a second time, then you can say “À tes/vos amours” or “To your loves” and if they sneeze a third time, you can say “Et qu’elles duront toujours” “May they last forever”.
I’m sure you needed to know all that.
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Tails From Provence 