Tails From Provence

Aero Loses his Stripes

I was very pleased with Aero’s Bucas Zebra Stripe fly rug initially. It made a huge difference to his comfort from a ‘being bugged by flies’ point of view and it looked cute. Apparently it was a talking point in the local villages (Did you see they have a zebra there now? Is she training a zebra?) and it’s in loads of strangers’ holiday snaps – it was a regular occurrence to see a car stopped beside the horse’s field with a tourist beside it taking a photo of the horse disguised as a zebra.

I had concerns about a couple of things from the start, though, and I itemised them in my post It’s That Time of Year Again back in May :

The elasticated brow band is a waste of time – Yes, it is. I’ve never used it. I guess it makes the neck cover sit nicely for photo shoots. Other than that, I can see no purpose for it.

There is no adjusting whatsoever of the metal fastener at the chest – Yes, this turned out to be a problem.

The belly-guard is clipped on to the inside of the rug by plastic clips which, again, have no possibility for adjustment – Yes, this also turned out to be a problem.

Those plastic clips on the belly-guard and on the leg straps strike me as being very breakable – Yes, one of them is already damaged, but still functioning.

Every fly-rug I have ever used on Aero slips backwards and this one is no exception. What it means for the belly-guard, though, is that one edge of it ends up right beside his sheath and there is no way it’s not going to get pee’d on – No, I was wrong here, the belly guard never got pee’d on.

The rug always sat well on Aero when it was put on, but after a few hours in the field, it would invariably have slipped backwards and twisted to the right hand side. The front of the rug fastens to one side (the left) and I suspect that this is why it slips around the way it does – surely a central fastener would be better? Because of the slippage, I never felt comfortable leaving it on Aero day and night, although I was able to do this with last year’s Weatherbeeta fly rug. Still, I didn’t begrudge him the extra effort of getting up to the farm early in the mornings to rug him up and Alexandrine and her dad were very helpful about taking it off in the evenings, although it had to come off earlier than I would have preferred. During a particularly warm spell a few weeks ago, I asked them to leave it on and I would nip up to the farm after dark every evening to remove it.

Then the weather changed. It was consistently windy and temperatures dropped quite a bit – to the high teens/low twenties. There were noticeably fewer flies around, so I left the rug off completely, noting that the clips on the belly guard had rubbed his sides slightly and thinking that it would be better for his skin and coat to be exposed to the air as much as possible.

The cooler weather lasted a couple of weeks and actually it hasn’t really warmed up again since, although we’re expected to hit the thirties again this week. The net effect was that Aero didn’t wear the rug for maybe two weeks. Then, two weeks ago, I was grooming Aero one morning and I was horrified to see the skin lifting off his withers, leaving a bald patch underneath. The rug had rubbed him weeks earlier; I hadn’t noticed (Bad Me) and now the skin was coming off in chunks as it healed underneath.

I wasn’t happy. Posts from Bucas keep popping up in my Facebook Newsfeed, so I visited their page, thinking I would leave a message there. Quelle surprise… I wasn’t the first person to have this problem! Quite a few people had left messages describing exactly the issues I’d had, but a couple of them followed up their posts, saying that Bucas had contacted them and helped them sort it out.

Ok, I though, and I sent off a polite email to Bucas describing the problem. I received a reply almost immediately and, after a bit of back and forth looking for the manufacturer’s number from the rug, size of the rug, size of the horse etc, I was told they would send me a chest extender and a new belly guard. Meanwhile, the trusty old Weatherbeeta was dusted off and called into service!

My parcel from Bucas arrived a couple of days ago.

Kudos to them for the speedy and helpful customer service.

I tried out the new attachments yesterday.

Well, the chest extender certainly extends the chest – but there’s still no adjustment, so now it seems a bit loose.

Buckles, dear Bucas, buckles! Please! But at least it is sitting more centrally now.

The replacement belly guard seems exactly the same as the old one and I can’t see it changing anything.

I’ll see how he gets on with the wider chest piece. If the rug continues to slip, I will try it without the belly guard and see how it goes. It certainly couldn’t slip any worse than before so I’ve got nothing to lose!

If it continues to slip and sit heavy on his withers, my last resort will be to sew a piece of sheepskin inside the rug. But seriously, for €120, I shouldn’t have to do this sort of crap.

I’ve been a huge Bucas fan for years. I’ve always considered their stuff expensive but good quality – I have a Bucas cooler which must be twenty years old and is the best cooler I’ve ever seen. I’ve also had several Bucas stable rugs over the years and loads of my liveries used Bucas turnout rugs. I love the design of the Zebra fly rug but I am SOOOOOO disappointed that the fit is so poor.

My fingers are very much crossed that it will sit better now, but I have a gut feeling it won’t. I’ll keep you posted.

Tags: Bucas Zebra fly sheet, flies, horseflies, Provence

Thoughts on Riding Bitless

(Very horsey post. Non-horsey readers are excused. You may return to Candy Crush.)

I learned to ride in a riding school in rural Ireland back in the late sixties/early seventies. I was taught :

to make the horse go, you kick him, if that doesn’t work you hit him with your whip, if that doesn’t work the instructor chases him with a lunge whip.

to turn right, you pull the right rein.

to turn left, you pull the left rein.

to stop, you pull both reins together.

It never, ever dawned on me that there might be another way. Even when I saw the word ‘collection’ or the phrase ‘on the bit’ in the horsey books and magazines that I devoured, I dismissed these as irrelevant. Things like ‘shoulder-in’ and ‘half-pass’ dwelled in the realms of the Spanish Riding School and other fantasy worlds, as far as I was concerned.

Fast forward to my early thirties. I was a reasonably balanced rider who could jump a course of 90cm (approx 3 foot), negotiate a cross country course and (usually) stay on board for a day’s hunting. Then I began to train for my British Horse Society’s Assistant Instructor’s Exam and I quickly realised that there was more to riding than the pull, kick and slap method I’d been taught (and that I’d been happily teaching). I began to have dressage lessons. Suddenly, I realised that I could make a horse work in an outline! I finally knew what ‘on the bit’ meant! Or so I thought…

I had some niggling doubts. Surely schooling a horse on the flat shouldn’t mean that my arms and shoulders should be aching afterwards? While training for my Stage Three exam, I was given an ex-eventer that had stiff, choppy gaits and had to have its head held rigidly in place for at least twenty minutes of warm-up. My hands blistered through my gloves after riding that one and I knew this couldn’t be right. What about stretching and relaxation? The books I read spoke about ‘lightness’ yet most of the horses I rode felt anything but light. I was horrified any time I saw a video of myself – I always seemed to be very much tipped forward, with my hands held low and fixed, to hold the horse’s head down, or niggling at the bit to get them to ‘soften’ and ‘relax.’ I struggled with lateral work, too. Sure, I could ride a leg yield with an iffy outline until the cows came home, but anything more advanced ended up in a tight, frustrated mess.

My Pony Mum years commenced. I learned a huge amount from watching my kids ride and have lessons. I learned that it’s better to have four lessons a year with a top class instructor than one lesson a week with an instructor from the ‘slap and kick’ school of motoring. I learned to doubt the ‘hold the head rigid’ approach I’d been taught for my exams. I began to identify methods of riding and teaching that I felt would ultimately lead to a lighter, more balanced horse.

My Pony Mum years ended and Flurry arrived on the scene. Flurry had been trained as a ‘slap and kick’ horse but I dreamed of a light, balanced, responsive horse. Our early canters were anything but – think Wall of Death and you get the idea! I worked with a couple of instructors that I really liked and things improved enormously, but I was carrying a lot of baggage. Too easily I would fall back into my old habits of hauling on the reins with grim determination to hold him in an outline. I’d find myself wiggling my hands about as I asked him to soften and frequently crossing a hand over his withers as I tried to maintain inside bend. I would end up with both hands practically in my belly button as I pulled back on the reins, trying to regulate his speed. I KNEW all this was wrong, but I’d been doing it for so long I just couldn’t stop myself. “Carry your hands” and “Lift your hands” were phrases I heard again and again throughout my lessons.

I inherited Aero, moved to France and started lessons with Alexandrine, who I suppose could be described as French Classical Dressage meets Natural Horsemanship. I’m sure I drove her crazy with my ingrained habits, but my balance and seat slowly improved as I became fitter. I still had the same old ‘hand’ issues, though.

I started messing about riding bitless and ended up riding in the rope halter. I was blown away by how completely different it feels. Even having rope reins instead of leather reins feels different. Niggling at the reins has literally no effect – there is no bit and no mouth at the other end of the reins! All of a sudden, there was nowhere to put all my baggage!

Because it all feels so different, it’s much easier to drop the old habits. To ask my horse to lower his head, I raise my hands. To ask him to work rounder, it’s a combination of raising my hands and a slight wiggle of the fingers which asks him to bring his nose in. Because I’m no longer trying to pull or hold his head down, I’m sitting taller and straighter. To turn, I have to use my leg and weight aids before I use my rein aids, otherwise the horse just drops the inside shoulder and cuts in rather than turns in. Sure, there’s the odd moment when I forget, but I quickly realise my mistake, because nothing works when I do it wrong!

When I saw the video the LSH made last weekend, I was delighted with how I’m sitting and with how contented Aero looks. Yes, there are some blips. For example, at approx 1’10” , I asked him to start a circle – but I forgot to use my seat and legs before using my inside rein – back to my old ‘pull the right rein to turn right’ issue! As soon as I felt him ducking through the inside shoulder I realised my mistake, and the rest of the circle improved. Then there was the serpentine near the end… I am confessing here that I didn’t include the worst of that footage! Changing diagonal on Mr Super-Bouncy Aero is still not easy for me! Overall, the video really helped me to see what I need to work on – keeping my hands steady through transitions; not twisting and tilting when I ask for lateral work; remembering to let go from time to time…. sigh…

So, why am I trying to do dressage bitless? Lots of reasons :

First of all, I wanted to see if I could!

It is finally helping me to lose the ‘pull the right rein to turn right, pull the left rein to turn left’ habit of a lifetime.

It’s helping me carry my hands and hold them more forward which in turn opens my collar bones and makes me sit straighter.

I have to use my legs, seat and weight to ride turns and circles. This has made both horses become lighter, more attentive and more responsive.

Most importantly, both horses absolutely love working in the halter. I really feel that Flurry is now the same bitless as he is with a bridle. I can walk/trot/canter circles and serpentines fairly accurately and with some class of an inside bend. I can even ride a 10M circle in trot with him, although I’ll admit they’re sometimes a funny shape! His outline is a little different with the halter – lower, but I’m going to keep him there for a while. I have a suspicion his head will come up when he gets a bit stronger through the back. Aero was more difficult to steer than Flurry initially, but once he realised that there weren’t going to be any signals coming through a bit, he started to pay more attention to what my body was doing. He’s much happier and more relaxed bitless, so that there are no mouth-open-tension moments, no head-tossing and, strangely, no fighting the reins when I ask him to slow down or turn, even when we’re cantering flat out towards the arena gate!

Am I going to throw away my bridles?

No, I don’t think so. First of all, I do plan to compete in the local dressage competitions, so I will have to use a bridle for that. Secondly, I have approximately 45 years of conditioning to overcome before I would be certain of being able to control my horse with a halter, in an open space or a very exciting environment. I’m just not brave enough to throw away my brakes. Which leads me to a deep, soul-searching question :

Do I truly believe that the only way I would be able to control my horse in an emergency situation (like our Ride to Remember) is by being able to haul on his mouth i.e. by inflicting pain on him?

I am ashamed to admit that my answer is yes.

July 4th!

I hope my American readers will be pleased to hear that we celebrated their National holiday in style – in fact, we made a whole weekend out of it!

It started on Friday evening, when we hosted a July 4th barbecue for some of our American friends. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go to plan.

This is Provence. The sun shines here 360 days a year (or something crazy like that). Well, the sun chose July 4th to be one of those days when it doesn’t make an appearance. Worse still, July 4th saw one of the worst thunderstorms for years hitting this region – just at the time our guests started to arrive. Not to worry, we can cook indoors, we said, as they towelled themselves off and donned the dry clothing we had just loaned them.

Then there was a flash of lightening directly overhead and the power went. We’re used to this happening during thunderstorms in Ireland, so we just assumed the whole area was out. That’s what normally happens, right? Not to worry, we’d just have to cook outdoors, despite the rain! Candles and the barbecue were lit. Burgers and sausages were cooked and brought indoors. Salads and burger trimmings were spread out and the feast began.

The storm moved on, but still the power stayed off. Dusk began to draw in and the lights remained steadfastly OFF. How very inefficient of the power company, we thought… then it dawned on the LSH that the main trip switch may have been flipped. Saying nothing to anyone, he sneaked off to check the fuse box. Sure enough, we were the only house in the block without power… oops! He flipped the switch and then cheerily burst back into the room – “Oh look, the power is back!”

Everyone cheered – but they’re going to kill us when they read this and discover that we should have had power all along! Sorry, guys!

That little flag is a 32 year old souvenir of my travels in the US as a student. And no, I have no idea why it’s back to front.

On Saturday morning, the LSH made the video I posted yesterday on Sunday. I spent a lot of Saturday editing it, apart from a brief respite for Mojitos by the pool with my friend Mandy, who has just moved into Céreste.

Me & Mandy, giggling over mojitos.

On Sunday, we spent the entire day on MC’s boat, Cobra. What a beautiful, fun day we had. I had a pain in my jaw from smiling by the time we got back to port!

We cruised out to Ile de Porquerolles, which is the island closest to where MC keeps her boat.

We anchored in a little crique (cove).

Then we swam and ate and fed the seagulls.

It seemed awfully cute when the two baby gulls climbed onto the boat to be fed too, but I fear we may have started them off on a life of begging and thievery.

We ate some more, swam again, then we snoozed, after which we people watched…

…and dog-watched…

…and ice-cream-delivery-boat-watched…

…what a cool summer job!

MC and Georges were keen to show us the port of Porquerolles so we cruised off again in the middle of the afternoon and arrived at the port a little after four.

Well, if you thought the ice-cream seller had a cool job, wait til you see the next photo…

These very pleasant (and very pretty) young ladies in the light blue shirts spend the day zipping back and forth in their dinghies, meeting and greeting every boat that comes into the harbour.

They tell you where to go, depending on whether you’re just there for a couple of hours, overnight, or a longer stay. We were directed to the ponton d’acceuil (reception pontoon, I suppose) where a very pleasant young man helped us to dock and ticked us off on his clipboard. We’re just here for ice-cream, we told him. Ok, he said, but try to be back around five.

We had a wander around the town, which did indeed consist mainly of ice cream sellers. Supposedly hand made, but it wasn’t a patch on what we buy here in Céreste from Scaramouche!

We went for a short walk around the back of the town, mostly to see if we’d get a nice view of the harbour. We did.And a nice view of this little crique for good measure.

Time was ticking by… in fact it was nearly six, so we legged it back to the ponton d’acceuil, hoping that we wouldn’t be keel-hauled for being late. We needn’t have worried, the same pleasant young man just ticked us off his list and helped us to set sail once again.

There was time for one more swim and a spot of water-taxi-watching before we headed back to terra firma. I have to say, the water-taxis all look like they were assembled in someone’s back garden. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to board one of them!

We wake-watched while saying au revoir, Porquerolles…