Post by racaille on Oct 22, 2012 15:43:45 GMT
I had such a fun day out yesterday! Paco surpassed himself and didn't put a foot wrong all day - I was astounded!
I got up early (in the dark
) to feed so that he something in his tum and then braced myself for loading at first light (a little before 8am now). But he was an angel!
We arrived in warm sunshine and although it wasn't far away, the terrain was very different to here, so had the very pleasant sensation of earth and even grass!
Set off on the 12 km POR with another girl who turned out to be a RI and a young girl on a very pretty piebald. Turned out it was the first outing for both girl and horse and although the horse was very good, the girl got very tired and didn't want to go fast. So I left them sometimes to have wonderful long canters on my own and then wait while they caught up. It was an amazing sensation to be cantering on grass for kilometres at a time! And Paco was very good about leaving the group.
I had feared Paco would be a bit sharp as he was excited but he wasn't silly. It helped that he was the lead horse. The only sight mishap was that I got caught on some vicious brambles that ripped my arm to shreds and I bled all down Paco's side. Someone came up to me and told me my horse was bleeding and when I said he wasn't, it was me, they said: Oh that's all right then!
We found all the markers which were words that made up a French proverb. I was a bit chuffed as I worked it out - before the other teams (French), the divvies!
We all sat around for a picnic lunch but then the heavens opened - a real Provencal deluge - so we repaired (with our wine) to one of the haystores. It was being held at an old haras (stud) which is the most wonderful collection of majestic buildings - even the haystores are magnificent. As for all the boxes, all now empty, they are something magical.
And talking of magic, the rain stopped in time for our afternoon training in the PTV field. It was a little slippery - no cantered corners - but pretty reasonable. We trained over all the difficulties and then had a fun competition. I was pretty relieved to win as the others hadn't done TREC before and I would have been quite embarrassed otherwise
I was particularly pleased with P's canter under the low branches, he was brilliant.
The others - there were about a dozen of us - were a very mixed bag ranging from teenagers who knew what they were doing to older people, including the obligatory sack of spuds man! Some people were quite novicey but had a go at most things. They were very friendly and we had a good time, comparing tack (no one had seen a Dr Cooks before or the Be Nice halter) and trailers/lorries.
But the nicest thing for me was that the RI who organised the day hasn't seen Paco for about four years and when we were warming up for the PTV I asked him to work properly and she was gobsmacked! We basked in her praise all day! And she suggested that we hack out together (and I want some lessons) as we are so close which I will look forward to once the road diggers have finished the roadworks to our lane - I now cannot get my trailer down the lane until at least November 15. Just as well they hadn't started yesterday!
Paco again loaded brilliantly for the way home - can't believe him really!
So I'm very tired but had a great day out!
Rosé for peeps who got to the end of this long 'un .....
I got up early (in the dark
) to feed so that he something in his tum and then braced myself for loading at first light (a little before 8am now). But he was an angel!We arrived in warm sunshine and although it wasn't far away, the terrain was very different to here, so had the very pleasant sensation of earth and even grass!
Set off on the 12 km POR with another girl who turned out to be a RI and a young girl on a very pretty piebald. Turned out it was the first outing for both girl and horse and although the horse was very good, the girl got very tired and didn't want to go fast. So I left them sometimes to have wonderful long canters on my own and then wait while they caught up. It was an amazing sensation to be cantering on grass for kilometres at a time! And Paco was very good about leaving the group.
I had feared Paco would be a bit sharp as he was excited but he wasn't silly. It helped that he was the lead horse. The only sight mishap was that I got caught on some vicious brambles that ripped my arm to shreds and I bled all down Paco's side. Someone came up to me and told me my horse was bleeding and when I said he wasn't, it was me, they said: Oh that's all right then!
We found all the markers which were words that made up a French proverb. I was a bit chuffed as I worked it out - before the other teams (French), the divvies!
We all sat around for a picnic lunch but then the heavens opened - a real Provencal deluge - so we repaired (with our wine) to one of the haystores. It was being held at an old haras (stud) which is the most wonderful collection of majestic buildings - even the haystores are magnificent. As for all the boxes, all now empty, they are something magical.
And talking of magic, the rain stopped in time for our afternoon training in the PTV field. It was a little slippery - no cantered corners - but pretty reasonable. We trained over all the difficulties and then had a fun competition. I was pretty relieved to win as the others hadn't done TREC before and I would have been quite embarrassed otherwise
I was particularly pleased with P's canter under the low branches, he was brilliant.
The others - there were about a dozen of us - were a very mixed bag ranging from teenagers who knew what they were doing to older people, including the obligatory sack of spuds man! Some people were quite novicey but had a go at most things. They were very friendly and we had a good time, comparing tack (no one had seen a Dr Cooks before or the Be Nice halter) and trailers/lorries.
But the nicest thing for me was that the RI who organised the day hasn't seen Paco for about four years and when we were warming up for the PTV I asked him to work properly and she was gobsmacked! We basked in her praise all day! And she suggested that we hack out together (and I want some lessons) as we are so close which I will look forward to once the road diggers have finished the roadworks to our lane - I now cannot get my trailer down the lane until at least November 15. Just as well they hadn't started yesterday!
Paco again loaded brilliantly for the way home - can't believe him really!
So I'm very tired but had a great day out!
Rosé for peeps who got to the end of this long 'un .....
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
