Post by racaille on Jun 4, 2013 7:34:32 GMT
I am soooooooooooooooo thrilled with Paco. He was amazing during the weekend rando, he didn't put a hoof wrong and it was a brilliant two days.
He loaded well
and we picked up our passenger without problems although the other horse is a bit, er, well covered so felt the weight but got to the Var without problems.
In total there were 11 riders, including our two coaches, and a very motley assortment of horses. It was interesting to see three Merens together. A couple of the nags were unshod behind and one was totally barefoot - it was this one who had no problems at all on the stony tracks, some of the others really suffered and one was pretty lame by the end.
Here's a Merens
And here's P ready for the off, doing what he does best
On Saturday we did a long loop, up into the mountains and down into valleys full of wheat fields, very different to here.
We stopped for lunch and a wine tasting at a farm
and then thundered on for a further three hours. Paco was fantastic: were some of the horses were now beginning to tire and would fall back and then 'trotine' to catch up, he just power walked up and down (and there were some serious climbs too), easily overtaking the slowcoaches, even as they jogged. We found a good place for us was up in front with the lead four horses but he was a good boy and accepted a position anywhere if I asked.
Of course water is always a problem (and it was quite hot - any hotter and it would have been uncomfortable). We came across some puddles but I am not a fan as the wild boar pee in them but we did find a little stream at one point and Paco proved what a great rando horse he is and just drank hugely but without going in and muddying the water for the others. Some of the horses made a real fuss!
We finally arrived at our gite where the horses spent the night in individual little paddocks (Paco is standing down a hole)
and we had a hilarious and boozy supper outside
before we all bunked down in the attic and were told to shut up as we were so hysterical we were disturbing the other guests
Next day Paco was in good shape and we set off again for a really big climb. I have to confess that I got a little grumpy with the one or two people who let their horses stop without warning to snatch a mouthful of grass or even to poo - I had words with one woman who scolded me for pushing P on when he wanted to stop for a dump. It's something I don't mind if I am pottering about on my own but I think that if you have a line of people behind you, you should not hold them up and a horse is perfectly capable of doing two things at once. You can hardly stop in the middle of a competition, can you?
Anyway, we got to the top of a huge climb where we stopped for a picninc and could see to the coast one way and to the Alpes - still covered in snow - the other.
From there it was an easy potter down to the end and Paco is now having a day or two off as he was amazing. No silliness, not too grumpy with the other horses (he had his ribbon in) he raced through the canters, didn't pull his new shoes off in trot (not ideal to be newly shod but couldn't be helped and I didn't want to put boots on him because of the risk of sand burns). But mostly his power walking amazed me, I could really feel that lovely bum of his working.
Love that little horse.
He loaded well
and we picked up our passenger without problems although the other horse is a bit, er, well covered so felt the weight but got to the Var without problems.In total there were 11 riders, including our two coaches, and a very motley assortment of horses. It was interesting to see three Merens together. A couple of the nags were unshod behind and one was totally barefoot - it was this one who had no problems at all on the stony tracks, some of the others really suffered and one was pretty lame by the end.
Here's a Merens
And here's P ready for the off, doing what he does best
On Saturday we did a long loop, up into the mountains and down into valleys full of wheat fields, very different to here.
We stopped for lunch and a wine tasting at a farm
and then thundered on for a further three hours. Paco was fantastic: were some of the horses were now beginning to tire and would fall back and then 'trotine' to catch up, he just power walked up and down (and there were some serious climbs too), easily overtaking the slowcoaches, even as they jogged. We found a good place for us was up in front with the lead four horses but he was a good boy and accepted a position anywhere if I asked.
Of course water is always a problem (and it was quite hot - any hotter and it would have been uncomfortable). We came across some puddles but I am not a fan as the wild boar pee in them but we did find a little stream at one point and Paco proved what a great rando horse he is and just drank hugely but without going in and muddying the water for the others. Some of the horses made a real fuss!
We finally arrived at our gite where the horses spent the night in individual little paddocks (Paco is standing down a hole)
and we had a hilarious and boozy supper outside
before we all bunked down in the attic and were told to shut up as we were so hysterical we were disturbing the other guests
Next day Paco was in good shape and we set off again for a really big climb. I have to confess that I got a little grumpy with the one or two people who let their horses stop without warning to snatch a mouthful of grass or even to poo - I had words with one woman who scolded me for pushing P on when he wanted to stop for a dump. It's something I don't mind if I am pottering about on my own but I think that if you have a line of people behind you, you should not hold them up and a horse is perfectly capable of doing two things at once. You can hardly stop in the middle of a competition, can you?
Anyway, we got to the top of a huge climb where we stopped for a picninc and could see to the coast one way and to the Alpes - still covered in snow - the other.
From there it was an easy potter down to the end and Paco is now having a day or two off as he was amazing. No silliness, not too grumpy with the other horses (he had his ribbon in) he raced through the canters, didn't pull his new shoes off in trot (not ideal to be newly shod but couldn't be helped and I didn't want to put boots on him because of the risk of sand burns). But mostly his power walking amazed me, I could really feel that lovely bum of his working.
Love that little horse.
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
oops clearly read that sentence wrong didn't I!
