Post by racaille on Mar 30, 2014 7:39:50 GMT
Took Paco to a TREC training day yesterday with my little group and had so much fun! I had forgotten just why I love my little horse so much 
He was a complete star. We were divided into three teams for the POR and I was with two new people - although it turned out I knew the younger girl from way back. She was riding a horrible appaloosa, more of which later. I was warned that the appy and the spanish horse ridden by the other woman were pretty speedy. I was anxious that poor ol' P (now 18) wouldn't be able to keep up.
But my word the little man was on form. Almost immediately the two mares started to plant to he strode to the front and led them past all sorts of scary things, including a water pumping station that was making a terrible racket. We did 14km up in the hills with only two scary moments when we were on a track beside a sheer drop and two partridges flew up from the undergrowth and freaked the appy, thereby causing the other two to do a quick about turn. But no one fell off. Did not enjoy the huge bridge over the Canal de Provence (which is huge and fast flowing) and it turned out all three of us have a horror of bridges ... and we had to cross four times!
We got back on the nail time-wise then we had a hilarious picnic all together (although my tuna and sweetcorn quiche was not appreciated by the French
) mind you, it wasn't my most successful combination).
In the afternoon we did COP and PTV training. I confess, dear TPers, as we must always be honest, that I thought I would shine here. But no, I wasn't as good as I thought I was
It was quite clear that a teenager's (not mine) competition horse was much more balanced so flew through everything in canter. But P tried his best and finally pulled off a nice hat-trick with a combination of slalom in canter, immediately into the chicane in walk then into a one-handed loop in trot.
But the appy was atrocious, such bad behaviour that the girl was exhausted trying to control her. It's not her horse, she rides it for someone else and much credit to her for staying on. At the end of the day, our coach was having a long talk with her about whether it was worth it: she's been working this animal for three years and it is a constant beast. She asked: where's the fun? There's always another horse.
And one lady on a young paint (another mare, hmmmm) fell off when the dizzy thing backed into a leccy fence and went bananas. She couldn't have stayed on but although it was nasty fall she didn't do herself any lasting damage.
Gosh I was so grateful to have the lovely Paco, who was fanatastic all day. He even walked straight into the trailer - solo - and that is a first! What a lovely boy!
He was a complete star. We were divided into three teams for the POR and I was with two new people - although it turned out I knew the younger girl from way back. She was riding a horrible appaloosa, more of which later. I was warned that the appy and the spanish horse ridden by the other woman were pretty speedy. I was anxious that poor ol' P (now 18) wouldn't be able to keep up.
But my word the little man was on form. Almost immediately the two mares started to plant to he strode to the front and led them past all sorts of scary things, including a water pumping station that was making a terrible racket. We did 14km up in the hills with only two scary moments when we were on a track beside a sheer drop and two partridges flew up from the undergrowth and freaked the appy, thereby causing the other two to do a quick about turn. But no one fell off. Did not enjoy the huge bridge over the Canal de Provence (which is huge and fast flowing) and it turned out all three of us have a horror of bridges ... and we had to cross four times!
We got back on the nail time-wise then we had a hilarious picnic all together (although my tuna and sweetcorn quiche was not appreciated by the French
) mind you, it wasn't my most successful combination).In the afternoon we did COP and PTV training. I confess, dear TPers, as we must always be honest, that I thought I would shine here. But no, I wasn't as good as I thought I was
It was quite clear that a teenager's (not mine) competition horse was much more balanced so flew through everything in canter. But P tried his best and finally pulled off a nice hat-trick with a combination of slalom in canter, immediately into the chicane in walk then into a one-handed loop in trot. But the appy was atrocious, such bad behaviour that the girl was exhausted trying to control her. It's not her horse, she rides it for someone else and much credit to her for staying on. At the end of the day, our coach was having a long talk with her about whether it was worth it: she's been working this animal for three years and it is a constant beast. She asked: where's the fun? There's always another horse.
And one lady on a young paint (another mare, hmmmm) fell off when the dizzy thing backed into a leccy fence and went bananas. She couldn't have stayed on but although it was nasty fall she didn't do herself any lasting damage.
Gosh I was so grateful to have the lovely Paco, who was fanatastic all day. He even walked straight into the trailer - solo - and that is a first!
What a lovely boy! 
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
) but has manned up a lot 
