Post by racaille on Oct 22, 2010 8:58:16 GMT
Dunno if this is the right place to put rando stuff but failing a rando section I guess this is as near as it gets...... 
I joined my new rando group for my first outing on Sunday. It was a mixed day! The meeting was at 9.30 am on the other side of the mountains but I could not face going over the mountain pass with the trailer so went all the way around, which gave me a journey of an hour and a half. What I had not realised was that the time I was given was not really the 'meeting up' time but the departure time! So I pulled in just as everyone was about to trot off! Cue fastest tack up in the world! But the faster I tried to go, the more my fingers wouldn't work and the nice guy who came to help me had no idea what to do with my Dr Cooks ... but they waited with good grace and we all set off into a brilliant sunny morning.
The theme of the rando was a tour of the water cisterns hewn out of solid rock up the steep slopes going up to the plateau d'Albion. The path was hard going, up sharp scree but the scenery was breathtaking, with spots of scarlet among the scrub oaks where smoke bushes were turning into flame colours.
P was over-excited by being part of a group of 28 horses but not too bad and soon settled down to the business of climbing. All went well until lunchtime when we stopped for a (French) picnic (ie boozy) beside an 'aiguier' which was full of water and sheltered by a dry stone conical 'borrie', very beautiful. I had been sensible and packed a collapsible bucket so offered P water, which he refused of course. He mugged me for my Marmite cereal bar though which peeved me - I can't get them here!
But then it all started to go wrong. Just as we mounted up again, it started to rain, lightly at first and then wallop! the full driving, icy rain that stings your face and turns your hands blue in minutes. We were at the top of the mountain and very few people had wet weather gear as it was not forecast. Very soon I was soaked to my underwear.
We were at least 3 hours away from our trailers and people started to want to hurry which brought about all sorts of bad behaviour - jostling, shoving, cantering downhill on stones etc. People were just going hell for leather and the horses were all steamed up with the cold and tension. It was chaotic and not much fun as people cantered past others, broke off into small groups etc. I kept up with the leaders as P would not do it any other way - I could hold him at the back of the first 10 but no further back. I was annoyed by an oldish lady on a Merens who kept trotting past, shoving in front of me and then falling back into a lazy walk. P was walking out very well and we kept going past her which she obviously did not appreciate, although I felt no duty to rein in P to stay behind her. Every time she trotted past me she was saying no, don't trot to her horse, but doing nothing about it. Grr. Anyway, I soon realised that it was every man for himself and that pushing and shoving was going to be the afternoon norm. P bucked a couple of times but I did not blame him when he had other horses up his @rse. I'll put a red ribbon on him next time.
Anyway, eventually it was so horrible - fog had also now descended and we were pretty much all soaked and frozen that when we came to a tarmac road we decided to abandon our trail and just follow it down to the village. I had to get off and walk as I was too cold to hold my reins by then.
But the riders were great - very quick to help if necessary and very welcoming to me. (Apart from one guy - there's always a jerk, isn't there?) who ridiculed me for not taking the mountain pass with my trailer and then went on to say that women couldn't ride as they treated their horses like pets and never disciplined them blah blah blah
)
I almost cried with relief when we got back to the trailers. I'd packed a string vest for P which was great but he did not want to load with the rain slamming down on the roof. Cue loads of blokes arriving with whips and then much rearing from P. After a little while I told them it wasn't working and that I'd go back to my patient approach. P was obviously so relieved that he walked straight in. I was embrassed by his silliness though as every other horse just strolled into their transport - I saw two horses being loaded into the back of Transit vans
I then had a hour and a half drive back. I was so cold I was shuddering, yet had to negotiate the crappy switchback road in the rain, in pitch black. Not fun. I was very surprised to find upon my return that the road had been so bumpy that the security pegs (which I had checked were in) in both the breast and bum bars had worked loose and both bars had flopped open. But P was fine. And dry and toasty so obviously not stressed (unlike me!)
My nice OH and son had got a hot bath and a glass of red ready for me - by the time I'd sorted out P I was gasping and shuddering! And knackered as I think I walked for more than two hours all told.
So, a mixed day for me, but I think P really enjoyed himself! Well, more than me, that's for sure!
I joined my new rando group for my first outing on Sunday. It was a mixed day! The meeting was at 9.30 am on the other side of the mountains but I could not face going over the mountain pass with the trailer so went all the way around, which gave me a journey of an hour and a half. What I had not realised was that the time I was given was not really the 'meeting up' time but the departure time! So I pulled in just as everyone was about to trot off! Cue fastest tack up in the world! But the faster I tried to go, the more my fingers wouldn't work and the nice guy who came to help me had no idea what to do with my Dr Cooks ... but they waited with good grace and we all set off into a brilliant sunny morning.
The theme of the rando was a tour of the water cisterns hewn out of solid rock up the steep slopes going up to the plateau d'Albion. The path was hard going, up sharp scree but the scenery was breathtaking, with spots of scarlet among the scrub oaks where smoke bushes were turning into flame colours.
P was over-excited by being part of a group of 28 horses but not too bad and soon settled down to the business of climbing. All went well until lunchtime when we stopped for a (French) picnic (ie boozy) beside an 'aiguier' which was full of water and sheltered by a dry stone conical 'borrie', very beautiful. I had been sensible and packed a collapsible bucket so offered P water, which he refused of course. He mugged me for my Marmite cereal bar though which peeved me - I can't get them here!
But then it all started to go wrong. Just as we mounted up again, it started to rain, lightly at first and then wallop! the full driving, icy rain that stings your face and turns your hands blue in minutes. We were at the top of the mountain and very few people had wet weather gear as it was not forecast. Very soon I was soaked to my underwear.
We were at least 3 hours away from our trailers and people started to want to hurry which brought about all sorts of bad behaviour - jostling, shoving, cantering downhill on stones etc. People were just going hell for leather and the horses were all steamed up with the cold and tension. It was chaotic and not much fun as people cantered past others, broke off into small groups etc. I kept up with the leaders as P would not do it any other way - I could hold him at the back of the first 10 but no further back. I was annoyed by an oldish lady on a Merens who kept trotting past, shoving in front of me and then falling back into a lazy walk. P was walking out very well and we kept going past her which she obviously did not appreciate, although I felt no duty to rein in P to stay behind her. Every time she trotted past me she was saying no, don't trot to her horse, but doing nothing about it. Grr. Anyway, I soon realised that it was every man for himself and that pushing and shoving was going to be the afternoon norm. P bucked a couple of times but I did not blame him when he had other horses up his @rse. I'll put a red ribbon on him next time.
Anyway, eventually it was so horrible - fog had also now descended and we were pretty much all soaked and frozen that when we came to a tarmac road we decided to abandon our trail and just follow it down to the village. I had to get off and walk as I was too cold to hold my reins by then.
But the riders were great - very quick to help if necessary and very welcoming to me. (Apart from one guy - there's always a jerk, isn't there?) who ridiculed me for not taking the mountain pass with my trailer and then went on to say that women couldn't ride as they treated their horses like pets and never disciplined them blah blah blah
)I almost cried with relief when we got back to the trailers. I'd packed a string vest for P which was great but he did not want to load with the rain slamming down on the roof. Cue loads of blokes arriving with whips and then much rearing from P. After a little while I told them it wasn't working and that I'd go back to my patient approach. P was obviously so relieved that he walked straight in. I was embrassed by his silliness though as every other horse just strolled into their transport - I saw two horses being loaded into the back of Transit vans
I then had a hour and a half drive back. I was so cold I was shuddering, yet had to negotiate the crappy switchback road in the rain, in pitch black. Not fun. I was very surprised to find upon my return that the road had been so bumpy that the security pegs (which I had checked were in) in both the breast and bum bars had worked loose and both bars had flopped open. But P was fine. And dry and toasty so obviously not stressed (unlike me!)
My nice OH and son had got a hot bath and a glass of red ready for me - by the time I'd sorted out P I was gasping and shuddering! And knackered as I think I walked for more than two hours all told.
So, a mixed day for me, but I think P really enjoyed himself! Well, more than me, that's for sure!
