Back in the saddle and raring to go!

So here I am, with a lump the size of half an egg still on my arm after being savaged by a horse, but it hasn't stopped me at all. I was told by all and sundry that from now on I would be scared of horses, would never be comfortable again around them etc etc etc

However, nothing of the sort. I won't go near the horse that attacked me, not from fear, but because I really don't want to be bitten again, which reaction seems entirely sensible to me. But with all the other horses, nothing has changed and I am making up for lost time (while I had no left arm to speak of). 

Since my last post the pony games season has started and I am delighted to report that our team of seniors (all over 40, all mums of younger riders) - "Les Incroyables" won our first competition. It was a crazy day, with high winds and gusts of 90kmp. The horses spent a lovely time jumping around in pretend fear of other ponies, bending poles, trees and everything else. 

Between my daughter and I we now have competitions every sunday between now and Christmas, two pony games, one dressage and one jumping. 

Woo hoo!

I don't want to put you off, but...

don't go too near horses that you don't know well, even if you are an experienced horse person...the horse might bite! This is what happened to me on Sunday night-You can see the outline of the teeth/jaw where this horse picked me up and shook me like in a cartoon. 

It hurts a lot.

Happy Tuesdays

Hunting has started again, as of 1st September, but each area has one day per week when the hunters have to stay at home (thank goodness as they really go for it on the other days around here). At Les Matelles and The Reganel (my club) no hunting day is Tuesday. Buffy (my dog) is terrified of the shots and although May is cool, I have no confidence whatsoever that the murderous hunters won't shoot one of us by mistake if we are out in the valley at the same time as them. I have read some real horror stories about riders and walkers being seriously injured by stray hunters' bullets and I have seen our local hunters gathering in the mornings and they look very capable of shooting a horse instead of a boar.

Consequently we now have to concentrate our ballades on Tuesdays and this evening was no exception. After a hideous bout of 'gastro', no doubt courtesy of the rentrée, today was my first day up. Despite feeling rather weak and pathetic I decided that we couldn't afford to waste a Tuesday evening, especially since the storms that had been forecast had not appeared, so the three of us took off at about six this evening for a gentle wander through the valley. 

May is still so happy to be able to grip now without her back shoes that her idea of a gentle ballade is a lot quicker than mine, but it was so great to be outside after three days of incarceration that I didn't mind. We had a great, and tranquil, ride along the side of the valley and a couple of lovely canters, all the while beneath a stunning red sunset. 

You just can't beat it. 

Hoof Boots part 1

I am up to my neck in hoof boots, as we need them for six hooves - all four of Gump's hooves and probably two of May's (back). I took her back shoes off to stop her kicking Gump but also because she was slipping all the time, on the roads as well as the chemins and both of us felt very uncomfortable. We did a road test yesterday and it was amazing, May was striding out really confidently and was easily keeping up with the bigger horses, and we didn't slip at all. She was very happy even on the stones and rocks and she was sound today so we might get away with no boots, at least for slow ballades. Just as well perhaps as her hooves are extra long and narrow and I still haven't found a brand that will fit.

Gump's hooves change size every time he is trimmed by the equine podologue so I have already had to do two hoof boot orders and then send them back because they won't fit his new size. I am tearing my hair out. Each model of boot fits different shaped hooves, some come in pairs and others singly and each has a different sizing system so finding a set of four that will fit each hoof is killing me, the maths is too hard as well.

I am about to send the last lot back - it is just too expensive to make a mistake. You could nearly buy a small house in the Charente for the price of four hoof boots.

At the same time I am dying to buy the Tekna headcollar that is half price at the moment - synthetic so just washing under the tap instead of greasing the leather one. See earlier posts for my feelings on that. There are also lovely Tekna reins on special. I am sitting on my hands so I don't buy anything.

To bath or not to bath?

I am english. In England we don't give our horses baths/showers to keep them clean because it is always so bloody cold we expect them to catch pneumonia. My old copy of "The manual of horsemanship" makes it quite clear that bathing or hosing a horse all over is a very dangerous activity which should only be attempted on a hot day, which they say is over 25 degrees. Well, according to my memories of the UK, that is about four times a decade. And that is in addition to the horror stories associated with using the wrong shampoo, not rinsing enough and the strong advice to wrap your horse in blankets immediately afterwards to make sure he doesn't die shortly after the cold, wet misery of the bath.

What a shock, then, to come to France and see the french riders' liberal use of the hose (with adjustable shower head, for fine spray, massage etc etc) sometimes DAILY on their horses. Admittedly there is a lot less showering going on in the winter but even then there are some tough types who get bathed even in the "winter" (quote marks just to point out that usually winter here in the Herault is mild autumn in the UK).

Every yard has a bathing area for the horses, with hose, place for shampoo and bath accessories, conditioner (yes, really) etc and it is perfectly usual practice to get off the horse, unsaddle, give the recompense (usually dry bread - another no no in the UK, but that is for another day) and then take the horse to the shower and liberally hose off all the sweat before tying them up again - no pre-warmed blankets, no fleeces (yes, horses have them too now), no woolly hats or mittens. The horses just dry off naturally. 

It took me two years of regular riding in the Herault to get me into the habit of using the hosepipe other than on a horse's lower legs, and I felt hugely panicky and guilty every time I did it, even in temperatures of 30 degrees plus.  Even now I usually stick to giving a quick rinse off around the saddle area rather than the full monty of head to tail wetting, shampooing, rinsing and sweat-scraping to get the drips off, and even then only on a particularly hot day if she has sweated a lot. Happily, my lovely mare May agrees with me that showers, particularly all-over ones, are not appropriate for horses. She has compromised though, and has let me know that in order to cooperate she expects a good double handful of pony nuts or there is no way she is going in there, and that she will be leaving, taking the fencing with her if necessary, immediately after the last mouthful has gone, regardless of how far along the showering process we are. 

But on to the next issue - let the horse roll afterwards in the sandy school to help dry off, or make them hang around tied up until they are dry so they stay clean? Or just turn them out into their field? May and I go with the rolling option, May thinks that a good roll in the sand is necessary at least once a day unless it is dinner time in which case it can wait, but most importantly it is necessary after a shower. I find this is fine, the sand is clean and I can brush it out of her coat before I ride the next time. My daughter, with her first horse, went for the "turn straight out" option today, after finding it hard going brushing all the sand out of Gump's coat after he had rolled in the school.

Gump's owner (see previous posts) is coming to pay her first visit to him since he moved in with us, so J gave him a lovely big bath, all over, including washing the rather grubby white blaze on his face with a new, clean flannel. She scraped off the excess water with the sweat scraper and then turned him out into his field with May.

Within 30 seconds Gump had given us his view on all-over showers - he rolled vigorously and repeatedly in the lovely soft dust of his field and since he was still pretty damp, he got up looking like a hippo straight out of its wallow, absolutely plastered in dark brown mud.

I think I have got the message on baths, guys...

I saw red squirrels living in the trees at our riding club...

how cool is that????

I love the Herault.

Two horse family!

I haven't been riding at all because my back is so bad but we have had a new arrival - Gump! He is a 21-year-old Franche-Montagne horse - the national breed of Switzerland. I am putting up a pic of him. He has been borrowed for my daughter to ride as he is an ex competition horse and he is a darling. Sadly May is being horrible to him but they are living in a fantastic field with loads of room and lots of trees. Gump is a barefoot horse and because of the horrible behaviour by May I have had to take her back shoes off. So I am now involved in a whole new world of hoof boots - the choice is enormous and  very expensive but more on that later...