The Wanderly Wagons

A Busy Week (part 2)

2012-03-11T09:38:00.001Z

Thursday was chosen as "sight-seeing with our visitors" day.

Both Shona and Kevin were keen to have lunch at the Café de la Gare at Bonnieux, having read about it here and in Peter Mayle's Year in Provence. We also planned a bit of wine-tasting and a visit to the village of Roussillon, home to some of Provence's famous Ochre cliffs.

Pont Julien

First port of call was Chateau la Canorgue in Bonnieux. We arrived just at noon - lunchtime, unfortunately, (the French take their lunch breaks VERY seriously) so we decided to carry on to the Café de la Gare, stopping at the Pont Julien en route. George and I visited this Roman bridge in the middle of the cold weather, so it was nice to see it in temperatures higher than -10C and with water actually flowing underneath it!

On to the Café de la Gare, where we had another excellent meal - buffet starter, duck confit, dessert and wine, still only €15! Kevin was less impressed than the rest of us, though, he's used to Catalan prices where he'd have had the same meal for €8 (so he says anyway).

We waddled out of the Café with the intention of tasting wine in the Bonnieux Co-operative across the road, only to find that they were still on lunch break until 2.30, another twenty minutes. To kill time, we went up to Lacoste, which is a nearby hilltop village.

Shone & Martine looking across the valley from Lacoste to Bonnieux

Shona was keen to find the factory shop, but there were no signs with little crocodiles on them (joke!!) so we drove into the village and read the tourist information sign. Wow! We hadn't realised that the Lacoste Chateau was the home of the Marquis de Sade. Well, of course we had to walk up to the Chateau, just to say we'd been there, here's the proof :

Campanile on the way up to the Chateau

The designer Pierre Cardin has "adopted" the village of Lacoste - he owns the Chateau, as well as several houses in the village and some of the outlying farms. There is a lot of restoration work going on at the Chateau, and there are also two interesting sculptures situated at the top of the hill, just beside the Chateau.

"Arms" sculpture, with Mont Ventoux in the background.

The Marquis, imprisoned for eternity beside the
scene of his depravities

From the "arms" to the Chateau.

Shone & Martine on the way up to the
Chateau, Bonnieux in the background

Um, did the Marquis have some sort of "arm" fetish going on? Just wondering, giving the elongated arms in the "arms" sculpture and the floating arms underneath his imprisoned head in the other one. If you know, tell us, but we don't want lots of gory details, ok? (I might need to start "approving" comments after this post!)

Back to Bonnieux, tasted some wine, Anne and Shona bought some and then we carried on to Roussillon. None of us had been there before and we were unprepared for the beauty of the town.

Once again we were surprised to read about a famous person's connection with a small Provencal village - Samuel Beckett lived in Roussillon during the war years, and was an active member of the Resistance while he was there.

We did a half hour walking tour of the Ochre cliffs, where we were blown away by the natural colours and textures all around.

Tired and dusty!

Shona and Anne had been invited to a friend's house for Aperitifs that evening, so we parted company once we got back to Céreste. The LSH, Kevin and I had a pleasant snack of melted cheese (it's already in the recipe section!) and spent the rest of the evening reminiscing around the fire.

Thanks Kevin for all the wonderful photos!

Expressions: Expo at the Café Du Cours

2012-03-09T22:43:00.003Z

A guest post from the LSH

The café du cours is the heart of Reillanne, it is full of life, character and fantastic people. On Sunday mornings there is a market in the town square below, and the Café is jointed. The photos were mostly taken on one such Sunday.

These photos are in an exhibition at the Café at the moment and will be going on sale on march 23rd. The total proceeds of the exhibition will be donated to the Assistance dogs for children with autism. Alternatively if you would like to donate to this cause yourself just click on the "our charity" image at the top right hand side of this post.

I would like to thank the people of Café du Cours for allowing me to photograph them and to Antoine and Olivier for supporting the exhibition in their Café.
I did not think I would get the photos up today as I have been struggling with a cold all day but thanks to Kevin Ryan we got it done late in the day. Thanks also to our friends who came to the opening.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. I am off to bed with a cold remedy.

LSH

A Busy Week (part 1)

2012-03-09T08:39:00.000Z

This week, we have stepped up the work with the horses. In addition to this, we both have a visitor staying, so we are fitting in some sight-seeing around the locality as well. It's all keeping us very busy!

The week got off to an inauspicious start, with very strong winds on Monday. Anne went to feed the horses as usual in the morning, threw their hay over the electric fence, and WHOOSH!!!! it immediately blew across the field, some of it disappearing under the electric fence at the far side. She quickly gathered up as much as she could and moved it to a sheltered spot under the trees, but our rather gormless horses could not grasp this concept at all, and returned to their normal feeding spot by the fence, looking hungry! They must have managed to work it out, though, because all the hay was gone when we both came back later.

The wind made the horses a bit fractious and my arm was aching a bit, so we shelved our riding plans and decided to measure their feet and do another set of hoof photos. However, as soon as we parked, there was another violent gust of wind, and dust, hay and grit were all flying through the air. Hmm, we said, it's a bit unpleasant, let's just measure their feet and then go walk a route that Anne had been shown over the weekend, just to be sure that we knew it.

So we did Flurry first, Anne lifting his feet one by one and me measuring them. All of his feet have spread by a quarter of an inch, but he seems to be trimming his toes all by himself - all of his feet are unchanged at five inches long. I'm hoping I won't have to go up a size in the front boots, as they're definitely becoming more snug - gulp!

Then we moved on to GiGi. Anne noticed that she was a bit close to the electric fence, so she moved her forward a step, but Flurry and Ugoline were both standing alongside GiGi, backs to the wind and tails close to the fence.

We measured one of GiGi's and moved onto the second when CRACK! Either Flurry or Ugoline touched the fence and all three horses took flight, Anne attempting to hold GiGi's foot for a moment before common sense prevailed and she let go, tumbling over as she let go. I was hunkered down, tape measure at the ready, and I just lost my balance a bit, I didn't have so far to fall and I this time I had the sense just to roll onto my butt rather than put my hand out to save myself!

We each checked that the other was alright. Phew, all ok, no injuries. Perhaps we'll do this another day, said Anne, and maybe we won't tell the LSH! So we counted our blessings that we weren't en route to Apt hospital again, walked Anne's new route and went home.

S and GiGi

Tuesday was a much better day in every sense. One of our guests, K, had arrived on Monday evening and we had a very pleasant walk with the dogs along the Falaises first thing in the morning.

Anne and I met up with S, our French friend, and headed off for a hack with me on Flurry and S on GiGi, with Anne following on foot. We crossed the main road and headed off up a route which we have wanted to do since we got here! It was great!

Me/Flurry and S/GiGi making our way up a stony trail

S was very keen to ride Flurry - she is really getting her confidence back! About halfway along, Anne got onto GiGi and S swapped into Flurry, while I took to my feet. S got on fine with Flurry, he got a little strong nearing home but didn't do anything naughty, so we all finished up really happy.

Anne/GiGi and S/Flurry striding out towards home

The route was about 6.5km, and we took an hour and twenty minutes to do it. Allowing for messing about taking photos and changing riders, stirrups etc, that's not too bad.

We had two thirsty horses at the end of the trek

We had lunch in the bar beside La Belle Cour - they were about to stop serving and were nearly out of food, but the chef came out, told us what was left and we divvied it up between us. Another group came in for lunch shortly after us, and it was really nice to see that, although all of the lunch food was gone, the chef was prepared to put himself out and cobble a meal together out of what he had in the kitchen. Provencal hospitality for sure!

Anne had to collect our friend Shona from Marseille in the afternoon, and K and I had dinner ready for them when they got back to Céreste. It was one of those freestyle casseroles that work out really well - neck of lamb, shallots and carrots, cooked for about two hours. The "recipe" is on our Recipes page.

On Wednesday morning, we planned a longer trek/hike, with Anne, Shona and I sharing horses and K following on foot.

Pausing for girth adjustment

We crossed the main road again, covered part of Tuesday's route and then turned off into a forested area that has a couple of trails running through it.

Me and Anne trotting off into the distance!

Shona hadn't ridden for ages and was a little nervous, so I rode Flurry for the first section and then swapped with her.

Shona getting used to Flurry

Trotting up through the forest

She got to do all the fun stuff, riding up through the forest with Anne, while K and I slogged along on foot. Great views, clear air, the sun shining overhead - I wasn't complaining!

I think Shona was happy!

I was keen to ride the homeward section, just to see if I could cope with Flurry in "going home" mode, so Shona and I swapped over on the way back down the hill. I was delighted to find that I managed fine - of course the arm is weak, but, even though Flurry was pulling a bit, I had no pain at all, even by the time we got back to the field.

Homeward bound - Flurry leaving GiGi far behind!

We had a quick, late lunch at home after riding, then it was poor Cinnamon's turn to experience the French medical (or in her case, Veterinary) system. She had been limping on her right hind in the morning, and looking as pathetic as only a terrier/chihuahua with big bulgy eyes can look. I had hoped it would ease out over the course of the day, but she was just as lame at lunchtime, and her hock had swelled up, so, fearing a broken limb, we went off to the Vet in Apt!

Thankfully, it wasn't a break, the Vet diagnosed a strained ligament, gave her anti-inflammatories and told me to bring her back if she's not using all four legs by Monday. I'm happy to report she's greatly improved, and using four legs some of the time. Phew!

The Deadly Caterpillars

2012-03-06T17:47:00.000Z

While we were driving through the forests of the Auvergne on the way to Céreste in December, we noticed that many of the pine trees were festooned with large silken balls. In many places, there were so many that the trees looked positively festive, as if Mother Nature herself had decided to put Christmas decorations up.

We had no idea what they were, but assumed they were the nest of a spider or some sort of insect.

We've seen plenty more of them since we arrived in Céreste - the above photo was taken about two miles from our house. Eventually we remembered to ask someone what they were, and we were shocked to discover that something so decorative is in fact something quite dangerous.

They are the nest of the caterpillars of the Pine Processionary Moth, a nondescript brown moth which a pest which is slowly invading Europe from South to North. Each nest can contain a couple of hundred caterpillars. They are nocturnal, and emerge from the coccoon at night to munch on their tree host. They can do quite a lot of damage to the trees, but that's not the bad part!

When the caterpillars leave the nest, searching for soft soil in which they can bury themselves to pupate, they travel in a line, literally nose-to-tail - hence the name, "Processionary." They are slightly hairy, which is essential for their "processions" as each caterpillar keeps in touch with the one in front by means of their bristly hairs, in addition to following the silken path laid down by the ones in front.

This all sounds fine, right? Why are they dangerous? Well, their bristles are coated with a highly irritant substance which causes a rash (urticaria) at least, and a severe allergic reaction at worst, causing anaphylactic shock in some people and animals. Small children and small pets are at the greatest risk - you can just imagine a toddler finding the chain pictured above and wanting to investigate closer.

Friends who live down here have a dog which has half a tongue, as a result of licking one of these caterpillars - her tongue swelled up, her whole mouth was irritated and she had to have half her tongue removed in order to survive.

Not only does touching them cause damage - if they feel threatened, they can also shoot out hairs as part of their defensive mechanism, causing the same skin irritations.

People have been hoping that the severe cold spell here in early February will have killed off the caterpillars in the region, but unfortunately, this is not the case. We came across the "procession" pictured here recently, proof that these pests have survived the coldest winter in 27 years.

The head of the procession - it seems a bit jumbled and confused

The tail of the procession

We'll keep the dogs leashed any time we're in pine forests from now on, and we'll probably keep out of the pine forests as much as possible as well.

There was a study done by the French entomologist, Jean-Henri Fabre. He arranged a number of caterpillars in a circle, with food just outside of the circle. They marched in a circle for a whole week! If you're interested, the relevant chapter is here : http://www.efabre.net/chapter-iii-the-pine-processionary-the-procession

If they weren't so dangerous, they'd make a great cheap substitute for a toy train set!

10,000 Page Views!

2012-03-03T20:22:00.002Z

Tonight we celebrate...

The Wanderly Wagons blog passed the 10,000 page-views mark and a kind anonymous donor donated €100 towards Le Big Trek!

Thank you all for following our adventures, we hope we can get down to some serious trekking from now on!

You know you're in horse country when.....

2012-03-03T11:07:00.000Z

.....you come across one of these hitched to the door next to the local bar !

Cheyenne the horse

Normal Service will be Resumed as soon as Possible

2012-03-02T19:04:00.000Z

Bit by bit, day by day, my wrist is getting stronger. There are little milestones every day - able to hold the dog's lead when she pulls, able to open the back gate, able to carry a cup of tea.

I had my check-up with the surgeon on Wednesday, and it's all looking good. We really pushed the issue about riding, with Anne making the point that if I ride with the cast on, the wrist is more protected than at any other time. The surgeon's advice was "well ok, but don't fall" and then he thought for a minute and said I could ride a pony - a small one so that my feet would still be on the ground!!

We also asked the surgeon could my operation to remove the pins be moved forward, but unfortunately he is away on holiday the week before it's scheduled. He was doing his best to be helpful, though, and we ended up moving it forward by a day, so it's happening on March 13th.

He then arranged for me to see the anaesthetist straight away, rather than coming back again next week, which was great. The anaesthetist was a little reserved and serious, and started working his way through the medical questionnaire. I was doing fine and needed very little interpretation from Anne until he asked if I ever "fall in the apples without reason."

Well, I looked at Anne and raised my eyebrows. She explained that it's slang and it means do I ever pass out for no reason.

"Oh," I said, "No." Then I paused and added "There's always a reason" whereupon Anne and I got a major fit of the giggles, as did the formerly serious consultant sitting across the desk from me! It took us all a while to regain our composure, but the ice was well and truly broken. It's a pity I'll be asleep while during the operation, I bet those two are a riot when they're working together!

Anne had arranged to ride with S on Thursday, and the LSH is available to ride on Friday, but I staked a claim and said I would also like to ride on Friday, and see how long I could go without pain or fatigue setting in.

We went out fairly early in the morning and went towards the Water Meadows. Flurry felt great, eager but not strong. We did a long stretch of trotting on a laneway that skirts through the forest. I could hear Anne taking a few canter strides behind me and I knew from the feel Flurry was giving me that he would have happily cantered along as well, but I thought that might be pushing my luck so I restrained myself.

The end of the road!

We were hoping to find a circular route, so the LSH was scouting out the final third of the circle, and we had planned to meet up beside the last house in the Water Meadows. Unfortunately, his route had involved climbing over and under fallen trees, scrambling down a slope and walking through someone's orchard, so we were unable to complete our circle.

He took some photos before we turned around

Flurry is hiding my cast behind his big ears!

and then followed us back along the trail.

We finally rode through lavender fields

and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful Provencal scenery.

Flurry wasn't STRONG on the homeward leg, but he was taking more of a hold. My arm was getting a little bit achey and tired, so I decided to be sensible and let the LSH ride the last bit home, while I took Shanks' Mare back to Céreste and got breakfast sorted out!

I was riding for just under an hour and felt great, until fatigue set in. Anne and S are riding tomorrow morning and then Anne/the LSH/me will ride on Sunday morning. Next week, we have another visitor from home, a horsey one this time, so we'll do some riding/walking trips between the three of us, and hopefully include S, our French friend, who is slowly rebuilding her confidence.

I expect I will have a minor setback after the pin removal, but after that, FINGERS, TOES, ARMS AND LEGS CROSSED, I hope to be back to normal and tackling some longer hacks with Anne.

Hot Dog

2012-03-01T15:50:00.001Z

My poor Fionn, he can be a right royal pain. Martine and I took him for a walk today and he pulled and pulled and pulled, and then he pulled some more. In temperatures up to 20C, this had quite an adverse effect on him, but he wouldn't give up. I found a shady spot and made him lie down for a bout 5 - 10 minutes, until his breathing had somewhat returned to normal, but then as soon as we started to walk again, it was the same story.

So feeling really sorry for him, I took him down to the stream nearly at the end of the walk. He couldn't get in there fast enough, we didn't manage to catch the moment when he nearly submerged him self, but here's a flavour.

Fionn cooling off

Look at that mud trail

Poppy looks on in amazement

The New Recruit

2012-02-28T22:12:00.000Z

With Martine's right hand still being very weak, and George away on business this week, we were hoping to find someone else to ride, and Severine, the owner of the other horse in our paddock was looking for a nice quiet horse to ride as she had got a bit of a shock when she fell off her own horse and broke a finger ! So it was agreed, she would ride Gigi and I would ride Flurry.

Gigi was in extra lazy mode, which was fine, and Flurry was pretty chilled as well, so we set off on the ride the horses have done the most often, just to keep things nice and calm.

When I speak French I can't help but use my hands , and Gigi was not to impressed by my lack of steering, but as I said I just can't help it !
Well inevitably we met the sheep, and discretion being the better part of valour, we turned for home, just to be on safe side as it was Severine's first time riding Gigi, but as you can see, my hand is still doing that thing!

A nice calm leisurely hack, just what the Doctor ordered. Flurry was nice to ride, although I missed Gigi's big neck in front of me!
And she kindly waited 'till she got back in the field to blow of steam.

Progress

2012-02-25T22:21:00.000Z

I've been finding it hard to keep positive about Le Big Trek recently. What really upset me most was attempting to hold Cinnamon's leash in my right hand - she pulled a little and I could not hold on to her. Now, Cinnamon weighs less than 5kg. If I can't hold her, what hope do I have of holding a 500kg horse if he decides to tank off with me?

While the YD was here, I sat up on Flurry, which was funny - "Dad will kill me for letting you do this!!!" I was pleased to find I could mount ok, although there was a strong urge to use my right hand while mounting, I don't know why. While on board, though, I picked up the reins and found my right hand refused to grip at all, so I hopped straight off again - attempting to ride was pointless.

Yes, I was p'eed off. How can I plan on riding 500km in six weeks time if I can't even hold the reins now? Flurry is very steady and sensible, but he does tend to speed up on the way home, and any horse can take fright and get taken over by the "flight" response. There is no way I would be able to hold him one-handed in open country if he really gets strong.

Meanwhile, there is the whole horse fittening issue - we're hoping these horses will do 4 - 6 hours per day, 6 days a week. The LSH has been doing his best, but he has a job to do too, and he has only managed to ride Flurry twice this week. Now he is heading off to Barcelona on business and will be gone for most of the next week, so we are back to square one, no rider for Flurry for most of the next week. Anne is also finding it frustrating, she is dying to explore the longer hacks locally but doesn't want to do it on her own.

A week seems to be a long time with a fractured limb.

I found myself successfully using a knife a couple of days ago, so I was determined to have another go at riding. The LSH and Anne were planning to hack after the rugby today, so I went along.

I got a leg-up onto my little horse, which avoided the "need to use my right hand" issue. I was pleased to find my right hand could actually grip the rein, and even take a little hold as necessary. I rode down the road for about ten minutes, just to the first turn. We passed a very excited horse loose in a field - my initial reaction was "Oh shit" and panic, then I told myself to cop on and ride my damn horse, and of course he behaved like the little gent he is, although he was very interested in the neighing, galumphing grey creature in the field adjoining the road.

We turned off the main road after that, and I decided to quit while I was ahead and handed the reins over to the LSH. I walked with him and Anne for a while, but they started trotting and quickly disappeared over the horizon.

They are the tiny spots in the middle of the picture!

I followed for a while, but then decided to head back to La Belle Cour and my friend C.

The LSH and Anne were out for a good hour and they did plenty of trotting, so Flurry sweated up a bit

but you can't beat a good roll to dry up the sweat!

I think we're all feeling a little more optimistic after today.

There is a local lady who is going to ride with Anne tomorrow. Hopefully that'll work out well, and I might even have another little sit-up too. Fingers crossed!

This is our 100th post. Huge thanks to all who have taken the time to read the ramblings of a pair of ould wagons, and most especially to our Facebook friends and the gang at the hay-net who have been following and encouraging us over the roller-coaster that was the last five weeks!

Le Cirque est Roi!

2012-02-23T17:17:00.000Z

The circus came to town! Our non-horsey friend C is visiting us, so when we spotted the colourful posters attached to lamp-posts around the town, we decided that in the interest of exploring French culture, the three of us (Martine, Anne and C) would splash out the €5/head and see what a small French circus is like.

This circus was French... and it was small - in fact, it was the smallest Big Top any of us had ever seen. I had jokingly said to C that there would be 200 small kids plus parents and us ould wans from Ireland - I was wrong. 200 small kids would have burst the tent at the seams, never mind their parental escorts. We did a rough count and reckoned there were about 80 people present all told.

A section of the crowd

Hmmm, 80 punters at €5/head == €400. We could see straight away that these guys are not making a huge profit, so we weren't expecting much.

First we had Mademoiselle Laura, who did stuff with hula hoops. Laura had been selling tickets five minutes earlier, but she had taken off her red gilet and seemed a bit under-dressed for the time of year. To keep warm, she's wearing a lot of hula hoops in this photo.

Two feet...

Then there were the horses. First a little skewbald guy who didn't want to be there. He went around with a mulish expression, and half-heartedly bucked every so often, much like many riding school ponies I've seen. I get the feeling he's been in this job for too long. Anyway, he did his tricks and trotted out with a relieved expression on his face.

Four feet (he wasn't keen on this at all)

Take a bow... he was good at this!

Then there was a sparky little cremello pony. My guess is he's learning the ropes to take over from the skewbald. He trotted around with ATTITUDE and did a sort of dance with his trainer, which students of Natural Horsemanship could easily emulate. Then he did his final trick and trotted out, still sparky!

Two feet on podium. Note Mademoiselle Laura is working
away in the background, getting the popcorn machine going

Mademoiselle Laura quickly divested herself of the red gilet and presented herself in the ring again. This time she climbed a rope and did all sorts of acrobatic stuff while hanging from the rope. The ringmaster/animal trainer/her Dad? held the rope steady and was, perhaps, prepared to catch her, but his fielding skills were not required today.

Wow, she is bendy

Ringmaster/animal trainer/dad is spinning
the rope here while Laura does stuff.
Actually, this was pretty impressive!

Then we had the camels. Or rather, we had the dromedaire first, followed by the chameau. French is much tidier than English here, and always differentiates between the two species.
Here's the dromedaire doing his trick

Two feet on.. wait, I'm seeing a pattern emerge here

Then the chameau came in. He was pretty impressive, although I don't think the name Rambo suits him

Ringmaster/animal trainer/dad tried to give the crowd a little Natural History lesson and talked about how the different animals move their legs when they walk/trot. This is a subject which is endlessly fascinating to dressage aficionados, (especially when we see the dressage camel doing his flying changes) but I suspect it was over the top for most of the people present, especially seeing as the majority were less then five years old.

Anway Rambo finished with his trick, and strolled majestically out.

I started to get "arty" with the photos.
The "two feet" trick was beginning to pall

Rambo was followed by a small clown act. There was only one clown, and he was small. I've a strong suspicion he was the young lad who had taken our tickets as we entered the tent. He played the trumpet (quite well) and engaged in some repartee with ringmaster/animal trainer/dad, some of which I could follow. The little kids were giggling anyway, and seemed to enjoy it all.

The intermission followed, during which small clown sold souvenir flags, Mademoiselle Laura sold candy floss and popcorn and parents went out for a much needed smoke.

The second half passed quickly... there was a little donkey who did his trick...

Oh look! Two feet on a podium!

To be fair, he had another trick as well, he jumped over a small pole that small clown held, then when small clown raised it higher, he went under it.

The donkey's final trick was that he's an absolute sweetheart. He went around the ring and stopped in front of all the small kids and stood patiently while they petted him.

I want a Donkey!

The final exotic animal came in - a llama from Peru. He seems to be young and doesn't have any trick(s) yet, so the wooden podium stayed where it was, ringmaster/animal trainer/dad continued his discussion about animal gaits and then small clown led the llama out.

The final act was... TaDa...... Mademoiselle Laura again, in another aeriel performance, this time in a ring dangling from the Small Top's top.

Anne's comment : I bet she'd be good at Pilates!

Ringmaster/animal trainer/dad then said their thank yous and farewells, small clown and Mademoiselle Laura waved and smiled at everyone and we all filed out, to find small clown and ringmaster/animal trainer/dad at the exit saying Merci, Bon Journée to everyone as they left.

Within an hour, the small top was down, with an extra man appearing from nowhere to pitch in with the family and help disassemble and pack up.

Did we enjoy ourselves? Well, yes. It was a small operation, to be sure, but it gave us a brief glimpse of the life of a small-time circus family as they travel through France, working hard at the only life they know. At €5/head, it was well worth the money, but there is no way these guys will ever get rich doing this - at best they made about €500, having spent two days in Céreste.

Will €250/day keep the show on the road? There's a lot of hay to purchase : the animals were all well fed, and apart from the grumpy skewbald, all seemed reasonably content. There's three large trucks to keep fuelled. There's four (we think) humans to feed.

Will Mademoiselle Laura stay with the show? She's the centrepiece, and she also chips in and does whatever needs doing along the way - I bet she even drives one of the trucks.

Will people continue to go to the circus? This is a big question for Irish circuses too. This one is in Céreste once a year - with such a small population, will audience numbers be sufficient to keep them going? It's hard to say, but the small kids loved the show, with one small boy remaining in his seat long after the goodbyes were said, in the hope that something else would happen!

I wish Le Cirque est Roi well, and I hope that they continue to introduce les animaux exotics to small children for years to come, with Mademoiselle Laura continuing to bring a bit of sparkle to small country towns for another few years before she is drawn away by the lure of a bigger Big Top.

Slight Hiccup - the Happy Ending

2012-02-19T17:59:00.000Z

People who have been following the blog since last year will remember when I discovered that my Irish car insurance company (123.ie) would not cover me for more than 30 days abroad - anyone else can go back and have a quick read of A Slight Hiccup to bring themselves up to speed!

Anne is insured with a different company, Quinn Direct, and they will cover her for up to 93 days abroad in any one insurance period. By a stroke of sheer genius (or maybe luck!) her insurance falls due for renewal while she is here, so her trip covers two insurance periods - definitely genius!

I investigated getting insurance with Quinn Direct, but I was absolutely up-front with them and told them that I would be here for at least four months, and the answer was no, you won't be covered, so I let it rest at the time and planned to research French insurance companies in January.

The jeep was covered on her Irish insurance up to the 27th Jan, and I started looking for insurance during the second week of Jan. I didn't do very well at all, probably because I wasn't prepared to lie and say I was moving here long-term and would be importing and re-registering my car. I had been told that the jeep and I would have to be physically in Ireland to take out a new Irish policy and it was beginning to look like I would have to dash home before the 27th and take out a policy with Quinn Direct to get their "90 days abroad" cover, and then limit ourselves to 90 days once I got back here.

At the 11th hour, I emailed the help section on this website, www.frenchpropertylinks.com. The very helpful Jo Rhodes replied with the name of a Dutch-owned company. Correspondence has been going back and forth, I seemed to be waiting forever for my "proof of no claims" to arrive from 123.ie and I was afraid to say anything here in case I somehow jinxed it but now finally it's all sorted, Jeepy has her Carte Verte (Green Card) and is "French" insured.

The magical Carte Verte

The company is Schreinemachers SARL, their website is www.insurance.fr and I can't recommend them highly enough - they have been so helpful every step of the way. Their staff are either English or are very fluent in it, which is a huge boon when you're struggling to resurrect language skills learned 35 years ago! I've taken out a one year policy with them, I'm to notify them in writing when I want to cancel it and they've sent me information on how to re-register Jeepy in France in case we decide to stay - how helpful is that!!

The LSH Takes to the Saddle

2012-02-18T16:39:00.001Z

The LongSufferingHusband was the first to offer his riding skills as part of the "Get Flurry Fit while Martine is Banjaxed" plan, even though it's been quite a few years since he was last seen on the back of a horse.

The YD was keen to have a hack out with her Dad before she goes home tomorrow, so Anne kindly loaned her GiGi, Flurry found himself carrying 50% more weight than he's used to and off they went, with me trotting along as part of the "Keep Martine fit while her arm is Banjaxed" plan!

They did a new route which we had sussed out yesterday, which crosses the main road, goes out to the other side of Céreste and comes back through the village on the way home, 4.3km in total, which seems a nice distance for someone's first time riding in years.

In hindsight, it may not have been entirely fair to send the LSH off on a new route for his first time. Flurry got a bit excited on the way home, especially when about twenty very noisy vintage cars that were taking part in a rally went past, but they both held it together and got home in one piece!

The Renegade boots are still not behaving perfectly. The hind boots don't twist at all, although it's more of a struggle to get them on, but both front boots on both horses invariably twist, usually up to about 30˚. We're not sure what to do about it - as far as we can see, we're fitting them as described on the Renegade website.

Anyway, here's our first Everytrail map :

Hack avec flurry

EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

A Perfect Day?

2012-02-16T17:07:00.001Z

Between injury and weather, we've basically been hibernating for two weeks now. To be honest, we were both a bit down in the dumps, and had almost forgotten why we're here.

Finally, the thaw has well and truly set in, the Youngest Daughter is visiting this week, we're no longer struggling to keep the house warm and we're back to dog-walking and horse-riding.

I accompanied the YD and Anne on foot to record the first hack for two and a half weeks.

Both horses were relishing the warm weather (15C) and were totally relaxed, although every time Flurry came near me he wanted to come over for a cuddle.

Lunch on the terrace of a nearby Café after the hack was EXTREMELY pleasant...

...followed by a little bit of sightseeing to have a look at the snow-covered Alps in the distance.

Then there was another dog-walk to let Poppie and Roxy have a good run around, and afterwards, a sociable get-together with friends.... does it get any better?

There's a song about this....

The First Visitor

2012-02-15T13:23:00.000Z

The youngest daughter is visiting this week, so the LongSufferingHusband took a day off on Tuesday to spend some quality time with her.

We have happy memories of the village of Gordes from a family holiday a few years ago, and that was the first place she wanted to visit. So we set off, noting that the temperature was above zero as we left Céreste - the thaw is finally setting in!

Gordes is absolutely beautiful, the epitome of the French village perchée.

They've got way less snow here than in Céreste, but there was this amazing ice curtain beside the road on the way into village.

This is the posh end of the Lubéron, as we realised when we saw who the local estate agent is!

It was very quiet - it's definitely not tourist season at the moment - but we had a nice walk around looking at the old ruins below the town as well as the quaint cobblestone alleyways of the town itself.

We sat outdoors on the balcony of a coffee shop, looking out over the valley below.

Then we carried on to l'Isle sur la Sorgue, which is a town built on a couple of islands on the river Sorgue. It's been compared to Venice.... I don't agree, there really is nowhere like Venice! l'Isle sur la Sorgue is a lovely spot, though, very pretty with the little waterways running through it, and it's well supplied with cafés and antique shops.

The LongSufferingHusband had been hankering for Moules Frites and he got his wish!

LongSufferingHappyHusband!

We carried on to Avignon and had a quick drive through the old part of the town. It's a beautiful city and deserves a day trip all of it's own, so we'll plan that for a future visitor.

We left Avignon in a balmy 14C, and drove back to Céreste, watching the temperature gauge on the car drop steadily all the way home. It finally stopped at 4C just as we reached home - well, at least it's above freezing!

-12C and counting

2012-02-12T10:08:00.000Z

There has been no let up in the freezing temperatures here in Cereste, some days it does make it up above zero, but not every day, and not for long ! The horses seem to be managing well, I have never seen Gigi with such a thick coat.

Furry Gigi

And am I imagining it or are her sand cracks disappearing ?

Time will tell, I've seen this before, but never with so much distance between the coronary band and the sand crack.With the sub zero temperatures the ground is of course rock hard, and this has taken its toll on both of our horses feet, and Gigi is a little tender footed. Flurry's hinds were protected with PHW wraps, but one of these has worn through at the sole and is now sitting on his hoof like a donut !

Worn thru PHW

It'll need some powerful cutters to remove it ! But it is still on the hoof and not pressing into the coronet.

So with all the bad weather and no riding to be had, we console ourselves with food, roast quail with a honey sauce, Carmargue red rice, and the first of the broad beans from North Africa via LeClerc in Apt ! Recipe in our Recipe section.

Visitors for Poppie

2012-02-11T13:47:00.000Z

Poppie is the dog who lives in the house we rent in Céreste. She's a two and a half year old bundle of bouncing energy, who barks hysterically every time someone calls to the door - much to the annoyance of the LongSufferingHusband, especially if he happens to be on a conference call. Sometimes the strange voices coming into the LSH's office from the other side of the world are enough to set her off - sorry, global telecom industry!

Yesterday the hysterical barking reached new levels, when two very special visitors arrived, just to see Poppie.

Bob and Jane are local expats - they live a couple of miles outside Céreste. A couple of years ago, they became aware of two puppies that had been dumped in the forest near their house. The pups were petrified of all humans and other dogs, which leaves one wondering just what exactly was done with them.

Bob and Jane went out in all weathers to feed them for weeks and weeks, trying to build their trust, but the pups were still too scared to approach them.

They tried using a special trap, baiting it with food, but to no avail.

Eventually, in desperation, as winter was starting to set in, they drugged the food and waited for the drugs to take affect. Poppie soon began to show signs of sedation, and although she never lost consciousness, she became groggy enough that they were able to catch her. The other pup, who they called Freddie, unfortunately wasn't affected by the drug - her adrenaline levels must have been too high. She bolted and ran off into the woods, while Poppie was brought home.

Rod and Gilla, whose house we are renting, had recently said their final goodbyes to their canine friend of many years, and weren't ready for another dog. Jane cunningly asked if they would foster Poppie for a little while and she's been here ever since! She's a lovely dog, fully adapted to domesticated life, and gets on great with visiting dogs and the resident cats.

Jane and Poppie still share a special bond, though, and they were both ecstatic to see each other!

As for Freddie, they still leave food out for her and catch occasional glimpses of her living her wild life in the woods.

Still More Wraps

2012-02-08T18:20:00.000Z

I made a big mistake during the week. I googled "pin removal fractured wrist."
Advice : don't do this if you're ever in a similar situation, you'll just scare the living daylights out of yourself.

This is a video I found on YouTube :

EWWWW!

One of the pins has been giving me a bit of trouble, sticking into my skin from the inside, so I headed off for my first post-op consult with the surgeon knowing that I had to mention it, scared he would do something about it, scared he wouldn't do something about it and already stressing myself out over the impending removal of all three pins when the wrist is healed.

The bandage and partial cast were removed and Anne (who had come along to translate) and I oohed and aahed over the horror of my mis-shapen lower arm.

Those of a sensitive disposition, look away now!

It doesn't look too bad from Anne's angle, you can see the incisions are nice and neat:

But it looked fairly grim from my point of view:

You can see the extent of the swelling in my knuckles best from this angle, but unfotunately the camera focussed on the background:

The surgeon listened sympathetically to my tale of woe about being impaled by a pin from the inside out, looked carefully at my wrist and said "Yes, it's a pin"... the "And?" hanging unspoken in the air between us!

However, he assured me that the new resin cast I was about to get wouldn't press on it, and carried on preparing the cast.

First he wrapped my arm with Softban bandaging. Anne and I exchanged glances - many's the time we've used Softban when treating wounds and sprains on horses' legs!

Then he produced a roll of.... hey wait a minute! It was exactly the same as the resin impregnated bandages we've seen on our horses' hooves recently - PHW wraps! Just a different colour.

Anne and I were joking about how she'd have to hold my leg up while the resin set and we were both giggling like schoolgirls, so we felt we had to explain ourselves to the surgeon and the nurse, who had been unable to keep up with our rapid-fire English. Anne did a brief translation of our exchange, and they were both incredulous that the resin bandages would be used in that way, the surgeon immediately spotting the problem that they would cause the horses to slip - smart man!

I was told to come back in three weeks for another check, and then two weeks later the pins would be removed. Gulp.

No, wait! I'll be admitted as a day patient, and they'll remove the pins under a light general anaesthetic!

You have no idea how relieved I was to hear that!

Snow scenes from Céreste

2012-02-06T19:45:00.003Z

Post from the LongSufferingHusband

On the morning of the big snow storm it was my turn to feed the horses, so I headed out with the camera while it was still snowing heavily and took these. (don't worry I fed the horses too...eventually)

...and then legged it back to Céreste to get photos in the old town section.

Unfortunately many of the photos I took that morning were lost due to a card failure, so I had no choice but to get up the next morning and walk up the Gardette to try to catch the sunrise over the hills :-) . The Gardette is a steep climb, made all the more difficult by the snow, but the views are stunning. One thing I did not expect was the volume of animal tracks in the virgin snow. During the whole two hour walk there were constant animal tracks of all different shapes and sizes.

For the photographers: The last three shots were taken with a 24mm T/S lens with multiple photos merged into one.

Food, Glorious Food... and some wine too

2012-02-05T21:28:00.001Z

Martine:
Snow fell last Tuesday and temperatures promptly plummeted, I think the lowest so far was -10C overnight.

It's pretty similar to the big freeze in Ireland last year, apart from one major difference - it's not a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence here, so these guys can cope! The main road through the village was cleared straight away. The minor roads were cleared as the day went on. The footpath on the main road had a walkway cleared by hand on the first day which has been kept clear and gritted ever since. Our drains have not frozen - oh how I remember THAT particular gem from last year! Nobody seems to have frozen pipes in their house and wonder of wonders, the village water supply hasn't frozen either!

Despite all this wonderful French efficiency, we've still been fairly restricted by the weather. I have to confess that I am petrified of slipping on an uncleared patch of ice and breaking something else! Anne, meanwhile, lives on one of the steepest streets in the village, and has a sheet of ice to contend with every time she leaves her apartment. With hindsight, she should have cleared it when the snow fell, but at this stage it is compressed into solid ice and is quite impossible to clear. It is a labour of love for her to get Fionn and Roxy out a couple of times a day, especially with Fionn towing her along enthusiastically!

So with riding and walking both well nigh impossible, what else could we do except turn our attention to food and wine?

Chateau La Canorgue is an organic vineyard which my brother discovered while he was climbing in this region several years ago. It is near Bonnieux, which also has a very nice wine co-operative selling for several different local producers. The LongSufferingHusband and I have been determined to visit both since we got here, and Saturday seemed like a good day to do it.

We went to the Co-operative first, did some tasting, bought some wine... then we went looking for La Canorgue, and eventually found it - it's quite near the Pont Julien, which is a really impressive Roman bridge, still in excellent condition.

Pont Julien, over the frozen Calavon River

We carried on to La Canorgue, did some more tasting, bought some more wine and promised to return in March/April when the next batch of red wines will be available. That'll be a very different trip - no snowy vineyard scenes in March, I hope!

View across snowy vines towards Bonnieux from La Canorgue

There is a restaurant near the Bonnieux Co-operative which was mentioned by Peter Mayle (more than once!) in A Year in Provence. That was also on our list if things we'd like to do locally, so we swung by to see if it was open. There it was, the Restaurant de la Gare, open for business, so in we went.

Perhaps looking a little run down from the outside, but there is a new premises alongside waiting to be initiated!

I will need a crane to get back on Flurry if I carry on eating like this! We had the menu du jour - for €15 each we had yummy vegetable soup, a selection of starters from a self service buffet, braised chicken served with choucroute (cabbage), dessert and a half bottle of wine between us. It was a fantastic meal - simple food, well-prepared, and such good value that it made coffee at €2 each seem expensive!

Love the Cafe de la Gare tiles! I'm on the left with the Hyper-terriers tied to my chair

We brought the Hyper-terriers in with us, which is quite accepted in France, but they attempted to assault the resident Yorkshire Terrier as we were supping our coffee, so we knocked back the coffee and left before they got us barred. We definitely want to go back there again!

Sunday's outing had been planned since we got here.

Anne: When I was here last year I happened on the annual "Fete des Truffes" in nearby Mane, and was really upset to discover that there was a "Gourmet Repas" to go with it for which of course I hadn't booked. So this year I was determined to go again and this time sample the gourmet lunch, at which every course has truffles except the dessert! But the French can be quite secretive about these things, not intentionally I'm sure, and when I finally discovered it was in Oraison this year, the website was very sketchy and had no details of how to book. So I kept checking and eventually the website was updated, so with my best French I phoned to book 3 places, but of course they didn't take credit cards, and we have no French cheques, so a quick visit to Oraison was made and the lunch tickets secured, with good old fashioned cash!

Today was the day, so off we set in sub zero temperatures, with local writer Elizabeth Bard to sample the food, this guy was selling dried fruits

While these ladies were wrapped up really well against the cold

This stall was selling local dried hams and many sorts of saucisson, including wild boar saucisson, with hazelnuts, I couldn't resist that! Elizabeth and I are at back left.

Then of course there were the all important truffle vendors, with their wares on display, but the best way to buy your truffles is by the smell, so some offer you a closed container full of truffles, you lift the lid and inhale...pure magic! And it's legal!

Then there is the truffle hunt, here Elizabeth and I are watching the sow searching for the truffles. This of course is a demo, and the sand is seeded with the provencal black gold before the sow is brought in.

She delicately lifts the sand with her nose, while "Le Truffeur" stands by with his spike, to quickly lift the truffle away from her before she can eat it!

La truie is then rewarded with a tasty titbit to reward her for her work.

One of the many truffle hunters

George and Martine headed off to put the dogs in the car, and we were to meet them at the school where the lunch was to take place, but neither Elizabeth nor I have a great sense of direction so we sought advice from this lovely man, who pointed to a sign behind us indicating the way to the Repas a Truffe. Oops.

The lunch was amazing, you can see the menu here, and here's a pictorial flavour :

Starter of Chicken Terrine wrapped in jambon cru,
with foie gras & truffles, served with truffled
creamed celery on the side

Dessert - A variety of apples, stewed (on the bottom),
dried, glacee (and turned into a mousse) and caramelised,
my favourite, like a mini toffee-apple

We were surrounded by locals, who made us very welcome. With a few glasses of wine inside us we all got to chatting, and the lady opposite me, who was probably only a few years older than me had been liberated, as a child, by the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a Hawaiian regiment of the American Army in the Vosges in 1944. She had tears in her eyes as she recounted how her parents had suffered during the occupation, but a smile for the Hawaiian soldiers who had brought American chocolate bars to the children.

Another amazing day in Provence.

All Photos on this post are courtesy of George Greenlee.

Introducing Sam

2012-02-02T16:35:00.000Z

Cereste is one of those towns that has a LOT of cats.

When I first came here before Christmas, the Dutch couple who live below me asked would I feed their four cats while they were in Holland. No problem! Last year my neighbours' cat moved in with me while they were away, he had the top 2 floors, the dogs had the bottom 2 floors, and they all met in the sitting room at night ! And then he'd move back upstairs to sleep on my bed for the night.

Nelson

Just after the Dutch couple came back, a fifth cat turned up at their place at feeding time. They'd seen him before, he's one of several abandoned and feral cats in town, but he had been re-homed several kilometers from Céreste. It transpired that he had terrorized the cats that his new owners already had, and after trying really hard to get them all used to each other, they had to give up, and so they brought him back to Céreste and let him go on the other side of town. But cats being cats he soon made his way back to the plenteous food supply at my neighbours.

Unfortunately his anti social behavior continued and he was fighting with their cats.

Sometimes I would meet him when out walking my dogs, and he got on really well with them, he'd obviously been in a house with dogs before, so I thought why not ?

He gets on great with Fionn

But prefers the safety of the two chairs put together originally to keep Fionn off the furniture!

His name is Sam, and the lady who had taken him, is trying to find him a new home, meanwhile he will stay with me. He is one of the noisiest, clumsiest cats I have come across, but I am attached to him already. But NO I will not be bringing him back to Ireland with me, the cats at my house would never stand up to him.

Snow!

2012-01-31T15:33:00.000Z

We awoke to this scene at the front of the house

and this at the back

The cats Smudge and Squeak were very unimpressed with this nasty cold white stuff, so I gave them an extra bit of food for insulation.

George snapped a few pics while he was out with the dogs :

Cinnamon in the Snow

The courtyard and house from the back gate

Snowy landscape

I've been under house arrest all day in case I slip and fall and break something else, but Anne sneaked me out mid-afternoon. We paid the horses a visit to see how they were coping. They were wet, but warm and perfectly content

especially when they got their lucerne a little early.

Fani's ponies were jealous...

...they will have to wait until later.

At our house Fionn was the first to spot the snow

Whoa it's snow Roxy

Now Roxy had never seen snow before, so I grabbed a coat and took her for a walk up to the Falaises where she chased around like the puppy she is

It doesn't often snow here, but the snow ploughs and gritters have been in action all day and the roads are clear. Temperatures are due to plummet to -20 C at the weekend, so hopefully the roads will dry out and not turn into sheets of frozen ice. We'll keep you posted!

Riding Plans or keeping Flurry fit plans!

2012-01-30T10:44:00.000Z

People have been very good offering to ride Flurry and keep him fit for Martine, so on Saturday Jenny tacked him up and off we went. Jenny is a good rider and had no trouble with him, although he was slipping quite badly with the wraps on his hind feet.

He did a massive shy going through the field beside the road, and Gigi was a bit unsettled , both horses staring fixedly at the hedge, another shy from Flurry, but Jen had him well under control and we continued on our merry way unable to see or hear any reason for their concern.

We kept the hack short, in respect for their bare feet, which was as well as Gigi's front right boot was twisting again, and after about 20 minutes we turned around, and came back on the road, where we discovered the reason for their earlier concern, the flock of sheep and goats were just the other side of the road being moved along by the shepherd. They both had a good look at this strange Provencal phenomenon but moved forward well enough with a bit encouragement, they are definitely getting used to them! No photos I'm afraid as Martine is usually the photographer, must try harder next time!

George was to ride early this morning, 8:30 (groan) but when I checked the forecast yesterday it was giving sub zero temperatures for this am, so we called it off, I was very unwilling to struggle with booting them up wearing no gloves, with frozen fingers. The task is difficult enough at the best of times.

And I was met by a light dusting of snow when I went up to feed them at 9:30

Snow at La Florentine

Normally they get grass hay in the morning but this morning I could only find lucerne hay, which they love, so that's what they got!

Gigi is always slow to eat her hard feed as she savours every last bit, while the others tuck into the hay

The French Podiatrist

2012-01-28T09:06:00.000Z

Wednesday was the day we had arranged to meet the French podiatrist, Beatrice Malicorne, a young Swiss woman who travelled from near Aix en Provence to trim our horses feet and give us advice on how to proceed.

George kindly came up to the field to help move the horses down to the yard, with Martine, arm in sling , supervising.

Coming up from the field

They came up quietly enough and had their breakfast and some hay in the yard, but Gigi was a little unsettled.

Beatrice arrived on time, well she is Swiss, and we stood around discussing how the horses were kept, what they ate, their exercise routine, and our training methods. All the while Gigi was getting more and more restless, so I suggested to Beatrice that she start with Gigi, as maybe that would distract her and help her to settle. Difficult for Beatrice, as she didn't know Gigi, so couldn't be aware that this was not her usual behaviour, and that there is no badness in her whatsoever.

Gigi in a rare calm moment

So Beatrice was a little wary of her and after one foot, with Gigi getting steadily more agitated, she switched to doing Flurry. I was hoping that when Fani had finished feeding the other horses she might settle.

Flurry of course was the perfect gentleman and presented each foot willingly in turn. Beatrice was concerned about his hind feet - specifically his low heels and long toes - and the decision was made to wrap them with the PHW bandages. The advice is to walk him in hand every day and not to ride him. But we have to be realistic, and will continue to ride but on soft ground as much as possible, and sporting our renegade boots!

The model of good behaviour

The snazzy orange tape is to hold Flurry's feathers up so the shape of his foot can be assessed

Flurry sporting the wraps

Then it was back to Gigi, who was still tossing her head and walking up and down, digging with her front feet, and generally being a right royal pain. I had lunged her for about 15 minutes but there was something across the road that had her attention from time to time, although she did listen to me most of the time on the lunge, there was still that anxiety there.

Shrek

All the time Shrek watched on with interest

The second attempt at trimming her feet was no more successful than the first, although Beatrice did manage to do one more foot, but Gigi was really playing her up, I think my dear horse had sussed that she had the upper hoof. She had some bruising on both front feet, so we will have to reduce the amount we are doing with them every day. It is a learning process.

We were there for a good 3 hours and poor Martine was exhausted, so George came back to help move them back down to the field, and I was glad to hand Gigi over to him, and lead Flurry down instead.

This late addition is for Martine who can't get up to see Flurry everyday, it rained over night last night and....

Muddy Flurry

Where to From Here?

2012-01-27T15:54:00.000Z

Needless to say, I was a bit despondent when I was admittedto Apt Hospital, pending my surgery on Wednesday morning. However, things were quickly put intoperspective for me when I met my room-mate. There is nothing quite like an amputated limb to put abroken wrist into perspective.

I was well impressed with the hospital. Within an hour of arrival at Urgences,I had been x-rayed, the orthopedic surgeon had been consulted and I was being wheeled tomy room. I would still have beenwaiting for Triage in Cork.

I was also really pleased with how well I coped with thelanguage… or maybe they were all speaking to me as if I was an infant or asimpleton! Whichever it was, Iunderstood most of what was said and was able to cobble sentences together inreply.

I was discharged on Wednesday, four hours after surgery, greatly relieved to be going home. Yes, it's a bit sore, but it will improve as the weeks go by, and the surgeon was quite positive that I will be out of plaster in six weeks.

And the prospect for Le Big Trek? It’s going ahead, of course!

IF I am a good girl and stay out of the saddle for sixweeks, I’ll be back riding sometime during the second week of March. That gives me a whole month to getriding fit and to simply enjoy trekking around this beautiful region before wehead off up the GR 36 on April 9^th.

If I am NOT a good girl and start riding while I still havea cast on then that would probably give me an extra two weeks riding before westart Le Big Trek, which is an even better outlook as far as I’m concerned.

We’ve discussed this quite seriously. I can borrow one of La Florentine’scavalry saddles, which have a high pommel and cantle, so they are difficult tofall out of. When it’s stillin the cast, my wrist will be more protected than at any other stage, soreally, why not? And, honestly,the surgeon really did say “On peut monter en plâtre” but he may have beenteasing me!

People have been rallying around and we have many offers ofhelp riding Flurry for the next few weeks, so he will maintain his fitnesslevel and his feet will continue to get the “work therapy” that they need. I am happy that “Spooky Tense Flurry”who made his presence felt in early January is gone, and “Normal BombproofFlurry” is back for good. However,he can be a bit nappy (barnsour) so I have to make sure his riders know thisand won’t let him away with it.

I intend to do lots of walking over the next six weeks, so Ican build my own fitness levels as well so when I am finally back in the saddle I can pick up where I left off, planning longer treks and plotting routes along the local GR trails.

So, it’s a shattered wrist, not shattered dreams.

Désastre

2012-01-25T13:05:00.000Z

We had a lovely hack, out for an hour, the boots still twisted and need more research, but the French podiatrist is coming this week so maybe she can help. We were planning our next hack, and both hoping that next week we could start to go further afield and explore more.

So feeling really pleased with ourselves, and with thoughts of lunches in nearby country restaurants, in my mind at least, we untacked and walked the horses up towards the gate into the field which is just a long length of electric fence about 30/40 feet long, always a bit tricky if the other horse comes up to investigate, but there was no sign of her, so we had assumed she'd been taken out for a ride.

Two things happened at once , the wire got snagged on the ground, I was leading Gigi and opening the "gate", and Ugoline, the other horse, appeared at a pace from down by the stream, Flurry took a bit of a fright and Martine ended up on the ground. I shouted over to ask her if she was OK, and she replied that she thought she had broken her wrist. Well as she had broken her wrist before, I believed her straight away.

So I let the horses go and drove Martine back to her house, where she applied a wine cooler to the wrist.

Martine and Wine Cooler

Our reception at Apt hospital was interesting, "Weren't you here on Friday" they asked.

Waiting to be admitted

One broken wrist

Martine was quickly seen and the doctor (same doctor) took one look and confirmed it was broken. In no time at all she was hitched up to a panadol drip, no tablets here !

All plastered up

But after an x-ray the surgeon gave her the bad news that the wrist was badly shattered and would need pins and plates, and that they would operate in the morning, so poor Martine was admitted for the night to await surgery the next day.

Well I am glad to report that the operation was a success and she will be back home here later today. We have discussed contingency plans re "Le Big Trek" and people are kindly offering to help ride Flurry so he can be kept fit and ready to go whenever Martine is able. George being the first to volunteer his time at the weekends.

So hopefully we will still be able to go, even if the goals are a little less ambitious. I am sure Martine will post with her side of events, knowing her maybe even tonight!

Le Salon de Cheval

2012-01-22T15:45:00.000Z

Fani asked us earlier this week if we were going to the Salon de Cheval in Avignon. What's a Salon de Cheval, we asked, and from her explanation, we took it to be a horse show, with lots of trade stands and a few horsey demos thrown in for good measure.

It seemed like a good idea, especially since Long Suffering Husband would have been bored to tears, but he's away for a week so he had a great excuse not to be dragged along. Then when Anne attempted to chop her finger off and riding was out of the question, it seemed like an even better idea, so off we went on Saturday, with Roxy and Fionn coming along for the ride.
We still had no idea what to expect, but I did say on the way that I thought it might be "like Millstreet, in the good old days" - Irish horsey people of a certain age will totally understand me, but for everyone else, Millstreet International Horse show used to be thronged with top-class national and international riders, there was a host of trade stands where you could browse for hours and there was a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and loads of craic throughout the whole five days of competition.

Well, I was wrong, it was more like the Dublin Horse Show, only BETTER but with no show-jumping. The three hours we had allowed ourselves was not enough for more than the briefest glance at everything.
The first thing that caught our eye was the carriage driving competition, with this team of gorgeous Percherons negotiating their way through the course.

Percheron team

Then we spotted the Camargue horses and had a look at these guys in their pen

Some of the Camargue horses
wear a bell

until our attention was caught by the black Camargue bulls just behind us and we realised there was the French equivalent of a Cutting Horse competition in progress.

It was amazing watching these little horses work

Look at the concentration on both faces :

There's a video clip as well,

Anne loved the trousers which the female Gardiennes wore, and I could have happily stood and watched these magical white horses work all day, but we carried on to see the rest of the sights.

There were excited horses everywhere

and calmer ones focussed on doing their job

mingling with the crowds

with riders dressed up in all kinds of outfits

We found the Horseball playing field. We've never seen a Horseball game before, and it was something we could have watched for hours (although some knowledge of the rules would have been helpful!)
A short video clip seems to be the best idea here, sorry if it's a bit Blair Witch-y, I didn't have a great vantage point.
These guys are certifiable, and it's worth noting that they were the only riders we saw at the show wearing safety helmets!

Note how the rider picks the ball up from the ground about nine seconds into the video!

Then there was the SHOPPING :

Lots of stands

lots of variety

lots of dealing

and lots of stuff we don't get at home.

We found a sort of Equine Army Surplus Store

Pack saddle with water tank

Loads of useful gear!

We bought ourselves a collapsible bucket, which will be useful when we eventually get to doing long treks, but otherwise we restrained ourselves very well.

This being France, food was never very far away

but, this being France, I failed miserably in my attempts to find a loo

but we did find interesting cows

Look at those horns!

cute donkeys

and the mini-farm, complete with very large somnolent pig.

As is the norm at a big horse show, the warm-up arena was the most interesting place to be.

There was a special Lipizzaner warm-up arena

To add a bit of spice, these guys had to contend with the carriage driving contestants crossing their warm-up en-route to and from their competition arena!

Tucked around the back, there was a more general warm-up arena, being used by all sorts of horses and riders, some in costume

This guy looked like he was straight out of an ad for a brand of sherry

LOVE the expression on his face!

There were beautiful ornate bridles

flowing manes

and handsome ehhh... horses

We tried to make our way to the exit, but were sidetracked by this sight

Where else but in a warm-up arena will you see one man standing on two horses as they canter around while another is nonchalantly practising Spanish walk?

We loved this guy and his two grey cobs.

Time for a break and a reward

before they practised a few more moves

I'm not so sure how I felt about the other guy.

Although it was all very dramatic

the dressage purist in me does not approve of this sort of thing

and I did not see the love and harmony that was plain to see in many other partnerships

We had a fantastic time, and would have loved to stay longer, but my three canines had been home alone for four hours, so it was time to leave the Salon de Cheval

and head home to Cereste.

Maybe next year we'll be able to stay longer.... depending on where we are!

And the wraps are back on again...

2012-01-21T18:10:00.000Z

Who would have thought that boots and wraps would figure so significantly in our riding lives yet again but in a completely different manner.

Here's the boot

And here's the wrap

It was to be our first longish hack, we had the horses boots on, using baler twine to tighten them as advised, to keep them from twisting. Martine was mounted, and I was about to hop on when I realised I'd forgotten my stick. I'd been a bit befuddled all day, so I rushed to the back of the jeep, grabbed the stick, and shut the door on my right hand! I bent over double with the pain, but was hidden from Martine by the jeep. "You OK she shouted?", "Yep" I said "But I'll need a band aid". "They're under the driver's seat" says she. Then I stood up, blood dripping from left hand which was clasping my right hand, "Might need a bit of help" says I, followed by, "You need to know this about me, I'm not one to make a fuss, but it's a bit of a mess"

Proud of our bandaging!

So Martine hopped off Flurry, extracted the first aid kit, and proceeded to do a great job of bandaging my slightly crushed finger (see - Equine Specific First Aid wasn't a waste of time! M)

The first aid kit gets its first outing

"OK let's go" says I, fortunately Martine had a bit more sense, and explained to me that I might have a bit of trouble if Gigi got a little excited, or if we had to readjust boots en route.

Flurry being sympathetic

So unfortunately we had to call a halt to our first long hack, and before we untacked the horses, Martine pointed out I hadn't attached the martingale to the girth, something I always forget if I'm flustered or nervous.

To the Doctor's!

Then ensued a discussion, hospital? doctor? more home medicine ? I had people coming to dinner that night, and had bought pigeons, that I was going to stuff with truffled sausage meat, I really didn't want to cancel. The dessert was made, and the stuffing. BUT I had seen the depth of the cut on my finger, and knew it needed a stitch if it was to heal quickly, so off to the doctor we went, he however was having none of my idea of a quick stitch in time, and packed me off to Apt hospital.

In the waiting room in Apt Hospital

Dinner had to be postponed to another night, and we spent a happy hour and a half at the French equivalent of A&E, when I eventually got to see a doctor, he asked me "Does it hurt? Can you bend it?" "No and Yes" I replied, "OK just needs a stitch so" And we were on our way again!

Hopefully I'll be riding again on Monday, once the big dressing comes off, and I can get a glove on that hand. Anyway this gives us a couple of days to do some exploring .........

Note from Martine : It crossed my mind to photograph the actual gore when it happened, but a) I thought Anne might smack me and b) I could see the stopping the bleeding was more important than recording it all for the blog!

The Wraps are Off

2012-01-18T21:41:00.000Z

Yesterday I decided it was time to do some work on Gigi's hind feet, oh by the way this is Anne, I'm sure you recognise our styles by now! Beatrice had diagnosed a fungal infection ages ago, but between the weather (freezing) and the horses unsettled state, up 'till now we hadn't found a good time to subject her to at least one and a half hours of standing still having her feet soaked.

It all started of relatively well, we brought them up from the field (paddock paradise) to the yard, prepared the solution and steeped Gigi's right hind in the specially designed boot.

All went well for a while we fed her and Flurry some lucerne to keep them quiet

But then the donkey across the way started calling and I took my eye off her for a second and she was out of the boot! So she was coaxed back into it, without too much loss of the magic solution and I hung onto the boot for the next hour and a half!

The astute amongst you will note the boot is now on the left hind and the right hind was wrapped in a plastic bag to "steep" for a further 20 minutes.

Well after 90 minutes of this caper they were both getting a bit restless to say the least, so it was decided enough was enough, but not before I noticed one of Gigi's wraps on the front was really loose, and with a bit of encouragement from Martine the other front wrap was persuaded to part company with Gigi's hoof.

So this meant that at last we could use the Renegade boots we had bought from California. Unfortunately Flurry has already outgrown his hind boots.

Shiny red shoes and the camera bag affixed to the saddle's D-rings (which worked quite well)

But all of Gigi's boots still fit her.

Tacking up GiGi, with her yellow boots on all four feet!

Flurry tacked up "Trec" style

Martine had the foresight to ride Flurry plus head collar, but not me ! So when one of Gigi's boots started to come adrift I had to juggle boots , martingale and reins while I fixed it. Fortunately she was her usual good natured self and stood fairly still while I took the boot off and reseated it.

Well of course Flurry was not to be out done, and after stepping into a pot hole he came out without one boot! Martine was quick to hop off and sort him out. We both noticed the horses were far more comfortable with the boots on, looking around them and shying at strange things, and enjoying the hack far more.

Well we made it back to the field without any more issues, but when we checked the boots again, both horses front boots had twisted a bit, Gigi's more than Flurry's , so more attention to adjusting them next time out. And we're seeking advice from other bare footers!

Tomorrow we will attack Gigi's front feet, in the hope that the clean trax solution will help with her sand cracks, but more on that later!

A routine takes shape

2012-01-15T18:16:00.002Z

The three human members of the Wanderly Wagons team are falling into a nice routine now, and the four-legged team members are following suit.

We're all up sometime between 7 and 8, and take our dogs out first thing. We frequently meet on these early morning outings, which results in a frenzy of tail-wagging in the early morning gloom as our three recognise Anne and whichever of her dogs is accompanying her.

Then it's time for breakfast, usually just fruit, yoghurt, cereal and a cuppa. The intention is that George & I then go for a fairly decent walk before he starts work at 10, but between one thing and another (mostly this rotten cold I've had), we've only managed to accomplish this twice. However I think I'm finally starting to shake it off, so there'll be no excuses soon!

Me with the Hyper-terriers and Poppie

If George is serious about doing the Three Peaks Challenge this year, he'll have to get a bit more diligent about his walking - he's also threatening to drag me along for the Three Peaks thingy, but we'll see about that....

One of us (mostly Anne) goes up to feed the horses at about ten.

Anne lugging bales while we spy from the nearby hillside!

Later in the morning Anne & I meet up to give Poppie and Roxy a good run - they both really enjoy this and burn off loads of energy chasing each other around. Cookie and Fionn regularly come too, but I've decided not to bring Cinnamon any more as the "big girls" are too energetic for her and she really doesn't enjoy it - she spends the entire walk off-leash but as close to me as she can possibly get so she doesn't get bowled over!

Then it's lunch time, followed by time to ride and of course, spend quality time with the horses!

Temperatures have been up to 13-15C by the middle of the day for the past few days. This is warm enough to have the very furry Flurry just breaking sweat while doing nothing, so he sweats up quite a bit even with the very gentle hacking that we are doing. GiGi is not so hairy, so at worst she is just a little warm after our hacks.

We are starting to find our way around a bit better now and have worked out a couple of hacks that suit our barefoot horses. Yesterday we were able to ride through the fields alongside the road for most of the way, but even so GiGi was particularly tender footed by the time we got back so we really need to be careful not to overdo it.

We followed the road on the left for a couple of kilometres :
you can see the track inside the field that we're allowed to ride on

We can't wait til we can put their boots on and start doing longer hacks - there's a lovely two hour hack up the mountains behind us to the village of Montjustin that we have ear-marked as our first long one!

Montjustin is at the very far end of the ridge. Our route will take us all the way along the crest of the ridge

After riding, it's back home, time for a coffee usually, then take the dogs out for a wee (the hyper terriers have been a bit leaky in the past, but they're behaving at the moment!) before starting dinner.

At some stage most days we have to squeeze in a visit to a local market or the shops - it has to be during the morning for the markets, as they all finish by lunchtime.
On Tuesdays, there is a small market in Apt with all local producers.

On Saturdays, Apt hosts a very big and vibrant market, where there is all manner of stuff on sale, from foodstuffs to leather goods to household wares to touristy stuff. There's a great buzz in the town and it's well worth a visit.

Cereste has it's own little market on Thursdays, and the nearby village of Reillanne has a small but busy market on Sundays, which is a regular meeting place for all the local ex-pats.

There's a fantastic range in all of these markets of local and fresh foods to buy, but it's very easy to overshop because it all looks so good!

We've now found a nice saddlery, in Manosque, half an hour away, and a pet superstore, also in Manosque, as well as the SFR (a French mobile network) shop in Apt and several good wine-shops.
Hmm, must start planning some vineyard visits soon!

Finally, here's a shot of the tree-lined road on the way into Cereste, just because it's so quintessentially French!

PS Just remembered I'd better credit George Greenlee for some of the photos here!

More about the ham

2012-01-12T15:42:00.000Z

A good few people took me up on my "Anyone for ham" plea, which was a great way to touch base with some of old friends. So I had 8 adults and one wee French boy in my small apartment doing justice to the Spanish ham. Fionn had to be shut in the bathroom, as he was just too excited, and after Roxy very gently took a piece of bread off the 2 year old Augustin, she was sent to join him!

A great night was had by all and the ham only suffered slightly

Anne and the prize ham

Our Paddock Paradise...

2012-01-12T10:40:00.000Z

...with a deferential nod to Jaime Jackson

The horses are very content in their new field. It's bigger and much more interesting than where they were, and it's definitely way more interesting than their ~~mudbath~~ field at home.

They have a stream - the Aiguebelle River, actually, but it's pretty low at the moment.

We've seen them drinking from it quite happily, so we don't need to worry about bringing water to them.
To get to the stream, they go through a little wooded area

These are mostly oak trees. We had a moment of panic when Fani mentioned that they were eating the acorns, as we both remembered that acorns are bad for horses. However, we did a little research, and found that they are not harmful after a couple of frosts, and there have definitely been a couple of frosts since these acorns fell!

There's a steep climb at the left of the path, up towards the gate and more trees that seem to be good for scratching on.

The path opens out into the field itself, which is probably about 1.5 acres. They are fed their hay at the far end of the field.

They have horses right beside them, so Ugoline doesn't get lonely when we hack out.

And there's a parking space where we can leave the jeep and tack up the horses, which saves us walking them back up to the yard.

Happy Horses!

More about Ernie

2012-01-11T11:53:00.001Z

This is copied (with permission) from the ISPCA's Facebook page and gives the full story behind the "Wagons to the Rescue" post.
Whilst investigating an allegation of animal cruelty concerning horses in the Western suburbs of Cork City, ISPCA Inspector Lisa O'Donovan came across a young male foal in an isolated area away from the rest of the herd. The foal aged about 5-6 months was lying in a secluded area and was nearly overlooked as he was resting in among trees.

Ernie, as he is now known, was dull, depressed and lethargic. "I've never seen such a young foal, so lifeless" remarked Inspector O'Donovan, “the presence of the head collar, would suggest that this young animal had been handled. I was concerned for his lack of condition and subdued temperament."

Ernie as he was found

Local enquiries suggested that it had been removed from its mother in previous weeks and had been ridden by people. "This animal is far too young to be separated from its mother," said Inspector O'Donovan "and certainly far too young to be ridden. An additional concern I had was there was a skeletal remains of a horse in the same region. It was my belief that Ernie was being used for riding and then would have been abandoned here."

Skeletal remains

Inspector O'Donovan secured the surrender of the young foal and removed it the ISPCA Rescue Centre, where he was assessed by the Vet. The prognosis for Ernie is very good and within a week of his rescue he showed remarkable signs of improvement

Being loaded into the Wagons' Wagon!

Ernie will be available for adoption next year. He has a lovely personality and is responding very well to the care and attention he is receiving from his carers. "Ernie was lucky that we happened to come across him," added Inspector O'Donovan, "I suspect that

if he had not been discovered he would have not survived for much longer".

I hate to be constantly rattling a virtual collection tin, but can I just remind Irish followers once again about the ISPCA Hay Drive : text HAY to 57802 to donate €3, feed a horse for a day and help the ISPCA with the tremendous work they do.

Safe and well

And back to horses…

2012-01-08T20:00:00.000Z

We mentioned that both horses felt “anxious” on the veryfirst hack. GiGi shows her anxietyby extreme reluctance to stand still, which can make life a bit hairy if we’reallowing cars to pass us! Flurry,on the other hand, shows his anxiety by marching forward briskly, which meansGiGi gets left behind a bit. Healso feels incredibly tense – I can feel his rib-cage bulging out against mylegs sometimes.

The second day we hacked out, they felt much the same as thefirst day at the start, but Flurry got progressively more and more tense, untileventually he exploded and attempted to gallop off down the lane. I hung on to him determinedly, as I wasafraid of him stumbling badly on the rough ground and falling… he settled downagain quickly, but still felt tense all the way home.

After that ride, I was left thinking “that’s not my horse…why is he behaving like this?” and I asked myself what advice would I give alivery owner with a problem like this. The first thing would be to cut the feed. The second thing would be to increase the work. This is where we have our catch 22 –they need their Renegade boots to do more work, but GiGi can’t wear her bootsuntil the PHW wraps come off. Thebest I can do is lunge Flurry in the (unsurfaced) small lunging ring at La Florentine, but Faniis very protective of her ground and will only allow it to be used when the ground is verydry.

Fortunately it's dry at the moment, so that’s the current plan. It’s worked really well sofar - ten minutes lunging in walk and trot seems to get the "tickle" out of Flurry's toes. He's back to his normal “ho-hum”self, and GiGi has calmed down so that she’ll stand quietly without pawing theground most of the time.

Until we met this lot, that is:

This is the local flock of sheep (and a few goats) that roams the nearby hillsides, accompanied by a shepherd and two dogs. GiGi heard the bell of the lead sheep, saw the sea of moving "blobs" and went WTF?? Head up, tail up, nostrils and eyes out on stalks. Flurry, strangely enough, was not so bothered, but we agreed that discretion would be the better part of valour, and we altered our route to avoid the flock.

Fani told us afterwards that even her seasoned trekking horses get excited when they see the sheep being moved, so I guess we didn't do too badly!

The horses were moved to another field today, so that they don't completely trash the paddock beside the yard. Ugoline, their field companion, went too, and we walked the three of them down to the new field with Ugoline's owner, Severine.

It was a bit of an obstacle course getting them there

but they were all very well behaved.

The forecast for the next few days is good, night-time temperatures should not fall below freezing, so we have decided to leave their rugs off. If the temperatures drop again we can always revert to rugging up at night time again.

Flurry assesses the neighbours

Anne and I are both stuffed up with a cold. Hopefully we won't get any worse, so that we can stick to our "riding every day" plan.

All photographs on this post are courtesy of George Greenlee.

Mystery Object

2012-01-07T15:45:00.002Z

Ok, anyone want to try to identify this object? It's parked beside the horse stalls at La Florentine. We were absolutely mystified as to its purpose, so we asked what it does. It's pretty clever!

It has four tiers, a tow hitch and a PTO connector at the front.

Front view

And this weird bit at the front right.

Close Up of front right hand side

I climbed up a little to take the rear view photo.

Rear view

It has spiky things along each tier.

View of one of the Tiers

First correct guess gets.... ehhhh.... a glass of wine? To be consumed in the courtyard of La Belle Cour! The winner must travel to claim their prize!

Bon Chance!

More new things

2012-01-06T11:27:00.000Z

Cinnamon has discovered moles - we don't get them in Ireland as they didn't make it across the land-bridge, just like the snakes. Or maybe they, too, were banished by St. Patrick.

Oh, what's that smell...

dig..dig..dig..I'm sure I'll dig them out...

Then she met this chap at the back of the Paella stand at the Cereste market.

Caption suggestions, anyone?

This is a better photo of the carriage at La Florentine (just for Denis!). It's called a caleche.

In the tourist season, Popeye the horse carries people around in it to earn his keep. Popeye is a Comtois horse. This is a very old draught breed which comes from the Jura mountain region between France and Switzerland. Popeye's colouring is typical - they are any shade of chestnut, with a flaxen mane and tail - a bit like a large Haflinger!

This is Popeye's best friend,
the miniature donkey

They are out "on holiday" with some youngsters

Luck of the (almost) Irish

2012-01-05T09:10:00.005Z

When I was in Spain last year, nearly every restaurant we went into had a whole Serrano ham in a stand from which they carved robust slices for our consumption. I've always wanted to buy one of these hams and have it displayed on a stand, just like in Andalucía.

When I came to Céreste there was one on display in the butcher's being raffled. Not a Serrano ham, but a close second an Iberian ham. "What charity is this being raffled for?" I asked. "For us" said the butcher! Fair enough, so I bought 4 tickets.

Now obviously I wouldn't be recounting this story if I hadn't won it, so anyone for ham ? Before Fionn gets it !

Jamón Ibérico

Feet Update

2012-01-04T19:14:00.001Z

It's now exactly eight weeks since the shoes came off and two and a half weeks since the horses arrived here in Cereste. The difference in their feet due to the dryness here is incredible - not surprising, really when you consider that they've gone from these conditions :

Kingsland, Dec 13th

to these :

Cereste, Dec 21st

Hoof wall quality seems to have improved and Flurry is wearing his into what seems like a nice mustang roll, to our uneducated eyes anyway.

That's a rounded edge, right?

We had a day of rain yesterday, which has possibly caused their frogs to look a bit yucky again. It's time to dig out the silvetrasol spray (some day I'll learn how to spell that!) and start using it on their frogs, especially their hinds.
Two of Flurry's frogs:

GiGi's hind frogs (fronts are under wraps!)

GiGi's sandcracks have finally moved down a bit from the coronet. We have both been looking at these cracks for the last seven years and this is the first time we can see a clear improvement. It's hard to know if this is due to the PHW wraps or the different conditions, but who cares!

Right Front :

Day 32

Day 55

Left Front :

Day 32

Day 55

The Boring Feet pictures:

FLURRY

Left Front :

Left Hind :

Right Hind :

Right Front :

GiGi.
Left Hind :

Right Hind :

Video Surveillance to the Rescue or Meltdown part deux

2012-01-02T20:15:00.001Z

Fionn has continued to be a problem, I have kept him with me as much as possible, but I left him and Roxy at home for about 2 hours the other evening and came home to more destruction, not as bad as the first time, but very bad behavior nevertheless.

Martine and I discussed it, he was feeling stressed, he was still missing Bonnie, the change of environment was just too much for him ? Who knows.

So today I decided to keep him by me again, as much as possible. I took both of them with me to feed the horses this morning, then met George and Martine to give them both a good long walk.

As the weather was pretty foul today, I decided to devote the whole day to him, lit the fire and settled in to some quality time with my dogs.

This evening I took both of them for more long walks, fed them, and started to prepare dinner. "Come over for a drink" Said George and Martine. "Hmmm" said I.

Then Martine had a brainwave. Set the laptop to survey the room and then call her on Skype, that way I could have a pre dinner drink with them, and keep an eye on "chez moi"

So all was set up up, and I legged it up the road for a glass of white wine. Well I had only just arrived when there was a clatter from Martine's laptop, and Fionn was to be seen with his head on the table, then he went off camera and there was another clatter. No sign of stress just a dog looking for trouble. So I rushed home to find him tucking into a pile of paper table napkins! Scolded him severely, sent him to his bed and went back to G&Ms.

Big Brother's Watching You

All was quiet on the Provencal front until Roxy appeared on camera, wandering around, looking mischievous. "Bed" I shouted at the laptop, well she came over and stared straight at the camera and then lay down. "Bed" I repeated and much to my amazement up she got and wandered over to her bed.

Roxy in her bed

Well that was it, not a peep out of either of them, 2 glasses of wine later I returned home to utter calm. Thank you thank you Skype. And thank you Martine.

The First French Hack (Ballade!)

2012-01-01T14:10:00.001Z

New Years Day in France! It's unseasonably warm today, it must be about 16C out there. It's better than most Irish summer days - just look at the blue sky:

We went out for a very short New Year's Day hack - maybe half an hour or a little less. Both horses behaved perfectly, but they both felt "anxious" - GiGi was in Fidget Mode anytime we tried to stop for photos, and Flurry was very keen to get home once he knew we were approaching La Florentine. I'm sure they'll settle quickly, and get used to their new environment. We were ridiculously happy with ourselves when we got back - it's hard to believe that we're finally here and riding our horses!

GiGi inspects her saddle suspiciously

The view across the valley behind La Florentine

Anne & GiGi with Shrek the dog in the background

Shrek leads the way!

We didn't use their new Renegade Boots, as GiGi can't wear her front ones yet, because they won't fit over the PHW wraps. When we got back we played around with them for a while. I have a suspicion that I've bought the wrong size for Flurry's hind feet, as they were a little tight going on, but the front ones seem fine. Anne also struggled with GiGi's hind boots, so maybe the difficulty is more a lack of experience problem than a sizing problem.

We took them for a little walk to give them a feel for their new booties. Flurry grew in confidence with each step, so by the time we were coming back to the yard, he was stomping his front feet down!
He looks so smart with his new red shoes!

Settling In

2012-01-01T10:42:00.001Z

It's hard to believe we're only here three days, but when I count it up, that's what it comes to.
We're in a strange state of limbo in the house, as Rod and Angela, from whom we are renting it, are not leaving until Jan 4th. They can't wait to get going and get out of our hair, as it were, and we feel we can't really settle into a routine here until they leave.
Anne and I are hoping to fall into a proper routine with the horses over the next couple of days. The plan is that she will pop up in the mornings, feed them and take their rugs off, and I will drop by just before dark to put the rugs back on. We intend to ride in the middle of the day, when temperatures are at their warmest - in fact, we're hoping to ride them for the first time today.
I can't wait to share pictures of their feet, they are so much better in the dry conditions here! Hopefully we'll do a post on that tomorrow - non barefoot fiends can skip it!!

Cookie and Cinnamon have settled well into the house and quickly discovered where the best "bed" was :

They're getting on fine with Poppie, the resident canine. Cookie has had a couple of grumpy moments with her, so Poppie is not 100% comfortable with her, but at the same time, Cookie is trying very hard to get her to play. I'm sure within a couple of days, they'll be the best of buddies. Cinnamon is in a constant state of "grumpy granny" dog, and growls ferociously whenever Poppie tries to make friends. I think they will end up mostly ignoring each other, which will suit Cinny just fine!
Unfortunately, my dogs are not getting on so well with the resident felines! Within minutes of our arrival, Cookie had chased Squeak, one of the cats, around the dining room. The sensible cat nipped out through the cat flap and took refuge outside. We were quite sure that Cookie wouldn't fit through the cat flap, so when she stuck her nose through it and Squeak scragged it for her, we thought "serves her right" and assumed she would back off. But no, she is part Jack Russell, after all, and she quickly dived straight through, no trouble at all, and had a merry five minutes pursuing the cat around the courtyard while George and I tried to catch her.
So then we had the bright idea of closing the cat flap, so that Cookie couldn't go through it any more. This worked fine, until Smudge, the second cat, appeared. Cookie launched herself at him, Cinny thought this was a great idea and joined in. Poor Smudge made a dive for the cat-flap, bounced off it and did a sort of "wall-of-death" run around the room, pursued by two hysterical terriers, eventually taking refuge on top of one of the cupboards.
So now, both cats were seriously spooked, and reluctant to show their faces. We kept Cookie on her lead for the rest of the evening, but the two cats stayed in hiding.
We resolved to make a huge effort to keep Cookie restrained for the duration of our stay, but things went amiss early the following morning. The dogs had just been fed, so Cookie was off-leash, when Squeak appeared again. She quickly realised her mistake and dived through the cat-flap (open, thankfully) with Cookie in hot pursuit. Once in the courtyard, Cookie lost sight of her, and while she ran around the outer section, the cat strolled up to the kitchen door. I had another of those bright ideas, and thought I'd open the door to let her through. Unfortunately, I forgot that Cinnamon was at my feet, and instead of the Squeak coming in, Cinny dashed out and helped Cookie chase her up into the rafters of the shed.
Another terrorised cat... or should that be terrierised?
It looks like we'll end up with the cats in hiding during the day, and free to roam at night when the dogs are locked up in our bedroom. We'll have to be much more vigilant with Cookie in general. Hopefully the cats will grow in confidence if we manage to keep her restrained.

MeltDown

2011-12-30T21:35:00.002Z

Fionn had a complete meltdown tonight. I took him for his usual evening walk, a little curtailed to be sure bit still 3/4 of an hour brisk walking on a long lead, then took off to Rod 'n Gilla's for dinner with Roxy.

Came home to absolute chaos. Everything he could reach had been trashed. Logs for the fire, all the plastic bags/cling film, the Christmas cake+plate, night lights, the floor was covered. Well he got thoroughly reprimanded, but I have made mental note to self, not to leave him on his own for extended periods, he is used to being in Bonnie's company when not out for walks, and being alone obviously doesn't suit him, of course.

OK I'm feeling guilty for pushing him too far, so from now on he goes everywhere with me I can take him, but did he have to trash the house to make himself heard.....I guess he did.

Reunited!

2011-12-30T13:49:00.001Z

The Full Story from Wagons part Deux

2011-12-29T21:07:00.002Z

Weds 28^th:

The crossing itself was fairly average – it got fairly roughonce we left the shelter of the Irish Sea and entered the Channel where thecurrents wash in from the Atlantic. However, we had the good sense to take our Stugeron tabs and eatearly. The shared bottle of wineon top of the Stugeron may not have been so sensible, though, as we both conkedout in our cabin for three hours and missed the 7pm visiting slot with thedogs. We had to wait until 10pm,but they seemed none the worse for our neglect, and steadfastly refused to pee. There was way less pitch and rolldown on the dog deck, so hopefully they were less bothered by it all than weare.

There was a very elderly beagle in the kennels too, who wasquite distressed every time we visited – howling and panting heavily. Every time I saw her, I counted ourblessings that we did not bring Molly and silently thanked Granny again foroffering to take her.

France Ahoy!

In the morning, we had entered calmer waters closer to theFrench shore, so we were not rolling around like drunken sailors as we went tovisit the dogs. This timeCookie finally pee’d, but Cinnamon continued to hold out.

We docked exactly on schedule and drove off the ferry atjust about 11.20 French time, stopped on the way out of the Port to let the dogsrelieve themselves and boy did Cinny find relief! I thought she’d never stop!

Entering Cherbourg Harbour

The drive to Tours was very straightforward,traffic was not heavy and the roads are well sign-posted. The biggest issue we’ve had has beenwith the new Road Atlas of France that we bought on the ferry – we discovered thatit’s missing pages 115 – 129, which unfortunately includes the area aroundTours where we are staying. We’lljust have to rely on Nigel the SatNav to go us back on the Autoroute tomorrow,although I do prefer to have a map as well.

We’re staying in a gorgeous Hotel, chosen at random out ofAnne’s very ancient and well-thumbed Logis Catalogue. It’s called Le Moulin Fleuri, they’ve been very friendly andwelcoming and the dinner menu looks amazing! Now to find out if they haveWiFi….

Thurs 29^th:

Unfortunately the answer to that WiFi questions was "sorry,no Madame," so there are two posts for the price of one today!

Massive fireplace in the dining room

The staff werereally friendly and totally welcomed our hyper-terriers into the diningroom. They spent the duration ofthe meal staring out at everyone else from under our table – they were bothtied to our chairs, of course, otherwise Cookie would have been swinging fromthe chandeliers!

Cookie trying to be good.
Well, part of her is still in bed!

Both the head chef and the head waiter have excellent English - head chef Michael Chaplin spent two years in Dromoland Castle, three miles from where I grew up! As Anne mentioned, the hotel menu was fantastic…

George's lamb shanks

My duck main course

George went for the full four course option (starter, fish course, meat course plus dessert) while I stuck to a more lady-like three courses – starter, meat course, and cheese.

The very impressive cheese board!

By the time we had finished our meal, we were fit for nothing more than collapsing into bed, with the intention of getting up and on the road early next morning.

A small oversight delayed us a little, though - we omitted to mention that we'd like to check out early, and the hotel was still unstaffed at 8am! This gave me a chance to take some nice atmospheric photos of the hotel exterior, though :

The Mill pond at the rear of the hotel

The Mill race at the side of the hotel

A very nice lady turned up at about 8.20 - she had been delayed by icy roads - so we got going only thirty minutes late.
I have to say that the Hotel Moulin Fleuri was so nice that we are wondering can we manage to squeeze in a night there on our way home! Le Big Trek as currently planned avoids Tours, but a small diversion might be possible!

The drive could not have gone better, we stopped every two hours to let the dogs out and swap driver and we got to Cereste in exactly ten and a half hours. We drove through some beautiful countryside, especially around the Auvergne area, and the pass through the Monts du Forez. I'd especially like to go back and spend some time in the latter area, as it seems fairly un-touristy - I found this site with nice photos of the area.

Anne very kindly whipped up some dinner for us when we arrived - braised guinea fowl with turnip and enormous sausages, plus local pates as a starter. I had barely finished my meal when my eyes started to close.....

Slight Delay

2011-12-29T10:10:00.001Z

The Greenlee Wanderly wagon + long suffering husband were delayed leaving Veigné this morning as they hadn't told the proprietors that they were leaving early, so the jeep and trailer were locked up in the hotel car park !

While we continue to live the La Vie Provençal

Roti d'agneau

This morning I spotted this little group walking up Cereste High Street

Trekkers

They were heading for the water fountain which unfortunately is empty in the winter and only recycled water in the summer. They were doing a circuit of the area, one pack horse one walker and one rider. Building up to a tour of France in the summer. The horses were wearing easyboots and they were very pleased with them, although they have lost them from time to time. I wish I'd had more time to talk to them but Polly is leaving today so we had to press on.

Wagons Deux lands

2011-12-28T19:24:00.001Z

George and Martine, and the dogs arrived at Cherbourg this morning and have have now checked into their hotel near Tours, which is fantastic apparently, with a great menu and an amazing wine list, but no WIFI, so I am posting this for them!

"Plain sailing so far, dogs are being brilliant, refused to wee on boat just like fionn!! Biggest issue is new road atlas of France is missing 20 pages - including Tours where we stopped! Hotel le moulin fleuri is rustic but gorgeous, v friendly, welcoming to dogs, fab menu & massive wine list! Ahhhh. Have some pics to post too when I have Internet. Think I will photograph menu too just for Anne! We could be quite close to here on trek..."

So the other half of the Wanderly's is fine, hopefully will see them here late tomorrow, if they don't invest too heavily in the wine list tonight.

Looking forward to our first hack here in Provence.

My daughter leaves for Cork tomorrow, so we're off to Marseille airport after breakfast, she has a gig in Castlebar on Friday supporting the Fureys.

So yet more comings and goings !

More Wagons on the Way

2011-12-27T16:59:00.000Z

With a housefulfor Christmas, it was essential that we have as much packing as possible doneon Christmas Eve. So first of all,senior management had to affix the roof box :

It’s a long timesince either of these guys could be called an engineer, but they seem to havedone a reasonable job – hopefully it’ll still be attached when we get toCereste!.

Then we loadedthe jeep with everything bar ourselves, the dogs and our overnight bags,hitched up the trailer and left it parked beside the house for the duration ofChristmas and St Stephen’s Day.

It’s essential that we have space in the jeep for Anne and her gear, andsimilarly we can’t fill up the trailer, because it’s going to be full of horseon the way home. I think we’ve done a good job, though, and it'll work out ok in April.

Cinnamon wasoccupying Anne’s space on the way to Rosslare, but I’m sure some sort ofhuman/dog stacking arrangement can be made when necessary.

We had a lovelytime over “the holidays” with extended family. There was a big gang there to wave us off as we left apart from poor Granny Murphy, who is laid low with a bad cold. Hope she gets well soon!

The journey toRosslare went really smoothly, Cinny slept all the time except whenever weslowed down! Cookie was in the dogcrate because we didn’t fancy having her ricocheting around the car the wholeway, and she also stayed asleep most of the way. We had a brief stop to say hello/goodbye to the otherGranny, who was pleased to see us and wished us well on our journey.

We arrived inRosslare with plenty of time to dose ourselves with Stugeron and dose the dogswith Kalm-aid. Then we settledthem into their cage and um.... abandoned them.... we felt like the worstdog-parents ever....

Arrrooooooooo!

Good news isthat, thanks to my brother & sister, the onions are planted! Hopefully they’ll be as successful asthis year’s crop :

Note to self : grow smaller onions

So that’s justthe unplanted broad beans to fell guilty about, then.

Here's hoping the rest of the journey goes as smoothly!

New Things

2011-12-25T11:16:00.000Z

The wind really got up here yesterday, the infamous Mistral, the horses weren't at all happy and were fractious when being fed, it was freezing with a big windchill factor. So I decided to leave their rugs on for the day. The temperature had gone from 16 degrees C on Friday to 3 degrees yesterday. I went up to see them again in the evening and gave them some baguette, Flurry was not impressed !

Flurry after baguette

Last night some of us decided to go to mass at 10pm, so of course Roxy came too, which didn't cause any where near as much fuss as the supermarket! And she found the pew in front of us was a great place to rest her head.

It was a lovely service with lots of children there, who carried the baby Jesus down to the crib

There was also a frenchman dressed as a shepherd, who sang a magnificent solo, I need to find out what the significance of the shepherd is in Provence, although I'm guessing it's the obvious. This is sheep country! When we came home Rod and Gilla had prepared 13 desserts, which is another local tradition, to be eaten after midight. The end to a lovely day.

Good Feet

2011-12-23T16:41:00.001Z

No pictures today I'm afraid , just a quick update. Finally got a chance to check the horses feet and they are both in great nick. The dry weather seems to have toughened them both up a lot, and the sponginess has gone out of Gigi's feet completely. Flurry was already in better condition, and his feet are really hard now.

Fani needs to move them up out of the valley as they will poach the ground up once it gets a bit wetter, but it is difficult to find a good area, on the hillside amongst the trees is good for the ground, but not for horses with rugs on, so she said she will thing again about a good place to move them too.

Fani is going away for a few days so Christmas Lunch has had to be moved out to allow for rug changing, thanks to the cousins for being so accommodating !

Little Old Ladies

2011-12-23T06:30:00.000Z

The trip isnearly upon us now, and I've been quite worried about two little old ladies. This is one of them :

Jeepy will be 16 years old next year, with a little over200,000km on the clock. We’ve just hadthe timing belt replaced but there’s been something happening in the front leftcorner which causes it to creak and groan ominously. She’s just back from the mechanic, minus the creak and with a new ball-joint in the front left, so hopefully she is fit to travel!

This is theother, and more worrying, little old lady.

Molly is fourteen years old and has aged noticeably inthe last six months. I’ve beenworrying more and more about how she will cope with the ferry crossing, as shewill have to go into a “kennel” in the hold – basically a cage, really. If it’s anyway rough or cold I’mworried she will suffer needlessly.

What are theoptions? She can’t stay at home,Tansy's hours are erratic, to say the least. Denis can’t take her, his apartmentcomplex doesn’t allow pets. Aideen can’t take her for the same reason. Asking someone to call to our house at least once every single day for four months is a huge imposition, and I'm not comfortable doing it. There is no way I will have her put to sleep just because we aregoing away, she is too well in herself at the moment to do that to her. I had resigned myself to the fact thatshe would just have to endure the journey and that we would bring a comfy bedand old sleeping bag to try to keep her warm on the ferry.

Last week, out of the blue, this little old lady came to the rescue!

My mum was having the same concerns andworries about Molly and spoke to me about it. To make a long phone call short, she will take Molly homewith her after Christmas and they will look after each other until we’re back. My mother's biggest concern about taking her is whether she will be able to get in and out of the car by herself, as Mum is very arthitic and definitely won't be able to help her. At the moment, Molly is learning how to use a ramp to get over this problem!

I am so relievedabout this. I will be heart-brokensaying goodbye to Molly on Dec 27th, as I know there is a fair chance I won’tsee her again, but this is the best solution for her.

Feeding Time

2011-12-22T10:41:00.001Z

Went up to check and feed the horses this morning and they were all fine, getting on very well with the new comer.

Flurry getting excited about breakfast

Gigi just tucked in

Tomorrow I should have a bit more time to pamper them, wash their feet , and clean them, and brush out the tangles in the tails, but today I have to drive to Marseille to get my brother.

It's all about the horses

2011-12-21T12:12:00.000Z

Called up to the horses this morning and they were in great form, munching away on a mixture of hay and lucerne, and rugless. Fani has been taking their rugs off every morning and putting them back on in the evening, with beautiful sunny days they seem to be fine, so if Martine is OK with this I will keep to this routine.

Gigi's tail got a bit damaged somewhere along the way but I was expecting that, she loves to rub it !

While I was there Fani asked if I would mind another mare going in with our two, they all arrived at the same time and have been in adjacent paddocks, mutually grooming over the wire, so we put them together and everything was fine. Flurry had a bit of a canter and didn't seem tender footed at all, ditto Gigi but she did seem a bit stiff, but not too bad. Then Fani took a few people out on a hack and Gigi was very interested in that !

Roxy met Shrek, the local hound, and they played around for a bit until Roxy discovered the horse droppings and started tucking in !

It was great to see the horses so settled, the ground in the paddock has some top surface of mud on it, but it is probably a bit hard for them, but they seemed OK. I'll go up this evening and rug them up

Enfin the Luberon

2011-12-20T22:28:00.000Z

A much easier trip today although we had much further to go. Breakfast in the hotel and then loaded the dogs into the car, more yellow pills for Fionn, and off we went, with Polly driving and me navigating. At least the rain had stopped and there was even a bit of sunshine.

Burgundy in the snow

We had only been driving a couple of hours when we saw our first snow and very pretty it was too, and thankfully none on the roads! A few hours later and we came to the junction where the horses had exited the A7 to be collected my Nathalie.

Macon Turn off

Getting close to Avignon and we came up behind a small horse lorry that looked remarkably like Nathalie's, so I overtook it and peered into the cabin...did I recognize Nathalie from the photos David had sent us of them being unloaded? So I phoned her
"Are you on the A7 close to Avignon ?"
"Yes"
"I think I'm in front of you"
Lots of hilarious laughter, what an amazing coincidence...hang on a mo
"What's your registration?"

Well it wasn't Nathalie, but she had overtaken this lorry a short while ago, and was ahead of us, but we had to turn off at Avignon so never caught up with her.

So we turned off at the Avignon exit and were soon in Cereste, unloaded the car then dinner at my cousins' house and fell into bed.

Will head over to see the horses first thing in the morning, it's great to be here, and I can't wait for Martine to arrive so we can start working the horses.

South of Paris

2011-12-20T07:39:00.002Z

We were delayed getting off the ferry as there was a car blocking the ramp, so left the port at about 14:30 and headed for the first available grassy patch where Fionn finally let go and the hot air balloon deflated! More little yellow pills and we were on our way again, with Fionn gazing happily out the back window and Roxy dozing quietly.

What a drive , it rained heavily all the way from Cherbourg to the south of Paris ( Martine you were so right, take the Le Mans route!), on the outskirts of Paris we hit really heavy traffic, and in the dark with the heavy trucks driving was a nightmare, but thanks to Karen (the satnav) we made it to the hotel safely but very late at 9:20.

Earlier at around 5pm I had phoned the hotel to say we would be arriving late, "Madame Renshaw? we have no reservation for you". Well I had the proof of the reservation with me, and fortunately they had a spare room. As the restaurant closed at 9:30 we dived straight in placed our orders and then sorted out the dogs.

Collapsed into bed around 11:30, with 2 very settled dogs both glad to be together again after the separation on the ferry.

I love French hotels they didn't even bat an eyelid at Fionn charging through reception on his way to his early morning stroll, took this lovely pic of the hotel, wow I thought , I hadn't realised it was so big.

Came around the corner and

As anyone will tell you I have a lousy sense of direction, the first picture is of course an office block! How will I ever navigate my horse back across France ? I'll have Martine!

Hoping to make Cereste today, should be about an 8 hour drive but after yesterday I'm not counting my chickens. More tomorrow

Somewhere between Rosslare and Cherbourg

2011-12-19T10:21:00.001Z

Mmm that's interesting my computer is talking to me in some eastern european language, and I'm under time pressure , €5 for 30 minutes and it has to be continuous.

The view coming into Rosslare

The drive down went very smoothly and I got the news that the horses had arrived in Cereste while we were in the queue for the ferry which lighten my mood enormously and allowed me to enjoy a lovely dinner on the ship, with a couple of glasses of wine.

The ferry is lovely , and the dog accommodation is OK too, nice thick rubber mats in the kennels, visiting hours are very frequent and only one dog owner is allowed on the kennel deck at any one time, which makes handling Fionn very easy. He isn't great with strange dogs. But all he wants to do is get back to his car, he must have a bladder the size of an air balloon, because despite several visits to him he still refuses to pee. Roxy however is using the facilities without a problem Thank goodness for guide dog training !

It is an incredibly calm crossing which is just as well as I forgot the seasickness pills! So calm in fact that there are horses on the lorry deck, in their truck of course.

We dock in 3 hours time and hope to make it south of Paris this evening.

Can't work out how to upload the photos in this eastern European language, but will try later.

An Arrival and a Departure

2011-12-18T20:57:00.000Z

The horses have arrived safely at La Florentine in Céreste!

Huge, huge thanks to Paddy, the driver from George Mullins Transport, and Nathalie from Chevaux Express, who were both incredibly understanding about the two neurotic ould wagons who needed regular updates throughout the horses' two and a half day journey!

They left Dover at about midnight on Saturday, and hit the road in Calais at about 3am. The journey time was expertly gauged by Paddy, and Nathalie was waiting for him at Mâcon. She let Anne know as soon as she had the horses loaded and we both heaved a sigh of relief - we had each been running through all the possible disaster scenarios that could have caused the handover to go wrong.

Here they are arriving at La Florentine. Photos are courtesy of David Regan, who very kindly went out and photographed their arrival for us.

Hello! Or should that be Bonjour?

GiGi looks on...

...while Flurry is unloaded

Then GiGi follows

Nice n steady...

Tied up to get their rugs on

That's Shrek the dog in the background

Hey, what's this? I don't think this is my rug!

I'm guessing that Fani decided that the thicker rug was for the horse with evidence of a clip - a reasonable assumption! They quickly spotted their mistake when they tried to squeeze GiGi into Flurry's rug!

Meanwhile, throughout all this, Anne was packing, leaving and being contact point for both drivers. Me? Um, I was heading to Thomond Park for a Heineken cup match - Munster v Llanelli Scarlets (Munster won - woohoo!)

Polly drove all the way to Rosslare so that Anne was available for phone calls if necessary, but as far as I know, her interpreting skills weren't required. Fionn, the neurotic traveller, dozed happily all the way, thanks to little yellow tablets.

The last report I received was that Fionn was installed in the kennels, the forecast was for calm seas, Anne was totally chilled and herself and Polly were heading for dinner in the restaurant. The only bad news was that the on-board wifi was down, which is why I'm doing this post.

Looking forward to hearing from her tomorrow!

En Route

2011-12-17T20:34:00.000Z

The horses are currently at Dover waiting to get on a ferry to Calais. Paddy has communicated the exact details of the swap over point in Macon, and Nathalie should be there to take them on their way to Cereste. I swear I won't sleep 'till they're there.
I am nearly all packed and ready to go, the house is not as clean as I would like it for the arrival of Martine's family, but I had to prioritise.

Leaving for Rosslare around midday tomorrow, it's all coming together.

And they're off!

2011-12-16T12:02:00.002Z

For some strange reason, we were both awake early this morning! The truck was due at 10.30am, but with a sprinkle of snow on the ground and icy patches on the roads, we assumed it would be a bit late.
We wanted to give the horses a bit of a clean up before they travelled so I brought them in early, hosed the muck off their feet and fed them. Anne arrived at about nine to start the cleaning process and we were both very calm and relaxed as we scraped the chunks of mud out of their fluffy coats.

That is, until twenty past nine when one of our many spies around the country rang Anne, to say "Lovely truck! Just saw it at the Dunkettle roundabout" - about fifteen minutes away! (Thanks Shona!)

Our work-rate increased dramatically, and before long they were in a respectable condition and ready to go!

Anne had a quiet few moments in the stable saying goodbye to GiGi, but I was waiting for the truck at the end of the drive.

Here it comes!

It was too big to get up our drive, so Paddy the driver parked it at the corner where our drive comes out onto the road.

What luxury - they'll never want to go
into the trailer again!

Pepper and Lily were fascinated

I look like the Michelin man - it was COLD!

Labelling the horses

Flurry went first

A little gent as always

GiGi can be funny to load sometime, but she
couldn't wait to follow Flurry up the ramp

Does this truck make my bum look big?

Anne's last goodbye (I gave Flurry a kiss when no-one
was looking!)

Flurry got the stall with a view!

Pity we couldn't squeeze Lily in there as well!

Paddy giving Anne details of the route - he's taking
them all the way to Macon.

They'll have a rest in George Mullins' yard in Co Carlow, then they'll be loaded up again for the ferry crossing tonight. Paddy has to drop one horse as he crosses England, then they'll arrive in the yard at Dover later tomorrow. They will all have another rest, then they leave on one of the night-time ferries and travel down through France overnight, arriving in Macon at about seven or eight in the morning. Poor Nathalie will have an early start. Fingers crossed they have a good journey and the "hand-off" goes smoothly.

Ready to go

It was a tight squeeze getting around the corner!

Bon voyage, chers chevaux!

Pass the Valium Please...

2011-12-15T16:29:00.034Z

It was all coming together nicely last Tuesday.

The Renegade boots were tracked as far as Sacramento, and looked like they would arrive at Martine’s sister’s house in California on Wednesday, just in time to be packed and brought to Ireland.

Anja was due to come to us on Wednesday to give GiGi and Flurry their second trim, just before they travelled.

Finally, and most importantly, Grainne from George Mullins contacted us to say the horses would be leaving on either Thursday or Friday, arriving in France on Saturday or Sunday.

All we had to do was let Fani, at La Florentine, know that the horses would arrive this weekend, and confirm that Nathalie, the French horse transporter, would be able to collect the horses in Macon on either Saturday or Sunday. Simple, eh? - texts and emails whizzed off through the ether, now we just had to wait for the replies.

Anja duly arrived, having crossed the Cork/Kerry mountains in snow and ice - what a trooper! The trimming went well, she was very pleased with Flurry in particular, although he was a complete ass to trim - fidgety and constantly parking himself in the corner. She advised Martine to trim the hair at his heels in order to allow his feet to dry a bit better, which should help with the sponginess we've seen at the back of his feet.

After looking at GiGi walk, and consulting with Anne, she eventually decided to wrap GiGi's front feet, using the Performance Horse Wear bandages, to help support her feet a bit better as she adjusts to barefoot life. She also advised using the Cleantrax disinfecting kit to help with the cracks in front and the ragged, thrushy frogs behind. She gave us lots of other helpful, general advise, and then we said goodbye, see you in May! It feels so weird to be finally saying that to people!

Then things slowly started to unravel... first of all there was the message from California “Boots arrived, two pairs, one red, one yellow”.

What???? We ordered FOUR pairs of boots! Martine emailed and texted her sister to confirm that she did indeed mean two PAIRS and not two SETS, but unfortunately her sister was incommunicado for the day. We sat down and rationalised this one and agreed not to panic – if there were only two pairs of boots, it just meant that we’d have a bit of to-and-fro with the manufacturers, the other two pairs would be sent to France and it would eventually be sorted out. Ok, we were both calm again.

Except there was no word from Fani or Nathalie.... but finally an email arrived from Fani on Wednesday, all is well and she's ready for our guys to arrive.

But Anne was slowly going into meltdown, despite several phone calls, voice mail every time, and emails, the French transporter remained incommunicado for the best part of 48 hours. Martine was putting a brave face on it, but Anne, after a very sleepless night, with flash like dreams of two horses wandering free in a French motorway service area slowly chomping the grass, or being picked up by a random horse slaughterer, finally cracked on Thursday morning. After several fruitless phone calls to alternative transporters, she finally picked up the phone :

Anne: " Martine I cannot send Gigi off to France with no firm arrangement the other end"
Martine : "Mullins will kill us if we cancel"
Anne: "I don't care, I can't do it"

So contingency plans were made, Frances Whooley, another Irish "barefooter" was contacted and agreed to take the horses for a while which would give us a chance to reorganise the transport arrangements.

Despondent but not feeling quite so sick, Anne returned to her morning cuppa and Martine went trawling through internet forums looking for recommendations for transport companies.

Five minutes later, Anne's mobile rang, one apologetic French transporter: "I've been out of mobile contact for a few days on a delivery to Belgium, yes I can collect the horses Saturday or Sunday"
At the same time, Martine was checking her email, from her sister, "sorry, two sets of four, or fours pairs, my mistake!", another sigh of relief!

So it's all on again, and though neither of us is happy that we won't be there before the horses, at least Anne won't be too far behind them, and the forecast for the travel days is fairly good.

They are being collected from Martine's at 10:30 Friday morning, put away the valium, let the adventure begin..... although neither of us will relax until we see a photo of them grazing contentedly in a paddock in Céreste.

More Hooves

2011-12-12T21:32:00.000Z

At the moment, it feels like we're both on a treadmill. Between working the horses, fund-raising for IGDB (I even chipped in and did a bit on Saturday), house tidying, decorating for Christmas, Christmas shopping and getting our dogs out for a walk every day, we're both kept going non-stop. Anne also went to Dublin and back on Saturday to see Polly performing at Vicar St - her biggest gig to date! This week, we're going to hear Tansy & her classmates doing their first college showcase performance. Being a glutton for punishment, I'm going both nights whereas Anne is just going on Tuesday.

Anne is leaving next Sunday! She seems remarkably calm, I have to say. My Christmas guests will be staying in her house, which works out rather nicely for all concerned, but it has meant that she has to leave the house in a condition which someone else can move into, so that's extra tidying for her to do.

I've been waiting for a chance to get photos of the horses' feet again but we've all been coming and going at different times. Today we were all finally in the yard together and despite the foul weather, I was determined not to miss the opportunity. There's a couple of things going on that we're not sure of, but Anja is due back soon. Flurry's front heels are spongey and a small bit smelly - maybe this is from all the horrible wet mud they are standing in? I'm spraying with Silversol every day, but it's slow to improve.

Flurry's very large frog on his left hind has indeed become less pronounced. I'm putting the earlier photo here as well for comparison, although unfortunately I didn't take it from the same angle today.

Day 32

Day 1

Both of GiGi's front feet have sandcracks - she's had these since Anne bought her seven years ago. But we are now noticing that the area of the coronet band directly above the cracks is pitted - it looks a bit like a lunar landscape in miniature. Anja mentioned that chronic cracks like these are caused by infection - is this sponginess an outward sign of infection in the coronet?

The frog on GiGi's left hind is pretty nasty, with a couple of deep cracks. It smelled a bit thrushy for a while so she sprayed it every day with Silversol, which cleared up the smelliness. Will she be prone to thrush in this foot for as long as those cracks are still present?

We're posting the rest of the feet pictures below. It seems (to our inexperienced eyes) that Flurry's have grown fairly well - his nail holes are nearly gone - whereas GiGi's have changed very little. Slower growth because she is older, perhaps?
It'll be good for us to have this photo journal of their hooves' adjustment to barefoot life and it's turning out to be a good way to correspond with both of our hoof-care ladies!

GiGi
Front Left:

Front Right:

Left Hind:

Right Hind :

Flurry

Front Right :

Left Hind :

Right Hind :

Friday Weather Watch

2011-12-09T16:25:00.001Z

Despite the doom and gloom forecast from last Wednesday, today was lovely! Cold and a bit breezy, but nice and bright, with just the odd heavy shower. It looks like the rest of the weekend will be quite ok too, but there is definitely another storm front on the way for Monday night/Tuesday.
I am quite surprised that Céreste is still warmer than Cork - I was expecting it to be much colder there by now, but we all realise that January is the coldest month there and we'll be bringing the cold weather gear when we travel.

Achievements of the day - posted Christmas cards, dug up the parsnips (they'll keep until Dec 25th) and I'm half way through prepping the raised bed for garlic. Then it's just the onions and broad beans to get down.