Friday Weather Watch

You can see those night-time temperatures starting to drop in Cereste.  Meanwhile, look at the roundy yellow thing on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday which is missing from the Cork forecast!

Despite the cloudy/rainy image for Friday in Cork, it's been quite a nice day here.

View from Dee's garden.

Anne and I loaded up the horses and went off for a more adventurous hack in the Boggeragh mountains with Dee and Ed and their horses Captain Jake Morgan and Wilson.

Dee and Captain Jake Morgan

It's brilliant riding country up there - we had to do about a mile on a very quiet road, then we went into a Coillte forestry plantation and did a circular ride on the forest trails.

Flurry whispering sweet nothings to GiGi!

We went through a lovely stream :

There's a video of this which I'll add later when Dee sends it to me.

It's great to know that we can load up GiGi and Flurry and that they'll travel well together, and then come out of the box calm and happy to work when we get to our destination.

Thank you GiGi & Flurry!  And Dee and Ed for inviting us - we'll be back for that picnic ride in a couple of weeks!

Martine and Dressage - Training

Confused?

 I’m confused.  It seems the less I do, the better me & Flurry get.

For example, take my dressage lesson last week. 

It was three weeks since our last lesson.  Flurry and I had both had two and a half weeks off – this was while I was in Lanzarote first of all and then helping at the National Championships the second week. 

I got back late on the Sunday.

On the Monday, we did some loosening stuff in the arena.  Flurry was pretty good – responsive and ongoing, just a little stiffer to bend left, which is normal for him.  We just did circles, transitions and a little leg-yielding, and quit while the going was good after about 30 minutes.

On the Tuesday, we went for a road hack with Anne & Denis.  Nothing hectic, just a 40 minute ride, mostly walking on a loose rein.

Off I went for my lesson in Skevanish with Frank O’Sullivan on Wednesday.

“What have you been doing?” he asked. 

“Nothing much” was my answer, and I reminded him I’d been away and had only come home three days before.

So we started warming up, in a nice free walk, Flurry marching on determinedly. 

Into trot, working long and low, and much to my surprise he stayed long and low through trot/walk/trot transitions.

Picked up the contact, asked for a little more connection, he rounded up easily with no objections – it’s usually a struggle, and takes a minute or two before he relaxes his jaw and works into the contact.

Into canter – well, we had the usual issues in canter. He struggled to stay round in the transitions and on straight lines.  He was much better on a circle, but then he usually is, because his inside hind is more engaged, so he doesn’t fall on the forehand and run on.

Frank suggested we do a few direct walk/canter transitions, and we did.  Perfectly, every time, on the right rein.  Almost as good on the left rein (that’s his stiff side).  Downward transitions were amazingly good – usually he either falls out of canter or runs into trot, totally on the forehand – this time he felt balanced within a stride or two.

We worked on leg-yielding and shoulder-in to keep the inside hind working.  He got softer and softer in my hand and stayed round the whole time in walk and trot work.  We finished up with a bit of canter which was much more engaged.

Frank was… well… gobsmacked, really.  Highly complimentary about how much my riding had improved, and couldn’t believe how much good the break had done both of us.

So this week, we did almost no schooling between lessons, just one day.  I warmed Flurry up long & low, picked him up, did some leg-yielding (not great, going out through the shoulder), shoulder-in, (felt ok but its hard to know when you’re working on your own) and canter transitions, both walk/canter and trot/canter.  Forty minutes max.  And that was it.

Back for our lesson this week, and he was better again. 

The shoulder-in was the best I’ve ever ridden.  Ever.  Even back when I was fit and didn’t have a dodgey back.  I could give & retake the inside rein, and I didn’t have to “nag” him with my inside leg to stay in shoulder-in position.

I rode shoulder-in on a circle – I’ve never done that before!

The leg-yielding was improved because he accepted my half-halts to “capture” his outside shoulder when he started going out through it. 

His trot work throughout was super, it felt soft and bouncy and had a great “tick-tock” rhythm. 

We started worked on lengthened strides in trot and he really really tried.

I rode in sitting trot for nearly the whole lesson and it didn’t hurt!!

Being truthful, there was a downside, the canter is still not perfect.  It’s a work in progress.  Frank had me riding shoulder-fore in canter to try and keep working that inside hind, and it helped a bit.

Maybe if I leave it alone for another week it’ll be fixed.

Following that theory, maybe after three months of just trail-riding in France, we’ll be ready for Grand Prix next April!

I’d settle for not seeing “Needs to be rounder” on my sheet next time I ride a test.

Have to agree - needs to be rounder!

Half of the Wagons go to Lanzarote

The Long-Suffering Husband and I took a week long break and headed off to Lanzarote to try and remedy our chronic Vitamin D deficiency after this year's craptacular Irish Summer.
Why Lanzarote?  Ehhh, because we live ten minutes from Cork airport and we could get a direct flight from there to Lanzarote, of course.  And we seemed fairly certain to get good weather there.  So other than "sun" we arrived into Lanzarote with no expectations whatsoever, other than that I'd previously spent a week in the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura and was fairly unimpressed.

My favourite pic from the holiday!

Thankfully, our expectation were well exceeded, mostly thanks to a visionary artist/architect called Cesar Manrique.  Back in the 60s, he spotted Lanzarote's tourism potential, and managed to convince the powers-that-be on the island not to allow high rise development, such as has marred so much of the coast of Spain.  Many of the attractions on the island were also designed by him - Mirador del Rio, a beautiful viewing spot at the North of the island, the guest centre at the heart of the volcano park and his own residence, which is designed so the lower floor is made up of bubbles in an old lava tunnel, to name but a few.


Some of Manrique's works on the island:

Cactus Garden

 Ladies Bathroom

Gent's Bathroom

Jameos del Agua - an underground cave system, built into
lava tubes.  Based on an idea by Cesar Manrique

We unwound pretty well - ate way too much, drank way too much, watched Ireland annihilate Australia (woohoo!) in a lively bar at 9.30am, walked a bit, swam a bit and lolled around a bit.

We also rented a car and did some touring around.  There's loads to see, and even though it takes at most an hour to drive the length of the island, we found that after having the car for three days, there was still stuff we hadn't seen.

View at Mirador del Rio

I'm always interested in agriculture in different countries ('cos I'm a country girl, I guess) and boy do they face challenges on Lanzarote.  Wind, sun and lack of rain combine to make their lives difficult.  Everything they grow has to be given shelter from the elements, and they do this by building little individual windbreaks out of lava rock around their plants.

Ploughed fields, covered in moisture retaining lava gravel

Individual stone walls for plants.  And they think they have it rough
 on the Aran Islands!

Add into this the fact that the ground is covered in volcanic rock of some sort, and you'd wonder how can anything survive, yet they produce an award winning goats cheese, there's a large area with lettuce & other greenery and there's a thriving (& unique) wine-growing region.  This last one was what most grabbed my attention!

To protect the vines from the steady and desiccating winds, each vine is planted (by hand) in a conical "dimple" about one meter deep.  A teeny stone wall is built at the top of each dimple to further protect the vine from the prevailing North wind.  A thick layer of volcanic rock which has been broken down into gravel (picon) is then put on top - this helps trap moisture, and the conical shape helps the moisture run down to each vine.  It makes for some interesting landscapes:

Pruning and picking are are also done by hand and are made even more difficult in that the farmers have to slide down into each "dimple" to work on each plant, so Lanzarotean wine is not cheap, but I can personally testify that it's excellent.  Our favourite was the Malvasia Secco from the Stratvs vineyard - there's not much of this around, though, but there's plenty of El Grifo wine available, and it's pretty drinkable too.

They also seem to be growing corn.  I'm not sure how successful this is.  Maybe it's intended as fodder for the goats?

Lanzarote cornfield

Another highlight of the trip was watching Spaniards playing with volcanos.  If you take the bus trip around the volcanic park Timanfaya, you'll be treated to this experience at the end.  They have a couple a fumaroles just beside the car park.  They place a piece of dried brushwood over one, and WHOOMPH! it goes up in flames.  Then they chuck a bucket of water down another, stand back, and a couple of seconds later, WHOOSH! the volcano spews it back up in a geyser of steam.

Great fun, but Health & Safety would never let them away with it here!

The dining room at Stratvs Bodega

We ate out "posh" twice - once at the Stratvs Bodega restaurant which was excellent (interesting menu, great setting and service) and once at Oskar's restaurant in Costa Teguise which was very good (food was good but not so exciting, lovely outdoor patio and pleasant waitress).



We were getting reports from home that doggies, horses and cats were all fine, until I got a slightly worrying text from Denis on the last day, saying he was on his way back from a walk with Cookie and

"it may be a case of too little too late.  You will appreciate the import of the above when you see the state of your back kitchen...."

Gulp.  We weren't sure were we facing major toilet mishaps or what.  Thankfully it turned out to be "or what" :

The result of a leaving hyperactive young terrier
 alone for long periods

She had unpacked all of Tansy's horse-gear boxes and had cleared every shelf she could reach of every item.  Thankfully, she's a disorganiser, not a chewer, and no lasting damage was done.  I think she is aiming for Scampy's "Naughtiest Dog" title.  She could indeed be a contender!

Martine and Dressage - Regional Dressage Championships 2011

The earliest photo of me on a horse.
Taken on holiday in 1975.
I'm on the right

I started riding when I was seven years old (thanks Mum!), but did not have my own pony or horse until I was in my mid-twenties (yeah, thanks Mum!)  
I did my best to make up for lost time, and got very involved in the Cork riding club scene for several years, competing regularly and organising competitions for my club. 

As our daughters got older, they started riding more and more seriously, so on Sundays, the family would often be split up as George took them off to showjumping competitions with their ponies and I went off to whatever was going on with the riding club. 

One Sunday, I had an epiphany moment while I was standing in the middle of a windswept field, mobile phone clamped to my ear, listening to the girls excitedly telling me all about their clear rounds that day.  I realised I was missing out on a huge part of their life, and I resolved to put my own (not very exciting) equestrian career on hold and become the dreaded “pony mum”

So the family was reunited on Sundays, and we hauled ponies, horses & girls all over Ireland for the best part of ten years.  We had successes, disasters, triumphs and tears, and I wouldn’t have missed one minute of it! 

Towards the end of Tansy’s teen years, she got more and more into dressage, and I got more and more involved in the organisational side of it, happy to put something back into the sport.  I’ve been Chairman of South Munster Dressage Club for three years, and I’ve been one half of the driving force behind “Silver Spurs” for that time as well, the other half being my good friend and sometimes trainer, Naomi Donoghue, Chef d’Equipe of the Irish Para-equestrian team.

Now that Tansy is competing less, I have time for myself again!  My lovely cob Flurry has been drafted into the role of “Martine’s Dressage Horse” and.... well.... we’re having fun!

Flurry & me, just after I bought him

In a dressage test, you ride a series of movements, just like the set pattern in figure skating.  For each movement, you’re allocated marks as follows (para-phrasing  from Stephen Clarke):

10 - Excellent

The movement could not be done better. It is something very special to give a 10, and if given too lightly will lose its significance.

9 - Very Good

'Goose bump material', with most of the movement being excellent.

8 - Good

For an 8 there must be no basic problems. The movement has been properly executed, but maybe there was some small hiccup that brought it down from a 9

7 - Fairly Good

There is usually nothing to really complain about with a 7. Normally everything needs a little more impulsion, suppleness, expression and/or cadence. The basic qualities are clear and show a certain amount of harmony and ease within the movement itself.

6 - Satisfactory

This covers a multitude of sins. It is normally a 6 when the movement is basically correct but lacking in quality.

5 - Sufficient

If the horse has achieved the movement it is usual to give a 5. Even if the movement is a somewhat restricted, earthbound, lacking suppleness or impulsion, as long as the regularity is clear and the figure is fairly accurate, it can still warrant a 5.

4 - Insufficient

The most important thing when giving a 4 is that one thinks of the movement as 'insufficient'.

Serious mistakes like breaking pace, dropping out of canter, jogging through part of a walk movement, not walking in a simple change are examples of when a 4 or even a 3 would be appropriate.

3 - Fairly Bad

This could be given if there is fairly bad resistance, or a resistance combined with a lack of quality and/or other mistakes (resistance = horse very reluctant to do what is being asked of him).

1 - Very Bad and 2 - Bad

These marks are about severe resistance. For example if a horse stops, runs back or refuses to go forward. Provided this is not for more than 20 seconds (when he would be eliminated), then the movement has to be bad or very bad.

0 - Not Performed Practically nothing is shown

I have my own interpretation of this system.  It goes something like this :

10 - That Judge is insane - clearly bonkers, no-one ever deserves a 10

9 - I think I’m getting sympathy marks – the judge knows me/thinks my horse is cute and/or is being nice to me

8 - Me & my horse are awesome - I’ll be on a high for weeks

7 - I’m very happy – I’ll be on a high for rest of the day

6 - Not too pants – yeah, ok I can live with that

5 - Fairly pants – hmm, not great, I need to do a bit of work

4 - Pants – crap really, I’ll have to roll up the sleeves and sort that out (usually to do with striking off on the wrong leg in canter or breaking pace)

3 - I am never riding in front of that judge again - he/she doesn’t know what they’re talking about

2 - I am never doing dressage again - why do I do this to my horse?

1 - I am never riding again - why do I do this to myself?

0 - That Judge is insane - of course I performed that movement!

Flurry and I have been competing in the amateur “Sportsman’s A” classes with Dressage Ireland since March this year.  We’ve managed to qualify for the National Championships (two scores over 62%) so actually, I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve achieved – Flurry had never seen a dressage arena before he met me, and I really hadn’t ridden for over eight years, apart from the odd hack on the girls’ ponies.

Due to personal commitments, I can’t compete at Nationals this year (but watch out next year) so the South Munster Regional finals held today was really my last BIG outing this year.  This is how it went.

6.30am: Out of bed, fed Flurry, scraped off mud, plaited his mane, washed his tail. 

7.30am: Back inside, ate brekkie, watched the second half of Ireland v USA (jeez, what can I say? They were so bad they made the yanks look good)

9.00am: Load up jeep, hitch up trailer, load up horse and off we go....

9.30am: arrive at Maryville Stables, help set up arena with other victims... eh I mean volunteers

10.30am: tack up, mount up, warm up....

11.06am: in we go for championship Prelim test.  Not the best ever, he broke out of canter, jogged in his walk, we came out with 56.6.  Going by my scale of marks above, between a 5 and a 6 overall - yeah, ok I can live with that, hmm, not great, I need to do a bit of work

11.45am: in for “other” Prelim test.  Flurry felt GOOD by my standards!  Yeah, the canter still isn’t perfect, it’s a work in progress, but he was going forward sweetly and was (mostly) round.  We came out with 63.2 – a mark that’s good enough to qualify for Nationals, and according to Martine’s Scale of Marks, “yeah, ok I can live with that”, with a touch of “I’ll be on a high for rest of the day”

12.00pm: To work, helping run the show.  Competition was scheduled until 5pm.  However, the impending arrival of the late hurricane Katia had caused a lot of people to withdraw, so we encouraged people to go early when possible and managed to finish up half an hour ahead of schedule.

4.30/5.00pm: help disassemble arenas with other eejits, sorry, volunteers

5.30pm: Back home, walk dogs, feed horses, order chinese and relax!

A good day!

Typical Irish Hack (to be compared with Typical French Hack later)

Summer arrived for about six hours today, and Anne & I headed out for a quiet hack from home (mine, not hers, GiGi is staying with us for a while)

It had just started to cloud over when we set off, which made it very pleasant riding weather.  We did a short road hack :

And stopped to admire the view a few times :

The horses were so laid back with the warm weather they were almost horizontal - there were times when we thought Anne was going to have to get off GiGi & carry her!

Then we went into a couple of stubble fields, which woke both horses up no end!  We had a couple of canters, but Anne was complaining that the fields around my place are too small - she's probably right, it always seems like you have to pull up too soon.

We'll have to take a trip down to her place before all the stubble gets ploughed.

There's a real autumnal feel to everything now, all the trees and bushes are laden with fruit.  There's a great crop of blackberries, and I've spotted some damsons growing nearby - I can feel a jam-making session coming up!

We got back just as the rain was setting in for the evening - good timing or what! 

No hacking tomorrow, Regional Dressage Championships are on Sunday and poor Flurry is going to have a practice session tomorrow.  Hopefully he'll be a bit more lively than he was today, otherwise they'd better have a crash-cart ready for me when I finish riding on Sunday!

Step One of Taking-the-Horses-to-France (Martine)

Although Anne and I are really good friends and see each other several times a week, Flurry and GiGi had only ever met once, briefly.  It's really important that they know each other well, as they will be sharing a paddock in La Florentine, the horse farm where they will be staying.  Olivier, who owns the farm, is a well-seasoned horseman, and knows better than to add two temporary visitors to his herd!  So, this week, GiGi came to stay with Flurry and Paddy (who looks after my friend and co-conspirator for the last fifteen years, Denis).

All went well, and within a couple of days all three were totally settled.

Left to Right, Paddy, Flurry and GiGi enjoying the evening sunshine

Next step was to box Flurry and GiGi together.  I have to say, I think that every time a horse goes into a box, it underlines their utter trust in us.  It goes against every instinct a horse possesses to allow himself to be confined in a small, narrow space, with no escape route, and then be rattled and bumped around our winding country roads, yet the vast majority of horses willingly walk up those shaky ramps and into the blind alley that is a horsebox.  We're lucky in that Flurry and GiGi are pretty easy to load, but GiGi had some sort of a panic attack in my trailer last year so we weren't too sure how she would be.  Also, it's ages - well over a year - since either of them travelled with another horse, so we were a little concerned that either one of them could feel extra claustrophobic.
We needn't have worried, they loaded really easily and although GiGi stamped around a bit, they both arrived at the other end of the journey (Anne's house) cool & unflustered.  We had a lovely hack, including a gentle canter through a stubble field, loaded them up again and brought them home.
Step one complete!  Horses are buddies & will travel happy together!

Quite content in the horsebox