Pedro
26th Feb 2001, 02:28 PM
First, let me start by telling you that tomorrow is a special day here in Portugal - it's Carnaval. This is a day when many "Machos Latinos" have the opportunity to fulfil a year long dream and ... dress up as women! I kid you not! Among the many disguises chosen by children and adults to parade in the many processions all over the country, a rather common trend along men is to cross-dress. High heels, mini-skirts, fake breasts and wigs... and everyone finds this behaviour normal and entertaining - so much for the catholic conservative country :)! But stranger things happen during the Carnaval time. Increasingly over the previous week, life for school kids has been a constant battle. At school you have to watch your back as people might try to throw you eggs, flour or water balloons. The aggressor might even be your best friend, and it's not just schoolboys that show such reprehensible :-) behaviour. Walking the streets you have to watch out for water balloons (if you're lucky!) being thrown at passer-by's by kids from the balconies ("Me? No, I've never done such a thing!"). The town streets are patrolled by groups of kids looking for younger, smaller or less numerous victims to assault with their home made ammunitions... while avoiding older, bigger or larger groups, with the intent of doing the same to them ("No! Never done that either!")! Last Friday the vicinities of the train station and the local school were littered with egg shells, yellow stains and water and flour marks - traces of battles fought. Friends, co-workers and family members play pranks on each other and the ruling word is "É Carnaval / Ninguém leva a mal!" ("It's Carnaval / No one gets crossed!"). Peculiar tradition :-)...
Now, back to our regular schedule!
Wednesday, 21 February
For a change from the less schooled, less forward going horses of the last few lessons, today I went with Chèrie. I saddled her, put on her bridle and took her to the arena. Once again she wouldn't stand still for me to check the girth, I wasn't in the mood to put up with her antics, so I used the technique that had worked in a previous lesson. I walked her to a corner and "jammed" her back against it. I tightened the girth to a snug fit, checked tack and stirrup length and mounted. We had been warming up for a couple of minutes when André, just behind me, asked if I had checked the girth. I told him I had, why was he asking. The thing was, the girth was so loose he could easily see that from behind us. I took Chèrie to the middle and leaning down (no dismounting this time!) I could easily slip a fist sideways under the girth. I tightened it again, checked and it seemed fine. Seemed, that is, because soon André was warning me about the girth again. Once more to the centre :rolleyes:, and still the girth was loose, one more hole up and it looked OK. This time I also checked the curb chain. Chèrie had been really impatient to get out of her box when I was getting her ready, so I had not been able to check it as well as I had wanted to, and that had been nagging me since. Stretching forward from the saddle it looked too tight, so I had to dismount to check it. After all it was not to tight, it had felt so because of the angle the bit was making when I had seen to it on the saddle. Mounting Chèrie again required the "corner manoeuvre" again (I really have to do something about that, it's totally unacceptable that she won't stand still to be mounted). While all this was going on I had changed stirrup length some four or five times, partly because of saddle movement on account of the loose girth, partly because the leathers were not of exact equal size and I couldn't get a totally satisfactory solution. This eventful beginning was not the end of it! More than halfway towards the end of the lesson, Francisco asked me if I had seen how the saddle blanket was - it had slipped backwards from under the saddle, almost a couple of hands. Back to the centre once more, I dismounted and Francisco checked the girth. He found it tightened enough, so we undid it, moved the blanket forward and passed the girth through the straps in the blankets (which I hadn't done, as we usually don't). That - finally - was it, no more checks or changes needed - about time too!
The lesson itself was unremarkable. Besides the usual complement of exercises we did a lot of extension / contention at trot which, as there were only three of us and we had ample room, proved an interesting and challenging exercise for all and not just for the one in front.
After the lesson Francisco and André told us the latest adventures of the new mare. She is still nervous of her new surroundings, but she is settling in. That afternoon Mr. Francisco had taken her to the larger arena and asked of André to chase her around with a lunge whip and work her around. As he was thinking about putting a vertical jump up to see how she reacted to it, she just cantered straight towards the gate, jumped it (it's about five feet high) proceeded to her stall and started to nibble at her bed as if nothing had happened! According to Francisco "Well, that answered my question!" :D.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
Now, back to our regular schedule!
Wednesday, 21 February
For a change from the less schooled, less forward going horses of the last few lessons, today I went with Chèrie. I saddled her, put on her bridle and took her to the arena. Once again she wouldn't stand still for me to check the girth, I wasn't in the mood to put up with her antics, so I used the technique that had worked in a previous lesson. I walked her to a corner and "jammed" her back against it. I tightened the girth to a snug fit, checked tack and stirrup length and mounted. We had been warming up for a couple of minutes when André, just behind me, asked if I had checked the girth. I told him I had, why was he asking. The thing was, the girth was so loose he could easily see that from behind us. I took Chèrie to the middle and leaning down (no dismounting this time!) I could easily slip a fist sideways under the girth. I tightened it again, checked and it seemed fine. Seemed, that is, because soon André was warning me about the girth again. Once more to the centre :rolleyes:, and still the girth was loose, one more hole up and it looked OK. This time I also checked the curb chain. Chèrie had been really impatient to get out of her box when I was getting her ready, so I had not been able to check it as well as I had wanted to, and that had been nagging me since. Stretching forward from the saddle it looked too tight, so I had to dismount to check it. After all it was not to tight, it had felt so because of the angle the bit was making when I had seen to it on the saddle. Mounting Chèrie again required the "corner manoeuvre" again (I really have to do something about that, it's totally unacceptable that she won't stand still to be mounted). While all this was going on I had changed stirrup length some four or five times, partly because of saddle movement on account of the loose girth, partly because the leathers were not of exact equal size and I couldn't get a totally satisfactory solution. This eventful beginning was not the end of it! More than halfway towards the end of the lesson, Francisco asked me if I had seen how the saddle blanket was - it had slipped backwards from under the saddle, almost a couple of hands. Back to the centre once more, I dismounted and Francisco checked the girth. He found it tightened enough, so we undid it, moved the blanket forward and passed the girth through the straps in the blankets (which I hadn't done, as we usually don't). That - finally - was it, no more checks or changes needed - about time too!
The lesson itself was unremarkable. Besides the usual complement of exercises we did a lot of extension / contention at trot which, as there were only three of us and we had ample room, proved an interesting and challenging exercise for all and not just for the one in front.
After the lesson Francisco and André told us the latest adventures of the new mare. She is still nervous of her new surroundings, but she is settling in. That afternoon Mr. Francisco had taken her to the larger arena and asked of André to chase her around with a lunge whip and work her around. As he was thinking about putting a vertical jump up to see how she reacted to it, she just cantered straight towards the gate, jumped it (it's about five feet high) proceeded to her stall and started to nibble at her bed as if nothing had happened! According to Francisco "Well, that answered my question!" :D.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal