Friday, 13 April
With another lesson coinciding with a holyday, I was expecting another flooded lesson. Fortunately the weather made sure that didn't happen. The temperature has been around mid to high twenties (degrees Celsius) with never a cloud in sight. After this dreadful winter, the good weather and the extended weekend promoted an early going to the beach. The authorities estimate that one tenth of the population went south to the beaches of Algarve! It reminds me of the joint Zebra and Gnu migrations through the Masai-Mara - long herds snaking throughout the country side, steadily moving towards their destination. The only weakness in that metaphor is that it is unfair to the Gnus and Zebras, who tend to have more common sense than your average Portuguese driver!
We, at the barn, ended up having quite a relaxed afternoon. I dropped by a little past four. There was a lesson with a couple of kids going on, and surprisingly few people around. I stayed around the arena, talking with one of the waiting moms and later on with a boy, around eleven or twelve, who was also waiting for a lesson. We were soon joined by a lady waiting for her lesson too. Since there were no signs of others appearing we stopped our conversation and went prepare our ride. Perceptive lad that I am I though nothing much when my young companion started talking about hacks outside the school. We were getting our horses ready and I didn't think twice about it. Francisco had given me Astérix, so after I had finished tacking him up, I took him to the larger arena, checked tack and mounted. The other two students joined in, the boy on Lord and the lady with Montera. After we were all ready we started warming up, and I was a little surprised to see Francisco coming up with Pipas. I was even more surprised to see him mounting in the outside of the arena. Only then did it dawned on me - we were going out! Yeah!!
The itinerary was pretty much the same of the last time I went on a hack (with the houses around we don't have much choice, unfortunately...).
Astérix behaved himself like an angel. He couldn't care less for barking dogs, people or cars. He only shied at a kid with a skateboard and when a group of kids ran after us for a while a few meters to our side, one of them on one of those "skateboards" with a handle (what's that called?), he shied a little too. In fact he didn't seem too keen on kids come to think of that! He was particularly helpful, yielding to the leg when asked with a light touch, doing the transitions, etc. He was specially careful with Lord, who was third in line, in front of us. He would keep, at the very least, a meter between him and Lord. When the path was wide enough for us to be side-by-side safely, I tried to get us so. At first Astérix didn't want to, and when I insisted he pulled as far away from Lord as he could - which was exactly what I wanted! Even with two fat meters between them, Lord was making faces so, not wanting to create any difficult situation, I pulled back to the loneliness of the end of the line
.
The highlight of the ride was when we cantered through a field of tojo. Tojo is a very common bush-like plant in Mediterranean environment. It sports sturdy inch long thorns instead of leafs, and by itself grows to around knee high. When this plant takes over a field, competition can make it grow up to neck high. The plants tangle on each other forming a wall that, if it is not impenetrable, is very difficult and painful to walk through (as I can tell you from personal experience!). This particular field is about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, the tojo being around chest high. There is a narrow meandering trail that crosses it and it was along this pathway that we cantered, immersed in a sea of green. Absolutely brilliant!
Shortly after this we had to climb a path going steeply up hill, which required half-seat and mane grabbing, and was also mildly thrilling (specially if your riding is mostly restricted to the flat and soft confines of the picadeiro. The ride on the whole was relaxing and very enjoyable, and I have to admit it - I was brimming with pride, walking and trotting through the town's streets!
We arrived at the barn to find Génio's owner working with him, which provided us with a subject to talk about (and balk at) after our own horses were seen to. One of the regular students from the seven o'clock lesson arrived at the usual lesson time. Since he was the only student showing up, Francisco gave him a treat and put him on Chèrie, for a lesson with a whole new kind of horse. I struck a conversation with the student's wife and my young afternoon companion's mother, and we had some fun watching this students look of apprehension mixed with enthusiasm and surprise. Fortunately, before I became too condescending, fate half-halted my smugness by means of an invitation from Francisco to ride Pipas. He had brought her to the arena to join the student and after keeping up with the lesson on horseback for some time, he asked me if I wanted to rider her for a while. Eager to make a fool of myself I said yes. I got up only to be faced with a double bridle and a (oh so comfy and thin!) dressage saddle. I grabbed both reins and slackened the curb rein so I was only using the bradoon and, with Francisco's confirmation, I was off. This time I was the target of the smiles :-D! At least, when I passed by the other student we could exchange knowingly grins, each trying to do the best of a challenging circumstance. Watching my difficulty in keeping Pipas straight at anything resembling a cadenced gait - we were running around like a headless chicken - Francisco commented that "...there are just to many buttons, right?". That image really summed up what it felt. It was like trying to use a computer with boxing gloves on: all you want is to press return but you end up writing the Complete Works of Shakespeare!
After a while Pipas understood that I was not an over active rider, just plain incompetent, and she proceeded to ignore my unwitting aids. Slowing her down proved more complicated. Knowing that hauling on her mouth was not the way to go, I tried applying checks with the reins starting at her rhythm but slowly decreasing in tempo, while at the same time I slowed my posting. That worked surprisingly well! We were no longer racing around in trot, even if we could do two laps for each of Chèrie's! Unfortunately, whenever I stopped to adjust reins or for some other reason, all would be lost and she would revert to nervous speed. I tried a little bit of canter, but it was plainly obvious that if I was not able to properly control the trot, I sure wasn't going to handle the canter.
The second time I inadvertently jabbed her in the mouth (and received a stern rebuke from Francisco for doing so) I decided that I am not yet the rider Pipas deserves and concluded the experiment. I lead her in and took care of her so Francisco could finish the lesson.
Between box cleaning, chatting, horse watching, feeding and just plain old fun, I stayed until late in the evening, only going away when everything was closed up (as usual!) - after what was an extremely enjoyable afternoon.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
With another lesson coinciding with a holyday, I was expecting another flooded lesson. Fortunately the weather made sure that didn't happen. The temperature has been around mid to high twenties (degrees Celsius) with never a cloud in sight. After this dreadful winter, the good weather and the extended weekend promoted an early going to the beach. The authorities estimate that one tenth of the population went south to the beaches of Algarve! It reminds me of the joint Zebra and Gnu migrations through the Masai-Mara - long herds snaking throughout the country side, steadily moving towards their destination. The only weakness in that metaphor is that it is unfair to the Gnus and Zebras, who tend to have more common sense than your average Portuguese driver!
We, at the barn, ended up having quite a relaxed afternoon. I dropped by a little past four. There was a lesson with a couple of kids going on, and surprisingly few people around. I stayed around the arena, talking with one of the waiting moms and later on with a boy, around eleven or twelve, who was also waiting for a lesson. We were soon joined by a lady waiting for her lesson too. Since there were no signs of others appearing we stopped our conversation and went prepare our ride. Perceptive lad that I am I though nothing much when my young companion started talking about hacks outside the school. We were getting our horses ready and I didn't think twice about it. Francisco had given me Astérix, so after I had finished tacking him up, I took him to the larger arena, checked tack and mounted. The other two students joined in, the boy on Lord and the lady with Montera. After we were all ready we started warming up, and I was a little surprised to see Francisco coming up with Pipas. I was even more surprised to see him mounting in the outside of the arena. Only then did it dawned on me - we were going out! Yeah!!
The itinerary was pretty much the same of the last time I went on a hack (with the houses around we don't have much choice, unfortunately...).
Astérix behaved himself like an angel. He couldn't care less for barking dogs, people or cars. He only shied at a kid with a skateboard and when a group of kids ran after us for a while a few meters to our side, one of them on one of those "skateboards" with a handle (what's that called?), he shied a little too. In fact he didn't seem too keen on kids come to think of that! He was particularly helpful, yielding to the leg when asked with a light touch, doing the transitions, etc. He was specially careful with Lord, who was third in line, in front of us. He would keep, at the very least, a meter between him and Lord. When the path was wide enough for us to be side-by-side safely, I tried to get us so. At first Astérix didn't want to, and when I insisted he pulled as far away from Lord as he could - which was exactly what I wanted! Even with two fat meters between them, Lord was making faces so, not wanting to create any difficult situation, I pulled back to the loneliness of the end of the line
.The highlight of the ride was when we cantered through a field of tojo. Tojo is a very common bush-like plant in Mediterranean environment. It sports sturdy inch long thorns instead of leafs, and by itself grows to around knee high. When this plant takes over a field, competition can make it grow up to neck high. The plants tangle on each other forming a wall that, if it is not impenetrable, is very difficult and painful to walk through (as I can tell you from personal experience!). This particular field is about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, the tojo being around chest high. There is a narrow meandering trail that crosses it and it was along this pathway that we cantered, immersed in a sea of green. Absolutely brilliant
!Shortly after this we had to climb a path going steeply up hill, which required half-seat and mane grabbing, and was also mildly thrilling (specially if your riding is mostly restricted to the flat and soft confines of the picadeiro. The ride on the whole was relaxing and very enjoyable, and I have to admit it - I was brimming with pride, walking and trotting through the town's streets
!We arrived at the barn to find Génio's owner working with him, which provided us with a subject to talk about (and balk at) after our own horses were seen to. One of the regular students from the seven o'clock lesson arrived at the usual lesson time. Since he was the only student showing up, Francisco gave him a treat and put him on Chèrie, for a lesson with a whole new kind of horse. I struck a conversation with the student's wife and my young afternoon companion's mother, and we had some fun watching this students look of apprehension mixed with enthusiasm and surprise. Fortunately, before I became too condescending, fate half-halted my smugness by means of an invitation from Francisco to ride Pipas. He had brought her to the arena to join the student and after keeping up with the lesson on horseback for some time, he asked me if I wanted to rider her for a while. Eager to make a fool of myself
I said yes. I got up only to be faced with a double bridle and a (oh so comfy and thin!) dressage saddle. I grabbed both reins and slackened the curb rein so I was only using the bradoon and, with Francisco's confirmation, I was off. This time I was the target of the smiles :-D! At least, when I passed by the other student we could exchange knowingly grins, each trying to do the best of a challenging circumstance. Watching my difficulty in keeping Pipas straight at anything resembling a cadenced gait - we were running around like a headless chicken - Francisco commented that "...there are just to many buttons, right?". That image really summed up what it felt. It was like trying to use a computer with boxing gloves on: all you want is to press return but you end up writing the Complete Works of Shakespeare!After a while Pipas understood that I was not an over active rider, just plain incompetent, and she proceeded to ignore my unwitting aids. Slowing her down proved more complicated. Knowing that hauling on her mouth was not the way to go, I tried applying checks with the reins starting at her rhythm but slowly decreasing in tempo, while at the same time I slowed my posting. That worked surprisingly well! We were no longer racing around in trot, even if we could do two laps for each of Chèrie's! Unfortunately, whenever I stopped to adjust reins or for some other reason, all would be lost and she would revert to nervous speed. I tried a little bit of canter, but it was plainly obvious that if I was not able to properly control the trot, I sure wasn't going to handle the canter.
The second time I inadvertently jabbed her in the mouth (and received a stern rebuke from Francisco for doing so) I decided that I am not yet the rider Pipas deserves and concluded the experiment. I lead her in and took care of her so Francisco could finish the lesson.
Between box cleaning, chatting, horse watching, feeding and just plain old fun, I stayed until late in the evening, only going away when everything was closed up (as usual!) - after what was an extremely enjoyable afternoon.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal