Horse back Riding in Italy
Horseback riding in Italy is not as much fun as it is here in Canada. Land owners enclose their properties with fences and don't like people to cross their land whether it is a tiny plot or 500 acres. So, it gets boring using the same routes all the time. Here in St. Lazare there are so many different trails. The Italian climate is great. You can ride 12 months of the year, and there are no bugs, but the flies do bother the horses. It does get very hot in the summer and horses prefer colder weather. Horseback riding in Italy is considered elite. It is very expensive to keep a horse. Boarding cost about 350 Euro a month (that is about 500$) and hay is expensive too - a small bale is over 7$.Horses here look more healthy, even too fat. In Italy they are skinny.
Victoria and Megan - A love Story3 years prior to buying Megan, I fell off a friend's horse, broke my wrist really badly and lost confidence in riding. It took 3 years before I felt comfortable to start riding again. My husband (Pascal) suggested that I buy a docile, gentle horse. A safe horse suitable for riding alone in the countryside. At the stable where my sister kept her horse, I saw and fell in love with a horse that was for sale. She was a four year old Anglo-Arab mare. She was pregnant. Her name was Dynamite (which might have been an indication of her personality) but I had already fallen in love and there was no turning back. I bought her. She was delivered to my home a few days later with her 4 day old filly. It had taken 5 men to get her on the trailer. They had to lift her in while her filly traipsed back and forth in and out of the truck. The trailer with the horse appeared as my husband was on the roof doing some repairs. He looked to see the "docile, gentle" mare he had thought I bought come shooting out of the trailer, foaming, drenched in sweat and looking rather deranged. It took 2 weeks before I could touch her.
Megan's Filly Megan's TrainingWhen Megan's filly was 4 months old, a local trainer walked her to his home 4 kilometers away. 3 days later I awoke hearing her at the gate. She had found her way home. (I did send her back for basic training).The rest of the training was done by me so I taught her everything she knew. This created a very strong bond between us - and the fact that she lived in my garden! She would come racing up the hill every time I came out of the house. She even recognized my car as I drove home and would be there to meet me. She understood so many of my movements, habits and moods, she was a horse you could never get mad at... well you could but she would remember and get in a bad mood too for the whole ride. She loved her little treats. I always wore a pouch with a zip and as soon as she heard the zip opening she would be waiting for the treat inside. I would say “Vuoi una carotta?” and she would come to a full stop and turn her head around. Finding Megan a HomeI had to find a home for Megan when we knew we were moving to Canada. I didn’t want to sell her because I felt that when you sell a horse you no longer have any right to the horse and I did not want to close that chapter. Also, I felt that if the new owner was not taking care of her as I would want, I had the right to take her back.Luckily a friend of the family close by our home adopted Megan. And now Megan is going to have a new baby. She loved having babies and is a very attentive mom. When I go back I can see and ride her anytime I want. I made them promise that if they could not keep her I would be the one to find her a new home.
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