Chasse

The horses were edgy this morning when we brought them in.
After a few minutes I realised why! The Chasse (hunting) season has begun.
I hate the chasse, I hate what they do and although the chasse in our area have been courteous and mindful of our horses, I always have that feeling of unease and threat when they are around. I know this is France and I know it's what they do. I don't intend to try and stop them doing it (would be futile)and I'm not getting on my soapbox, I just wish they would go and do it somewhere where I can't see or hear them!! (a bit nimby, I know) To be fair, they only use the land immediately surrounding us once every 5 or 6 weeks, so I know I'm better off than a lot of people I know.
Last year on one occasion they got very close to our top field and the sound of the dogs and guns was very loud. Our horses were in there so I went through the field to the boundary man ( the one who tries to stop the dogs going haywire and running on to our land!!), not to complain (I'm always polite :-)), but just to remind him that the horses were there and they would be afraid. I had just started speaking to him at the fence when I felt a nudge on my shoulder followed by a head coming over my shoulder. It was Bonbon, closely followed by the others, they'd also come over to chat to the nice man!! How could I possibly tell him they were afraid!

Anyway it put paid to our plans for riding so I lunged Anky followed by a massage.
We took Remy up to the school again to continue from yesterdays lungeing session.
The noise of the chasse was very distant now, but of course, Remy could still hear it and he was very distracted. What I like about him though is that he doesn't panic or throw himself about (perhaps he just can't be bothered). He stopped several times obviously listening to the chasse in the distance, but then when I asked him to pay attention, he calmly resumed his work. Not as consistant as yesterday, but I was pleased with the way he behaved.