Why is Neddy looking all flashy and dressed up on the beach?
Aahh uurrr Well............... Neddy was supposed to be competing again on sunday but it errh didn't turn out to much, just past Avranches Mick put the address in his sat nav (on the new all singing all dancing phone to replace the one Doughnut chewed up) and discovered a second 'La Fleche'.
All my niggles fell into place and the bizarre disjointed conversation I'd had with Mr. Fagnen regarding the competition. Yes, we were headed out to the little village of La Fleche  between Rennes and Laval as directed by the  FFE website map link when the actual La Fleche of the competition was an army base south of Le Mans.
(They really need to sort this out, it's is not the first venue we've found with the wrong map but we spotted the others because we knew where they really were. I think this kind of defeats the point of the handy feature, if you know the venue you don't need the map, huh?)
 So after much preparation the day before, a little organising of Neddy during the week and a 4am start we had to abort. What a great day in bed we could have had.
All was not lost, we diverted off to the beach and had an early morning ride which Mick LOVED, you should have seen his smiling face,( luckily I'd taken Rog to keep Ned company on the trip and help him settle and relax so we had a pony each). The tide was in so Ned braved the swirling grey waters, he nearly fell over watching the waves lap his feet, it was hilarious. Rog had to go in too , despite digging his heels in and abhorring every wet toe moment , being convinced he would be engulfed by tsunami at any moment and dragged under gasping. As soon as I let him get out he scuttled up and the beach and refused to go anywhere in the watery direction again.
 
Yesterday was a good day, we took Turnip and Charlie to the Renarderie and they were both relaxed and well behaved, I have a real soft spot for Charlie.

In the afternoon we went down to Mortain to climb a bit and whilst negotiating the barrier to get to the rocks (fallen trees and clearing work have closed the paths down to the waterfalls) we encountered a dude who tried to recruit us to his climbing club in Mortain. We're not really 'club' members but apparently they have a little inside wall near the fire station and meet on friday evenings so we might pop down to join them one night.He couldn't have been more welcoming or enthusiastic.
 
Today we had another sunday moment and set off xc schooling at Briouze with Charlie and Turnip, Mick ringing first to book a slot.When we arrived they said they had not received a call, turns out we'd made a booking with another local lady who had a school. God knows what xc jumps she was intending us to school over, apparently she doesn't have any, only a manege! God knows where I procured her number from!
Anyhow they were very accommodating and fetched the ponies in so we could use the xc jumps there and then. Charlie went from whoa to go in a single day,and apart from a naughty moment at the ditch ended up jumping 2'6" solid fences. Turnip was a good boy too, bizarrely for such a hyperactive nutcase he has never had any problems with any xc challenges; ditches, water, steps have all been bravely attacked by him. You never can tell.
 
All this Turnip, Charlie activity is due to my taking Turnip with Neddy to his first proper comp this sunday at Brix. He is in no way ready to complete I will only do the dressage and hopefully school round the xc after the event but as Neddy's going I think it's time for his career to start. I'm hopng to take him tired so he settles a bit for the dressage as he can produce a very nice test when the mood takes him.
Charlie just gets dragged around to these schooling days as it's good for him and I'm hoping he will begin to realise that seeing new horses out and about doesn't mean sex and/or new herd members.

(Passepartout or Bambi as I know him will be at Brix in Turnip's class, I am excited to see him but it will be tinged with regret as he has a massive personality and I quite miss him around and about.)
 
I've had ( don't know about Mick or the doggies) three really good enjoyable days in beautiful places, in pleasant sunny weather; days like these I don't mind living with no money in such a basic way, some people would pay a lot to enjoy what I've enjoyed.

But I do hope we get to grips with the correct people and places in time for Brix. It doesn't bode well as I've been eliminated on this course once before for missing a fence, it has a few loops and circles the like of which I've never seen before. Hope we manage to get it together before then!