I would like to let you know a little about life here at Chambres d’hôtes des Forets. 
My husband and I decided to move to France 10 years ago for a better lifestyle and to be near my parents. Sadly they moved back to the UK, not long after we moved out, for health reasons. However my mother is still a regular visitor at 91 and loves to help with the garden when she is here.
Initially we set up a riding holiday business in the Dordogne but this was, sadly, unsucessful. So here I am in the beautiful Charente near Montbron and not far from Angoulême with just a Bed and Breakfast. and absolutely loving it. I still have 3 horses, one of whom I ride regularly. She is a partbred Spanish is called Chimère. I used her in the riding holiday business where she was regularly ridden by 10 year old children. Now she has to do a little more with me as I not only take her out for long rides but also like to compete with her in TREC competitions (Techniques de Randonnée Equestres en Competition). when I have time. This basically means that I have to show how good we (horse and rider) are at finding our way around the countryside with a map, managing our speed and negotiationg any difficulties that we might encounter en route. 
There are three phases, the POR (see below), Allures (showing how you control your horse’s paces and PTV (negotiating potential difficulties such as a ditch or, a tree trunk). within a set time. It is possible to compete as an individual or as a team of 3/4 or as a team of 2 at higher levels. You need to be a member of the FFE (Féderation Française d’Equitation) and your horse has to be registered in France. This competition also exists in the UK.
The day starts (usually early) with a check that we have all the necessary documents and that we have flourscent safety jackets etc. Then we go to the map room where we copy the route from the mother map to our own copy. Time allowed for this is usually around 20 minutes. As we leave we are given the speed at which we need to travel for the first stage of this phase which is call the POR. It is bascially orienteering on horseback and can be great fun but also very stressful if you get lost, which can happen. The route, which at my level is usually around 12 to 20 kilometers, will have various check points on the way which are unknown to the rider.. The objective is to arrive at each check point at the optimum time for given speed. The speed may or may not change at each check point. There are penalties for arrivng at the check point from the wrong direction and for being too late or too early. If you have the chance whilst reading the map or checking your speed you can also enjoy the countryside. - you have to take care not to miss a turning though!!
More about the next two phases in my next article
If you are interested in coming to stay at Chambres d’Hotes des Forêts and going for a horse ride do not hesitate to contact me and I will put you in touch with a local riding centre.

20 June 2019