From one Sweet Home to another...

…One way to combat misconceptions and prejudice is to learn. The exposure i got during these 12 weeks has certainly fulfilled this need to learn more and open up to other aspects of horse/stockmanship i was unaware of. Working cattle on horseback was a revelation in the concept as well as in the feel it gave me. Throughout these experiences it was obvious that only the serious and the dedicated produce quality in their work. The horse was always serious, the human not always so and this is when accidents happened.  

From a human relation view point, France is a hospitable nation which is an aspect of my culture i like very much. Every morning in a simple fashion, everybody took the time to greet each other, exchanged a short and sincere word and kissed or shook hands before the start of the day. And occasionally, we would gather for the evening aperitif where jokes, stories and laughter would be shared.  The system of a manade allows to meet a lot of different people. People from all walks of lives, abilities, personalities, age, experience, skills and more. Meeting different people often, is in my opinion a necessity to keep improving. i know i will not meet a friend in each and every meeting, will not necessarily agree in ideas either. But i will either learn something new else re-visit my old ways.

Enemies are the best teachers. There have been a few instances during my trip when i met a few. Some became enemies for a split moment after ugly actions they made which shook me up.  Enemies & adverse situations, unlike friends in comfortable settings, teach you patience and tolerance which with more meeting of this type will grow bigger…

 

Bernard Colombet & friends before a branding.

David & n.2

His Holyness the 14th Dalai Lama

Blanco & yellow jacket leading

Well trained!

Jacques Mailhan with Quito & mares

A mareema cow

The Gite in the Camargue at Alain Tartavel's beautiful mas

Marion & Totoc

Stephane & Marc

Fabi

Bastien on Le Gros with Martins & n.2

With Pascal Mailhan

Naomee

A very fit Franck, my cousin, who ran 12kms talking to me all the way!
Well impressed 

I never pay for a meal these days! Great tunes from Simon

the inquisitive cat with the cut tail

A lovely couple called Annie & Daniel

catnapping

Style of fences found all across the Camargue

Course aux As in Sommieres

Wild cat

Limousin cow. Notice the horns have been cut off.

Viaduc of Millau, the impressive 2.5 kms bridge

LA Croix de Camargue

 

Benoit & Blanco

Axle

Lovely Ruby (cannot get this picture upright)

 

Fun, laughter & bull chops on the BBQ that evening.
An evening to remember!

 

Marion on Opium singing in the rain!

 

Le Gros

the winning smile

With a satchel full of experiences and souvenir, on the 13^th of June, it was time to drive back home. My first leg of the journey took me from the Camargue in Arles to Roche in the Limousin via Millau, Rodez, Brive-la-Gaillarde and Limoges. On the second leg, i drove to Orleans, Dreux, Rouan & Calais on the glorious empty & virtually free motorways France has to offer. Crossed over to England at around 3pm on Saturday morning and stopped over to the McDonald carpark for a few hours catnap…Was back home in gloriously green Cambridgeshire at 8 am on Saturday reunited with my own family…

 

See you soon

 

cat

 

 

A reverence to the Spanish bull

Whilst every manade within the Rhone Delta only breed Camargue cattle, Mr Hubert Yonnet was the first ever manadier in the history of the Camargue to breed Spanish cattle. i was kindly invited and honoured to ride with baille Gardian, Olivier, amongst these powerful beasts in the most remote part of the marshland.  The domain is 2,000 hectares and is a heaven for wildlife. We saw carps, an array of waterfowl, flamingos, a vixen fox with her young and the manade’s wild magnificent Spanish bulls. Cattle there are truly left alone.

 

For companion, i rode a 12 years old pony bred at the manade. It was described to me as a good horse, not too fine but just perfect for what we were about to do. We walk through marshland where water reached the girth albeit small horse, girth none the less. This horse was slowing down at nothing. It was sure footed and was on a mission. These horses are truly tuned to the cattle. They look for it!   

 

A true trooper, 12 years old poney from Mr Yonnet's manade.

Olivier on a 4 years old.

Oliver on a 4 years old.
We finally found the herd and calmly walked amongst them.



Spanish bulls are like Camargue cattle, also bred for their ferocity and aggressiveness. They are bred for the corrida which is practised on this side of the Spanish border also.

Cattle amongst sansouire. The sansouire is a palette of graces
which grows in salty marshland.
 

Amongst them, this variety of grass which is as nutritious as luzerne.
Cattle make the most of it when come across.

As soon as these two cows saw us, they swam across to reintegrate the herd
 

A beautiful Spanish cow.

Back at the mas (farm bulding) we unsaddled, jumped into a 4x4 and drove into a herd of 4 years old bulls. We stayed at a distance.

 

4 years old

4-5 years old

Back at the arena, Olivier rode for the first time this saddled 4 years old.
The unsaddled horse was the one i rode earlier. Here in the role of the baby-seater.

This was a truly special invitation. A special thank you to Mr Yionnet, Olivier, his baille Gardian & Jacques Mailhan.

 

Note aside, you have not really experienced the Camargue until you have been devored by mosquitoes and arabies (estival dermites which bites the scalp). Came back fully batptised...

Branding calves & lots of fun!

In a previous post called Black & White i explained one way of branding cattle. Often performed in front of aficionado, it is one way to brand calves and in the same time to bring some revenue to the manade.

As all Camargue (and Spanish) cattle need branding, branding 3 to 4 animals at a time in front of tourists is not how the job gets done. This week-end i was invited to the branding of 50 odd calves as part of the manade management. i was the only tourist there but naturally i gave a hand as a thank you for the invitation. 

Branding allows animals to be identified. By looking at the brand we know which manade animals belong to and by looking at the number or at the letter, we know how old they are. 

Branding Calves

Calves were gathered into a coral and one by one trickled through down chutes and up to a cage. From that point on, one at the time, they will receive a series of ‘treatments’.

From coral to chute

From chute to cage

First of all, they would be tagged on the remaining untagged ear.

The calf is held in place & ear tagged

Secondly they will be branded with a red hot iron with 3 numbers. As they were 1 years old, they would receive a ‘2’ to determine the year they are born into. The ‘2’ indicates the second two of 2012.
Then they would receive two more numbers determining the nth animal born of the year. For example the third born in 2012 will have a massive 203 branded on his left end flank.
I have seen in other manade a different way of administering these three numbers. The year number is located on the rump and the number of the calf on the ribs. Therefore, for the 3^rd born in 2012, the ‘2’ will be on the rump and the ‘3’ on the flank. This way, the ‘0’ is omitted making the exercise quicker not to say less painful for the animal. It was not the followed protocol that day.

two more numbers to go

The '2' indicating the calf is born in 2012 is branded.
On the picture we see that his front leg is out of the cage. The calf was ok.

The exercise continues with a red hot iron showing the manade trade mark. This will be applied on the rump.

Then come off part of the calves ears. Each manade has a distinct way of cutting the ears. The reason they do that is to recognise the animal should the manade brand be covered by mud whilst in the marshes.   
They will then be administered a dose of de-wormer through the mouth and if it is one of this lucky calf, it will be castrated at the end of it all!   

At this stage, the calf has had his ears trimmed, his 3 numbers branded, de-wormed,
his manade brand applied on the rump, seen clearly here.
Finally it is being gelded before being let loose.

Branding foals

The horses are branded in a similar way. In October of the year of birth, foals are gathered. They will be strangled! i have been reassured that they are just lightly strangled. All foals will received the manade trade mark on the left end side of the rump. On the right end rump, female cold will be branded with a letter determining the year of birth and by a number indicating the nth foal of the year of the manade. Male cold will receive the same letter and number on the left end side of the neck. The reason the female are marked on the rump is because traditionally, female were destined to be broodmares only. They would be untamed and therefore not often approachable. Gardians would check and identify them with binoculars from far away in their natural habitat, the marshes. Branding on the rump means their identity would always be visible and never be obstructed by the mane.


Nowadays, more manadiers take the care to manipulate the foals before branding. In a similar spirit, more mares are started under saddle before being used as a broodmares. This means that more foals are tamed before being branded standing up avoiding the considerate touch of being lightly strangled or delivered a karatee punch knock out.

 

The following day we were back at playing Camarguese games.

 

In line, at a stand still ready to go...

...In line, at a canter i am the second on the right on a 14 year old gelding

 

...chasing a cow...



...Second on the left garding bulls...

In this next game, a gardian holds a bunch of flower and we are trying to steal it off him...

Gardians love to be in line, well kind of lined up.
 i am the third from the right.

 

Sixth from left, ready to depart following the gardian on the left at a canter

 

Great day, lots of action, lots of horses, lots of bulls and lots of fun at Jacques & Pasqual Mailham's manade....