Transylvanian horseman

Luke's excursions into the big, wide world

Luke has started to go out on short rides. Here, Sarah is about to take out Luciana with Luke accompanying. We're trying to take Luciana and Luke out for an hour each day. Luciana has got quite out of condition, and has a noticeable hay belly, so this new regime of rides in the woods (including plenty of walking uphill) will do her some good. As for Luke, he's seeing lots of new things, including horse carts, cars, trains and men working with chainsaws. He is responding calmly, and now prefers to walk or trot ahead of Luciana, facing new experiences with curiosity.

The wooden horse of Botos

Danielle and I were driving around a little way to the east of here, in the Bucovina, when we spotted a farm with an unusual and imaginative gateway. The owner of "Ferma Botos" has decorated the entrance to his mountainside farm with carved wooden animals, including a horse, bull, cow and pig. I've posted a photo of the carved horse. Danielle took the photo, and I appear mainly to give scale. I'm a bit browner now, though not quite as brown as the carved horse. Wood carving is a great tradition in northern Romania, everything from a hand-made wooden spoon (many shepherds still use these) to a large gate as much as 3-4m high and 4-6m wide (which is a fabulous status symbol for the householder). It's a pleasure to see these skills applied in new and interesting ways, especially where passers-by get to enjoy the result.

Luke's first headcollar

I've a few days at home, as Diane is taking out this week's ride. There is, of course, a great volume of work to do. Everything from replying to emails to carpentry work on the house, shoeing the horses to repairing fences. Still, I did find time to put a headcollar on Luke for the first time, and start training him, helped by our new intern Sarah. He is a quiet, friendly foal who likes to be around people. So the headcollar went on easily when we took Luke and his mother Luciana into a loose box in the stable. Soon we were leading a fairly happy Luke around the round pen after Luciana. There was a bit of a struggle to begin with, however he's learning to move to pressure. Luke even proved willing to allow each of his four feet to be lifted and handled. He is doing very well indeed, and I am very proud of him. It's so exciting working with this baby horse, and finding that is friendly and willing to co-operate. I've posted a picture of Luke taken afterwards, when Luciana was in the forge (in the background) and a bold Luke was standing on the weighbridge surveying all around him. One can just about make out the darker coat that is beginning to appear around his muzzle and eyes as he moults out his baby fur.

The Caliman caldera

The rim of the caldera, an ancient collapsed volcano, makes an impressive spectacle. Jagged rocks, some as high as apartment blocks, stand above the forests and mountainsides. The largest group, in the midst of the photo, are known locally as the "Twelve Apostles". The caldera sweeps away to the left, marked by more rocky monoliths, and is five miles or so across. The landscape is green and wooded simply because the caldera is so old - some three million years, according to geologists. Whilst we sat on a viewpoint, a low plinth of volcanic rock, our horses grazed rather haphazardly on sparse grass and blueberry bushes fifty feet below us. It was quite odd to look down on them nearly vertically from our vertiginous vantage point. They, meanwhile, ignored us as they scavenged for forage on the dry ridgetop.

The real Borgo Pass

We live by the "Borgo Pass", made famous by Bram Stoker in his novel "Dracula". The pass really exists, although not quite in the form envisaged by Hollywood producers and Gothic fans. The real scenery is somewhat gentler than the fictional land of beetling crags and abrupt precipices. Last week I made it up to the western rim of the Caliman caldera, one of the highest points in the region, from where I gazed down on the Borgo pass. There it is, in the centre of the shot, just below the horizon. There is a sea of small hills, of volcanic origin, around which the road skirts whilst crossing from Transylvania into the Bucovina and Moldavia. It is a beautiful landscape, varied and interesting, far from the sinister land that some imagine to be the home of Count Dracula. However, he is a fictional character. (Perhaps fortunately. Otherwise my jests with visitors to Hotel Castle Dracula that they will "sleep the sleep of the undead" might have a hollow ring.) Blatant artistic license is, however, balanced by the benefits to the local tourist industry. But that is far away from my vantage point up on a wild ridge, mountains wonderfully arrayed all around, the forest carpet verdand. I might have been looking west across a nearly empty land, seeing a view that my predecessors saw centuries ago. Recently, the national park management told me that more people reach the top of Everest each year than hike up to this particular viewpoint. Looking at the lack of footprints and litter, the paths overgrown almost to the point of impassability, I can quite believe it.

Olga inverted

I just couldn't resist posting this photo of Olga enjoying an energetic roll after we arrrived at an overnight stop last Friday. The horses all got to spend the weekend on this rather nice meadow.

Crossing the Suhard massif

On our way back from the east, we crossed the Suhard ridge. This long ridge rises to over 7,000 feet (1,932 metres, to be precise), and forms a natural divide between our own Bargau (or Borgo) mountains, and the Bucovina ridges beyond. It is a sharp ridge of metamorphic rocks such as schists, full of veins of quartz, and a quiet and scenic place to ride. Back in the late 1700's, the valley beyond formed part of the border between the Austrian Empire and Czarist Russia. As a result, these mountains have a network of trackways that were made originally for marching soldiers and moving artillery. Now grassy and silent, they make useful riding routes. I've posted a photo of two of my group descending an old trackway, with the 7,000 foot Omul peak towevering over 3,000 feet above. This peak is high enough to have its own alpine ecosystem, with dwarf pines, dwarf rhododendron, and blueberry bushes.

On the north side of Omul, we passed a flock of sheep and goats passing through with their shepherds, hemmed in by impenetrable dwarf pine forest. These flocks move about the mountains, seeking grazing all around their allotted ranges. Each village has a section of the massif, where it sends flocks from May to September.

The most distant mountains on the skyline behind us and the sheep are in the Ukraine, the neighbouring country and formerly part of the Soviet Union. Now Romania is part of the European Union and the Ukraine remains a Slavic nation under Russian influence. So Romania is still, in a sense, a border nation on the fringes of two empires.

Back after two weeks

I've been away on a two week trail ride, returning on Friday evening after a few hundred miles in the saddle. One of the highlights was a visit to Lucina stud, home of the oldest herd of Huzul horses in the world. The stud is said to have been breeding continuously since the 1400's, if not before, and the herd contains a remarkably long genetic record of the domestication of the horse. (Results of testing by Cambridge University are eagerly awaited, and are likely to contain data that will send geneticists flooding to Lucina.) At the moment, there are 430 horses at Lucina, roaming across thousands of acres of alpine grassland, though stabled at night to protect the foals from wolves and bears.

Huzul horses are found throughout the Carpathian mountains, since the breed was promoted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire pre-1918. As well as being used by farmers and foresters, many were used as pack horses and to haul mountain artillery by the Austro-Hungarian army. The Romanian army retired its last pack horses in the past year or so. The name of the breed is variously spelt as "Huzul", "Hutul" and "Hucul", and each spelling seems to pull up different sites in a Google search. The Romanian Huzuls, although the most representative of the breed, show up very little on the internet.

I've posted a photo showing some of our group riding through the stud. Amazingly, one can just ride in and see the herds of mares and foals. When we rode down to the stud buildings, we were allowed to tie up our horses in a barn whilst we visited the stallion barn and saw the dozen or so stud stallions.

Horses free on the high pastures

Our rides pass through some high pastures where local people send their horses for the summer. A herdsman or shepherd keeps an eye on them, but otherwise they wander at will. I've posted some photos of the happy, curious free spirits that we encountered during the past week. 

Riding gear for the mountains

Riding in the mountains in some decidly changeable weather, I had the idea of writing a post about the gear that I am using. This can be quite a challenging environment, and I need gear that performs well in order to stay warm, dry and safe.

I have tried out a variety of waterproof gear, and have returned to using a traditional full length waxed stockman's coat. This I have found to be the best coat to keep out wind and rain, as well as keeping my saddle and saddlebags dry. For some years I used a Backhouse coat. When that wore out, I bought a Drizabone coat, direct from Australia over the internet as there are no retailers here in Transylvania. The supplier www.bestofdownunder.com was a pleasure to deal with, giving good prices and a fast, accurate service. As well as the coat, I bought a hood for the coat (mainly for when I am not riding), a Backhouse waxed bush hat, and waterproof waxed chaps (which are useful in very heavy rain). I didn't have any particular reason to favour Drizabone over Backhouse, except that the former made a black coat (which was what I wanted) and the latter didn't. The past week has turned up some spells of very heavy rain, during which I stayed warm and dry - unlike some clients who turned up with cheaper, inferior products - which left me decidedly impressed with the gear that I have been using.

I did try out a Goretex rain suit recently. Goretex is great for hiking, however the pressure generated by sitting in the saddle forced water through the material. Meanwhile, the rain suit channelled water onto the saddle, which became sodden. I don't much like riding with a wet bottom, so that experiment quickly ended.

Boots are the next most important clothing item, not least because sometimes I need to lead my horse over difficult terrain. I've used a variety of boots, including US Army desert issue boots (which are great in hot summer weather, but not entirely waterproof) and British Army boots (which, for some reason, I didn't find especially comfortable to walk in). Now I have settled on Chippewa hiking boots from the US, which I have found comfortable both to ride and walk in, and waterproof. I like to oil them with neatsfoot oil every week before setting out, and this seems to keep them supple and waterproof. These boots are not cheap (the Apache retails at nearly $250), however they are well worth the price .

I've taken to riding with spurs too: short, rounded brass spurs that give more precise control as well as more control in a difficult situation. It's good to be able to touch my horse gently rather than having to kick him on. I don't agree with the use of sharp spurs, however these short, blunt spurs seem perfectly humane to me.

I have long favoured leather full chaps for the protection that they offer. In part, I have been influenced by the sight of a leg opened up to the bone on barbed wire, however full chaps protect against all sorts of knocks and scrapes. They also make one stick better in the saddle, and the lower parts keep the rain off the legs below a stockman's coat. I've used a variety of full chaps, often suede that I have waterproofed with neatsfoot oil, however none has lasted especially long thanks to the apparent inability of the zip industry to make a good quality long brass zip. It's always broken zips that cause my full chaps to be ditched. I did sew up a favourite pair to replace the zips, however they are a nuisance to take on and off, as I have to remove my boots.

It's not easy to find a good hat. I like to wear a favourite black cowboy hat, which replaced a twelve year-old Australian bush hat that finally wore out. However it doesn't keep the rain out, so I've been using a Backhouse waxed hat in bad weather. That's a good solution, except that a broad brimmed hat gets caught by the wind. It can be very windy on the mountain ridges, in which case a thermal hiker's hat is handy. I keep one of these hats, and a pair of fleece gloves, in my saddlebags.

Apart from that, I ride in ordinary jodhpurs and hiker's fleece sweaters. Up in the mountains, several layers of fleece are ideal for keeping warm. I've been out in temperatures down to -20C in winter, and I've seen the temperature fall below zero with windchill even in September. Usually it's far warmer than that in summer (I get through plenty of sunblock in summer), however one needs to be prepared for all eventualities.

For the depths of winter, I have a pair of Alaskan insulated boots that keep my feet warm even in -30C. They are great for winter riding, even if one does have to use larger than usual stirrups. I use thermal underwear from the local mountaineering store in cold weather, and that too makes for comfortable winter riding.

My saddle is a Keith Bryan Pathfinder, modified by the addition of a carrying plate at the rear. That carries a pair of leather saddlebags made to my design here in Transylvania, by the Pony company at Medias. One criticism of leather bags is that they can leak, however these bags are well covered by my stockman's coat. In these bags, I carry a first aid kit for horses and people (including a stable bandage in case of lameness caused by a sprain), tools to tighten or remove shoes, a stout knife, a very useful Leatherman tool, spare hat and gloves, and my lunch. I use a rubber girth sleeve all the time, as this is easy to clean and soft on the horse's skin. All my client horses use these rubber sleeves, which minimise the risk of girth galls forming because of an imbalanced rider.

On the front of the saddle, I use a Snug Pax pommel pack www.snugpax.com, English Deluxe model, with a pocket and water bottle holder on each side, and a camera pouch on top. This takes a pair of aluminium water bottles as well as having space for my mobile phone, camera and other oddments. This useful bag has a strap over the top that holds the middle of my rolled-up stockman's coat, and a strap on each side that fits under the girth to keep the sides from flapping at speed and also holds down the ends of my coat. It's altogether a good bag to have on my saddle.

A couple of years ago, I started to use Western split reins. They are long enough to lead a horse with, at a distance of a metre or two if we are both slipping around on a muddy slope. The ends make useful alternatives to a whip too. If I need to stop and let Pintea graze, I use the top strap of the pommel bag to hold the reins, which don't slip since they are fairly rough leather. Adjusted right, he can reach the grass without loops of reins that he might stand on. I wouldn't go back to an English bridle after riding with a Western bridle and reins. Admittedly, Pintea doesn't need a noseband to keep his mouth closed. (Do horses in the Western US need nosebands? Or does the more relaxed riding style and loose reins result in less evasion from the horse?) I rode my old horse Marcu with a tie-down at the beginning of the season, attached to the curb strap of his Western jointed curb bit, since he had learnt the habit of evading the bit with his previous owner. (It was a simple curb with short shanks, without ports or any other gadgets.) Now I ride using a simple jointed snaffle bit, which is the type that all my horses use. I always ride with a headcollar under the bridle for tying up.

I use a breastplate and crupper all the time. On the steep terrain around here, I appreciate the added security of not having my saddle slip forward or back. My trail horses are all equipped with breastcollars and cruppers, and the Huzuls in particular (which don't have pronounced shoulders) really need the cruppers. Ten of my trail horses use Zilco endurance tack (each horse having a different colour). I used to use running martingales too, however it seems more useful to be able to use an open rein whenever required than preventing a horse occasionally from raising its head excessively.

All my shod horses are fitted with Natural Balance shoes, which have had borium added by arc welding. Not only are the shoes less likely to slip on a smooth road, they last appreciably longer. I add the borium around the complete circumference, on both sides of the nail holes, which calls for careful welding. That way, the nail heads wear down more slowly, leading to less shoes being lost prematurely. In winter, we use screw-in tungsten studs that are additionally (and permanently) secured by arc welding. Without the welding, we lost studs with monotonous regularity. The inside branch of each show is fitted with a plain steel stud to minimise the severity of any brushing injuries.