Anyone speak French?

[Ihatespiders]

This year's summer hol was in Cornwall and DD had a superb time when we found a local riding school that did 2 hour beach and woodland hacks.

Next year we'll be in Brittany near this place www.centre-equestre-les-menhirs.fr/ Could a French-speaker have a look please and consider whether it looks suitable? Google Translate's just not up to it.

Also - what vocab would she need to understand?! She's top set French at school, but I'm asking early so that she can practise :-)

We'd be packing her own hat & body protector, etc. She'll be 13 and has her D+.

Many thanks

Hi I ride in France. The place looks nice and in general RS are better regulated in France than in the UK. They tend to be situated next to lovely off road hacking areas, have well looked after ponies/horses and decent instructors.

Au pas - walk
Trot (pronounced with a soft second t) - Trot
Galop (pronounced with a soft p) - Canter
Aret - Halt

I am not sure how it works with casual riders but your DD may need to take out an annual license which covers insurance and is compulsory for all riders. The club will sort it out for her there and then but it is an extra expense.

What is it you want to d? This place looks as if it provides differentiated rides for all levels from beginners to advanced equitation, from age 4 years upwards.

Thank you both!

Idealy we're after somewhere that she could go on a small group hack, with a canter along a beach or through countryside. She did that here www.reenmanorstables.com/RidesandRates2.html and just adored it. They were really good at assessing the riders and splitting the groups accordingly.

All advice is very welcome, especially about licenses. I wonder what the French is for "Heels down" and "Sit back"?!

No idea sorry but I can ask my instructor on Thursday! :)

They say they are situated near a large area of trails suitable for hacking and take out groups according to ability which can go at a suitable pace. So yes, a ride out with cantering should be possible.

I'm afraid my French is very rusty, so although I'm confident at translating from French, I don't think I can put equitation phrases from English to French!

Looks like a nice place. The site doesn't specifically mention tourist hacks, but they do "stages" which are one off holiday sessions for children during the school holiday periods, which typically in France can be half a day or up to a week. There are no specific details on the site but the French tend to book late so I wouldn't expect to see them until next year. It is not uncommon for riding schools here to just do the stages and not offer tourist hacks.

The hacking is done in the forest and only on the beach for those of the required level (but it doesn't say what level that is).

The club would sort out any tourist licence needed so don't worry about that.

French for heels down is "descendre tes talons", sit back is "en arrière".

She would probably need to tack up and groom herself - the bridle is " le filet" the saddle is "la selle" stirrups are "les étriers".

Let me know if you want anything more.

Thank you SO much FrenchFancy. Stages sounds like what she'll need. She loves grooming & tacking up :-)