Equiery World Travelers, continued... The French Riding Vacation
By Lisa Trovillion (Cooksville) An eventer, a hunter/jumper, and a dressage rider walk into a bar in
France. T is may sound like the beginning of a joke, but it’s really the start of an incred- ible adventure! T is past August, I met two friends on an Equitrekking tour of the Loire Valley in France. T e tour package comprised fi ve days of riding, visits to cas- tles, accommodations in historic chateaux, gourmet dinners and wine tastings. Horses, history, and wine… who could resist? Perhaps like others considering a horse-
back touring vacation, however, I had some trepidation. Would the horses be deadheads? Or worse, crazy? Would I be up for riding four or fi ve hours a day? So here is my fi rst bit of advice: make sure the description of the tour meets your riding comfort and fi tness level. I confess, I was the most timid of our group of ten rid- ers, so when a canter rolled into a hand-gallop through the Boulogne Forest in Chambord, my comfort zone was tested. However, a foxhunter would think nothing of it! Overall, the horses were excellent: energetic, safe and level-headed. Another bit of advice: riding tours are not
regime called the French Cavalry Diet? Lastly, you must be committed to the adven-
ture. After all, once you swing your leg over the saddle, there’s no turning back! A hot day or raining, we rode. But the discoveries awaiting
banks or pony trekking on Connemara ponies near Galway. But this August, Kylie Sheehan and her mom Liz Sheehan joined me to travel to Ire- land for polo! T e occasion was the International Ladies Polo Tournament, played at the All-Ire- land Polo Club at Phoenix Park, Dublin on August 18. T e event serves as a fundraiser for the Irish In- jured Jockey’s Fund. Kylie and I paired up
Connie McRill, Connie Bison and Lisa Trovillion at Chambord in France
vacations in the classic sense of the word. If you are looking for relaxation, book a cruise instead. We were up by 8 a.m. for breakfast and on the horses by 9 a.m. Each day we rode several hours to our fi rst destination, lunched and toured, then were mounted again for the next leg of the trip. We often did not arrive back to our rooms much before 7 p.m., and had to dress for dinner at 8 p.m. It was rigorous, but fun. De- spite eating gourmet food, chocolate croissants every morning, swilling lots of French wine, I lost weight. Perhaps I should invent a new diet
each day made everything… the sore muscles and bug bites… worthwhile. T e last day was magical as we rode through the old town of Amboise to a special arrival at the famous Chateau d’Amboise, once home to the King of France. We approached by crossing over a moat and riding through the medieval Lion’s Gate, an iron grill opened just for us so we could ride in on horseback. How else should one arrive at a castle? T at evening we had a multi-course meal in a 15th century dining room, treated to some very unusual dishes. Our adventures were not all on horseback!
Polo in Ireland
by Cindy Halle When most horse people in Maryland think
of traveling to Ireland, they think of fox hunting over the challenging (read, insane) ditches and
with two Irish lady play- ers to fi eld the team for the USA playing against an all-Ireland squad, and Liz served as our cheering squad from the sidelines. We came up short on the 5-3 score but played well on the borrowed horses and made some new
friends in our teammates. Kylie, a former Gar- rison Forrest School and University of Virginia polo standout, as well as National Champion, is now making her living training, teaching and playing polo in Aiken, SC. I was lucky enough to coach Kylie during her high school polo ca- reer and really enjoy getting to be her teammate on the fi eld in Ireland. Liz is an avid foxhunter with Green Spring Valley Hounds. I played in this same tournament in 2017, but just fl ew in and out for the game and vowed that this year I was going to spend some time traveling around this magical island and see some sights. Liz and Kylie were up for it all! We fl ew into Shannon, arriving on Tuesday, August 14, after being delayed by 12 or so hours due to the plane having a radio problem. Undeterred by our delay, we just changed a few of our plans. We stayed the fi rst night in Adare continued...
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