Today is yet another bank holiday in France. I decided to start removing the electric fence tape from Horse Field, as it won’t be needed until next year. We haven’t had a single paying guest since its construction. Although LSS visited the Equestrian Centre in Lamotte-Beuvron before the season started, to put our paddock on the “available” list, they obviously decided not to include our details in their records because LSS didn’t look “horsey” enough.
So for those equestrian competitors who were told the closest available paddocks were near Orleans (some 50 km away), you were misled. Sorry about that, but we did our best. Fortunately our next-door neighbour (with the Gite) has had a couple of enquiries regarding stabling, so next year our paddock should see some use.
Once the fence tape has been removed, I should be able to take the tractor along the fenceline to cut back some of the rapidly-growing brambles. Due to the recent windy conditions, a tree has fallen over near the fence, so I will also need to get busy with the chainsaw. I have not yet had to cut down any healthy trees for firewood; our entire stock of logs has all been from windfalls!
We received some insect repellent lotion in the post yesterday, so I gave it a try this morning. It’s composed of 50% DEET. Now I don’t know whether it is exceedingly effective, or whether all the horseflies in the area have just drowned, but I wasn’t bitten once.