At 9 sharp, everyone was in the meadow ready to catch, brush and saddle up their horse. At 10 the “caravane” was ready to depart. From La Pastorale at 1500m the route took us through Porté-Puymorens over the hairpins of the old road to the Col de Puymorens at 1915m. Contrary to previous occasions, we caused some gigantic traffic jams! This time we had to stop at a couple of parking areas to allow all the cars and lorries to pass our herd of 73 horses. Once we passed the col, it was a rapid decent, in a trot, some 7 km to L’Hospitalet près l’Andorre and lunch. The horses were left in a small meadow with the snow 50cm deep!
This afternoon was different from normal; a mini-avalanche had blocked the regular route and so we had to take the route nationale for quite some distance. Once we had passed the blockage, we got back onto the small tracks to head for our end point for today just a couple of kilometres from Mérens-les-Vals – where the Mérens horses come from.
Because we had a load of riding on the roads, we got to the evening stop early – nevertheless, it was a tough day.
Sabots Libres
31150 Fenouillet, France
info@sabotslibres.eu
+33 66 00 83 84 1