working at Saint Christophe
31 Augustus 2015 | Frankrijk, Verdun
For my EIO activity I definitely wanted to do something with horses. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to find a job with horses abroad, because I needed to have a place to work, a place to sleep, AND I had to convince the people there to let me work there for a short period. Then I found the website www.paardenstage.nl where horse companies and individual people who could just use some help with their horses could put an message with what they’re looking for. I looked under the word ‘abroad’ and there I only had one suggestion: stud Saint Christophe from Pieter and Savine Priester in France. Let me first tell you a bit about Pieter and Savine and their little company.
About ten years ago, the Priester family lived in the Netherlands. Pieter and Savine worked there in a clinic which offered metal help to people who for example suffered anorexia. Because of shortcuts on care in the Netherlands, Pieter and Savine decided to start their own clinic in France. They would only need a home big enough to run a clinic there, with land big enough to take care of their two horses, which were Friesian horses. Then they found an old convent, built in the year 707, near by a village named Saint Mihiel. This convent was just so beautiful and it had so much land that they fell in love immediately, and they started their future there. But when they got there with their four children things didn’t exactly go according the plan. Very soon they discovered that the Friesian horse is very wanted in France. So they bought another horse, which was a stallion, and started to breed. They did a lot of research and more and more horses came and got sold. By now, ten years, 18 stables, a lot of shows, inspections, an uncountable number of horses and an almost completely renovated convert later, they are pretty much the most known and best Friesian breeders in France. And after a few e-mails back and forth I arrived there to do my EIO activity.
The reasons that I didn’t keep a weblog while I was there are: firstly, I didn’t have an internet connection there, through the thick walls of the convert wifi didn’t really work out. And secondly, even if I would have internet there, I wouldn’t have had time to keep my weblog. Because if there is one thing that I learned during my stay there, it is what it means to work hard. From 8 am to 11 pm everybody there works their asses of for the horses and for the holiday people there who stay at Pieter and Savines 7 tents. Because beside the horses, last year they also started their own ‘BoerenBed’ place.
My first day there was supposed to be a day to recover from my trip (which wasn’t that far). But I was way too excited to sit still so I immediately started to help. But first, I got a guided tour over the whole place, which was huge and just so beautiful! Also they showed me my room. It was better than I could ever have imagined, I felt at home immediately.
I helped feeding the horses and during dinner they told me what my days from that moment on would be like. Our day would start at 8 am. We would start with feeding the horses and the small animals (pigs, rabbits, etc.) and checking if the pregnant mares are okay. When the horses were done eating they would go outside and we would clean all the stables. That would be the same every day until 11 am. At 11 am we would have a small break together. We would discuss what needed to happen the rest of the day, what jobs had to be done, what activities we would have to do with the guests and what horses would have to be trained. Then we would do all of that until 7 pm. At 7 pm we would have dinner. After dinner the only thing left to do with the horses was the feeding. But that didn’t mean that the rest of the evening was free. That was the time for our guests. Sometimes the restaurant was open (yes, they even have a restaurant). That was the case for like 2 times a week and it would take up our whole evening. Also, when the weather was good, there would be a campfire once a week. The rest of the days depended on what the guests wanted.
for the rest I can only say that not one day is the same as another. Everyday there is so busy and full of new things. On the one hand that is really nice because you never get bored. On the other hand it is also very exhausting and for me two weeks was just enough to stay there and I have respect for the other girls there who would stray 5 weeks, 5 months, and one even probably for good.
Now I will try to tell as much as possible about my stay and work there. I don’t remember exactly in what order it all happened, so I will just write a small piece about every event.
To start with, the first day already.
The day that I arrived there I soon discovered that I wasn’t the only one they were waiting for. That day also two new horses would arrive. Two horses of 3 years old which didn’t know anything yet. It’s a shame that I were there for only two weeks, because I would love to have seen them develop further and further. But I these two weeks I already learnt a lot about educating horses. It was dark already when the trailer arrived. It drove to the stables and we all followed it. Pieter opened it and there they were. They were so beautiful and I still think that after Tabe (which I will tell more about later) they were the most beautiful horses of the stable.
They weren’t used to standing I a trailer so they were very stressed. Pieter asked me to help them get out, which didn’t go very easy. We really had to watch ourselves because they weren’t very nice to us. But in the end we got them out en leaded them to their stables.
We let them there for a few days so that they could get used to their new home. Soon we learned that they were actually very sweet, and it wouldn’t be very hard to train them, because they were very willing to learn. First we learnt them to trust us and accept us into their personal space. That didn’t take very long and soon we could easily take them out and do things with them like washing and brushing. After one and a half week the oldest son of Pieter and Savine came home and he would start training them under the saddle. It was very impressive to see how he did that and how fast this young horses learnt the basic things. I looked a bit brutal at first because he wasn’t very gentle with them. But he explained that he could better be a bit rough because when this horses were ready, maybe small children would ride them and things like that and children aren’t gentle either. The horses would then be used to it and it wouldn’t be a problem.
After two days one of the other girls who worked there would try to ride one of the horses. It didn’t really go according to the plan and she fell off. But she didn’t give up and I think it goes much better now. But I can’t know for sure, because I’m not there anymore.
Now I will tell about the time with the guests. The second day I was there the first group arrived. There are 7 tents and they were all occupied with families. So there were like 30 to 35 people. As a welcome the restaurant was open. It wasn’t completely like a normal restaurant. Everyone had to be there at 7 pm. They would all get something to drink and then the starters would come. A good friend of Savine cooks very well and she always prepares the meals. As a starter she usually makes soup. That for the main course she makes quiches and salads of all different flavors and the guests can serve themselves. Then the dessert is always something different, but always nice.
Because in this week all of the guests were Dutch, it was very easy for us to get along with them and keep them busy and entertained. Although I have to say that with the hospitality of the Priester family and the amazing surroundings this can never be very hard.
During the week we had the campfire. We gave horse riding lessons to the children, took the children for walks with the donkeys and ponies. Also there was a mother who rode horses herself and we took her for a trip in the woods.
When the guests left, Nienke and I offered to clean the tents and get them ready for the next load. We thought that we would be done in like three hours, but it took us 8! And that while it was 30 degrees outside! I’m never going to make a bed again.
Another thing I helped with, which was also something that we showed to the guests, was the jumping of Tabe and the other stallion (I don’t remember his name at the moment). And with jumping we don’t mean jumping over obstacles, but catching the sperm and inseminating the mares.
Tabe is pretty young so with him it was very impressive and also a bit dangerous. but now he does it more and more and he is pretty calm now. It was something that I had never seen before and it was a bit weird at first, but it became normal very quick and in the end we didn’t even need Pieters help anymore, but he would never let us do it alone. Because with horses you never know what they are going to do.
After inseminating the mares they of course get pregnant. A lot of people bring their mares to St. Christophe to get them pregnant there. But the Priester family also inseminates their own mares. And this year they had 6 pregnant mares of which two gave birth during my stay there. Both the births were very interesting because they both didn’t go completely the way they should.
The first one was born at a morning before we fed the horses. When we found him he was at most an hour old. What was funny, is that we at first thought that the foal was a mare, but hours and hours later, when we finally got it outside, we suddenly found out that it was a little stallion! and that while it already had a girl’s name. So we would have to change that!
The foal was very cute and totally not afraid of humans. The mother, on the other hand, was very aggressive towards us and we really couldn’t come close to both of them. But when the foal would get older and the mother less protective, that was going to be okay.
The other foal was born a few days later. Also a stallion. His mom, luckily, was not aggressive at all. If she would have been we would have had a big problem because from the birth on right away there was all kind of trouble with the foal. First it couldn’t get up, so we had to help him. The first thing a foal needs when it is born is milk. But because he couldn’t get up it took very long for him to get it. we had to help him. Then we found out that his blood was poisoned. Probably when the navel cord was cut. So he became weaker and weaker. But with a lot of help of everyone and a huge patience of the mother we became better. Unfortunately the blood poisoning had caused his legs to swell up and because of that walking and standing up became difficult for him again. His skin even snapped and he had huge wounds on his legs. When I went back to Holland he was getting better, but I now wonder if he made it. you never know with babies.
A big day at Saint Christophe was the examination by the ‘Barok-Pinto stamboek’. The stallions Tabe and Boris, and two young mares participated. The weather was beautiful, everybody was dressed nicely and al four the horses passed. Which meant that Tabe and Boris were now officially approved stud horses! They are now worth way more than before and Piester and Savine can now get further in the breeding of their horses.
The last thing I want to tell is about the riding. Because I was there for such a short time I didn’t really get the chance to train seriously. When you work there for a longer period you get a horse which you will have to train and keep moving. But now I couldn’t really do that. Now when there was time left beside all the things we had to do. We went on a trip on the horses. I could ride a horse which was actually meant for the guests. But that didn’t matter to me. Also I had a little trip on my own after preparing the restaurant one day. It gives such a special feeling to ride there on your own. It’s so peaceful and the environment there is so beautiful! When it comes to outside trips I had the time of my life there. And I really would want to come back there with my own horse later.
Oh yeah. I also want to tell that when I went to do the groceries with another girl, my wallet was stolen… the thief brought it back to the store but took the 200 euro’s that were inside. Thanks man! :)
Now to conclude. I think that in this short essay I haven’t been able to express how my time was there. It has been so hectic, busy, emotional, beautiful and everything. I have never worked so hard and I have never had so much respect for the work of other. Because what Pieter and Savine have accomplished and are going to accomplish is just unbelievable. And I think that you can only understand that when you see the pace yourself and meet them yourself.
I recommend to all the horse fanatics who still have to do their EIO activity to go to Saint Christophe. It was just amazing.
About ten years ago, the Priester family lived in the Netherlands. Pieter and Savine worked there in a clinic which offered metal help to people who for example suffered anorexia. Because of shortcuts on care in the Netherlands, Pieter and Savine decided to start their own clinic in France. They would only need a home big enough to run a clinic there, with land big enough to take care of their two horses, which were Friesian horses. Then they found an old convent, built in the year 707, near by a village named Saint Mihiel. This convent was just so beautiful and it had so much land that they fell in love immediately, and they started their future there. But when they got there with their four children things didn’t exactly go according the plan. Very soon they discovered that the Friesian horse is very wanted in France. So they bought another horse, which was a stallion, and started to breed. They did a lot of research and more and more horses came and got sold. By now, ten years, 18 stables, a lot of shows, inspections, an uncountable number of horses and an almost completely renovated convert later, they are pretty much the most known and best Friesian breeders in France. And after a few e-mails back and forth I arrived there to do my EIO activity.
The reasons that I didn’t keep a weblog while I was there are: firstly, I didn’t have an internet connection there, through the thick walls of the convert wifi didn’t really work out. And secondly, even if I would have internet there, I wouldn’t have had time to keep my weblog. Because if there is one thing that I learned during my stay there, it is what it means to work hard. From 8 am to 11 pm everybody there works their asses of for the horses and for the holiday people there who stay at Pieter and Savines 7 tents. Because beside the horses, last year they also started their own ‘BoerenBed’ place.
My first day there was supposed to be a day to recover from my trip (which wasn’t that far). But I was way too excited to sit still so I immediately started to help. But first, I got a guided tour over the whole place, which was huge and just so beautiful! Also they showed me my room. It was better than I could ever have imagined, I felt at home immediately.
I helped feeding the horses and during dinner they told me what my days from that moment on would be like. Our day would start at 8 am. We would start with feeding the horses and the small animals (pigs, rabbits, etc.) and checking if the pregnant mares are okay. When the horses were done eating they would go outside and we would clean all the stables. That would be the same every day until 11 am. At 11 am we would have a small break together. We would discuss what needed to happen the rest of the day, what jobs had to be done, what activities we would have to do with the guests and what horses would have to be trained. Then we would do all of that until 7 pm. At 7 pm we would have dinner. After dinner the only thing left to do with the horses was the feeding. But that didn’t mean that the rest of the evening was free. That was the time for our guests. Sometimes the restaurant was open (yes, they even have a restaurant). That was the case for like 2 times a week and it would take up our whole evening. Also, when the weather was good, there would be a campfire once a week. The rest of the days depended on what the guests wanted.
for the rest I can only say that not one day is the same as another. Everyday there is so busy and full of new things. On the one hand that is really nice because you never get bored. On the other hand it is also very exhausting and for me two weeks was just enough to stay there and I have respect for the other girls there who would stray 5 weeks, 5 months, and one even probably for good.
Now I will try to tell as much as possible about my stay and work there. I don’t remember exactly in what order it all happened, so I will just write a small piece about every event.
To start with, the first day already.
The day that I arrived there I soon discovered that I wasn’t the only one they were waiting for. That day also two new horses would arrive. Two horses of 3 years old which didn’t know anything yet. It’s a shame that I were there for only two weeks, because I would love to have seen them develop further and further. But I these two weeks I already learnt a lot about educating horses. It was dark already when the trailer arrived. It drove to the stables and we all followed it. Pieter opened it and there they were. They were so beautiful and I still think that after Tabe (which I will tell more about later) they were the most beautiful horses of the stable.
They weren’t used to standing I a trailer so they were very stressed. Pieter asked me to help them get out, which didn’t go very easy. We really had to watch ourselves because they weren’t very nice to us. But in the end we got them out en leaded them to their stables.
We let them there for a few days so that they could get used to their new home. Soon we learned that they were actually very sweet, and it wouldn’t be very hard to train them, because they were very willing to learn. First we learnt them to trust us and accept us into their personal space. That didn’t take very long and soon we could easily take them out and do things with them like washing and brushing. After one and a half week the oldest son of Pieter and Savine came home and he would start training them under the saddle. It was very impressive to see how he did that and how fast this young horses learnt the basic things. I looked a bit brutal at first because he wasn’t very gentle with them. But he explained that he could better be a bit rough because when this horses were ready, maybe small children would ride them and things like that and children aren’t gentle either. The horses would then be used to it and it wouldn’t be a problem.
After two days one of the other girls who worked there would try to ride one of the horses. It didn’t really go according to the plan and she fell off. But she didn’t give up and I think it goes much better now. But I can’t know for sure, because I’m not there anymore.
Now I will tell about the time with the guests. The second day I was there the first group arrived. There are 7 tents and they were all occupied with families. So there were like 30 to 35 people. As a welcome the restaurant was open. It wasn’t completely like a normal restaurant. Everyone had to be there at 7 pm. They would all get something to drink and then the starters would come. A good friend of Savine cooks very well and she always prepares the meals. As a starter she usually makes soup. That for the main course she makes quiches and salads of all different flavors and the guests can serve themselves. Then the dessert is always something different, but always nice.
Because in this week all of the guests were Dutch, it was very easy for us to get along with them and keep them busy and entertained. Although I have to say that with the hospitality of the Priester family and the amazing surroundings this can never be very hard.
During the week we had the campfire. We gave horse riding lessons to the children, took the children for walks with the donkeys and ponies. Also there was a mother who rode horses herself and we took her for a trip in the woods.
When the guests left, Nienke and I offered to clean the tents and get them ready for the next load. We thought that we would be done in like three hours, but it took us 8! And that while it was 30 degrees outside! I’m never going to make a bed again.
Another thing I helped with, which was also something that we showed to the guests, was the jumping of Tabe and the other stallion (I don’t remember his name at the moment). And with jumping we don’t mean jumping over obstacles, but catching the sperm and inseminating the mares.
Tabe is pretty young so with him it was very impressive and also a bit dangerous. but now he does it more and more and he is pretty calm now. It was something that I had never seen before and it was a bit weird at first, but it became normal very quick and in the end we didn’t even need Pieters help anymore, but he would never let us do it alone. Because with horses you never know what they are going to do.
After inseminating the mares they of course get pregnant. A lot of people bring their mares to St. Christophe to get them pregnant there. But the Priester family also inseminates their own mares. And this year they had 6 pregnant mares of which two gave birth during my stay there. Both the births were very interesting because they both didn’t go completely the way they should.
The first one was born at a morning before we fed the horses. When we found him he was at most an hour old. What was funny, is that we at first thought that the foal was a mare, but hours and hours later, when we finally got it outside, we suddenly found out that it was a little stallion! and that while it already had a girl’s name. So we would have to change that!
The foal was very cute and totally not afraid of humans. The mother, on the other hand, was very aggressive towards us and we really couldn’t come close to both of them. But when the foal would get older and the mother less protective, that was going to be okay.
The other foal was born a few days later. Also a stallion. His mom, luckily, was not aggressive at all. If she would have been we would have had a big problem because from the birth on right away there was all kind of trouble with the foal. First it couldn’t get up, so we had to help him. The first thing a foal needs when it is born is milk. But because he couldn’t get up it took very long for him to get it. we had to help him. Then we found out that his blood was poisoned. Probably when the navel cord was cut. So he became weaker and weaker. But with a lot of help of everyone and a huge patience of the mother we became better. Unfortunately the blood poisoning had caused his legs to swell up and because of that walking and standing up became difficult for him again. His skin even snapped and he had huge wounds on his legs. When I went back to Holland he was getting better, but I now wonder if he made it. you never know with babies.
A big day at Saint Christophe was the examination by the ‘Barok-Pinto stamboek’. The stallions Tabe and Boris, and two young mares participated. The weather was beautiful, everybody was dressed nicely and al four the horses passed. Which meant that Tabe and Boris were now officially approved stud horses! They are now worth way more than before and Piester and Savine can now get further in the breeding of their horses.
The last thing I want to tell is about the riding. Because I was there for such a short time I didn’t really get the chance to train seriously. When you work there for a longer period you get a horse which you will have to train and keep moving. But now I couldn’t really do that. Now when there was time left beside all the things we had to do. We went on a trip on the horses. I could ride a horse which was actually meant for the guests. But that didn’t matter to me. Also I had a little trip on my own after preparing the restaurant one day. It gives such a special feeling to ride there on your own. It’s so peaceful and the environment there is so beautiful! When it comes to outside trips I had the time of my life there. And I really would want to come back there with my own horse later.
Oh yeah. I also want to tell that when I went to do the groceries with another girl, my wallet was stolen… the thief brought it back to the store but took the 200 euro’s that were inside. Thanks man! :)
Now to conclude. I think that in this short essay I haven’t been able to express how my time was there. It has been so hectic, busy, emotional, beautiful and everything. I have never worked so hard and I have never had so much respect for the work of other. Because what Pieter and Savine have accomplished and are going to accomplish is just unbelievable. And I think that you can only understand that when you see the pace yourself and meet them yourself.
I recommend to all the horse fanatics who still have to do their EIO activity to go to Saint Christophe. It was just amazing.
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