Survival in Ede

After participating in survival runs for fun the last few years and completing her role as chairlady of her club Slopend Dorien decided to join competitive runs this season. Since the early summer she focussed her training on improving her running speed. This paid off at the first race of the season with a third place.

Dorien's second race was in Ede, and we joined to support her. It was a very rainy day, but luckily not too cold. Dorien started with the first ladies group for a 8 km run, interspersed with 37 obstacles. As you can cycle along the route we could follow her closely. We again realised how though this sport is, and that many elements of Paula and Dorien's upbringing come together here: the Hash, Adventure Parc, via ferrata, climbing and general outdoor activities. Dorien finished in 4th place, and was pleased with the result. Below are a few pictures of the race.

At the start

Running with the first women

A wheelbarrow with a concrete block

Dorien is comfortable on long running stretches

Wet due to the rain, and the obstacles!

It is really though

On the final stretch

Summer holidays (III)

Despite the sad events this summer we had a good holiday, with both Paula and Dorien spending a few weeks at the house. The Great Outdoors is still our passion, and we did quite a few activities, with different compositions of the groups. Below is a photographic summary of our summer adventures.

Paula on top of Aguille du Dibona

On the way to Refuge de l'Aigle

Lunch on the Aigle trail

Mary in a snowfield, high above the Romanche valley

Hiking towards Refuge de la Fare

Piet at the Refuge

Lars cycling up the steep road to Mizoen

Lars and Piet cycling to Col de Sarenne

Mission accomplished, at 1999 m

Paula and Jasper on top of Mont Gioberney

Mary joined them as guide, and reached the top as well

Descending to Refuge de la Pilatte

Mary in Palais Ideal in Hauterives

More sad news

When we returned from our May holiday in France Beau, who had stayed at horse hotel 'De Blis', was lame, and Mary took him to the vet. Beau was diagnosed with severe arthrosis in one of his legs, and also some bone loss in his back. It was clear that we couldn't ride with the same intensity as before, and probably had to restrict Beau to a few outdoor rides a week or even less, if he would recover somewhat. We even considered to have him put down, as the quality of his life would be quite poor, considering the circumstances, with a small box and no outside areas at our stable. Recovery would not be possible, and in the end we decided on a treatment that would relief some of his problems, to allow us to take him to France, with the hope that 2 months of unrestrained walking in our garden would improve his health, and at least give him a great summer.
As we wrote in the post of 17 July Beau was hooked up with Quinaille, an old friend, and he spend the whole summer in our garden, with a short ride once or twice a week. Towards the end of the holidays it was clear that his legs hadn't improved, and Mary and the girls had to make the very difficult decision not to take him home with us, as in The Hague there was no option to provide him the quality of life he deserved. Also we didn't want to expose him to the drive home, and the inevitable end in a strange environment. On the 29th of August the local vet put him down in our garden, where he spend the best time of his 8 years with us. Mary and Piet were there with him, and although we were all convinced it was the best decision it was very, very sad to see a horse, that was happily walking around a few hours earlier, pass away like that.
Beau has dictated our schedule every day, and we happily took him for walks, rides or exercises three times a day. He has taught Mary, Paula and Dorien to ride better, and has happily acted as guinea pig for Mary's horse trainer courses. He will leave a large empty hole in our family, and will be sorely missed.

Beau and Quinaille enjoying the grass in our garden

Mary and Beau spend almost every day together for 8 years

Beau and Piet were great friends, but they never rode together

Beau (2001-2019)