On the second day of the FEIF Youth Camp, things are getting close and personal. Geraldine van de Venne, gave an interesting lecture about the importance of equine dental care, explained the signs rider need to look out for, and after the theory, it was time to feel the inside of the horse’s mouth first hand.
The second part of the day was spent under the guidance of Miet van der Hallen, who coaches long-reining. A short introduction was followed by having a go and – surprise: it is a more complex art than we first thought. Deprived of all aids but the voice, the reins and a short stick, both horse and rider need to learn a new, very refined way of communicating with one another.
All in all, the communication between participants is also beginning to flow more easily as a everyone is making a real effort to speak and to listen to he experiences and skills of one another. 20 participants so represent 7 different nations, and the corresponding babble of different languages. Today was different from yesterday, when you could hear German voices from one corner of the room, and Finnish from another, and so on. What unites us is the love for the Icelandic horse, what brings us together is the use of English, a foreign language for everyone on the camp.