I traveled to Switzerland to meet with family and decided that it would be great to spend some time at some horse stables, since I love horses. Months before my trip I wrote to a place situated in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and asked them if I could stay there and eat at their house in exchange for helping out a bit and riding. They responded and said I could come. I exchanged a few more e-mails with the lady that runs the place to settle things and was ready to go.
I was really excited, because I hadn´t ridden in a whole year and was missing it. For me it was the perfect opportunity to spend some cuality time with the horses and practice my French, wich I started taking lessons for two years ago once a week. My French isn´t awesome, but I decided I would manage.
I arrived with the train at 11:10 in the morning and walked to the place. Luckily it was a 12 minute walk, because the lady never offered to pick me up and I didn´t got the vibe she would have been pleased if I had asked her, so I didn´t. When I arrived I met her at the jumping course. My first impression of her wasn´t that great, lets say she wasn´t really kind. I helped her move some things around at the course and then she drove me up to the main house and stables in her van. She gave me a tour of the place, introduced me to a French girl that was already staying there and who showed me to the room we would share. The room smelled really bad. It was above the stables. Stable-smell doesn´t bother me, but in my room it stayed there and thickened.
I had a little bit of trouble understanding the French girl, but we managed to communicate. Then it was off to work: sweeping the stables, cleaning some horses, sweeping some more, helping enter the horses that were outside, sweeping more. We went on a stroll through the forest. It was beautiful, with all the big trees and the peaceful quite.
I had to wake up at 6:30am to be at the stables at 7:00am, start cleaning the stables, feeding the horses, taking some of them out onto the field. Then we would eat breakfast. Then I would sweep the stables and clean some horses. The problem was, sometimes I wouldn´t know what else to do, because the French girl and another local girl, who was doing an apprentissage there, went to ride and jump while I swept. Once the woman found me sitting in the kitchen and told me I couldn´t be there when there was work to do. Half the time I didn´t know what I was supposed to do and the people there didn´t really had much patience to explain things to me.
We ate at 12:00 and rested until 1:00-1:30, then it was back to sweeping for me. I got tired of cleaning while the other girls could ride, sure I knew horses were work and I would have to sweep and clean stables, but to me it was unfair that I had to do all the dirty work, while the other girls did the part of being with the horses. I couldn´t leave the stables until 7:00pm. We ate around 9:00pm.
When I arrived, nobody explained the schedule to me, so I followed the people there everywhere to know what to do. I didn´t know when I could rest, when I had to do what and when we were supposed to be finished. It was also partly my fault for never having asked the lady in an e-mail what I was exactly supposed to do when I stayed with them. It turned out that I didn´t have time to rest, to do the things I wanted to do, like take pictures and write the blog or read my book. When the day was over it was already 10:00-10:30 and I had time to shower and go to sleep, else I knew I wouldn´t be able to wake up the next morning.
I didn´t feel comfortable around there, mostly because of the woman who never smiled and was harsh. She created a vibe I didn´t want to be around. Most of the time I swept and the rest I walked around the stables with nothing to do and encountering nobody, but I couldn´t go to my room or sit down for fear of someone seeing me and being mad at me, because I wasn´t working.
I enjoyed the times where I could be alone with the horses in the stables, even if it was sweeping, but whenever someone entered my body immediately tensed. The thing I really loved, were the strolls through the forest, it was one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever seen, I´m a big fan of nature.
Slowly I decided I didn´t like being there. I was supposed to stay 3 weeks, in my mind I shortened them to 2. By day 3 I felt really lonely and wanted to leave that place, but I told myself I had to push through, it would get better. Sometimes I had the feeling it was getting better and then the local girl or the lady would come in and be harsh, I would have to sweep yet another part of the stable or the stairs or the house while the girls went riding. I told the lady I wanted to ride more and also have a little bit more of time to make things that weren´t at the stables, maybe an hour in the middle of the day. She wasn´t happy with it but told me I could have some free time. She said it in that kind of way where you notice it´s reluctant, so I felt even more uncomfortable around her. On day 4 her dogs ate my riding helmet and by then I was sick of being there, I was having such a bad time around that people and I decided to go. Nobody forced me to be there but myself. I told them I would go on Friday.
On Friday I decided to enjoy the day, the strolls through the forest, being by the horses in the stables. I considered staying, but the thought of remaining another week didn´t make me happy so I packed and left at 5:30.
I´m sitting now at my aunts house writing this post. I don´t miss being at the stables. I went thinking of the horses and the great time I had with them and I intend of focusing on that matter.
I only regret not having had the time to visiting the town, the view of it from the stables was amazing and I would have loved taking a walk through it. Maybe one day I will return to St.-Imier to get to know the place and its beautiful landscape.
I don´t think every stable is like that in Switzerland, I just think I had bad luck at this one. I learned that I have to make a full questionary before attending a place and asking for all the details. All in all it was an experience and you learn and take something from every experience and at least I got to ride in a beautiful forest, which was what I wanted to do.
