12 January 2023

The Driving Moment of … Martine Broer

The Hoefnet challenge 'My Most Memorable Driving-Moment' resulted in three great winning stories. We would also like to show you the beautiful stories that did not make it to the top three. Below you find the driving- moment of Martine Broer.

It is September 8, 2022, early in the morning, when I get myself out of bed. The rain taps nicely against the window. It makes my body say I want to stay in bed longer. It’s been raining all week. But today my mind really wants to get out. ′′NOW PLEASE’, because the next two days promise to be memorable days.

I stuff my small backpack with a set of clothes for the evening, 2 apples for Billie, some olives, cheese, meat and nuts to go with the wine. On to Laag Soeren! I don’t care about the rain. I’m not made of sugar, I don’t melt.

The carriage is ready, I give Billie a hug and after the traditional pocket check with Billie’s nose (‘who knows, he might manage to deserve that apple before the ride this time’) we tie our luggage on the carriage and we harness Billie. There we go. I feel like a pony club girl from back in the days. The moment we get on the carriage, it stops raining. After a few minutes of quiet walking we reach the edge of the Veluwezoom. The large wooden gate opens and a beautiful forest awaits us. The first few kilometers still feel a bit like home because we go through this gate every week to enjoy this amazing backyard. How privileged we are that this is possible … and how beautiful is The Netherlands!

It is truly beautiful; the intense purple color of the forest at this time of the year. It doesn’t matter which way you look, peace and the sounds of nature is everywhere. The kilometers disappear effortlessly under Billie’s hoofs. 

After driving through the overwhelming nature for about three hours, we reach a town and have to cross a highway. I actually find it a bit scary. Billie thinks it’s strange that there are cars driving under him at full speed. He trusts us and we trust him. That’s why we reach the other side without any problems.

Later we reach our destination: The Van der Valk hotel de Cantharel in Ugchelen. We did 26 kilometers today. When we drive the carriage across the parking lot of the hotel, we see the Teslas at the charging stations and I joke that we should also charge our 1 horse power. A horse and carriage crossing the parking lot of the hotel did turn many heads. I wave happily to them. They wave back with a smile.

We undo Billie from the carriage. He gets his well-deserved apple and a dry stable. It just started to rain. We dive into the kanteen and pour ourselves a glass of wine. The food also comes out of the bag. What a great atmospheric environment. After we have put Billie from the stable in the meadow, we check in at the hotel.

After dinner we grab a glass of wine while enjoying a pleasant conversation with a few other horse ladies. After a final check with Billie we walk towards our room. We got really lucky today. It could have rained a lot. Will we be so lucky again tomorrow?

Photo: Private collection

An early alarm wakes us up, it’s raining. We give Billie his breakfast and an extensive breakfast buffet is waiting for us. Billie is allowed to enjoy the meadow for a while (it’s not raining now), but then we really have to get back on the road, back to Laag Soeren.

The way back is going way too fast for me. We enjoy ourselves and chat and laugh a lot. Perhaps that is the reason we saw so little wild animals today. Normally we always see some dears along the way. I think they are used to our giggling. The animals here of course don’t know us very well and must have thought: ‘Run, there is danger!’

When we get home, the raincoats are still tied on the carriage. We haven’t had one drop of rain when it didn’t suit us. We did everything right inbetween the showers. Right after we cleaned everything up at home, Billie is back in his stable and we are eating our cake, it starts raining again.

My body, which could hardly get out of bed yesterday morning because of the pain (I have physical limitations), fortunately still has a young mind and is very happy with a super girlfriend who gives me the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful nature and to enjoy Billie of course. Because without her and Billie this wouldn’t be possible for me. Of course I am in pain after this adventure, but it was worth it. Once you love horses, you never want to be without them… The last two days were very special to me and therefore I wanted to share this experience with you, readers of Hoefnet.

Thank you again for sharing your story Martine. We will send you the two Hoefnet caps as a thank-you gift!

Photo: Private collection