Author: Sandy Gorman
12 degrees and possible hail. Great weather forecast. Now, its not that everyone can always make a weekend away. We all have a life, kids, family, commitments… but the die hards, we MADE IT. Who cares about the weather? Who cares if its cold, wet, raining….. well, maybe a little.
But there’s Drizabone’s. Gloves. Hard hats with brims. They all help.
We left the clubhouse about 10 for a ride to the Flowerdale Pub. Where else would you go on such a weekend? It gives us a destination, a break for lunch with a few bevvies, a spot that those that aren’t riding can catch up and meet us too. Perfect. About 15 k’s each way. For three riders. Yes, for a club with 34 members, we managed 3 RIDING MEMBERS! Whoo hoo. But why not. Us three headed out and were making great time… but we lost a scoot boot and had to do a u-turn to search for it. Well, the loser searched, we cruised around looking. Boot found, we then continued on with loads of trots and canters. It’s amazing the time you can make with just a couple of riders, so we smashed out the ride to the pub in just two hours. Pub was great. We rocked in and dripped all over their floor, settled our coats in front of the fire and gloves on top (well, everyone but me who left wet gloves in my helmet!)
Lunch done and a few drinks later, time to head for home. The drizzle has set in, the wind has chosen to pick up and we kind of wished we weren’t riding back…. But what choice did we have? Our faithful ponies had waited patiently whilst we lunched and were a little chilly and ready to warm up on the way back. Some of us were smart enough to unsaddle and keep it dry, some of us covered up and hoped for the best. Some (me) lost their cover during lunch and had a pretty wet saddle to ride home in. But the ponies stepped up, warmed up and rode home at a cracking pace. We even helped out the local farmer get next door’s stray horse out of his steer/bull paddock by having it follow our trusty steeds through the paddock back into his own next door.
Great ride home, managed it in just 1.5 hours. We weren’t quite soaked through, but perhaps not as dry as we could have been. Just under 30 k’s, just over 9 degrees, just a little wet. Great Ride, yet again. Who’s riding tomorrow?