Author: Sandy Gorman
I’m sure it’s nothing to do with a recent birthday, but I’m sure feeling my age! Finished work Friday and loaded the car and float for my weekend away and really struggled with the trip up. Nanny nap required upon arrival, so not much help was I around the homestead Friday afternoon! A very quiet evening with a few drinks with Brian and Kaye over dinner, with Sammie arriving later. Early to bed for a cracker day of riding ahead.
Saturday morning was perfect. Saddle bag lunch packed, water filled, backpack loaded. Michelle, Nicole and Adam all arrived before 10am float out deadline, Adam unloading Cookie as he was only riding the Sunday. Our last ride this way had still been a little damp underfoot but the dust billowing behind showed how quickly things turn in two months. Five riders saddled up and headed out around 11am, Brian, Sammie, Michelle, Nicole and me. We weren’t the only ones enjoying the warm weather as we crossed paths with a few bike riders early on and just the one snake. Bike riders were friendly… the snake was too, but hightailed it out of our way.
Our plan was to do the reverse of August’s ride and find the trail we’d missed. I forgot the map, so luckily Brian had it covered. Not checking it was my error once we hit our trail as I didn’t think to check for other tracks off our planned route. We got a little misguided, but worked it out over our lunch stop and had a short back-track to continue on the “less road” route. We were enjoying the lovely terrain, nothing too steep or too rocky and had some great lopes and canters. Sammie was certainly enjoying being back in the saddle after a few months, even if it was a different saddle! We took another wrong turn (I think I thought so) and continued along the wrong way for some great riding before being 100% sure and needing to turn back (one way to get in a long ride!) Just as we hit the right track and at the end of a lovely canter, Michelle’s fender snapped and we stopped for repairs. A very handy long strip of leather made a make-shift stirrup leather and we were back on our way. A little slower from here on in, but it was nice to enjoy the day, the warmth, the scenery. Five riders, five hours or thereabouts, 30 kilometres. Maybe I am not the only one feeling my age as we returned to the floats! I think we were all a little tired on our return to wash down the horses and chill.
Someone not feeling (or acting) her age was Lee. While we’d been out she’d arrived at the homestead, gone for a lovely ride with Cath then the pair of them proceeded to work their butts off painting the yards and the 100 other jobs that Lee does! Whilst we were pretty much all relaxing and snacking and almost dining we had to ring the bell to get the workers in. Kaye made a great chicken curry for dinner along with an amazing apple pie for dessert. Martin and Kelly joined us for dinner, then Dave and his family dropped in and joined us for dessert (because it was delicious!). What a day! Very much like our club song… so many friends and happy people gathered together. I fell into bed and don’t think I moved until morning! Those that managed to stay up late… I just don’t know how you do it.
Sunday was the shorter planned ride of the weekend. We had more takers for this one, with Adam, Lee & Cath joining four of the five from Saturday along with our guest rider Bianca, making 8 in total. Due to saddle issues (not just the one fender, the second was ready to snap too!) we missed Michelle. Another spectacular day and everyone was excited to head off.
Today we headed out. The horses were all well behaved (again) and we had some lovely canters to Top of the World. Stop for a few photos and we then headed through Josh’s and down into the “enchanted forest”. The steep hill had a few saddle’s slipping; Adam needing to re-adjust before he had intimate knowledge of Cookie’s ears, Bianca choosing to dismount and adjust from the ground. A stop for lunch in the pine plantation was a welcome break in the shade. I love our directions for the return trip on this ride – it’s all about dead trees. If we have a storm that topples them, we may not find our way back through Prue’s! Some lovely big wide hills to canter up on the way home, with some massive roos in all directions. The hills in this part of the world just go on and on, with more photo opportunities every which way.
We made our way back onto the road for the return trip home at a leisurely pace. Some of the ponies had their walking shoes on and we essentially split into two groups for the last few kilometres (do you blame the stragglers for not wanting to jig-jog?) Eight happy riders returned to the homestead and I’m sure our guest enjoyed the ride. It was a great relaxed group and another wonderful weekend is done and dusted. Hose down the ponies and load up for home… I can’t ear bash the husband about my weekend if I leave it too late and just fall asleep on return!
We are grateful for all the locals who let our club members ride through their properties.
November is Working Bee weekend, so I best get to planning a cracker day of riding for the Sunday…. Mmmm the possibilities!
Fabulous read as always Sandy. Thank you ❤️