Author: Sandy Gorman
Already another month has come around and we get to spend our weekend in the beautiful hills of Strath Creek with our horses – aren’t we just living the best life?
Although the weather on Friday was essentially horrendous, what looked like an opportunity to ride saw our most committed member doing a quickie from the clubhouse. Not quick enough and poor Kimmy was quite soaked on return. Luckily our weather can turn a 180 in no time flat, and Saturday was sunshine and blue skies by the time we rode out from No 1 Camp at Mt Disappointment. Poor Steph had some floating issues Friday so roped a girlfriend into transporting Pep up to Strath Creek Saturday morning. No good deed goes unpunished, so the lovely Brooke managed to borrow a horse and join us, making seven riders exploring some new tracks by about 12.30. Surprisingly the tracks were relatively dry and the riding was relaxed and fun. We had the option for a shorter ride and after several hours of puddles, hills, creek crossings at a steady pace (well, three paces of walk, trot and canter!) Steph, Brooke and Michelle headed for the floats. Nicole, Kim, Brian and I continued to explore and found a lovely ridge that at one point seemed would never turn back in the direction of home! Pumpkin has had a “Brian tune up” and Nicole was settling in and enjoying a much improved ride from the last outing at Mt Disappointment. Some tutelage from Brian (don’t we all need it at times!) and Nicole and Pumpkin set off ahead at various points to stretch the legs and test her skills. Our ridge finally wound down to the creek and after giving the horses a much needed drink, we found a track that headed us back the other side of the creek and in the direction of home. We must have found a lesser used track – or perhaps the one used by those that prefer not to use a municipal tip! Two cars, and a pile of bottles dumped in various locations was very “disappointing” to see. (I could go off on a tangent here and rant about the filth, but no!) Lots of canter opportunities on the ride back and all the horses were enjoying themselves as much as us. We have found another track to add to the repertoire! Back to the floats to head on home, making it back to the clubhouse by 4.30.
More members had arrived by the time we returned and we managed to fit in a Club Meeting before Adam and Nicole presented us with an amazing dinner of Butter Chicken and dessert to die for in the most delicious cheesecake with a raspberry sauce. Mmmmm. The bonfire was lit after dinner and although I was too cooked and my bed was screaming for me, many enjoyed drinks and conversation around the fire.
After a delicious hot breakfast, seven riders again set off – however we switched two out and brought along Linda and Adam for a ride to Flowerdale Estate and lunch. Nicole and Adam had decided to swap horses halfway, whilst Kim and I also decided to ride each other’s ponies. We didn’t swap saddles – so it was new pony, new gear, new experience for us both. The grey ponies were both a bit excited on the way out – Linda’s not ridden for a bit and her pony was fresh but well managed. Steph picked up some tips from Brian along the way and they practiced some techniques at the back of the ride. Bluey was well behaved and very different to ride from Idaho! I must admit I sat back and passengered a lot – it was nice to not be on my toes. Hopefully he’ll be a good boy for Kimmy next ride and not ruined by me being slack. He’s super cool, can turn on a dime and is very nice to ride. We met Kaye for lunch at Flowerdale and enjoyed a drink with lunch before returning to the horses for the ride home. We did the loop back, with many gates to open through the sheep, goats and jumpy cows on the way to the creek crossing. Linda’s face was a picture when she saw the fast flowing creek we needed to cross to return. Brian and Sunday checked the depth (which I must say, came to the bottom of my stirrups on Bluey so I was happy to see how deep before I just forged thru!). I don’t think Kim got wet feet on Idaho, but she rides longer stirrups so it may have been close. Adam rode Tiarna through and chose a better spot than the skinny trees we traversed on our way out on the big girl! Nicole was happy to get Cookie in and through (some ponies just have a thing about water some days) whilst Linda entered with a splash and also survived the crossing. The return trip was where Idaho did decide to try Kim out, but she is such a champ and quickly gave him what for. He wasn’t impressed, but acquiesced. He’s a fast learner I guess and knows when his rider has his number. At the rider change of Adam and Nicole, we split into two groups, leaving Adam and Linda with Brian and gave Steph the chance to give Pep a run. It was nice to have a canter on Bluey and whilst the higher back on Kim’s (very comfy) saddle felt strange I’m guessing I had the better option than Kim on my rock hard half breed! It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and it was a lovely ride back. We made the clubhouse about fifteen minutes ahead of the second group, having had time to hose some of the ponies down before their arrival.
All in all we had 9 happy riders over the weekend with skills learnt or improved, fun had and suitably tired horses. It’s lovely when a group can work together to encourage each other and share our love of the great outdoors when the weather and scenery come to the party too! Bring on November.
20 October 2024