Club Ride – September 2024

Author – Sandy Gorman

Aren’t we all so lucky to have found this place!  I’ve just smiled the whole way through writing this as I think of how much fun it was – wouldn’t be dead for quids!

Welcome back Riders!!  The club house was packed this weekend as we had many riders in attendance and a great catch up for all!  Was it the promise of Murray and Clare’s cooking?  Was it the improved weather?  Was it that just everyone managed to prioritise their own well-being and have a weekend away?  WHO CARES.  There were lots of us riding and that means lots of happy people!  16 happy people!

Saturday’s ride was floating up to Tallarook, parking at Army road and heading out from there.  I don’t think I’ve seen the float parking so full.  Once saddled up, we all headed out together with the plan to split the ride into short and long –  for those not wanting to spend the day in the saddle being able to do a smaller loop and head back.  Best laid plans and all – we were foiled early on into the ride by a fallen tree.  One big tree that was too big to go over, too long to head around and just too difficult to navigate back to the track.  Plan B was put into place as we headed partway back to take an alternative fork in the track.  The tracks were still slippy from recent rains.  The washouts were deep.  There were lots of smaller branches crossing the track and several ponies got a bit excited.  Kalani did a very decent rear, but was lucky Kirrilee has sat decent rears before (should we thank Chester for the experience?)  She did calm down very quickly however and kudos to the young horse so early in her trail riding career to be so sensible.  We did lose two riders (only in that they returned to the floats) when the terrain proved a little too challenging for not healed ribs.  They decided to head back to the homestead and play on some obstacles.  We now had 14 riders and the terrain shortly became less difficult and we enjoyed the trails.  Plan B saw the shorter riders return back on Main Road and head for the floats, while six continued on over to the “other side” and do some exploring and mapping new tracks.  We had some lovely long canters and really let the ponies have a bit of fun.  There’s some really nice tracks and a great spot for lunch.  We will certainly do more rides on that side of the float park in the future.  We returned to the floats and found that not all returning “short” riders had actually decided to keep it short – Michelle, Nic and Adam had lunched and decided to do another loop and got back about 20 minutes after us.  Adam and Tiana CANTERED!  Great job Adam, you should be proud of how well your riding is coming along.  

Back at the clubhouse we had pre-dinner nibbles with a few drinks by the fire.  Photos and videos of the day were shared and the stories of our expertise grew taller.  Lou had missed last month’s meeting so was at last presented with the HORSE’S ARSE award from this year’s Annual Camp.  A few more laughs and reminiscing.  Murray and Clare made a lovely dinner, so it was with full bellies and happy hearts we stumbled (oh, that was only me!) off to bed in preparation for another day in the saddle.  

Sunday dawned with blue skies and sunshine.  A hearty breakfast, then ready the ponies to ride out at 9.30.  Chrissy had joined us last night to ride out today and the first try of the new saddle.  Bek and Charli were well prepared today for less challenging (?!??) terrain and fingers crossed for the healing ribs.  We headed out past the General and towards Upper King Parrot Road and Dave’s place.  I’d not been there before (almost made it once!) and was truly impressed by the landscape.  Such a beautiful place and amazing views.  Alaska and Ruska did get a little antsy – Alaska was kicking out in frustration (but how good did Chris look in that beautiful new saddle – she didn’t move).  Ruska wasn’t too impressed when the cows ran off and thought for just a second she might join them.  But all was good.  Brian stopped for lunch (none of us had bothered to pack anything) while we took in the views from the hilltop.  We made our way back to King Parrot Road and again decided to split into two groups, with those wanting a canter heading off over the hills and well away from the walkers left behind before letting the horses clear any cobwebs before getting back to the clubhouse.  I joined that group and I must say, we had a ball.  Sinead took Blue off up the side of the hill all by himself and was so pleased with him to have split from the group without any issues.  This is BIG for this horse and Sinead was certainly grinning from ear to ear.  Idaho was kept at a nice pace behind the other horses so I too was happy that he didn’t need to charge through.  He did get quite prancy at one stage and I’m happy to say that I was VERY happy that the excitement didn’t end up in bucks or kicking out – instead we had some fancy footwork and tested his dressage skills with piaffs and flying changes (I had to google what piaffs even are) and since his legs are under the saddle whilst I sit atop, I had no idea what was going on other than enjoying the ride (Yes, this is where I show my TOTAL lack of knowledge in this “equestrian” stuff!)  Our group was fairly large and we split again into two.  Kalani was in this second group and also had a milestone for the ride in that she took the lead.  Perhaps knowing that we were (well) ahead made her brave enough.  More big smiles.

Our two groups got back about 20 minutes before the walkers and yes, there were smiles of accomplishment and have since been posts to our group so I KNOW everyone was extremely pleased with the weekend, their ponies and the support of such a great group of people.

Aren’t we all so lucky to have found this place!  I’ve just smiled the whole way through writing this as I think of how much fun it was – wouldn’t be dead for quids!