Author – Sandy Gorman
I picked the destination of our January 26 ride as the weather was forecast to be warm. It’s probably been our January destination on many occasions. But boredom hit me Friday afternoon at the clubhouse and I flicked through the pages of the visitors book. The entries are sporadic, there’s a constant flow, then it seems to be forgotten for a while before being pulled out and used again for a bit. It’s over 50 years old. There was an entry for the January 1977 ride, also to Trawool Reservoir. It left from what sounds like a property “Hill End”, through what could have been another property then onto Trawool Reservoir and return. I’m guessing that when your club is 95 years old, there’s a lot of history repeating itself, but to be riding to the same destination 49 years later did make me wonder about the riders that have come before. All those committed to keeping this club running through changes in committee and circumstance? I wonder what the club will be like when I’m done riding and long gone? Will we still be lucky enough to have Trail Riders in another 50-100 years? Will people still be riding for pleasure? Ahhh, but I digress. Enough contemplation, let me tell you about the ride!
January Club ride was, for a short period, under threat of cancellation. Victoria was gripped in catastrophic fire danger just the week before – indeed, still had fires burning. Victoria also had flash flooding the day before, with cars swept out to sea. Mother Nature has plenty of power to wield! We were lucky enough to see the softer side, with days of 28 and 26 degrees, blue skies, sunshine, no wind – perfect. As is often the case, January was lighter on for riders, with school holidays still in full swing and members being away. Brian, Kaye, Lou and I arrived throughout Friday afternoon/evening, spending a quiet evening with a few (too many) drinks and dinner. We were up and ready to go by just after nine, with Michelle meeting us at the clubhouse before we floated up to Army Road to unload. Sammie made it just as we were wishing we had reception to see where she was, and we all headed out just after 10.30. . Although it was warm, the Tallarook State Forest provides plenty of shade. Recent winds saw plenty of tree debris across the tracks, but the washouts didn’t seem as bad as in previous rides. Lou’s Sally had picked Brian’s Sunday as her new best friend and gave the other ponies fair warning before we’d headed off. Idaho wasn’t feeling the love at all and made sure he kept plenty of paces ahead most of the way there. It was a different ride for me in that he was much more forward, although racing down some of the hills caused him to lose his footing once or twice! Such a wuss, my pony, scared of a cute little mare! We all enjoyed a lovely ride to the reservoir, and it was warm enough for a swim before lunch. Sammie had stripped her horse of his saddle and was out of her joddy’s before we’d finished giving the horses a drink. I was the only other one silly enough to strip down to my bonds cottons and took Idaho in with Chase (maybe it was a boy thing!) Thankfully there were no campers for a change, so no one other than members were scarred! The water was refreshing as it had become quite a warm day and I’m sure the boys enjoyed the cool off. Chase could have shown his appreciation for the swim by being nice to his mum, but was totally inconsiderate as poor Sammie tried to get back into her joddy’s. He really didn’t think of all of us with cameras either, as none of us were prepared to snap away when he chose to roll while Sammies jods were only halfway up. Cries of “don’t roll, don’t roll, don’t roll….arghhhh” with poor Sammie trying to stop him, hold her pants and save her dignity would have been a priceless video. We would have shared it (or not, for a price!) Imagine!
We relaxed over our packed lunch, then decided to take the shorter of two alternative routes back (it was our first ride back!) We all enjoyed the return trip, however Vegas was more jiggy joggy on the way back – I don’t know how Michelle does it! She let him have a lovely canter on the last leg, whilst the rest of us did a little more exploring and went bush for the last section back to the floats. It’s always worth getting to know the small tracks! A total of 18.8 kilometres with an average speed of about 6.4 kph was a reasonable effort.
It wasn’t too late in the afternoon when we arrived back at the Clubhouse. Ponies washed down and riders cleaned up (shower a necessity after the reservoir) and in time to greet my guest rider Janine and our newest club member Kylie as afternoon arrivals in preparation for Sunday. I’d thrown dinner together as we were short on the roster for January’s chef, and we (hopefully) all enjoyed lasagna with salad and sticky date pudding for dessert. A very relaxed evening with a few drinks and laughs.
Sunday morning started off with Brian doing a quick test run on Polly to get a feel of her, then a small tutoring session with Janine and Polly in preparation for the trails. A few valuable tips put into practice ensured a very pleasurable ride and instilled confidence for Janine. Sunday’s ride was Lou’s choice, taking in the views from up the top of Dave’s place at the Falls Road end. It’s surprising how quick you climb on the steeper hills, and before we knew it we were overlooking the valleys below. We followed the ridge down and with just a few gates to navigate and one pretty paint horse checking us out, we enjoyed a walk, trot and canter through Dave’s place. We hit the Broadford-Flowerdale Road and worked our way back around, past the General and to the clubhouse. It was a very enjoyable ride, with short bursts of trots/canters, loads of chatter, hints and tips and back early enough for me to head home and do the housework. I really hope that Kylie enjoyed her first of many member weekends – it’s surprising how quickly they come round each month!