11 1 / 2012
These vests are fantastic for trail riders who ride along the roads! We often get people who have NO idea about horses flying past in their cars, trucks, buses and motor bikes! Even bike riders can scare the absolute crap out of the horses!
These vests really catch drivers eyes and before they can realise it says “POLITE” instead on “POLICE” they have already moved over and slowed down!
I got mine from: http://campbellfloats.com/index.html
26 2 / 2012
First ride back for the season at Nagambie and am so happy with the result of =2nd with my gorgeous friends Sarah and Niccy! The 80km’s went so quick with the non stop talking and laughing! Couldn’t of done it without the amazing horse Rowallan Nara and Daniel, the most beautiful boyfriend / strapper in the world - he must love me being up at 3am on his Sunday morning helping out! It was a nice easy track for the first ride of the season, very flat and well marked! A 4am start was great for the 80km riders to try and get some km’s covered before the heat of the day. Luckily there was a lovely breeze which helped keep the horses cool when the sun did rise!
Well done to everyone that made it around!
12 3 / 2012
Road trip to S.A
What a weekend!
Nicky and I headed to Mount Gambier in S.A for the Mil Lel dual affiliated 80km ride. I was riding Nicky’s horse Doug and she was on her novice horse Clarendon Sabi. We set off at 7am Saturday morning for the big road trip! It was an interesting journey, we half followed the gps and half followed where Nicky thought we should be going which didn’t work in our favor! We defiantly felt like we took the scenic route, especially because we had to stop for gas all the time, and at times go out of our way to find a petrol station! It was a much better option than us 2 girls running out half way there with the effy, goosey and two horses on the back! The time flew as we chatted about our ponies the whole way up!
We got to the ride base and set up under some nice big trees, vetted through the horses and had a wine!
The ride started at 5 am which was good as the sun was due to be in and out all day. The morning was really fresh but the afternoon got quite warm!
The track was really beautiful, we rode through some gorgeous pine forests and the conditions were perfect for a novice horse! Nice and flat, easy to follow and plenty of water. They also had some lucerene hay out for the horses to pick on.
When the sun was rising it was absolutely stunning in the forest! It’s defiantly one of my favorite parts of endurance riding! Watching the sun come up while on the back of a horse out with nature is a magical feeling and I wouldn’t of wanted to be anywhere else in the world at that time! The forest was so quiet and all we could hear were the morning birds singing! It only got a little bit scary when we passed about 10 trees about 15 meters apart with dolls and Teddy’s in them…..weird!!! We had a fast trot past that bit!
Doug hadn’t gone to a ride since the State champs last year and it was Sabi’s second 80 so the plan was to go slow and just get the ponies through!
The first 40ks ran smoothly and I think we did it in around 3hr 20mins.
The second 40 was a ride out to a check point about 2kms down the road, then do a 20k loop twice. Once the horses finished the first 20k loop it was hard because it was unmotivating for them to head away from home again, hard for us to!
The boys lifted in spirit and we did the second 40ks in around 3hr 50mins.
I was lucky to be on Doug who has an amazing heart. I think after the first 40 he was 38 and then after the 80 he was 40. He trotted out beautifully and we were through! Nicky and Sabi also got through with no dramas so we were thrilled! The long drive was well worth it!
As we were pouring a celebratory champagne and about to poultice the horses legs Sandy came up to us and told us to get ready for Best Conditioned. We had come =3rd!!
I was last to trot out Doug for BC. The vet was standing behind him and gave me the instruction to go ahead and trot in a straight line up and back. As I was about to move the vet flipped some pages over on his clip board which frightened Doug so we started the trot with a turbo fart right in the vets face!!! We all couldn’t stop laughing while I trotted him! It was so funny! At least it was him and not me! Haha
All in all it was a great ride and nice trip away. We are kind of mad for driving all the way to south australia for one night and an 80km ride, it felt a bit like the Quilty….but all within 48hrs! But the end result and all the laughs along the way made it worth it!
The drive home was difficult. It took us about 9.5 hours, we didn’t get in to Nicky’s house until 3.30am. We soon discovered the reason we couldn’t see the road was because we only had one headlight and the reason why the truck sucked up so much gas is because we had 1 flat tire! Whoops! In saying that Nicky is one amazing girl driving that big truck and goosey all that way within that short space of time. She even woke up early this morning and rode 2 horses before working 1-9 tonight! She is the most dedicated horse woman I have ever met! Its a credit to her training, that every horse of hers that I have ridden are super fit and feel great! They are all very happy and spoilt horses!
Now it’s time to get ready for Kilmore in 2 weeks time!! Looking forward to it, Emma Holland is sure to put on another impressive ride!
28 3 / 2012
It was another great ride on the weekend at Kilmore. Emma put on yet another fantastic event.
Daniel and I arrived at ride base at around 12.30 on Saturday. We were staying in town so there wasn’t much to set up. Once Steve arrived with the horses I entered, weighed and vetted Tassie through then we went for a ride. I then went and rode Zha for Niccy as Sarah who was riding him hadn’t arrived yet! We then went had had some lovely Chinese in Kilmore before an early night in bed!
I rode in the 90kms starting at 4am Sunday morning on Rowallan Nara. We set off out of ride base up a decent size hill, which is always handy when you are on fresh ponies! About 8kms down the road all the horses started spooking at something….a huge wombat decided to cross the path so that went down not so well, at the same time there were bells ringing in the paddock next to us….I have no idea what that was but it sounded like cow bells….do they still use them?!
The 90kms consisted of 3 legs, a 40km, 30km and 20km. I rode along side Niccy and Sarah and we did the ride in 5hrs 55 mins and placed =2nd!
We were wrapped with that result and very proud of our ponies!
Off to El Dorado next for the Easter weekend! I have good and bad memories of that place….it was were I did my first 160km and I actually thought I was going to die….yep there were tears for the last 5km’s! Man it was a killer….having to get off and walk up those massive hills in the middle of the night! A beautiful course though so I’m hoping to kick back and enjoy a much more relaxing 80km’s!!
