PONY CLUB CAMP - Day 3

Second day of the trek.

It was drizzling all morning, and the weather didn't clear until lunchtime, so it was a wet start to the day. We tacked up and moved out, heading over farmland and on up to Wharekino (sp?) woolshed. About a 2 and half hour ride, with no major dramas except that we got wet. Oh, and some of the horses didn't much like riding under the irrigators, but they all sucked it up and got on with it in the end. We had planned to detour out to the beach, but the weather made everyone a bit grumpy so we went straight to Wharekino.

After lunch, the sun came out and Robbie, our esteemed trek leader, said he would take a fast group out for "a bit of a hoon" if we so desired. Most riders piked out, but a group of 12 of us decided to go along. I've been on Robbie's fast rides before, and he doesn't mean "let's go have a nice steady canter." He means "You better be able to keep up because I'm going for a gallop." As we grouped up, he sent Charlotte up to open the first gate. The second she was back on her pony, he was off through the gate at a canter and up to the top of a ridge. He sent his horse Dexter down a steep slope, leaving us scrambling along behind, then set off at a cantera long the bottom of the ridge. Willow was a bit shocked at the sudden burst of speed she was expected to put on, having been told to walk the whole way all day, but was happy to oblige. My saddle slipped onto her shoulders as we slid down the hill, but she was more occupied with keeping up and we headed off at a good clip along the gully, right behind Abby on Mr Moo. We trotted down the next steepest slope and then let them gallop along the flat and up the first hill. Abby pulled Moo up and I followed her example, while Robbie led the kids on for a way. We then sent them for a bit of a gallop around the paddock, while we sat and watched.

Fran caught us up and the four of us sat on the rise and watched the kids disappear across the top of the ridge. Leanne was with them, but she pulled her horse up halfway along and we suddenly realised that the kids were all out there with no adult supervision. Hmm. We waited for a bit, but no riders emerged, so we sent Fran, who was halfway down the side of the ridge, back up the hill to look for them. Soon enough we saw them coming back down into the gully, with little Charlotte Gray in the lead on her 13hh pony Moonshine Abby. They got yelled at for cantering down the slope as Robbie regarded it too steep to be safe, and then we all cantered on down to the next gate, dodging/jumping thistles along the way.

Through the gate, we got onto a dirt road and let the horses walk for a while. I was near the front, riding with Abby, and there were three kids ahead of us. Robbie was about 5 horses behind, and after about 2 minutes of walking (nice and calmly, on the buckle - go Willow) he turned off through a gate and galloped off through a paddock. Abby swung Moo around to follow and galloped off, and Willow followed suit. I turned in the saddle to see the three kids now about 40m behind me, just starting to turn around and follow, so I pulled Willow back to a steady canter and let them gallop past me, one by one. By the time the last rider had passed me, Willow was starting to get a bit annoyed, but I let her gallop on and we managed to catch up. We went up another ridge and Robbie took a path down the other side to my left, got to the flat and led off again at a gallop. I followed Trina along to the right, so that we could go down the side of the hill and bisect the galloping riders, so we didn't get left behind, but there was no track where we chose to go and it was very steep. I gave up trying to steer Willow along what I thought was the best path, and let her zigzag her own way down. She reached the flat just behind Viscount and was at the back as we galloped on and then up a sand track, dodging overgrown lupin bushes.

We followed a sheep track around the side of a hill at a steady pace, overtaking Viscount and cantering around the side to catch up with everyone else. We lost Fran for a minute or so, and contemplated jumping a full wire spar, but no-one was game enough, so we went through the gate. We cantered through a paddock and Robbie tried to get his horse to jump a pile of concrete posts, but Dexter got a bit stupid and kept running out so he abandoned that attempt and we went through the next gate into the raceway. We had already ridden through here on our way to the Woolshed, so we walked along beneath the irrigators, jumping a little bank on the way. Mitchell, Charlotte and Anna decided to have a race, so they cantered back to the irrigator and then galloped up. 14hh Smartie beat 13hh Abby by a nose, leaving 15hh Cinny in their dust. Go the little ponies! I rode back with Megan, and she was in the middle of telling me about her pony's history when the ride ahead of us galloped off up another hill, so that story had to keep for a later date. We pulled up at the next gate and I opted to head back from there as Willow isn't that fit and we were almost home. Anna and Trina went with me and we walked the horses back, arriving about 5 minutes before the rest of the riders.

We untacked and took our ponies over to the water trough, where I borrowed a sponge from Trina and washed Willow off with the dirty trough water. (Ew.) I rugged her up and turned her out, stacked my gear in the Woolshed, discovered I'd lost my camera, stressed out about it for a while, and then we threw Trina's horses onto the truck and headed back to camp, Robbie regaling Trina and I with stories of camp hunts and night rides from the past.