Man from Snowy River, come on down!

Often on our holidays, I've thought it would be fantastic to do some horse trail riding! What better place to do it than the Snowy Mountains??

What started out as a "girlie" outing, soon added a 13 year old male too. Jon, who is not remotely interested in horseriding, elected to have a quiet afternoon back at camp.

Lily, Jed and I headed off down the Barry Way, south of Jindabyne, for 29 kms (if we'd kept going we would have come out a couple of hundred kms away, at the little town of Buchan, where we had driven a few weeks before out from Lake's Entrance). We drove through beautiful country, where the "real" Snowy Mountain people live, not just tourists, with cattle and horse farms and a certain amount of forrests.

Don't forget that Cate and Jed have barely ridden a horse before and Lily had only ridden several times at friends. We were kitted up with boots and helmets and instructed the correct way to mount a horse, handle the reins and give it a gentle "kick" to make it move! Wow, after 5 mins I could "ride"!!?? Well, make it go, make it turn left, right and most importantly STOP! Actually, felt able to control my horse -amazing! (Most likely that they have amazingly well behaved horses).

Obviously, we passed the first test as we followed AJ (the guide), on his horse, out of the gate and out into the open paddock to begin our trail. Lily, riding "Lady" lead us out and off we went. I surprised myself - after initially being outwardly confident for the kids benefit, but a little nervous,  I wasn't actually too nervous and was really enjoying the experience. I did tense, briefly the first time 'Pearl' put her head down and whinnied!!



The 'very well-behaved' Pearl



Lily on "Lady"

We followed a trail for about 8 kms, through a tiny part of "Snowy Wilderness", 7200 acres of spectacular countryside and the largest freehold parcel of land in the Snowy Mountain area. We went though low vegetation, heathy areas, and lots of 'wooded' trails, up and down hills. AJ called it 'scrub', but he obviously hasn't been to the 90 mile desert - I'd definitely call it forest! However, not huge compared to some trees we have seen. Snowy Wilderness specialise in tourism- 2 hour, half day, full day rides and 2 night trail ride camping experiences, quad bike tours and are looking to get into abseiling as well, as they have a great area of 'gorgeous gorges'. 2 hours in the saddle was definitely enough for this 'novice'tho'. (I was already wondering how my knee was going to hold me up when I had to dismount!!)

"Snowy Wilderness" trail riding country

Jed on Tinny

'Tinny', Jed's mount, was the one who was knew his own mind - if he wanted to walk off the trail, he would, if he wanted to go round the tree he would, if he wanted to drop his head to munch on grass, he would!! Mostly, I think he was probably just a 'guts'! (He was the roundest of the ponies).

Horses are very sure-footed, thank goodness, as we trailed over tree trunks, through rutted tracks, over granite rocks around trees (I just had to remember to 'duck' in time). I was very impressed with Pearl when she refused to go forward, as I urged her on (only with a "tiny" kick!), because in front of us, and she saw it before I did, was some sort of animal hole, 20cm across and straight down! Phew!, we didn't need a broken leg - either of us!!

After a very peaceful and enjoyable ride it was back, past the home dam, with it's patches of flowering water-lilies, to the yards for dismounting, and 'hobbling' back to the car.

It was great, loved every minute of it, and I'm considering putting a horse yard in the back of 14 March Street! (Only kidding, Karen!! - hey, but that camel winery tour would've been fun!)