ride4acure

15 & 16^th June 2010 Crossing the Border- ride4acure meets the Murray River at Barooga and Cobram

At 7.30am yesterday morning Tuesday 15^th June 2010 I rode my three horses across the Mighty Murray River at Barooga NSW into Cobram VIC and on to the north side of Koonoomoo to stay with Mick and Val Howes on their farm. Mick and Val a good friends of Neville and Jan Johnston from Kempsey. Mick also knew my father Kevin Luxford back in the 70’s when campdrafting was ‘finding it’s legs in East Gippsland. Mick is a member of the Cobram Campdraft Club and they very generously donated $150 to ride4acure.  I arrived at Koonoomoo at lunch  yesterday  and had a quick bite and had to straight away after I got the horses settled in go by car back to Berrigan to be at the Public School for a 2pm presentation of “Mela-What?”  I was greeted by a very enthusiastic school group of approximately 80 students who had raised $100 for ride4acure.

On Monday as I rode into Barooga from Berrigan (just over 30kms) I was met by Gavin Cullen who was hosting me  for the night with a couple of his young nieces who opted to walk the last couple of kilometers with me to the paddock for the night. It turns out one of the girls,  Leah is a student at Berrigan Public and I was delighted when on arrival at the school Leah was able to introduce me to all the students and share about her experience of meeting me and the horses.

I have had a very dear friend of mine Sue McTaggart (was Dawson) with me for the last few days, Sue is having a ‘holiday’ with me! It has been fantastic to have her with me. Sue has come to both a school and also tonight the Strathmerton Lions Club Dinner where I was guest speaker. I spoke to approximately 15 Lions Club members about ride4acure and was very warmly welcomed and the presentation well received. The Strathmerton Lions generously donated $250 to ride4acure.

Today I had to take Wrangler to the Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital at Shepparton (my friend Sue has her float and 4wd with her!),  to get his back checked by specialist equine vets,  as it was still a little sore and after an xray and ultrasound he was found to have chipped a small piece of bone off his wither area and they had to operate to remove the fragment. He will be at the hospital til Saturday when my friend Sue will pick him up and take him to my niece’s property at Yarragon, East of Melbourne (about 6 hours away and just up the road from where Sue lives), to recover until after I finish the trek. Wrangler will make a full recovery.   I was very sad to leave him there and had a good cry as I drove away listening to him whinnying out for Billy (who also had a vet check while I was there-all good). The last couple of months the three horses and I have forged a very strong bond. Even though I knew in my mind it was critical he get this sorted out (without treatment he would never come right),  I felt rotten that he was alone and wouldn’t be able to finish the trek with me, Meg and Billy….but he did make it across the border which is massive in itself to have come all the way from Kempsey to Cobram Vic. So good effort Wrangler I’m proud of you and us  three (Billy, Meg and I) will miss you as we travel the next couple of weeks to finish the trek as a group of three not four.

Early start in the morning riding from Koonoomoo (4kmsNorth of it) to Katunga (approx 30kms), where hopefully will have the horses shod in the late afternoon. Meg is about to wear through her front shoes, and Billy is only a day behind! Diana and Michael from Clarkes Horse Shoes in Wingham NSW are doing a fantastic job keeping the horse shoes and nails up to my horses. Diana and Michael courier what I need to the farrier  who will work with the horses as I need them done to save carrying all that extra weight.  Friday will see me arrive in Nathalia which is where 48 years ago I was born. Mum and Dad had a farm (a soldier settlers farm), in Nathalia in the 50’s and 60’s after Dad returned from WW2. It will be special to ride through this country.

17^th June 2010- Koonoomoo to Katunga- Caught in a big storm today.

I left Koonoomoo at 9am after spending a wonderful visit with Mick and Val Howes. Mick is a member of the Cobram Campdraft Committee and they very generously donated $150 to ride4acure. Mick also knew my father from the early days of campdrafting in East Gippsland.  It was so good to stay with people who know friends of mine from Kempsey…it was like a ‘little taste of home’ after a couple of long months on the road.   As well I’ve had a really good friend of mine from my own childhood visiting me since Sunday at Berrigan, Sue McTaggart (Dawson). Sue and I have been friends since primary school days and Bairnsdale Pony Club. It is awesome to have her with me and a heap of fun to joke with endlessly taking the Mickey out of each other! Also it has been so good to have an extra pair of hands on deck with things and someone to talk with.

When I was about 15kms from Koonoomoo toward Katunga a massive storm was brewing, high strong winds, black/green clouds, rain and oh so freezing cold. The wind came in horizontally, followed by rain that literally was blowing my oilskin coat level with my horses neck! Meg and Billy had a little ‘hissy fit’ then simply turned their butts to the rain and waited it out. The wind was howling and right before us about three big poplar trees fell clean over the fence onto the road and a further two hundred metres ahead a massive redgum fell clean across the road (Kokada Road) and blocked it completely to traffic. I was able when the storm died down (about 15 minutes later) step my horses over the branches and get along into the open away from the trees. I tell you what I wasted no time trotting away from the trees for safety.   It was the second worst storm I’ve ever been caught in. When I was about 16 I got caught with my Dad Kevin Luxford, droving a big mob of cattle at Gunnedah on a big wide stock route in a massive electrical storm with hail and driving rain.  The trees and branches were falling like matches all around us, except we had to keep the mob of cattle together no matter what! No time to think about our own personal safety it was always the Mob that came first with Dad!

After the storm I rode on to Katunga arriving about 2pm and did an interview with the local Nathalia, Numerkah newspaper in the main street of Katunga. I then had a nice young farrier from Echuca come across to hot shoe my horses….just Billy and Meg as Wrang is still in the hospital at Shepparton til Saturday.this is us as a team of three now not four. I miss having Wrangler, so do Billy and Meg. spending every moment together like this certainly builds a very close bond, it’s a wrench not having him with us to finish the last couple of weeks off, but it’s all grist for the mill.  Sometimes things don’t go how we want and the lesson is to learn to be flexible and go with the unfolding, not to fight it. Hannah loved the saying, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape!” Learning to let go and be flexible is a mighty challenge and one I’m trying to grow into each day as I keep putting one foot in front of the other in this unfolding horse trek journey.

Friday 18^th June: Katunga to Nathalia Birthplace and first home for me.

I was hosted last night by a wonderful fella at Katunga along with my friend Sue. We had a good dinner at the local “Clydesdale Hotel” Katunga and then an early night staying in Jim Morris’s granny flat. Jim also supplied a ripper paddock for my horses very generously. It is through the generosity of so many good people that this ride is actually possible. The ride from Katunga to Nathalia seemed long! And to put a little excitement in my day as I was meandering along a quiet laneway Sue had pulled up and made a nice cuppa tea, just about ready to get back on the road when both horses ‘grew about another four hands high!’, when I looked ahead there was a paddock on the left with about three emus and an ostrich! Just lovely….Billy was whistling out his nose and his head was about ten foot off the ground. Meg was only slightly less elevated. Took me about twenty minutes to get them past the feathered menagerie, while Sue was ahead a little taking photos and laughing her head off! Billy even after we were a few hundred yards past the birds kept looking back over his shoulder whistling at them! He was literally trembling with fear at them. This is their third encounter with emus. I think it was the ostrich that did him in as it did it’s dance routine where it’s head and neck disappeared and flapping its big feathered wings every which way! Poor Billy…

I was very excited to actually reach Nathalia. The local paper had ran an article on ride4acure which meant people were aware I was coming and some met me on the street to make donations. I rode right down the main street. Stopped and took a photo out the front of the old hospital where I was born 48 years ago. After I finished in town with the horses I took a drive with Sue out to our old farm where Mum and Dad had a dairy and piggery all those years ago. It was so poignant to actually see the farm and ‘join a few dots’ about family history for me.

Saturday June 19th– Sue’s gone home today and has picked Wrangler up from the Shepparton Equine Hospital and took him to her place to look after him for me. He has a very large ‘site’ on his offside shoulder area that Sue will treat with Manuka Honey while it heals.   I am so thankful for Sue’s help this week and simply being here with me, and not to mention having someone taking some photo’s, I am very limited with my ‘self taking’ of photo’s. It’s been simply terrific! We’ve had a great time meeting up with people along the way that affirm the goodness and big heartedness of living in this great land and first hand experience the open hearted generosity of people. Doing this horse trek is the most incredible way to see the country and meet people.   I constantly think about how things have changed, what it would’ve looked like two hundred years ago and even fifty years ago with the changes in agriculture. I see so much sustainable farming happening now and caring for country- in the most part the land is in good hands!

It has been so cold and windy for the three days  and 120kms of riding between Boree Creek and Berrigan that the horses and I have just accomplished. I rode into Berrigan late yesterday arvo at about 4.30 which was awesome as we left Oaklands at 8am.  I’d stayed Friday night  at the Oaklands Hotel and had a great nights rest. Lisa and Kev are the publicans at Oaklands and provided me with accommodation and a meal.  A very lively Friday night was going on at the pub with pizza’s being churned out of the kitchen at incredible pace by Lisa and her crew (eat your heart out Eagle Boys!) to feed the crew in the bar. The locals were very generous in their donating to ride4acure and very interested in the ride. A big thank you to Shane and Kate for providing a great paddock for the night and ferrying my gear from Oaklands to Berrigan for me. And most especially dropping off a hot curry pie for my lunch yesterday, in the cold and wind it was delicious!  I’d just pulled up about 15kms from Berrigan for a late lunch and put the nosebags on the horses when Shane and Kate pulled up.Had an interesting time with a solo, pshyco emu about 10kms out of Berrigan and for a brief moment wasn’t sure I was going to make it as the horses went ballistic when they saw this crazy emu running flat out toward them! all three horses went racing backwards away from the bird. I finally got them over the highway on the other side of the road and hard against the other fence and managed to get them past it JUST!! Of course all the way into town they were jumping out of their skins as every bush had become a horse eating emu! They didn’t really settle down until we got to town, but they walked that fast we covered the last ten kms in record time! So there was a bonus out of the experience.

I met some wonderful people a few weeks ago when I was riding through Mirool and they’d teed up a paddock and accommodation for me here in Berrigan which is very comfortable. I’m still tucked up in bed now with a warm wood fire going catching up on email. The horses are fetlock deep in good feed in a great paddock. I have a good friend coming to spend a few days with me whom I have known since my teens.

The exciting thing is I am about to cross the Murray River. Am only a days ride now from Cobram. This feels like a real milestone. I am also very close to Nathalia, in Victoria which is where I was born. My family had a farm there back in the 50’s and early 60’s. Also Berrigan where I am today is where my Uncle Ray Luxford lived for a good part of his life with his wife Betty and their family. The first person I met as I rode into town came out to give a donation and it  turned out he’d worked with Uncle Ray! Good Welcome!

Today am kicking back and resting up, catching up on emails etc, planning events for the last three weeks-watch this space!

I left Boree Creek just before 8.30am and it was freezing cold then and didn’t warm up at all today and it was so windy. I swear it was like 6 degrees! I was rugged up and still cold. No doubt about it on a horse all day there is no getting out of the weather.

Yesterday I visited Lockhart Primary and High schools and gave two “Mela-What?” presentations. The students in both groups were fantastic and very engaging. I feel so privileged having the opportunity to meet so many awesome young people and share ‘Mela-What?” I really appreciate the feedback that comes through from students and teachers, certainly inspires me to keep putting one foot in front of the other with skin cancer and melanoma awareness.

Unfortunately when I got home from the schools I had to nail a hind shoe back on Meg, she had lost it in the red mud! It took me half an hour to put the one shoe on! I’m certainly not going to take up a career as a farrier any time soon! Diana and Michael from Clarkes Horseshoes in Wingham have been supporting me with horse shoes and ‘road nails’ for my crew and have very generously found farriers for me along the way. We’re busy trying to tee someone up for the next few days to reshoe the whole crew. Have had a good run out of this set (over three weeks! Compared to 12-14 days when I was riding on bitumen) I have been able to get off the road more and ride on soil as I’ve come through the central West and into the Riverina.

Today I rode over my first ‘clay pans’ in 18 years! Bringing back a lot of memories for me riding through this country.

I am staying in a Bed and Breakfast cottage in Urana that was kindly donated to ride4acure for the night. Pat from Urana and Boree Creek ‘ Ag and Vet’ organised this for me and also tomorrow night’s accommodation at Oaklands Hotel. Then on Saturday I’m riding on to Berrigan where I have a place oranised for me through one of the people connected to the ‘Tuppal Station’ shearing exhibition.

I had a radio interview this afternoon with Fiona Wiley on the Afternoon Show on NSW ABC radio. I had been riding along and simply pulled up for ten minutes while I did the interview. I had just finished the interview and was riding along the roadside and a whopping great hare jumped right in front of Meg, Wrangler and Billy and they all had a ‘kafuffle’ over it, lucky it didn’t happen while I was on the radio! Things just might have got ugly!

I’ pulled up for a few days to  rest horses, catch up with Joe my 11 year old son, who is with me til Wednesday 9th June when he flies back to Kempsey. I’m also sorting  gear (yet again), and of course I’m doing some forward planning-reworking my route a little as the days are shrinking and some of the mileages I had down for the next few weeks aren’t possible due to lack of daylight! My school commitments this coming week are Boree Creek school tomorrow, then Lockhart Primary and High Schools both on Wednesday after lunch on my way back from dropping Joe at Wagga Airport. then on Thursday I’ll be saddled up and riding again.

It has got colder here in the Riverina this week and am so glad my horses have upgraded their rugs courtesy of Jodie Brazier from GoHorse Rugs. Note also the nosebags the horses eat out of on the trek were made for me about ten years ago by Suzie Argue from Silver Dollar Saddlery of Kempsey when we were travelling the Junior Rodeo Circuit when Hannah and Esther we’re just starting out campdrafting and barrel racing. 

The trip across to Tuppal Station (out the back of Tocumwal)  for the 72 stand shearing of the rams re-enactment was fantastic. I heard on the radio this morning they estimated between 15 and 20 000 people attended over Friday and Saturday. It was awesome to see 72 stands operating (88 metre floor!) at 12.30 on Friday 72 blade shearers re-enacted Tom Robert’s famous Australian painting “The shearing of the rams”. A little bit of history to be a part of.

GRONG GRONG AND NARRANDERRA Areas

It is 4.30am Friday morning and I’m awake early to get ready to head off to Tocumwal to “North Tuppal Station”  to a big sheep shearing exhibition.   There will be a 72 stand shearing shed operating with approximately 300 workers in the shed including roustabouts, wool pressers, etc . This will be an amazing thing to see. I have been invited to go to speak with school aged students and the organisers are estimating there could be as many as 2.000 students there today. As I was riding to Mirrool the other day a car pulled up with three people from the Berrigan area. They invited me to come across today and utilise the opportunity to speak with young people about ride4acure. I’m figuring I will meet students from area’s that I will be going to as I ride further south.

The sun has been shining since Tuesday  after a week of rain for me and the horses, as I’ve travelled through the Central West and into the Riverina. It has been a significant change in the season watching this rain cause a flush of new growth with both crops and pasture. Many dams are full now for the first time in years, the table drains still brimming with water. People all over saying this is the best start to winter for more than a decade which is good to hear when things have been so tough for so many for so long.

On Tuesday I visited both Narranderra Public School (Years 5 & 6)  and Grong Grong Public School, whole school presentation. I have to say Grong Grong School has a total of 10 students total! This great little school created a lovely healthy lunch and invited community members to attend and raised over $180 for ride4acure.

I had been staying with an old friend I’ve known for just on thirty years Mick Batchelor or ‘Batch’ as we know him, from Grong Grong and his family.  ‘Batch’ is my brother Mick’s best mate and it’s been fantastic to catch up, not to mention being on the receiving end of some outstanding cooking. Batch makes his own bread, fantastic soups and cooks the best lamb roast! It was hard to leave yesterday!

On Wednesday my son Joe flew from Port Macquarie to Wagga Wagga to be with me for a week which is so good. I miss my family like crazy. Seeing him walk off the plane yesterday was brilliant. I had to pick up more horse feed while I was in Wagga Wagga. I have been sponsored by Mitavite for my horse feed and stocked up while I could.  I was surprised to find out that Narranderra doesn’t have a produce store anymore.

On Wednesday night I was invited to be guest speaker at Narranderra Rotary Club and was made to feel most welcome. There was a group of a couple of dozen Rotarians  present and we enjoyed a very delicious meal at the “Newell Motel” out on the highway to Hay and then I gave a presentation of ride4acure to the group. The club and individual members very generously gave a donation of over $460 on the night which is incredibly generous.

Yesterday morning Thursday Joe and I rode the horses into Grong Grong Public School to show the students the pack horse loaded up and to meet the horses. It was awesome to see the delight on the kids faces to meet, pat and feed the horses some treats (carrots and apples they’d bought to school especially!)

I am now in Boree Creek and will be having a “rest up” here til next Wednesday to spend some time with Joe, and spell my horses, who are so incredibly tired. I will be in Tocumwal today for the shearing expo, Grong Grong tomorrow for a Barrel Racing day, Monday will be taking horses to Boree Creek School.  Next Wednesday Joe will be going back to Kempsey by plane from Wagga Wagga and after that I will be visiting Lockhart Central School for two presentations to both Primary and High School students. I will then on Thursday ride from Boree Creek to Lockhart and show the horses to the students on Thursday afternoon before on Friday riding across to Urana and begin the journey down into Victoria and crossing the Murray River via Berrigan.

Reception has been a little dodgy for me with my little computer and dongle making it tricky to get online and put entries on the blog. I am reliant on mobile phone for wireless broadband reception to keep the website up to date and am again out of range here in Boree Creek.  The trick I am doing today is to write it up save it and when I’ll be in range later on today I will put it up!

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I left West Wyalong with a big heart full of gratitude for the wonderful people I met during my two day stay at Alex and Leslie Maitlands. To be honest West Wyalong felt like a meeting up with old friends more than making new ones. I felt so incredibly welcomed wherever I went. On Saturday morning I rode for two and a half hours into town to the Pony Club jumping day. I was met along the way by Les Warner who is a retired but sprightly 80 odd year old drover who knew my Dad Kevin Luxford years ago. It’s a small world amongst drovers especially out here in the Central West and Riverina. Les rode with me in the rain/showers I might add into town to the Pony Club. I then spent some time there meeting up with people and low and behold was greeted on my arrival by someone who looked familiar and turned out to be Jody Williams from almost 30 years ago when I was rodeoing in Victoria. Jody used to ride Kirby Crosses horses barrel racing. It was a blast from the past! I also caught up with families I met from Parkes Pony Club who had kids there competing in the jumping in between downpours of rain. I set sail again about two pm with Richard Maslin who had ridden with me last week for an afternoon. Richard had bought his ripper horse Duke in and rode off with me for about 10kms in the rain out of town and  along the Newell toward Narranderra.

I rode out of town about 14 kms to Linda and Alan Clarkes place and paddock the horses for the night and stayed with the Clarkes who very generously hosted me and my horses for the night. I was on the road by 8.30am and rode in the pouring rain all day. It didn’t let up until late afternoon when I was about two kilometres from Mirrool and a weak sun finally broke through the grey clouds. The Mirrool Hotel publicans, Kev and Claire, very generously donated my accommodation, dinner(an absolutely fantastic homemade pizza, probably the best I’ve eaten! thank you Claire!!)  and a couple of very well savoured XXXX Gold’s on Sunday night. Kev also organised a paddock for the horses which I’m grateful for. I spent some time in the bar yarning with customers who kindly made donations to ride4acure, yesterday raised over $150 which is awesome considering the weather.

I am in both Narranderra and Grong Grong Primary Schools tomorrow visiting schools to present “Mela-What?” of course travelling by car to get there! My horses are holed up in a paddock now for a couple of days having a well deserved rest. It’s been hard riding for them since last Tuesday as it’s been wet each day and mostly riding in very muddy conditions. Yesterday was so muddy that I couldn’t get off the road at all or they’d sink in red mud! Plus the rubbish along the highways was phenomonal! I was thinking how different it is to the bike ride where I was finding interesting things all the time. Yesterday I saw a ‘ganvel’ and a block and tackle and a wrench type tool! But of course I left the whole lot on the side of the road as I wasn’t gonna add to the load I was already carrying! I am again amazed at the car and truck parts that litter the roadside, so many electrical cables, leads, drums, bolts etc….I wonder how there aren’t more vehicles broken down on the side of the road! The constant rain yesterday was tricky. I was damp and cold, almost straightaway, as everytime a truck went by, the horses and  I were ‘showered’ by a massive wave of water off the road and couldn’t get off it because of the mud. I was frozen too, and the only part of me that was warm was my neck as I had my fancy neck/earwarmer on with my Akubra! I’ll take a photo next time, it’s a pretty impressive bit of gear! I bought it in a camping shop in Armidale and am ever so grateful I did. Yesterday I was blowing into it and breathing the warm air down inside myself imagining it was a warm fire warming my bones up! How sad is that! I was so glad to actually get to Mirrool and warm up. I slept like a log all night. Have been having no trouble sleeping at all.

What a ripper little town West Wyalong is.

Last night I was fortunate to be given a few minutes time at the Golf Club on a microphone to talk with a hundred or so patrons about ride4acure. The golf club kicked off a ‘pass the hat around’ fundraiser after my speech and $641.50 cents was raised in about ten minutes from the very generous people of West Wyalong. Additionally, today I received another donation of $150 from a generous local family, plus when I visited West Wyalong High School after the “Mela-What?” presentation I was handed a cheque for $500 from the Year 11 Leadership group who have been fundraising for a few weeks at the school. I am humbled by the generosity of this place and will forever hold West Wyalong close to my heart. Thank you to everyone for making me so welcome and for the generous donations to ride4acure.  A big thankyou to Richard and Sue Maslin and also James and Linda Maslin for their generosity and also to  Alex, Leslie and Tim Maitland for hosting me and my three horses for the last couple of days here a”Eastleigh”, and also to Peter  the Technology teacher at the High School for donating a bag of horse feed, and of course Emma Petitt local Equine Bowen Therapist, thank you so much for your generosity in donating your professional skills to giving my horses two treatments each to help them stay fit and sound for this big venture. I couldn’t do this without the big heartedness of good people.  You’re a Winner West Wyalong!

Wednesday 26^th May-10kms from West Wyalong

Welcome rain has fallen across the central West here to give a kick start to newly sown crops all over the region. Made for interesting riding for this trekker and my three horses, who for the first time experienced walking on wet black soil.  The soil sticks to their hooves and they all grew an extra hand high! I had to take their bell boots off (rubber protective boots I put on the led horse and my saddle horse to protect their heels from the ‘tail tied’ horse in the instance he crowds the two front horses and steps on their heels), as the mud was sticking to the inside of the bell boot and making it impossible to walk properly. I had the company today of another rider Linda Maslin from “Caragabal West” on the Grenfell Road where I stayed last night with Linda and her husband James, and had dinner with their son Charles and girlfriend Bec. We had a great night yarning around the table. Linda saddled up this morning and rode from “Minoru”, Richard and Sue Maslin, where I’d stayed for a couple of nights, to “Eastleigh” 10kms from West Wyalong (approx 32 ish kms) where I’m camped for a couple of nights with Alex and Leslie Maitland while I visit the High School in West Wyalong and get another Bowen Treatment done on the horses. Which I must say has made a big difference to the inflammation in the horses backs! Good news.  Linda rode her mare ‘Maggie’ and we had a good time yarning most of the way when we could above the truck noise!

I pulled up to water the horses in a good puddle and low and behold a whopping great yabbie was in it with his pincers up in the air having a ‘go’ at me! I was amazed to see the critter like that and to see the fight in him/her.

I had a great interview on Riverina ABC Radio this morning just after nine, I simply pulled the horses up and let the eat grass while I did the interview with Simon. It went really well and had the ‘authentic’ background noise of dozens of B-Double trucks the whole time!

I ride out of here on Saturday morning, and will be visiting the West Wyalong Pony Club jumping day on my way through town. I’ll also have the company of a couple of other riders too which is great. One of whom is Les Warner, an old drover who used to know my dad Kevin Luxford years ago when we were droving through this area. I always feel so heartened to meet people who knew Dad and know what a good stockman and horseman he was. I often think about what Dad would make of me doing this ride with my three horses and I reckon he’d be very proud of me for having a crack and to be doing something like this that will benefit so many other young people just like Hannah.

“Minoru” 35 kms from West Wyalong on Newell Highway

I am having another day off. It’s wet here and not so good for trekkers riding in black mud! Will be heading into West Wyalong tomorrow though.

I took Billy and Wrangler into town yesterday to a Bowen Therapist Emma who has hopefully worked some magic on the ‘boys’ and they’ll be loosened up. They’ll have another treatment on Friday afternoon when I’m in West Wyalong.

I’ve been staying with Richard and Sue Maslin at “Minoru”. Richard rode out the last ten kilometers on Sunday to accompany me to his station and it’s been an absolute pleasure to spend some time here. Richards brother James was so kind to organise all my camp overs along the Newell between Forbes and West Wyalong and I’m so grateful for  his help. Staying with people is so good it means my horses have a safe paddock for the night and not tethered along the ‘truck artery’ of NSW, and also I have a warm, comfy bed for the night, a good meal, a hot shower and company! Doesn’t get better than that!

The trucks on the Newell are constant. I’m guessing that as many trucks use the Newell as the Hume Highway. This assessment made from my bike ride last year. The good thing about the Newell is it’s a wide (mostly) stock route and I can get off the shoulder a bit. Having said that it gets pretty narrow ahead on this last leg into West Wyalong.

I will be off to West Wyalong High School on Friday to present “Mela-What?” and had the good fortune to meet some of the high school kids at various places I went yesterday and they’ve all been gearing up for the visit and are fundraising for ride4acure with a crazy hat and sunglasses day. I love the creativity that emerges through this! Am about to go and give the horses their nose bags….that means I have to get out of this very comfy warm bed! Ah the luxury…

The following is a link to an interview on yesterday’s Mid North Coast Rural Report ABC radio with Kim Honan.  http://www.abc.net.au/rural/regions/content/201005/2907343.htm

I have just ticked off two big days of riding.   FRIDAY 21.5.10 Parkes to Forbes  In Parkes I stayed with Norma and Barry Garment and it was totally delightful.  I was privileged on the day I rode out of town to have two of the Parkes Pony Club girls ride from the Garments and the rest met us at the pony club grounds for a photo shoot for the newspaper and also the girls ‘escorted’ me for about 8kms from Parkes towards Forbes. It was great to have some company.

I rode about 45kms yesterday about 9 hours riding and arrived right on dark again. Luckily had some great helpers on hand who helped rug, water and feed the horses. I stayed with Wayne and Irene Teale and had a delicious dinner and we sat around yarning for a while.

I had the day before been talking to a girlfriend of mine about ‘desensitising’ the horses and we were discussing how horses who are exposed to a lot of stimuli reach a ‘saturation point’.  Famous last words Guys…. I mentioned that I was quietly confident that my horses had now seen most things and were really not reacting to stuff. They’ve seen almost every possible species of the animal kingdom, types of machinery etc. Yesterday arvo about 4pm while I was riding down a very narrow laneway I could see a very large tractor towing something toward me. That something turned out to be a massive air seeder, with ‘arms’ tucked up about 30 feet! Meg went into a spin that was awesome but would have been better if I had some control! Fact was she was spinning on the spot, better than bucking I thought (I’ve watched her buck in the paddock and have thought there is no way on earth I could stay there for 1 second, so a spin was feeling pretty good at this stage but of course I had to drop Wranglers lead (Billy’s tied to his tail) while the turnout happened. After about 8 trips around the world we stopped and had a look. No harm done, bit giddy but all OK. This definitely confirms the universe has a sense of humour. I rode away very humbled with my little loyal bucksin Meg, shaking her head for a few minutes, like she was shaking the thought of ‘the close shave’ with the horse eating air seeder right out of her mind. Man I love this little horse.

SAT: 22.5.10

Today got away just after 8am, and was on the road with another two escorts, Wayne Teale (my host last night and his wife Irene) and also a mate of Waynes, Dave. Both Wayne and Dave are into Carriage Driving. (I am now dozing off while trying to write this! Will wake a little earlier and try and finish it before I head off in the morning.) I have another 35km day ahead of me, then Monday is a rest day before I head into West Wyalong on Tuesday.

(Early Sunday am finishing this over breakfast, horses are busily chomping on some oaten hay Wayne donated and I’m inside for 20 mins to have breaky, make lunch, boil thermos, and update blog then outside to prepare horses for the day and  hit the road.

The horses are holding their condition well I’m feeding them all a litre of Mitavite Economix plus 100 mls of performance oil (Mitavite product) and they all look great. I have lots of comments off people about their condition and people are amazed they’re looking so good with all the miles they’re doing and so little feed. They are on grass each night, plus each two hours/ten kilometers I stop and let them have a 10 minute ‘grass break’, this serves a dual purpose of resting their legs, keeping their gut happy and I can have a little cuppa! I have a 800ml thermos so I get four tiny cuppa’s a day! Having said that yesterday I ended up only having a couple!

I absolutely loved the ride yesterday, riding along the Newell Highway, big wide open stock routes, tones of good grass everywhere, about four good watering holes hosting water birds. A beautiful surprise when I was about 15kms from Forbes a drop dead gorgeous big white semi pulls up  hangs his head out and goes “How ya going Mauz?”, I’m looking and not recognising who it was at first and out steps a guy that looked familiar, and I realised it was Bill Hughes from Gisborne, Victoria.  It was delightful to see someone familiar. He said the truckies had been saying there was a sheila riding three horses down the Newell and he had a feeling it might be me! That was just terrific. Bill is special to me as he’s one of a ‘crew’ (my nieces Sarah and Liz and sister Kate also) who keep an eye on Hannah’s garden that Joe and I planted at her grave in Gisborne. When I live so far away it is a deep heartfelt comfort to know these good people are looking after things for me with Han’s resting place.

I am very happy with how things are going with the trekking. I am managing to get gear ferried from ‘camp to camp’ and yesterday talked with a company called ‘Back on Track’ who manufacture saddle pads and specialise in treating ‘back issues’ with horses. Well I’m there woman! They’re sending me three saddle pads and some liniment. The saddle pad issue for all you horse people out there is a very interesting one. I have used Koda felt pads for over 15 years and never had a spot of trouble with them. Having said that now doing so much riding for so many hours a day what I’ve discovered is that after about four hours of consistant riding they actually ‘heat’ the horses back. I am now putting a ‘colour check’ pure wool/horse hair stuffed saddle pad against their backs with the Koda felt on top, Billy with the pack saddle has two wool ones and Koda on top, and it doesn’t matter how many hours their saddled their backs are cool.  I unsaddle the horses after 5 hours for 30 minutes, give them a quick rub down, dry off and then re-saddle. Billy still get’s the odd little lump and bump that goes away with massage, so I haven’t quite got it right yet. The thing is with all the packing is the hours I’m doing. There’s probably not a lot of horses out there these days doing fifty hours of packing or even riding a week. And these guys are and doing it well. I am so proud of them all.

Well this little trekker better go out there now it’s now gone 7am!  and get on the road! Riding from Rodell and Neville Inwood’s property to Richard and Sue Maslins about 35kms along toward West Wyalong and hopefully about 7 hours riding, never quite works out like that though. And tomorrow is a day off for all of us and well deserved!