ride4acure

God is good that’s what I know. Today I had ‘planned’ to look after my horses, do some washing, computer updating etc, then from 2pm get my horses shod and have an early night. My day went a little bit along those lines but oh so much more. At 9.45 am was in a car with Norma Garment (the wonderful lady I’m staying with) going to East Parkes school to share ride4acure and “Mela-What?” with a joint scripture class of the Anglican and Catholic kids who just happen to have both Norma whom I’m staying with and her husband Barry Garment, and John Hanstock from ‘Spring park’ that I stayed with the night before as the scripture teachers . So all three of their classes together and I was able to give the presentation and share the ride4acure story with this fantastic group of young people. What a privelege for me.

Also I have had so many wonderful people in the last week who have helped me out with accommodation for me and my equine friends who all belong to the Central West Carriage Horse Society including Alf and Sharon Cantrell, Norma and Barry Garment, Wayne Teale (at Forbes who I’ll be staying with tomorrow night) and also Christian Munge the farrier from Dubbo! Amazingly generous people I’m so fortunate to have met.

After the school this morning I came back here and did get some computer jobs done, website and blogs updated, then the farrier Christian Munge came all the way from Dubbo with his apprentice Michael and shod all three horses for me with shoes and nails provided by Clarkes Horseshoes of Wingham, who’d couriered what I needed all the way from Wingham to Dubbo for me! Christian and Michael were here for over three hours and very generously donated the shoeing which is incredibly kind hearted.

I’m blown away by the generosity and big heartedness of people, today I feel so completely humbled by the goodness and charity within the humans I’ve had the grace to meet today (and of course so many of the other days of this incredible ride). And to top off an awesome day tonight got to meet Norma and Barry’s daughter Heather and her daughter Elizabeth. Heather has organised media and a group of pony club riders to escort me for 10kms out of Parkes, one of which is her daughter Elizabeth, with a few other riders we’ll be meeting at Parkes pony club grounds ont he way past. Also Parkes pony club are making a donation to ride4acure with a special presentation tomorrow. I go to sleep a very satisfied, Blessed  and happy horse trekker!

So here I am well past my bedtime tucked up thinking about the good naturedness of others and how blessed I am to have this life.

DAY 1 Yeoval to “Spring Park” 37kms.  Yeoval is a ripper little town and definitely lives up to its reputation as being the ‘best little town in the West’. I’ve had the good fortune to meet some wonderful, generous people two of whom are Alf and Sharon Cantrall who have ‘Ye Old Trading Post’, which is a general store, collectables, tourist info shop and also ‘home’ to the attempt to have the world’s biggest billycan collection. This collection now sports an addition from ride4acure, my sorry little billycan out of my packsaddle that has a hole in the bottom, no lid and no handle(used the handle to make a wire tool to fix something! But it is ‘curious’ and has a story! I have to add Alf gives away a new billy for each one donated! So I’m now feeling very flash with a shiny new billy in tow.

Alf & Sharon Yeoval

I got away from Yeoval about 9am and had 37kms to ride to get to night camp which was with John and Marina Hanstock at ‘Spring Park’ half way between Parkes and Yeoval. I had a small crew of local pony club riders who rode out of Yeoval with me for a few k’s. It was great to have some company. These guys also came to meet me when I came into town and on Sunday I had lunch with them at their Grandparents home Deb and David.

Leaving Yeoval with Pony Club Girls.

 My horses were very happy to be in a big paddock for the night, and Marina had a delicious meal ready for us. Esther, who was on her way from Wagga Wagga back to Kempsey called in and stayed the night too. Esther had her big horse ‘Titan’ with her, and she pulled up in mid afternoon at ‘Spring Park’ then cantered/walked the 10kms back to me and rode the last couple of hours with me. We arrived right on dark to be greeted by John’s working dogs, who bought the roof down barking at us as they’d never seen horses before, I figured they thought we may’ve been giant sheep! We were in bed pretty early as Esther had to be up at 4am to get on the road to pick a horse up at Stroud. It was absolutely fantastic to see and hold Esther, I miss my kids like crazy! Will have Joe in a couple of weeks for a visit for a week, which’ll be great! He’s flying to Wagga on 2^nd June for the week.

DAY 2: ‘Spring Park’ to Parkes 19.5.2010 – 31kms.  I woke up with Esther at 4am and helped her catch Titan and load him (not that she needed any help of course, he’s a legend of a horse, has been turned out at Quambone for the last six months and was like he’d been every day in work!) Esther was on the road by 4.30am and I went back up to the house but was wide awake, so made a pot of tea and settled in by the wood fire in John and Marina’s kitchen. Marina got up and we sat around yarning for an hour or so then I was down with the horses by 7am. It takes me a couple of hours to get on the road of a morning with all the stuff I have to do, feeding, un-rugging horses,   brushing horses, cleaning hooves, massaging horses, rubbing liniment, applying ointments,  treating bruises, saddling up, packing packs/prioritising gear (making sure I can get to gear I may need during the day), balancing and weighing loads-I use luggage scales to weigh each bag to make sure everything is even. Then of course putting on the packs, tying things down to make sure it won’t move. Putting my signs up, making sure everything’s right!   All this takes time. And I’ve learnt it’s critical to take the time getting ready to make sure everything is good to actually save time. ‘Take the time it takes so it takes less time’, is a hard lesson to learn as the temptation is to hurry to get on the road. The issue is that daylight is limited and if I’m not on the road by 9am at least I’ll be in the dark at the end of the day.  At present I’m staying under the 40kms a day mark to not overtire the horses and myself. I’m going really well physically, but I tell you I’m looking for my pillow by 7.30pm. Last night after I got to Parkes the beautiful people Norma and Barry Garment that I’m staying with took me out to the club for a delicious dinner, they’re retired and meet up with a group of other retirees each Wednesday night. I was really happy to go with them after I’d got the horses settled in and had a welcome hot shower and got cleaned up. Acutally blow dried my hair and put a little make up on! Hardly recognized myself in the mirror!!  At the club after a well enjoyed scooner of XXXX Gold and a yummy dinner I was sitting at the table with about ten other people (all 70 years plus) chatting away about ride4acure then, promptly fell asleep! Thought that was a laugh…. Norma Bless her,  woke me up and suggested she take me home! I agreed!

Today I have a ‘rest’ day, slept til 7am, tended my horses, then went into a Parkes Primary School with Norma and presented “Mela-What?” to the Catholic and Anglican scripture classes from years 3-6, what a fantastic group of kids and staff.  Now I’m back with the horses and have a farrier from Dubbo coming to re-shoe the crew. Clarkes Shoes from Wingham have couriered over shoes and tungsten tipped shoeing nails for me to a farrier in Dubbo who will be here at 2pm to hotshoe the horses. He’s going to heat the shoes on his forge and temper them in warm engine oil in pursuit of a longer shoe life as at the moment I’m only getting two weeks out of a shoe! This is a ‘trick’ that carriage driver who work their horses on bitumen use. So fingers crossed it’ll do the trick for this trekker and her equine mates. I realise now what an unusual work situation my horses are under at the moment. The majority of their walking is on bitumen. Probably they’ve only had about 5% off tar. These days this is a very unusual work situation for horses.

So tomorrow will be on the road to Forbesby 9am  and I think I have a few pony club riders with me for a few kilometers, and staying with people just out of Forbes.

I AM OFFICIALLY HALF WAY TO MELBOURNE! WOO HOO! I’m thoroughly thrilled with this…..and couldn’t have done it without the generous help of so many ‘friends’ i’ve met along the way who have helped me out with things. Bless everyone…..

BLOG Thursday 13^th may 2010: Gulgong to Wellington via Ben Buckley Rd

I stayed last night at Guntawang Thoroughbred Stud just out of Gulgong with a lovely family, Deb and Jarrod. I arrived in the dark and was welcomed with a great little paddock for the Crew and then into a warm friendly home with hot chicken soup to tuck into! Bliss for this Trekker!

I got up this morning at about 5.15am and had to sort through my gear yet again (I already had but through the night could think of a few other things I wouldn’t need with me on the two day haul to Wellington. I am again a horse down, Wrangler can’t have a saddle on for probably another week, which means I’m yet again having to juggle gear ahead for e.g. spare saddle and saddle pads, extra horse feed, winter horse rugs. Wrangler can’t have a rug on at the moment because of the position of his ‘wound’ which is right on the point of his wither. I swear his ‘coat’ has grown an inch in two nights without his rug on! He’s improving each day. I rode about 35 kms today. Had a brilliant time of it and the horses were great.

Had alpacas and lots of sheep today, Meg had a good look at each little herd but didn’t fuss too much. Also a first for me today ‘meals on wheels’, a lovely young man, Mark Johnson from Narromine pulled up with a box of hot chicken nuggets, it was about noon and I hadn’t had a thing to eat since before 6am and I’d been riding for a good three hours! I was very happy to accept his offering. I thought Joe and Ezzie would be proud of me tucking into Macca’s with gusto! Normally you’d have to pay me a wad of money to eat it, but not today! I rode for about 5 hours then stopped for an hour on a lovely little creek just down the Ben Buckley Rd and let the horses have a pick of some good green grass and to rest their backs.  Billy has the pack saddle back on and is going really well.

My little Meg is a heart winner for me, she has so much grit and try, and will have a go at anything. She’s a trooper with a big heart and oh so sensible. Marj and Bob Butler bred Meg and I think in fact may have been the last foal out of her good palomino stock horse mare ‘Honey’ by an Argyle cold at Skip McCarthy’s, I reckon Marj would be very proud of this little mare. I didn’t make it to the spot I wanted to camp at, so pulled up about 5kms short of it at a culvert that had water in it, and some rock free flat area for my tent. Got the horses tethered, treated with various concoctions, fed, rugged, then it was dark and I had to tackle putting up the tent in the dark-Success!. I am tucked up in it now warm as toast, typing up this blog entry. I’ve had about ten people stop to chat, even now in the dark and I’m in the tent! People worry about me, I had a lovely man Dan drop wood off for me, but I was already in bed at 7.30pm! He also bought hot soup for me. Another lady and her daughter called in with a thermos of soup and toast for me! Unfortunately I couldn’t get the lid off the thermos! How frustrating…so it was Deb mashed potatoes, a tin of tuna and peas and it was yummy!

BLOG Friday 14^th May 2010 Ben Buckley Rd-the long way to Wellington!

How much frost can be on one small tent and it’s still upright? Well I think I found that out last night. I’m told it was -3 degrees this morning….felt like minus 10! My minus 5 sleeping bag didn’t quite do it’s job….I froze to the bone. I ferreted around this morning about 1am and put on every piece of clothing and coat etc I had and still froze. I’m in  Dubbo on Monday to visit a school and will be visiting a camping shop to get a minus 15 bag. There is no way I’ll be that cold again. My tent was white with frost and luckily all my gear was covered by a tarp.  I’d ridden down the Gulgong to Wellington main road for four hours then turned down the Ben Buckley Rd at about 2pm (I didn’t get away from Gulgong til 10am. It takes me about two hours to get the horses ready at the moment with Wranglers back, he has to get hosed down, lymphatic drainage massage, reiki, poultice, oral anti inflammatory, honey TWICE a day!) But I have to say he’s going really well and his wither and back is looking great.  I am learning so much about long distance riding on so many levels. Billy is going really well now too, his back has healed and the new pack saddle is shaping up well to the job. Billy packed all yesterday, and I stopped for a 20 minute lunch break and unsaddled. When I’m not actually ‘packing’ packs I can saddle all the horses up in about 30 minutes. So to have a twenty minute break it takes me 10 minutes to unsaddle Billy and Meg, then 30 minutes to resaddle them, but it’s worth it to give their backs a break.

Today  I was on the road by 9am and rode for 4 hours then had a very short break and kept riding. It seemed to be taking a long time today, but the horses were happy as we were on a dirt road,  there was next  to no  traffic and reasonable water. I rode for about six hours then found out I’d miscalculated the kilometers and I was still 25kms from Wellington. Well I was never gonna be able to cover that distance, so at 3pm I saw a farm with people home and rode in and asked for a paddock for the night. And as luck would have it have met a fabulous young couple Norm and Pip Smith of Glendale Merino Stud and am staying the night with them. And as I’m writing this tonight I am tucked up in a warm, dry, comfortable bed. Very different picture to last night!

I am going to get on the road by 9am tomorrow and ride into Wellington.

SATURDAY 15^th May, Glenwood Merino Stud to Wellington/Yeoval.

Well I didn’t quite make the 9am start. I rode away from Glenwood at 10.15am. I am delighted to have met Pip and Norm and their wonderful kids.  I felt like I’ve known these guys forever. This morning over breakfast we discussed some very exciting fundraising possibilities. Watch this space! Also Norm and Pip are helping me out with friends of theirs along the route I’m taking for paddocks/beds etc for us Crew! After the camping episode and -3 degree experience I’m happy to stay with people whenever possible.

I’m staying with  Alf and Sharon Cantrall of Yeoval tomorrow and Monday. Yeoval is the birth place of Banjo Paterson. When I was coming into the town there’s a heap of bikes hanging in trees, on signs and in the strangest places. I now know they are representative of Banjo’s famous poem Mulga Bill’s Bicycle. Each July they have the Mulga Bill Festival and last year had Jack Thompson as their special gues and he recited poetry to thousands at the sight of Banjo’s homesite. Also at the moment Alf Cantrell is attempting to have the biggest billy collection in the world and is doing a trade in on old billy’s. He’s taken my sorry looking billy that has a hole pierced in the bottom of it where I put the pack down on a sharp rock and punctured the bottem, I’ve been using it for a feed dipper, has no lid now (got mangled), took the handle off to use as a make shift tool for a job! It’s a very sorry little billycan addition for the Yeoval  Billy collection.  Alf and Sharon are very generously lending me a vehicle to drive to Dubbo to visit the Grammar College to present “Mela-What?” and I also have an ABC interview.  I’m also definitely visiting camping shop for new sleeping bag and also on the hunt for a canvas waterbag. In the 70’s we had a heap of them that used to hang on the bulbar of the truck. I haven’t seen one for 20 years. It’s a very practical way to carry water. I used about 3 litres a day for drinking water and tea. I have two days of camping when I leave here, then another 3 or 4 nights between Parkes and West Wyalong.

I’m thinking of how much work this little team of three Meg, Wrangler and Billy have done, they have now walked a good 750-800 kms  and I couldn’t be prouder of them. Today is a ‘rest day’ however I’m off to church in Yeoval soon, am currently doing a load of washing, updating the blog, then try and get cleaned up a little for church, then a lunch with members of Yeoval Pony Club. Tomorrow by car to Dubbo for a school visit and an ABC radio interview, then back tomorrow afternoon and prepare for the ride on Tuesday from Yeoval to Parkes (2 days to cover 68kms). At this point praying for a warm frost free bed and a paddock half way along! Have a few people with feelers out for me. People are amazing though, have met heaps of people through the Pony Club networks and they’re so helpful, not to mention livestock producers, agents all putting their hands up where they can. So unlike the bike ride in Oct/Nov last year where I had my trusty family with me with back up vehicle etc, this time my back up crew emerges as I ride. Definitely an exercise in trust and patience, the road unfolds ever so gently in front of me each day as I ride. The right people seem to meander in at the right time and I’ve learnt to be bold and ask for what I need.

My apologies for no photo’s had a few rippers on my iphone but can’t download them? Anyone out there have any idea why when I download onto computer the photos are black? Maybe my good friend Jill Nolan is right and I froze my phone the night I camped out. When I got back in range there was a ‘very supportive’ message from her asking if I was out of range or had me and my phone froze! Both right Jillie!! LOL….

Since last Friday I have been nursing Wrangler who is sporting an inflamed and bruised wither (that’s the boney bit at the top of a horses shoulders). During this time I’ve been treating him for bruising and inflammation and he’s responding. I’ve been making the most of the time and on the weekend went ‘scouting’ ahead over 500 kms checking out the route, waterholes, campsites, towns etc.(My eldest sister Yoni from Armidale came across and picked me up. It was also good to have a distraction over mother’s day weekend).  The wonderful Thompson family, which I’m staying with here at ‘West Mookie’ have very generously looked after my horses for me while I did that.  I’ve also been doing lots of forward planning with schools, phone calls, repacking and sorting gear, cleaning stuff etc.

It seems with this horse trek, no matter how well I plan things I am constantly changing them. This brings to my mind a beautiful saying that Hannah loved, “Blessed are the flexible as they will never be bent out of shape!” Well I’m definitely getting plenty of experience with that one; I’m so flexible I feel like a rubber ring!  I am ‘trying’ to stay with what’s happening right now and not thinking too far ahead, (outside of a general plan) but focusing on what needs to happen each day.

Some good things that have happened include meeting up with Jason and Naomi Simmons from Overseer Saddlery.

Overseer Saddlery Armidale: Jason Simmons

Jason has very generously loaned me his pack saddle while I get more work done on mine. I have now had two issues with bruising and I don’t want to risk that happening again. Having said that Wrangler (the big chestnut horse) got a bruised wither  outside of Werris Creek when the whole pack saddle slipped and I had to push it back up his near side and over his wither and back onto his back. The weight of the saddle and all my gear is about 90kgs so it was a fair weight to ‘shove’ across his back. The alternative was terrifying….to let it slip under his belly….that would’ve been ugly. When the packsaddle slipped I jumped off Meg and got underneath the ‘near side’ pack and held it (I was struggling a little I must say!) I’m standing there thinking of what to do, holding all that weight, knees buckling, there was a bloke sitting in a car 50 meters from me and I called out to him to give me a hand but he must’ve had his radio on and simply stared at me blankly! I obviously didn’t look distressed enough for that bloke to think I was in trouble and needed a hand. Will have to start working on my ‘distressed damsel’ look!  After about five minutes a young fella about 20 came by and even though he knew nothing about horses came to help me. If I’d let the pack saddle and bags slip under his belly, I’m fairly sure Wrangler would’ve found the energy to take off with all my gear getting trashed to bits dragging on the ground including computer, solar gear etc, etc… down the main street of Werris Creek! Not a good look and a sure end to this horse trekkers dreams!

But the consequence of that decision is now very real….but I couldn’t have reacted any differently. My choices were very limited.   BUT – Prevention is the best thing. Only seconds before the load shifted I’d thought, ‘gee that girth looks loose better get off and tighten it up’, and I said to  myself ‘okay I’ll just ride to the corner and do that’. Two seconds later the whole things goes to ‘hell in a hand basket’. The lesson is to listen to the inner voice giving me guidance and DON’T IGNORE IT! Okay I get it……This is what I call a sledgehammer experience.

My new mantra is ‘listen-respond’ NOW….not in a minute.

This afternoon to get back on schedule with schools etc I have had to change my route and am now riding down through Gulgong, Wellington and Yeoval to Parkes, this route cuts of over 100kms for me. This means I’m not going to Dunnedoo or Dubbo with the horses.  I am putting my horses in the Thompson’s gooseneck and getting them trucked to Gulgong where I’ll be setting out from.  I have to do this for the horses’ welfare and to keep up my commitments with the schools and community events already booked.

Injury is a reality of this kind of venture, I knew that when I signed up for this, however I didn’t quite envisage what form those injuries would take, and certainly nothing like Wrangler is sporting. I’m thinking he’ going to need at least another week off without any saddle, so will be relying on generous people to help me with supplies and gear. And I have to say I have had no shortage of them. I am constantly humbled by the goodness of people and their willingness to help.   Not having my second horse to pack gear on means I am very limited in what I can carry. Also means I have to leave gear behind and then get it caught up to me down the track when my horse is right again.  I have quite a few nights coming up where I’ll be camping out as the distances between towns are increasing. Great news right as the night temperatures are dropping and a cold change is coming through!

I think all the time about the bike ride last year in Oct/Nov and now think compared to this horse trek feels like a walk in the park. The bike ride was 90% predictable, the horse trek is the reverse and 90% unpredictable….but the good news is guys I’m up for it. Me and my Horse Crew have already walked/ridden over a quarter of the way to Melbourne, had many difficult moments but got through them. The presentation in the schools of “Mela-What?” has been fantastic, fundraising has been awesome.  My job is to keep in mind Mark Twain’s saying, “Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the mastery of it”.  Little old Mauz from Moparrabah is getting plenty of experience with that one.

MAY 7: Caroona rest day at “West Mookie”.

Am pulling up for the day here at “West Mookie” , I am staying with a ripper young family Andrew and Jill Thompson and their great kids Jock and Jane.  The  horses need a spell today.

Meg.

Meg started stepping short after lunch and I had to ride Billy! He’s such a good horse but massive to ride. Billy is a bay Clydie QH X and stands about 15:3 HH and is about a  four foot across his back! Compared to Wrangler and Meg he’s like sitting on a 44gallong drum sideways! I had a good giggle though, as Billy hasn’t been saddle horse yet at all, and he’s been tail tied to the spare horse all the way, doesn’t take any notice of anything at all, just plods along. Yesterday when I saddled him up he was hyper alert, scouting for possible danger for us, he was very serious about being ‘top dog’ for the afternoon. I loved it as I could truly hear him saying to me, “About time I had a crack at this job!”

I left “Cintra” at 8am and rode into Werris Creek to the school as soon as I rode out onto the busy Gunnedah Road a massive coal train came by. The night before had been our firt intro to trains and they’d looked at it and thought it was a massive truck I think.  The freighter just kept coming and because we were near a level crossing added it’s train horn blast, but my crew were angels and had a good look but kept walking! I was thrilled. When I arrived at the school after riding down the main drag of Werris Creek we had a gathering outside with all the kids and answered questions about the trek and horses. Then I tied them up and we went into the hall and I presented “Mela-What?” , also had quite a few parents which was brilliant. I absolutely love what I’m doing and feel privileged to have the opportunity to raise awareness in such a positive way with so many people.

After the school visit I was on the morning show on ABC Radio and had a great interview with Kelly Fuller, she’s a great interviewer. As I rode along had a couple of different newspaper journalists pull me up for interviews and then late afternoon had Sue Jones editor of the Australian Campdraft Magazine pull up for an interview and yarn. Sue’s Dad, Lawrie Bailey a retired drover from Northern NSW,  was a very good mate of my Dad Kevin Luxford when we all lived up north around Narrabri and Moree in the mid to late 70’s. Lawrie rang me a couple of nights ago after hearing me on Macca and it was so good to talk with someone who knew my Dad so well and my family. Lawrie’s memory is a cracker, he remembered stuff I’d forgotten like Dad sending Lawrie out to check us Luxford girls my sister Kate aged about 18 and myself at 14 with a mob of cattle on our own somewhere out the back of Wee Waa.  When Sue turned up yesterday she gave me a present. A bag of mixed lollies! I had a good laugh because when I was a kid and droving with Mum and Dad for many years in the 60’s and 70’s when Mum went to town (us kids never did always stayed with the cattle)  Mum would always bring lollies and a pack of juicy fruit chewing gum home and we’d savour them for days. Mick my brother a year older than me used to eat all his on the spot, I’d hide mine somewhere in the truck and Mick would be ratting around trying to find them! Sometimes he did and world war three would break out. Lollies were hot currency in the drover’s camp as kids. As I rode along yesterday after Sue left I tucked into the lollies (and I don’t normally eat lollies but yesterday it was like a trip down memory lane thinking about all the experiences I had as a kid growing up ‘on the road’droving. And I have to say they were delicious! Sue knew what the lollies would represent to me, as she too is a drovers daughter.

May 6: “Cintra” near WERRIS CREEK TO CAROONA

My calculations of time and kilometers were a little out yesterday.  I was riding by 8am yesterday but still didn’t reach Werris Creek til 3pm with only a very short horse watering stop over at Carabubula, so  my 25 kms day as per itinerary was really by the time I got to “Cintra” more like a 40km day. Wrangler who is experiencing the joys of being a pack horse at the moment was not impressed. The vibes he was sending out yesterday were like, “this is not what I signed up for Maura!” I told him that if I can’t quit nor can he! Toughen up Princess!

Had a great night with Tony and Lyn Windsor at their property “Cintra” outside  of Werris Creek.  Tony is a Federal Independent MP whose electorate runs from here to the QLD border over 400kms. Lyn is a teacher at Werris Creek Public School where I was scheduled to present “Mela-What?” yesterday at 2pm, but didn’t arrive til 3 so am going back in this morning with my horses for a 9am presentation, then heading out to Caroona. Will have about five hours of riding today and the time at the school, all going well.  That positively feels like a ‘short’ day! Every day has been massive, long, late, hard…..keep thinking it’s gotta start and get easier….but I’m still waiting! I miss my road crew from the bike ride, having a back up crew makes things so much easier logistically and of course having people I love with me that I can yarn with! Am missing my family like crazy, having said that Esther will be calling in on her way back to Wagga, next week, I have been trying to talk her into coming with me without luck! On the bike ride had Joe with me all the way, this time he will be having a week with me around Naranderra in early June, then back again for the last week of trek. Long time between Joe fixes for me.

Woke up about an hour ago (2.30am) couldn’t sleep, but with only a little over an hour til I have to get up for the day am gonna have a ‘nana nap’ now til the alarm goes off.

What a privelege have met today a wonderful man called Steve Sutherland from Tamworth. He generously came out and shod all three of my horses on exceptionally short notice after a full day of shoeing race horses and donated the cost of that which is significant and somewhere in the vicintity of $300.  Not only that- Steve  was absolutely brilliant with my horses and handled them with finesse. I am so indebted to him for helping me out.  And of course in this very small world we live in  it turns out Steve met my daughter Esther at the National Finals rodeo here in Tamworth back in january and also knows my sister Veronica and her partner Lindsay Rosetta. Small world.

I have only got three weeks out of the horses shoes!  This means I’ll be looking for anothe excellent farrier around West Wyalong or if I can stretch it another week to Grong Grong when I stay with the Batchelor family for a couple of days. If anyone knows of a blacksmith who can make shoes for my clydie Billy, please contact me and I’ll send them a pair of  ‘slippers’.

The horses are holding up so well and starting to get ‘road hardened’. This happend to me on the bike trip too, just kept getting fitter and stronger. I’m feeling really good today, feel rested for the first time and ready to rock on with this!

Off to Werris Creek to visit the school tomorrow after lunch a 5-6 hour ride, so will be off at the crack of dawn. Then meeting up with MP Tony Windsor and staying with them tomorrow night at Werris Ck which is very generous of the Windor’s to put me up.

Have been staying last ngiht and tonight with Roma Moss who is an awesome cattle woman here in Tamworth breeding incredible brahman cattle. Roma donated cattle last year to the ride4acure cattle sale and is a legend of a woman.  Donations of cattle are coming in for our sale on August 21, 2010 in Kempsey. Watch this space!Also wanted to mention the wonderful Ben Coxhead from Kootingal who put me and the horses up, fed them the best hay I’ve ever seen in my life! And his fiance Katrina cooked a deliscious dinner for us.  Then the next day caught up with me after the horses and I had had four hours on the road to bring both a beaut fresh chicken salad sandwich to me plus had his water tank on with a big drink for each of my grateful horses!  The photo is from right, Ben, his mate and off sider Alex and Meg, crew and I as I arrived right on sunset at his farm Newhaven Park on Back Kootingal Rd.

Had some great riding around Tamworth area yesterday. Ticked off about 35kms getting here from out near Kootingal.  7 hours riding plus a couple of ‘grass breaks’ for the crew.

Arrived at Roma Mosses Brahman Stud “Ngamba” just after dark out near Duri. Last year Roma very generously donated a heifer for our ride4acure cattle sale. we have another cattle sale in Kempsey on 21st August 2010.

This morning am heading to Duri Public School to present “Mela-What?” then into town to pick up horse feed. I have a farrier coming out and doing a reshoe of all three horses. Wrangler has already in 3 weeks worn out his first set of ‘trek’ shoes. Meg not far behind. Billy having the best wear on his with his big clydie hooves.

Tomorrow heading off to Werris Creek need to be at school by 2pm presenting “Mela-What?” and then meeting with MP Tony Windsor.

thanks for all the well wishes, they keep my spirits high!

Duri here I come! I am setting off at about 8am this morning I’m 7kms out of Nemingah (North of Tamworth) heading around Tamworth to Duri(roughly a 30km ride today will take me about 6 hours ) and staying with  Roma Moss there Monday and Tuesday nights. Roma generously donated cattle last year to our ride4acure cattle sale in Kempsey. I am giving the horses a well deserved day off on Tuesday before setting out for Werris Creek to meet up with Tony Windsor.

The last three days  riding along the New England Highway has been incredibly challenging. There was a huge amount of traffic in particular B-Doubles and semi trailers. My horses went exceptionally well, however on Friday afternoon had a little issue with  B-Doubles coming both directions at once and when the one behind me was right beside me it blasted it’s air horn at me! Wrangler (the big chestnut horse) who I was riding got very ‘elevated’ and we put on a bit of a rodeo beside the Highway! Wasn’t too pretty but all survived. I’ve been riding Wrangler for 7 years and he’s never turned it on like that! Truly goes to show given the right circumstances ‘inside every quiet horse there’s a wild one’! After that Wrangler thought every truck was going to do the same and I ended up swapping to riding young Meg (the buckskin) and putting the packsaddle on Wrangler, and they all settled down again. Of course good boy Billy (the bay clydie x) just poked along not worrying about anything. He’s having a week off packing while a ‘hot spot’ on his back heals.  Meg is an absolute trooper, the only thing she had a bit of a look at was the ‘horse eating’ white arrows that ‘attack’ when the divided road merges back into single lane! But after a couple of hours she was walking all over them! 

I have met so many fantastic people along the way. I have to say how much I’ve savoured meeting up with a few men who have done extensive ‘packing’ in both New England area and the Upper Macleay and who’ve given me some sound advice and much encouragement. Another big thank you to Justin and Kerry Blanche of Armidale for the horse accommodation 4 Star!

I am stoked with how things are going. 15 days on the road and going strong. I have survived some big challenges already. Riding horses along highways is definitely not for the faint hearted. The other clallenges is the different livestock that’s in paddocks right beside the New England Highway. My horses have now had to deal with Alpaca’s, mobs of sheep (coastal horses thinking they’re horse killers!), sheep in shiny white rugs wizzing around a paddock, herds of goats, and a dead deer with big antlers right beside the road just out of Uralla. (If you want some trophy antlers check out the table drain 5 or so kms out of town!) Also saw a nifty looking silver laptop someone had chucked out of their car window!

After Tamworth I’m on lesser grade roads, but do have a couple of stints out on the Newell Highway which is the ‘truck artery’ of inland NSW.  But will work with that when that day arrives. On my restday on Tuesday will be borrowing a car and heading back into Tamworth for school visits and to pick up horse feed.

Friday night I stayed with a great family in Uralla Ross, Beryl and Catherine who thanks Ross for ferrying me between the Uralla showground’s and your place with all my horse smelling gear in your clean car! Ross and Beryl had moved to Uralla from Woolgoolga late last year. On Saturday I couldn’t leave Uralla until 8.30am because of a thick New England fog, was saddled up and ready to ride just after 7am.  As I had 47kms to ride along the highway to Bendemeer I knew I was going to be in the dark and organised a couple of ‘pilot’ cars to go in front and behind me with their emergency lights flashing to keep me and the horse crew safe (a huge thank you to my eldest sister Yoni and her friend from UNE Catherine).  The beauty of this was that for the two hours I rode in the dark  I was witnessing the beautiful full moon rising in a sky so clear and full of stars and I felt so incredibly grateful to be alive. I felt so very close to Hannah as this was the eve of Hannah’s 22^nd Birthday….I’d left a trail of tears along the side of the highway….the missing in my heart for Hannah is huge….it’s not until the opportunity to see, feel, touch, smell, talk with to build another memory with someone  so  loved is taken away that I have truly appreciated how much I love and how deeply.  The glory is in knowing that Hannah knew that, she felt my love while she was alive and rested in it. The most beautiful words I’ve ever heard in my life is Hannah saying to me over and over in the days leading up to her passing,  how much she loved me and saying to me with her lopsided grin, “Mum you really get me…” and I did, from the moment I carried Hannah inside to twenty years later, the moment I let her go….’I got her…’ why I’m sharing this (for those of you who are still reading!) let the ones you love know you love them every single day, care for each other, don’t waste a moment hanging onto stuff that isn’t life giving, make the most of the prescious life you have and the lives that touch yours.

Back to Bendemeer……after a massive day over ten hours in the saddle I had a very comfortable room waiting for me at Bendemeer Hotel, a big thank you to Pat and Pete for that, and Trish for organising it all. Trish had a great paddock right beside the pub with heaps of beautiful local hay and cool clean water. Horses needed no invitation to hook into it. I had, had my cheese sanger at 11am and was sitting down to a homemade pie and salad at about 9pm.   When I got to bed after a long very hot shower I was asleep before I hit the pillow! Was awake early, another hot shower to warm the muscles up and  thought today for Hannah I’m going to for the 5^th time try and get  onto Australia All Over to talk about ride4acure and the trek, and got through straight away at 6.30am! Thanks Hannah….I think a few strings were pulled! After the radio interview and feeding the horses ducked up with Trish to Phils shop in Bendemeer for a ripper bacon and egg burger and a coffee then on the road. Again waiting for fog to life.

Yesterday on Han’s 22^nd Birthday I rode from Bendemeer down the Moonbi ranges  (had to go bush along a motorbike track for the first few kms as it was to dangerous to ride along the highway with absolutely no shoulder. I had to come back out on the highway for the last four kms but there was divided road and the going was good. I arrived at Moonbi about 1.30pm and had been invited by the Pony Club to pop in and talk to the kids and parents about ride4acure and the trek. It was fantastic, met some awesome young people who hopefully will get to see again at their schools on Tuesday.

Stayed last night at Ben Coxheads Lucerne farm on the Back Kootingal road ( had my first hours ride off the New England Highway…yee haa… it felt good to be away from the constant traffic noise. I arrived here just after 4pm and the horses again treated to copious amounts off good quality hay! I rubbed them all down, rugged up, nosebags, treated backs, legs etc, rubbing them all down with RapiGel, and treating a bit of swelling on Meg’s front leg from a Wrangler kick (she  did bit him on the butt!) I’ve been using the potato poultice to take out the heat and it’s working a treat. On top of all the riding spend at least two hours a day looking after the three horses! I’m nuts about making sure they’re in good form. For all you horse riders out there reading this, an interesting discovery, the old style ‘colour check’ wool saddle blankets/pads, when used directly against the horses back (I also use koda felt saddle pads) keep the horses backs cool.  John Burton the saddler in Armidale has a supply of them and I bought 3 to use with each horse in addition to the Koda felt pads and it’s made a huge difference in keeping their backs cooler and dryer! I’m a very happy trekker with this discovery! We used to use colour check wool cloths over twenty years ago, but hardly any saddlers carry them anymore. And then to pick up these rippers with a combination of horse hair and pulverized jute stuffing stitched in- I’m onto a winner. A massive thank you to John for helping me out with a special fitting pad for my pack saddle to give a better ‘muli –fit’ for the pack on all three horses.  Of course each of my horses have a different shaped back and I needed to make a few adjustments. Thanks heaps John and Lee from Burton’s saddler in Armidale it was a delight to spend a little time with you both.

Am off down to the horses now at 6am to feed up and get ready for another day. Blessings to all who read this.

Clip Clop over and out …remember…from little things big things grow…..Maura

Am riding out of Armidale in the morning. Leaving the stables at 8.15 and riding past O’Connor Colllege at 8.30am then onto the other side of Armidale to visit Martin’s Gully School and say hi to the kids with the horses. Then down the Uralla Road to Uralla to briefly visit with St Joseph’s Primary School. They have a donation to contribute to ride4acure and I’m calling in to receive it.

Am aiming to be at Uralla by 2.30pm. willl have the horses at the Uralla showgrounds for the night. Am having a very early start on Saturday morning for Bendemeer with a big day of 47kms. while in Armidale I’ve visited Chandler School, Ben Venue Primary School, Oconnor College and Martin Gully Primary. Also had a couple of functions at University of New England with Rural Health/Graduate Nurse group of about 60 students. On Tuesday night also presented as guest speaker to the Armidale Rotary Club and then also met today with local Independant MP Richard Torbay. Have had a very busy few days here which has been fantastic. Also gave an interivew to Prime TV and the local paper Armidale Express.

Am looking forward to being back on the road. Weather is getting much cooler with the last few mornings frosty with  top temperature during the day of around 20 degrees. Have a new warm beannie for wearing on the frosty mornings and it doubles as a neck and ear warmer I can wear with my Akubra! I look like  a soft version of Ned Kelly with it on! Will take a photo and put it up here! Very unique look for sure.