15th-19th June Crossing the Mighty Murray and into the river country of Victoria.
15 & 16th June 2010 Crossing the Border- ride4acure meets the Murray River at Barooga and Cobram
At 7.30am yesterday morning Tuesday 15th 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.
17th 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 18th 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!
