Fantasies Fulfilled (rated General Audiences)

Tuesday, January 24

Well, today was a very special day for both of us. Frank got to spend all day out fly-fishing with Kim. They caught two good trout (and released them) but they tell me that it's not about catching--it's about fishing! They look happy, anyway:

For me, today brought the fulfillment of a dream. I went on a 4-hour cross country horse trek with Noel Stanger, who runs High Country Horse Adventures. Besides being Australasia's Marlborough Man twice, Noel played a rider of Rohan, right in the front line of the charge with King Theoden, in The Return of the King! Here he is in his LOTR gear (this is a photo of his photo):

When I learned this on the day we checked in, I jokingly asked to be put on the horse that he rode in the charge, but Noel said that she was " a little tricky" and didn't take to many people, so I didn't really expect anything. However, when I arrived this morning for my scheduled trek, there was Duchess, all 18-hands of Thoroughbred/ Clydesdale cross of her! (A hand is 4" and horses are measured at the shoulder--Duchess is a VERY tall horse!). Noel told me to get on and he'd see whether he thought I could handle her--after a few minutes up and down the paddock, he decided that she had taken to me and off we went.

There were just the two of us plus a pack horse, and we covered every kind of terrain including grassy plains, streams, rocky hillsides, and narrow cliff edge trails. After about an hour, I was wondering if I had seriously overestimated my stamina, and shortly after that point we stopped so Noel could brew up a 'billy' of tea for us. When I went to dismount, I discovered that my knees no longer functioned and it took several minutes of leaning on long-suffering Duchess before I could hobble over to my tea. Here's Noel firing up the billy, and Duchess posing majestically against the incredible scenery we travelled through.


After about twenty minutes we remounted and Noel asked me if I was ready for a gallop. Inside I said "NO!" but somehow my mouth said "Yes" and off we went, across a flat grassy plain. Noel let me go ahead, and Duchess really stretched out, so it was very cool--really like something out of a movie. Yahoo! Afterwards, I felt a little looser and the rest of the ride was more fun and less ache--a good thing, as the second half involved a number of very steep gravel hillsides that the horses needed to run up. That was the fun part--going down, with their hooves slipping and sliding was somewhat more nerve-wracking!

I managed to wrestle my camera out of my saddlebag in the last mile to take a few photos to prove that I really was UP on the horse. Here's one (but you can keep your comments about horses's asses to yourself, ok?):

I was both glad and sorry to have Ryton Station come into view after 4 hours. This is an experience that I will treasure, and be so 'chuffed' to tell people I rode one of the horses that took part in the charge of the Rohirrim, but my almost-50 year old body is not as resilient as it was when I rode regularly in my teens! Every muscle in my body (and who knew I had muscles in those places?) hurts, and my pelvis feels near shattered--but I wouldn't change a thing. The aches will go, but the memory will stay forever. Duchess said goodbye with a loving rub of her head --all over my white shirt--as I left. I am glad to have been worthy of riding her, as she is a lovely horse.

Frank is feeling almost as knackered as I am, from walking about 15k up and down and back and forth in the streams, so it's an early night and, I suspect, a quiet day tomorrow recovering from today's adventures!