The Snowy Mountains

So, a little about the riding holiday in the Snowy Mountains last weekend.

We drove down on Friday afternoon and arrived around 10pm. Our host and hostess had been celebrating pig killing day (they had slaughtered a pig) and were rather tipsy by the time we arrived. We got a few shots of butterscotch schnapps for a night cap and went to bed.

In the morning the other guests (a family with two kids) arrived, and we loaded the horses on a truck and drove about 50 kilometres to a campsite with cabins in the mountains. The horses were mostly ex trotters and Polish arabians, they were very well behaved but in my opinion they were malnourished. The lady who owned the business claimed they were just really fit, but we clearly don't have the same idea of "fit".

Anyway, on the first day we rode for about 3 hours through bushland and marshes. It was magnificent. We saw "brumbies" which are Australian wild horses. Actually, one of the ponies in our little group was a brumby that they had caught and broken in. She was a lovely little thing called Rose.

In the evening we had dinner in the campsite restaurant. Roast lamb with all the sides and condiments, and apple cake for dessert. All in front of the open fire. Perfect!

On the second day we went for a similar ride as the day before. The original plan was to ride the 50 kilometres back to where we stayed the first night, but as I was the only experienced rider in the group it was decided it would be too hard for everyone. If you haven't ridden much before in your life, let me tell you 50k will HURT.

Instead I got to go for a second ride that day, with the business owners only. We did a faster ride, cantering a lot and jumping logs in the bush.

At around 5pm on the Sunday we headed back north to Sydney and arrived home just before midnight. This was a bit of a brief summary, I know, so I will let the photos below tell the rest.

This 3-year old knew a few tricks

My horse, Mac

Marshlands

That's Dwayne in front

Look, brumbies! (You can't see them, but we could). That's Rose the pony, on the right.

Brumbies walked onto the property in the evening

Cuddles the Poodle came on every ride. She sat on the horse and didn't walk a step.

Mac and I ready to get going

Beautiful morning