Well, what a weekend, many of the riders arrived on the Friday to find a very comfortable
camping area, with more than adequate room for the 55 riders who attended. Our hosts, the
team from the Kangaroo Valley Charity Horse Ride were there to greet us and help in any way
possible. Those riders who had arrived were registered for the ride and given identity bracelets
to assist with the check in and out on the ride.
One enormous benefit of the site was the back entrance right off the camping area to the
Friendly Inn Pub. This is where we were able to have our evening meals as well as being
entertained on the Friday and Saturday night. Some even had breakfast there on the Sunday
morning. Saturday morning breakfast available from the local Lions club, this along with the
pub made it a very easy ride to prepare for.
Well Saturday morning arrived along with the last of the riders. The timing was to perfection.
Final registrations made, an unmounted pre-ride meeting where we were introduced to Scott
Brodie who runs the Horse Aid program at Heartland in the Highlands. This was the Charity to
which all monies raised was going to. Plus, all the necessary dissemination of information to
make the ride a success.
Everyone then assembled with their horses ready to ride out on time. The preparation of the
track was wonderful, with mowed tracks where the grass was very long, a pair of delightful bike
riders well in advance to open gates before us and a tail vehicle to close all necessary gates, not to mention their wonderful help in supplying a mounting block for anyone who needed to
remount their horse. We initially traveled through lush dairy country framed by the
surrounding valley walls, so relaxing.
Morning tea was delicious and it was a chance to start meeting all the other riders. As we left
morning tea we passed an amazing steel horse sculpture. We now started to travel towards the
edge of the valley and up into the hills crossing a few creeks. The number of vantage points to
view the whole valley on the ride up were wonderful. Finally we arrived at the lunch spot which
gave our trusty steeds a chance to have a break. The views were also great along with a good
lunch and more opportunities to meet more people. Our departure time was regulated by one of
the dairies who were bringing in their cows for milking.
The ride covered 19.6 kilometers of amazing scenery.
The return ride back to camp took us down into the valley through delightful laneways and once
again through dairy farms. A big thank you to all the property owners who generously allowed
us to travel across their properties.
On return to camp after firstly taking care of our horses we were able to relax a bit and prepare
for the evening at the pub.
With a very good DJ supplying music and many locals in attendance to support Nicole, the ride
organiser, a great evening was enjoyed. The raffle was drawn with many happy winners. The amount raised was over $10000.
A big thank you to Nicole and her band of volunteers for planning and executing this great event.
A big thank you to the ATHRA Accredited trail Bosses who graciously volunteered to be Ride
Stewards, without which the ride could not have taken place. Thank you to all the riders who
supplied photos to the Cumberland Trail Riders Facebook page.
