Got up again at the usual time, and was out by just before 8:30, arriving at High Country Horses by 8:45. There were already quite a few people there, but the staff was running behind, the horses were just being saddled, and everything was running late. They decided to get the short rides started first, so us day-long riders had to wait even longer. Hubby was assigned a brown gelding named Buddy, who was very gentle but very dead on his cues. Hubby couldn't even get him moving when the train pulled out! Fortunately, he perked up later in the day, but he was very slow to get started. I was given a horse named Goose, but when I went to get acquainted, something just felt off to me, and for some reason, I checked his feet, not something I would normally do with someone elses' horse, but sure enough, he was missing a shoe. Considering the terrain, that could have been devastating, so they pulled him out of the line and gave me Bertha, who was going to be the leader's horse, but she switched to another horse. Bertha was a compact former race horse who had a penchant for running full speed when she had the chance, and she walked just fine, but I'm not sure I can even describe the thing she was doing in the middle. It might have been a trot, might have been a pace, but it felt more like rabbit hopping. I've never felt such an uncomfortable gait in my life! Needless to say, I didn't trot much, but I did manage to get her into a very slow collected canter that kept us at about the same speed when we had to trot. So now for the ride. All the promos key into the fact the this horse trekking company was the ONLY one that had access to some of the LOTR filming sites, and that was a big draw for me when I booked it. It was a very expensive ride (I could have bought a cheap horse and decent saddle for what it cost for the two of us to ride,) and I was enthralled by the hills surrounding the area. There seemed to be many forest areas, very inviting, but the ride seemed to stay almost entirely along the riverbed, miles of stones and rocks and fording across the river. Other than a few sections of pasture-like trails and road, where we were given leave to canter ahead of the one woman (and thus the group leader, Yvonna, who had to stay behind with her), which was fun (Bertha would do her hop if she were behind anyone, we soon learned, so we ended in front, where she would take off in an effort to win the race, and always did :-), but almost 90 percent of the ride was along the riverbed, essentially up a valley to the end, where we hopped up the bank to a clearing and had lunch, an extraordinarily long one hour event, before heading back down the valley on the other side of the river. During all this time, not one mention of anything about LOTR. I had asked at lunch when we would start climbing, and was told soon, but that wasn't exactly true. Finally, at about 3:15, I asked about LOTR sites, and she seemed surprised that it was of any interest! She offered the excuse that "full-day riders" don't usually care about it, so that was why she didn't talk about it. It seems the 1.5 hour ride (which we were originally scheduled for, but opted for a longer ride) actually went to one of the filming sites, but the rest of the rides just got you in the general area, and were pointed out from a distance, which she promptly started doing. While it was interesting, it now seemed rushed, because it was almost the end of the ride. FINALLY, we got off the riverbed, crossed the road and headed into a pasture area that had a long gradual climb, where we were once again given leave to canter up the hill. Bertha and I took off with Dan, a corporate lawyer from Russia (who, I swear to God, took his shirt off very early in the ride) and Hubby bringing up the rear. There was another woman named Jeanette there, but she only cantered the first few times before she had had enough. She hadn't ridden in years, so was obviously sore after the first hour or so, so I didn't blame her. We raced to the top of the hill, with Dan only catching me when I stopped. Yvonna wasn't very good at instructions, she said go to where it looks like you're at the top of the hill, though it really wasn't, and stop. I stopped where I thought that was, but Dan kept going, practically until it started going downhill again. Hubby caught up and we waited for the others to join us, heard some more fun facts before descending again, then we were almost back on the farm, though we took some slightly more interesting pathways home, mostly along stream bed and through a few swampy areas, though the stones were smaller and gentler on the horses' feed than the riverbed. Along the final stretch, Jeanette pointed out an abrasion on Yvonna's horses' back leg, and when she got down to check it, the horse flinched when she touched it, so she ended up walking the rest of the way back to ranch. We arrived just before 5:00, tried to feed our leftover lunch apples to our horses, but they were obviously not used to such treats, and only the big dapple gray Corona was interested. After a little chat with Jeanette about our thoughts on the ride, I hopped back into the campervan, and Hubby and I headed down to Mrs. Wooley's in Glenorchy where we had planned to spend the night. Unfortunately, the last site was taken by a backpacker right in front of me. Apparently they don't distinguish between campers and tents, so there was an incredible amount of wasted space (not to mention lost dollars) by not doubling up on the tent sites. Once we discovered there was no room, we drove out of Glenorchy, through Queenstown until we hit Kingston (thank goodness for the long summer days!) and signed into the Holiday Park there for the night. I spent a dollar to get 200 mb of internet time, which I used up in half an hour uploading half a dozen pictures, and was soon off to bed, exhausted from our long and tiring day.
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