BRIDLEWAY BUDDIES DATABASE - FIND A FRIEND TO RIDE WITH

I was first introduced to the wbra a couple of years ago when Theresa held a showing day at her yard (very informative and enjoyable it was too) but not having any horse transport at the time we didn't think we'd ever be able to make use of the parking and routes available to us through the wbra.
Two years on however we now have an Ifor Williams 505 trailer and we have worked out that our ex-race horse unloads far more sedately out the back ramp (rather than exploding out the front) too much like a starting gate for his liking! We now have the means and the confidence to set about exploring some of those elNot being seasoned experienced travellers- we decided that our first trip should be the closest to home and chose to park up at Berrowsfield Farm, Inkberrow. We had identifield a route and had driven over in the morning to drop off a cool box at the half way point, containing our lunch, couple of treats for the horses, a couple of pieces of baler twine and a picnic rug (well as we are in our 50's we do like to be comfortable!!.

It was a quiet grassy area withn hedges and trees that that we could tie the horses to (hence the baler twine) I had put a label on the top of the cool box and hidden it in the hedge but wasn't sure if we'd see it again (oh yea of little faith). the label wrote 'please do not remove horse and riders on their way' .
Off back to the yard, loaded up the horses and set off. After an uneventful easy journey we arived at Berrowsfield Farm, unloaded , tacked up and set off. My mare Flossie who's now 22 has in the past been a 'bit of a handful 'but despite being in unfamiliar surroundings and having travelled for the first time with her bessy mate 'Astrac' this being Astrac's first ever trip in a trailer too ! she handled it like an old pro leading out like a seasoned riding school mistress.

18 year old Astrac, our ex-racehorse who raced until he was 13 however took a little more time to realise he wasn't at the racecourse! He soon settled into it though, taking his lead from Flossie and started to enjoy the scenery. It was a glorious day , beautiful sunshine and just a breath of a breeze to keep the horses cool and we were looking forward to exploring new territory. Unfortunatly 3 of the bridleways we'd chosen were impassable due to fallen trees, unsuitable boggy areas so we had to modify our route several times but my stomach dictated that we had to reach our picnic destination so we ended up riding most of the route vbia the lanes. This turned out not to be a problem though as the lanes in this area are so quiet and as it meant we could only walk and trot, it was easy on the horses too.

Some two hours or so after we set off we finally arrived at our picnic destination and very relieved to find the picnic box and contents still intact, we took off the horses bridles, put on the headcollars and tied them to the trees so they could have their well deserved lunch, in the meantime we stretched out on the picnic rug for ours. An hour later having eaten and topped up the tan, we packed away, re tacked up the horses and set off again. The journey back saw us on the lanes again and it proved to be really relaxing and pretty uneventful, apart from when we were on a very narrow stretch and sharing it with a HUGE tractor: luckily there was a driveway we could pull into to let the tractor past. Unfortunatly Flossie decided to leave a deposit in the driveway so I had to get off and move it to a spot a little less 'inconvenient'.

We made it back to Berrowsfield Farm at about 4.30pm having been riding for 4 hours, the horses were hot and tired and Dave and I were shattered, but thoroughly relaxed and ready to go home. It had been a really long day but it had been well worth it and I think it did us all good to ride somewhere different.

So a heartfelt thanks to the wbra for making the ride possible,, without all your hardwork and efforts we'd never have ventured out, we are now looking forward to our next expedition.

Alyson & David Horsley (Flossie and Astrac)

We have since done a second long distance ride with our horses 'but that's another story'