BRIDLEWAY BUDDIES DATABASE - FIND A FRIEND TO RIDE WITH

The wbra held its VIP Day on 7th November 2010 and with two very special guest from Central Horse News coming along we could only hope that the weather would hold.

I had invited Barbara Gadd and Mary Baker along from CHN to experience riding in our beautiful Wyre Forest and also find out more about what we are expecting to do there with the permit schemes.

After everyone had assembled on a rather cold but dry Saturday morning, Babara Stones and Sue Hillier set off to ride the new 5 mile route whilst Camilla Mascall, Jane Sparrey, Barbara Gadd and Mary Baker were all to ride further into the forest.

Myself, Shawn Davis, John Stones and wbra treasurer Lesley Welch headed out in my landrover to take pictures of the riders going around the forest. We ventured down the tracks and onto the old railway line and eventually down to the new bridge which has been installed by the Forestry Commission and Worcestershire County Council as it is also a bridleway route.

It was not long before we came across Sue and Barbara hacking back, but they kindly obliged and hacked the short distance back to the bridge so we could do our photo shoot.

After leaving Barbara and Sue to hack gently back to the parking area, we drove on up further into the forest only to appear in a clearing and then suddenly, a short distance away on a parallel track there were the other group. As they headed towards us we took some more shots and then when they eventually pulled up, we made sure everyone was ok and enjoying themselves before driving back to the visitor centre and letting camilla escort the CHN ladies back safely.

Once all back at the lorry park, Chez' Johns (Barabara's husband and their horsebox) opened for tea and bacon butties. These went down superbly and we can all recommend Chez' Johns if you see them parked up. LOL

Once all refreshed and horses eating their haynets we cleared up and packed away, and everyone left to go on their merry way having spent a very enjoyable day in the forest, either riding or from behind the camera lense.

The answer to this is to help preserve the tracks and routes through the forest which riders will use, as we all know natural wear & tear occurs over time, and this along with horses hooves beating down will only add to the speed at which this happens, therefore it is helpful to be in a posistion to be able to get to these key areas quickly before further damage is caused.

By being able to rectify the problem areas, riding will be maintained all year round as the Wyre Forest has natural hard tracks throughout. The latest evidence of work undertaken is the new bridleway bridge which is fabulous. It has a special horse anti-slip surface. This work was a major project by the Forestry Commission in conjunction with Worcestershire County Council.
Our aim is to provide you the rider with well waymarked routes and good riding surafces.