Newspaper Article 2014 – Saddled up for a saunter to savour

Saddled up for a saunter to savour

Hawke’s Bay adventures

Hawke’s Bay Today’s reporters are poised for an intrepid summer. Continuing our Hawke’s Bay Adventures series, Patrick O’Sullivan took leave from his business editor desk to go riding at Willowford Cottage Trekking.

Willowford Cottage Trekking

Where
3612 Taihape Road

Prices
1 hour: $75 per person
2 hours: $100 per person
3 hours: $130 per person
5 hours: $250 per person
Two-person champagne and nibbles, 3-hour trek: $350

Own-horse trek
2 hours: $35 per person
3 hours: $50 per person
5 hours: $70 per person
Pony and gig rides: $75 per hour

More info
horsetrekkingnz.com
[email protected]
Ph 06 8742 744

SITTING astride 700kg of independent thought, I horse trek to the Kawekas.

Willowford Cottage Trekking specialise in small-group treks – no more than five.

The family venture is a 40 minute drive from Hastings and 50 minutes from Napier on the Napier-Taihape road.

My steed is a Clydesdale/Apaloosa cross called Mohaka (Mo) and he is a gentleman.

Willowford follow the western riding tradition which means I get a big comfy saddle/armchair and have to neck reign, which is similar to operating a joy stick on a computer game except nothing explodes.

It is 10 years since I last rode and my 190cm frame has expanded — I will keep forgetting to buy a new bathroom-scale battery.

I lead Mo to a downhill slope so my climb is a little less and the gentle giant takes my girth with his and a friendly grunt.

There are four of us on the trek including our guide Campbell as we leave the cacophony of Willowford, where the buzz of shearing competes with the wail of lambs separated from their mums.

We are treated to a changing palate of aroma, sauntering through eucalyptus to rolling paddocks of cows then sheep, which lead us up to a pine forest.

On a straight track of long grass Campbell suggests we canter and Mo responds as readily to heel pressure as he does to braking pressure, taking me on a lazy lope but we are soon at the end of the straight.

Clip clopping along forestry roads that haven’t felt wheels for months, we swing into a track that only Willowford keeps open thanks to hooves and Campbell’s machete flashing as he hacks back encroaching growth.

The trail gets steeper through the creepers but I feel secure – Mo is surefooted and the saddle keeps me in my place.

The horses’ efforts reward us with a picture of Hawke’s Bay from a ridge, from the Ruahines to Mahia Peninsula.

We pass a house – evoking envy for its view – as we jaunt through paddocks to the highest ridge on our three-hour ride.

It is a great view, but Campbell’s embarrassment at the blanket of Californian thistles makes me chuckle. He says the weeds are a legacy of last year’s drought and his father-in-law’s aversion to spraying.

Three generations live on Willowford, one of the reasons why TV programme Country Calendar featured the farm in August.

Horse trekking was supposed to be a side activity for farm-staying people but it has proven so popular the family have rented out the farm-stay cottage and concentrated on the trekking.

Campbell says they have had complete beginners on the treks, who can be well looked after because the group is so small.

“Anymore and it becomes nose to tail.”

During quiet periods when the horses need work, Willowford runs an internet Grab One deal, which Campbell says has been an effective marketing tool.

“One lady introduced 15 people to us,” he says between machete swings.

The Hastings couple accompanying me on our ride, Maria and Carl, were on their fifth Willowford trek. Two previous treks were from Grab One deals.

Willowford’s horses are educated on the farm and sold at age 16 “so they still have some residual value”, Campbell said.

I learned to ride by horse trekking. I was 26 and the girl who dragged me along said, “Don’t tell them you haven’t ridden before or they’ll give you a donkey”.

I was nervous and told the trekking operator I had never ridden but was very fit and not afraid of a fall.

He gave me a 5-year-old standardbred called Vance who was well behaved and responsive – trek horses have a reputation for being unresponsive and solely interested in playing follow-the-leader.

Ninety minutes later I found myself galloping along the beach and I was hooked on horses.

I visited a dozen different trekking operations in Auckland and Waikato before I bought my own horse and entered the vast and varied equestrian world.

The farm I grazed my horse on led me into a farming job in the Waikato, so horse trekking became much more than an afternoon distraction.

Willowford is a class horse-trekking operation. Campbell says they only take small groups so they can ensure everyone is safe and enjoying themselves.

Campbell’s ride is just 6 years old but handles gates like an old pro.

Thanks to Mo’s manners I can mix up the pace, swinging away from the group to take the occasional photo.

After two hours we start [to] descend home and my knees start to complain. I find myself leaning on the saddle horn instead of putting weight on the stirrups as pain steadily becomes a feature of my ride.

We stop at a shaded stream – welcome relief for us as Mo stoops to sip the chattering coolness before delivering me home safe and smiling.

Photo captions –

HAPPY TAILS: Willowford Cottage Trekking has varied terrain in the Kaweka foothills.

TRUSTY STEEDS: Reporter Patrick O’Sullivan joined the Willowford Cottage trek.