Erm, do you want to go horse trekking today perhaps?
Hell yeah!
I love horse trekking.
So today again we are waking up at Makoura Lodge which is a beautiful lodge in the middle
of the Ruahine Ranges.
Because it's winter, the horses have been rolling round in mud to give themselves an
extra layer of warmth but when you put a saddle on top of this mud it's not so comfortable
for them so Kimberly gives us a metal brush and well it's like a metal scraper, brush,
scrape the dry mud off them brush it all off and then we have a nice clean horse.
Robin's horse is called possum, my horse is called Maddy.
Apparently Maddy is meant to be a mellow horse, meant to be chilled out but has a bit of a
fiery side to her so Kim has tried to you know match us up with the horses that would
suit our personalities and Robin has Possum whose meant to be you know an independent
individual that is controlling and a pain in the arse.
So that is what Robin's got, I've got cool and collected Maddy.
So we're going up the hill it's actually the same hill that we took when we did 4 by 4
driving so we are treated to the same magnificent views from the top of the hill and we actually
have a very similar weather today.
When we were about to leave it was actually raining quite a lot but right now it's actually
getting much better and you know the sun actually piercing through the sky and is clearing out
the thick sky layer to make space for beautiful sunshine so I think it's going to be a pretty
awesome horse trek and I just can't wait to actually get started because we are not on
the track just yet.
We go downhill for a bit to our first river crossing and this downhill bit here is the
slipperiest and this is where the horses are slipping off the grass and all this but it's
all good they know what they're doing and we get to our first river crossing it's only
small but it's a taste of things to come and we go through Kimberley is at the front going
yeehah!
makes it fun going over a river.
And yeah, we survived our first river crossing.
That's the first time I've ever done a river crossing with a horse so that's pretty awesome.
Now we are going up the next hill and making our way to a really awesome view.
We can see below the river that we actually going to be trekking through to go on the
way up.
The views again are amazing we can see the whole river down there we can see the whole
mountain and the whole native bush there is a lot of cliffs as well as lot of rocky cliffs
with a lot of white and yellow limestone which kind of merge together and give you this shiny
look and it just really looks epic.
It just looks like it's a wild space that you're just riding through.
And it's only about to get more crazy cos we're going downhill now and we are going
down to the river.
We can here the gushing noise of the river right now because it has been raining a lot
lately so the river is kind of a high level so I think it's going to be quite an entertainment
to ride all the way up the river from there.
So we are now trekking through the river which is awesome like the river at first is sort
of like up the knees of the horse then there's some sections where we literally have to lift
our own legs up or else we are going to get our feet wet.
Yeah, it's really fun to do this and it's in such a beautiful environment as well.
And we're doing all sorts of different things with these horses, which I never thought I'd
be able to do on a horse.
Passing through the river was an experience that I've never done before I've done quite
a lot of horse trek before but I've never ride a horse on the water.
And Kimberley tells us that in summer they let the horse actually swim literally they
have some water holes where the horse can swim and a lot of them really love it.
My feet are dragging in the water for the whole time because I'm lanky and tall.
My horse is actually having a blast.
Possum is as I say a character he does like to do what he wants he doesn't like to follow
my orders and this is another way he's doing it, he really loves the water so while Tussock
and Kimberley went on a very short path through the water and went back on the banks of the
river, Possum decides to take me all the way in the main stream of the river with a lot
of current and yeah he just decides that this is going to be my way there is now way I'm
following those people over there.
I am having my fun.
Kimberly's giving Robin some instructions to learn how to control his horse.
Robin listens and the rest of the way is literally a battle between Robin and Possum it's quite
hilarious.
Cos robin's always wanting to do one thing, possum wants to do the next, It's like these
two they're so similar that it's just clashing like crazy and from now on every time we stop
to take photos Robin is just going round in circles because he can't keep his horse still
and it's just a constant battle and it's hilarious to watch and then Possum just basically gives
Robin the middle hoof and make him drag through every single tree possible and every single
bush so robin's finishing the horse trek with literally bush sticking out of his helmet
it's hilarious.
So we keep on going and we keep on going upstream very slowly making our way back up the whole
river we passing quite a few areas that are looking really really gorgeous but we arrive
at one point where there is no way we are moving forward right now it's not happening
there's just too much water it's as simple as that so after we've gone through the river
for a while we get to our final gate and our final field before we return to the stables
cos we've been doing like a loop today and then she kind of says something like hey guys
do you want to go fast now and Laura understands hey go go go start running.
In that second Maddy mellow Maddy Maddy whose been slow this entire trip Maddy who has been
at the back of the bloody line the whole time somehow gets some energy and she goes nuts
she just goes flying down the field so fast and Kimberley is helping her to jump back
on the horse not even a question Laura doesn't care Laura is not fussed it's a small mistake
it does happen there was no harm made at all.
It's actually Ok, I landed on a spot where I don't use my bum too much I sort of aimed
like right I'll fall off in the least important place and I decided it was right there.
Good job.
It was an awesome trek, awesome scenery varied in terrain we're going from river to mountain
to field to ponds and like saw so much and we go to do some cantering that's what I actually
really enjoyed when we do horse riding so yeah it has everything everything we wanted
to do.
Kimberley has been in a TV show in New Zealand called My Kitchen Rules so she is obviously
like a chef which has some stuff to show us.
She's going to make some good food and when we get there indeed she makes some awesome
food.
Yeah, I'm ready for a canter bring it on and maybe this motion I am doing right now oh
yeah oh yeah is probably not what you want to do on top of a horse.
There were no arms you know harms made at all Laura has no arms anymore they are left
attached to the rail.