Carron Valley Ride
As most of you readers know, I've been riding Icelandic horses here in Scotland for the past year and a half. Last Sunday, I went on my first official SERC ride (SERC = Scottish Endurance Riders Conference - same as AERC but in Scotland instead of in America, obviously). The ride was a short one: 16km, the pleasure ride. I got a ride to the barn early on Sunday morning and we caught the horses, loaded them and all our gear up into the trailer, and set off on the 1.5 hour drive to Carron Valley.
sunrise at the barn
These guys thought we were going to give them breakfast it seems. See the white horse's reflection in the puddle in front of him? Cool, eh?
the trailer staging area
Once we got to Carron Valley, which is in Stirling, we checked in and got our numbers, then vetted in the horses. All three of our horses (Lyfting, Ess and Ro) passed the vet checks with no problem, and we tacked up and set off soon after. Every rider was able to set off on their own time, whenever they wanted to, within a set period (I think it was 11-11:30 or something) and we all had a specific length of time within which to finish the ride - there was a cutoff time for how late you could finish and also for how early you could finish, I suppose to keep riders' paces somewhat controlled.
The ride itself was very pretty. We started out along a thin single track dirt trail through some trees, emerging out onto a wider gravel road, and then continued along this road for much of the ride. Gravel isn't the best for riding on, as it can be hard on the horses' legs and feet (just as it can be for runners) but there was a grassy median in the middle of the road and we stuck mostly to that, trotting and tolting our way through the ride, with a bit of cantering mixed in. We rode around a reservoir surrounded by trees, through more densley forested areas, and across some wee wooden bridges over tiny streams. It was grey, but not too cold or windy during the ride, and, just after we had loaded the horses back into the trailer post-ride, it started to rain - perfect timing!
Lyfting ready to go.
The dark horse in the background is Ess.
The ride was a lollipop loop out and then back around, so we came back down the same dirt trail we went out on. At the end, the people volunteering at the finish line handed each rider a finish time card and a piece of chocolate. Very nice. We all vetted out after untacking with no problem and were awarded with ribbons for out completions. While the horses ate their post-ride grains and hay, we sat on the trailer and ate our sandwiches and hot tea, then loaded the horses back in the trailer and headed home to Edinburgh. The whole event was fun and well managed, and it was a great way to spend a Sunday.
