Today's activity Ride of the Rings, the most beautiful horseback ride on the planet

Ride of the Rings. This is what Tj and her sis are doing on their Sunday, May 1, probably in the morning?


The Road goes ever on and on...Our drive to Glenorchy. 

Correctomundo - morning it is. Unfortunately, winter has arrived early here in Queenstown. We have hard frost in the mornings, and it's snowing in Paradise. Paradise is aptly named, as this is where you go for The Ride of the Rings. Paradise is at a higher elevation, however, and due to the snow, low visibility, and gusting winds, we went on The River Wild ride instead. I am moderately devastated.


Snow over mountains in Paradise 

Ah well, travelling is about being flexible, so here I go, flexing, flexing...

At least The River Wild fits in with our Queenstown theme.

We arrived at Dart Stables, donned fantastic Norsewear oilskin overcoats on top of the rest of our gear (yeehaw - good idea as it was quite cold and windy even at the lower elevations and these coats kept us nice and toasty...must get one...), and then went out to meet our steeds.

Soon I sat astride my sweet and chipper horse, Darky, who has the spirit of a Standardbred but a conformation to make you cry. I knew I was in for a great ride as Darky lurched forward kicking - my poor, sweet horse had been viciously bitten in the rump by Luke. Luke, apparently a GREAT trail horse as he is being ridden by a novice rider, breathes like Darth Vader (seriously) and consistently snakes his head around with his ears back. Very intimidating. And very sad: He obviously hates his job. I tried to stay well away from Luke, and from two other horses (also carrying beginner riders) who liked to kick and bite at Darky.

I wish ranchhands would get a clue over which horses to group with which. If they run out of grouping options, it would be nice if they could bring an extra guide to assist in breaking up horse squabbles, etc. Although I'm a rider of moderate ability, it is dangerous for me to attempt to pass a horse who does not want to be passed, as the other horse will swing around to kick mine and risk unseating the novice rider with the relatively sudden movement.

So despite Darky's dapper walk, I was often frustrating him (and myself) by holding him back to a slow crawl to avoid getting flayed alive on the narrow-no-passing-room trail by the set of hooves in front of us.

As we rode along, the guide pointed out interesting things like, "That valley there that you can't see because of the clouds is where Isengard was filmed," or, "Up in those mountains that we're not riding to today due to bad weather is where Lothlorien was filmed," etc. Aargh!

I think my mourning over Paradise lost was palpable as the guides kept reassuring me that I was lucky I wasn't in Paradise due to the shivery weather. I smiled weakly back at them, feeling snug in my Norsewear overcoat, and thinking about the bitter cold I used to ride in in Minnesota. (This is the most northernmost state in the continental United States.) Sigh.

Although my stalwart companions had gamely agreed to attempt The Ride of the Rings (they all get Texas-size brownie points from me), I felt it would be unfair (and not much fun for my compatriots) to ride a potentially slippery trail in inclement weather. Not a great introductory experience for newer riders!! Very unfortunately, Dart Stables would not split our group (so 2 of us could do The Ride of the Rings while the other 4 of us did The River Wild).

I must say, though, that The River Wild was a very pretty ride, too, and one of our guides had taken Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), his agent, and his costumer on a trail ride. So perhaps through something akin to osmosis, this is a Lord-of-the-Ringsish ride anyway.


Stark beauty of the river wild 

It was lovely when I had the opportunity to canter, although Darky has a much quicker canter than the guide's horse's slow lope, so I ended up rising to Darky's Standardbred trot. On the beach, though, I was at the front of our group and enjoyed a wonderful, and at last unhindered, canter.

Overall, it was a decent day, but Melanie and I decided we'd forgo our last planned horse ride, as riding with horses who kick and bite at other horses, who have riders who can't stop them, is just too stressful to bother paying money for.

When David and I come back to do The Ride of the Rings, I think I'll pay extra for a private ride on two horses who get along with each other!!!

Note to future travellers: Build a few "free" days into your itinerary so you can wait out bad weather if you wish to. I did not spend an extra day in Queenstown as it would've meant having to skip either Dunedin or Nelson and Abel Tasman.

Still learning in NZ,
Teej