Horse Trekking in Rangitata

Well, I am starting to satisfy my animal fix. I started off small at the Milford underwater observatory with black coral (which is an animal, BTW), giant mussels, sea cucumbers, starfish, and lots of fish. Occasionally these are pursued by a hunting bird, seal, or dolphin, but we were not lucky enough to see those. The next day I headed north to Rangitata, home of NZ's best white water rafting, and horse trekking in the Peel Forest.

We arrived at this wonderful wooden A-frame building heated by a wood-burning stove (there've been lots of these in NZ so far). I spent a very relaxing afternoon reading by the fire and drinking copious cups of tea. We were briefly joined by Sophie (aka Duck Face), an extremely well behaved black lab. She would not come inside the building, per her training, and could be trusted not to eat food until instructed to. I know so many dogs who could happily follow her example!!

The next morning I got picked up for my two hour horse trek. My mount was Craig, a 4 year old Standardbred track reject. He was saved from the abattoir due to his calm temperament--perfect for a trail horse. My guide was Patrick, a crusty old man who had spent his life around horses and used to fly with racing horses all over the world. Craig was a great horse, except for his tendency to want to munch grass while walking, and to walk too closely to objects on his left side, conveniently forgetting that my leg also needed room to pass!!

We walked along the road, through fields and forests, across streams, and even through some rocky and sandy beaches. When I first got on, I thought my butt would never last the two hours. After a while, however, you do find your seat and meld much better with both the saddle and the horse. This didn't prevent me from staggering a bit when I dismounted, but my land legs soon returned. I can't remember the last time I rode a horse, so this was a terrific re-introduction. Now I need to learn how to go faster than a walk!!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Kaikoura, further north on the East Coast, to swim with a pod of wild dolphins in the ocean. The water will be freezing, but hopefully our wetsuits will be adequate to the conditions. It should be awesome...