Four horse riders on a challenging 3000 kilometre charity fund raising trek from Longreach, Queensland to Tasmania, stopped over at Narrabri on Friday night.
The riders camped at the Kaputar Road turn off on the Old Gunnedah road on Friday night and welcomed passers by to a barbecue, assisted by local volunteers including John Tough, Eddie Trindall and Lloyd Finlay.
“It was very commendable the way the local volunteers immediately stepped up and helped” commented the mayor Cr Conrad Bolton.
The barbecue and local donations raised about $1000, the riders reported. The money will go to the Leukaemia Foundation and to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
“And all the money will go to those two causes,” said one of the group, Terrill Riley Gibson.
“Our ride is fully funded so there are no costs to come out.”
The journey began when the question of taking horses from Queensland to Tasmania arose.
“We thought, let’s ride them there” the group said, and the Long Ride 4 Life was born.
The trek, which began at the Stockman’s Hall of Fame on July 16, has not always been a comfortable journey across the countryside.
Rain, mud and overgrown Travelling Stock Routes in NSW made tough conditions for the party.
The riders will finish their journey at Ulverston, Tasmania, on November 1 when they will take part in a street parade and into the main ring at the local agricultural show.
The stars of the ride, of course, are the four horses, Wallaby, Pedro, Jasper and Lucky.
Veteran stockman Harold Riley, Terrill’s father, is one of the group, bringing many years of horsemanship experience to the journey.
Harold broke all the horses in except Lucky, a Queensland brumby donated for the ride.
“We only have four horses, we don’t need back ups,”Harold said.
The horses’ wellbeing comes first, Harold said.
“We work hard to keep them intact.
“We use a lot of metho to harden up their backs and prevent saddle soreness.
“And we use the metho to toughen up our four dogs’ feet as well”Harold added.
The dogs wear muzzles so they don’t pick up a bait along the route.
“But the going has been fairly soft and we check the horses hooves every night and make sure they are clean” added Harold. “So they are doing well and are quite fit.
Harold and Anna Hoogeboom sleep out with the horses each night, one at each end of the camp.
The horses are hobbled and surrounded by an electric fence, wear high visibility rugs and one wears a bell.
“We sleep with the bell sounding in the background”said Harold.
“When you don’t hear the bell you wake up.”
A support vehicle carriers the horses’ hard feed and water.
The horses will make the
journey easily as long as there are no accidents, adds Harold.
Meanwhile, he said, it’s a long journey, ‘but one foot after another’ will get the riders to their destination.
Their fund raising target is $250,000, and they are confident of reaching it.