Pack Pony Trip - anybody want to come ?

[Highlander2]

I have got the most fantastic holiday to look forward to this year !!

We are going to do a Pack Pony Trip called "Walking the Drove Roads" with a bunch of poets, story tellers and artists in July.

We will start from Kingussie near Aviemore and walk the "Minigaig Pass" to Blair Atholl and then the "Shinigiag Pass" from there to near Kirkmichael.

We will only walk about 10 miles a day, drovers speed, and will corral the horses at night with electric fencing. We will have 8 to 10 Highland Ponies with us carrying all food and equipment for the 7 day trek from 3rd to 11th of July with up to 26 people. We will use a mixture of deer saddles and military pack saddles.

It will just be so relaxing and I have not done anything like this since my Gold Duke of Edinburgh when I was 16.

It will be great to turn the clock back like this and slow right down and just enjoy others people's company for a week. and of course the horse's company too.

The organisation that is running the trip is called The Speygrian Trust. Read more about what they do here:

http://www.speygrian.org.uk/index.asp?pageid=62348

Although the trip is fully subscribed I could probably sneak in a couple of extra "drovers" in to my team if you want to join us on all or some of the trip !!

Here is a pic of one of our "team" - Marigold.

This is a wee training session in using pack saddles and deer saddles that we ran last year with Sandy Macarthur demonstrating, who also makes the saddles.

I lent Marigold to some friends last year and they used her to carry all their kit on the West Highland Way.

 

[Depp_by_Chocolate]

This sounds fantastic I'd love to be part of it but I wouldn't be able to take part this year, will it be run next year too?

 

[Highlander2]

Here is some more pics of Marigold doing the West Highland Way last year with a friends family of 5, Marigold carried all the camping kit and food and they corralled them in an electric fence at night en route. Isabella the white Highland Pony is ours too

Top of the Devil's Staircase below

Then from about 4 years ago 4 of our Highlands on Secret Exercise and Military Manouvers in Lochaber with the 1st Irish Regiment (British Army) before heading to Afghanistan. They were mostly carrying ammo.

And just to prove this is not a new venture for us here is one of our Highlands carrying a 4.2 Mortar on a Territorial Army Camp with The Lovat Scouts in the early 1950's

 

[Highlander2]

Of course we will do it again, probaby easier riding it and taking a pack pony too though

 

[potty_4_piebalds]

I would love to do something like that but could i have a pack just full of pain killers for all my aches and pains i would get from riding 10 miles a day lol! a friend of mine went packing for 2 months around north devon and somerset with her friend 2horses and a dog walked in the morning to the pub had lunch and some cider then carried on they done about 10 miles a day too.