Rockley Rehab Reunion Ridgeway Ride Report

j1ffy

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How's that for a bit of alliteration?!

I don't often post but the weekend was so incredible that I had to share :) Many of you on here have heard of Rockley Farm and there are quite a few forumites with horses who have been successfully rehabbed from 'navicular' and other palmar hoof issues there (including my boy Pocholo!). Back in September, we had a Rockley Rehab Reunion at Aston-Le-Walls and three of us (Nic who runs Rockley, Lucy (another rehab owner, aka Lucemoose on here) and myself) hatched a new reunion plan. It turns out that Nic and I shared a childhood ambition to ride the full bridleway section of the Ridgeway - Nic as she loved The Moon Stallion as a kid, and me because I'd loved White Horse Hill, Wayland's Smithy and Avebury since I can remember. Determined to make the plan a reality, I spent the last four months or so planning and cajoling various people to bring the idea to life. At the weekend it finally all came together!

We set off late morning on Friday from Streatley. All the horses were fab, loading calmly and waiting patiently while we faffed around then all keen to get going! The terrain started out flinty but none of the horses were bothered in the slightest. We made our way to East Hendred where my amazing mum was waiting with a picnic, with a few canters (and one unplanned gallop - oops!) on the way:



After a lunch we had a leisurely walk for 5 miles to our overnight stop...thanks to 'scone stitch' (lunch included warm scones, jam and cream!!) we couldn't go any faster ;) Here's something you couldn't do on a shod horse!



Saturday evening we had a fantastic meal at a local pub (yes, food was something of a theme...as it tends to be when I organise anything!!), which set us up for our marathon day on Sunday. We left the Wantage yard early with the lorries to drop them off at our Sunday stop, but Google maps took us on a slightly random route. Mini Coopers aren't designed for off-roading but my little car coped well :O

Saturday morning saw us reach White Horse Hill at Uffington, and we had a magical 20 minutes of riding past Uffington Castle to the top of the White Horse itself. All the horses got quite lively up there, I'm sure they picked up on the spirit of Epona. It's a truly magical place:





Pocholo doing his 'angry Spanish horse wants to go faster' face:


We stopped at Wayland's Smithy for a quick look at the long barrow, then it was a bit of a slow ride to our lunch stop at Fox Hill thanks to stony hardcore tracks. The views of course were stunning! All the horses walked calmly over the M4 bridge then back onto the bridleway - finally we had some grass so we had a couple of miles of trots and canters just as a shower came in. A few more miles of pretty trackway with bluebells, cowslips and snowdrops lining the path and we got to our Sunday night stopover - a wonderful B&B called Cunetio. Once again we were incredibly well fed by the absolutely lovely owners.

Monday was a comparatively short, but fast, ride. Barbury Castle was fantastic, complete with long gallops and outstanding views. Then we headed into Avebury to spot some druids :lol: and get into an argument with a National Trust lady. And to see some standing stones of course! We must be in a thousand tourist photos as the place was packed. Pocholo managed to scare a little girl who came to pat him by nuzzling her neck in return. Silly boy! We then had a final canter before arriving at the end for the last of my mum's amazing picnics.

Barbury gallops...it would be rude not to..


Avebury standing stones and Pocholo:




The weather approaching - luckily we had finished and had just had our lunch!


Unfortunately we did get soaked while waiting for our lift home, but seeing as it was the only heavy rain we saw all weekend it was quickly forgotten.

The best thing about the whole weekend is that we've raised over £2700 (so far!) for Willberry Wonder Pony. Hannah Francis was such an inspiration and to think that we've helped her charity in this small way is just fantastic.

There are more photos (including hoof pics!) and a video on Nic's blog here: http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/ridgeway-ride-result.html
 

ycbm

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A bloomin amazing! All those horses due a bullet, out doing that!

When are the veterinary BEVA and the FRC going to sit up and take notice!!!
 

ester

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It's fab up there isn't it, mosty done the barbury/avebury end with friends and would have loved to do the whole thing.
 

j1ffy

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That looks amazing!

It was! I've never done anything like it, I highly recommend a long distance ride on your own horse :)

A bloomin amazing! All those horses due a bullet, out doing that!

When are the veterinary BEVA and the FRC going to sit up and take notice!!!

**sigh** Who knows?! The success rates of Project Dexter (the research project based on Nic's Rockley results) are amazing, around 80% of horses rehabbed from navicular / DDFT / collateral ligament issues return to the same or higher level of work. It was fascinating seeing the variety of horses, from flat TB feet to solid cob feet to my boy's upright PRE feet, all coping so well with the various surfaces and 49 miles of hard ground. The TB actually had MORE hoof after two days...goes to show how quickly horses adapt!!

It's fab up there isn't it, mosty done the barbury/avebury end with friends and would have loved to do the whole thing.

The Barbury bit was amazing! My horses are on the Ridgeway near Wantage so there's a 5 mile stretch that I know well, but I'd intentionally saved the rest of it for the ride itself. I'm glad I did as it was so fun to discover it!

Amazing! Well done everyone and all the horses.

Thank you!

Looks fantastic, great report and photos, such a great charity to raise money for also.

Thank you! It's amazing how generous friends and family have been...even though we were doing something we loved!
 

Bernster

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What a fantastic thing to do. How mich riding were you doing a day? Sounds like an incredible trip, well done for organising it and for raising a lot for the charity.

But I think arguing with national trust ladies is a very dangerous thing to do haha. Aren't they related to doctor's receptionists ?!
 

j1ffy

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Thank you all!

What a fantastic thing to do. How mich riding were you doing a day? Sounds like an incredible trip, well done for organising it and for raising a lot for the charity.

But I think arguing with national trust ladies is a very dangerous thing to do haha. Aren't they related to doctor's receptionists ?!

We did 14 miles on day one, 21 miles on day two and 14 on day three. The horses were all a bit grumpy-toddler like by the end of day two, not helped by the fact we'd had to do a lot of walking so it was a long day! But they all coped brilliantly :)

As for NT people...I won't say what I think on a public forum ;) It's a very non-horse friendly organisation!!
 

stencilface

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I've been following it on Facebook, keep meaning to donate!

Looks like you had a lovely time, is the ride circular or did you have to relay the horse boxes to get home?
 

j1ffy

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I've been following it on Facebook, keep meaning to donate!

Looks like you had a lovely time, is the ride circular or did you have to relay the horse boxes to get home?

We had to relay each day - the bridleway section of the Ridgeway runs from Streatley in Berkshire to Overton Hill near Avebury in Wiltshire. It was quite a headache working out the logistics!
 

j1ffy

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Amazing - I've just been to see Pocholo and his weaker off-fore hoof (the one that had navicular) looks better now than it did before the ride. Hooves really are incredible, dynamic things!
 

FinkleyAlex

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Ah i think I spy a pony called Prince in the photos, am I right? I used to be on a yard with his owner near Leeds. Lovely pair, and I recall how much Rockley did for both of them.
 

j1ffy

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Ah i think I spy a pony called Prince in the photos, am I right? I used to be on a yard with his owner near Leeds. Lovely pair, and I recall how much Rockley did for both of them.

Well spotted! Prince had a great ride, stomping out over all surfaces and loving life. He and Pocholo became best friends!
 
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