15km at Klipkraal

 So, when I was a kid, my parents' favorite little breakaway spot was this lovely guest farm in the hills between our farm and the Vaal Dam. It was only 20 minutes' drive from our house and so if anything went wrong at home we could always pop back and fix it, a constant possibility when one grows up on a dairy farm.

The thing I loved most about this place was the sheer abundant beauty of its landscape. It's a conservation area, and while there are a few fields with cattle or crops, much of the farm surrounding the guest houses has been left as nature intended. There are plants growing there that don't exist anywhere else in the world. It is a tiny slice of Africa the way it once was, long before colonization, and I have always wanted to see it from horseback.

Late in December, during my week off, that day finally came. The local distance riding association was holding a week of pleasure rides at Klipkraal, and when I asked, they were more than happy for me to come over just for the day. C and Phantom (who was with us for a few months learning to go on outrides) wanted to go too, so on Wednesday the 28th, we threw Lancey and his big baby warmblood friend into C's box and off we went.

Lancey seemed somewhat bemused when we unloaded him in a beautiful old farmyard instead of a horse show parking lot, but he was quite happy to have his tack thrown on and mosey over to the other riders. After they were accordingly impressed with C's ability to jump onto her massive baby warmblood from the ground, we set off onto the trails.

Lancey and I immediately encountered his One Great Nemesis: water. I have had an entire flock of guinea fowl jump out of the bush UNDER this horse's nose (literally almost flying into his face) and he didn't even look up, but one puddle is enough to reduce him to a trembling, snorting mess. We had one of the wettest Decembers I can remember, and there was a giant pool of water right across the path. Lancey NOPED THE HECK OUTTA THERE as the other horses (including Phantom) sloshed through and headed happily into the fields. He said he was very happy to stay behind, thank you. I decided it was far too early in the day to have this argument and so we took the long way round, involving crashing down a bank, through a bunch of reeds, and bursting out the other side up another steep bank. Of course, banks are not scary (only water) so he was happy to do this and then to plod along after the others on a loose rein.

Not even a little annoyed that his friend was over there up in front

We settled into a swinging walk as we headed along the edge of the mielie field. We were a really nice group: the DRASA organizer on her experienced older Boerperd, her other half on a very green Arab who was more Arab-like than Lancey but being handled expertly, C on Phantom, Lancey and I, and two other experienced distance riders, one on a seasoned but grumpy mare and the other on a young but sweet mare. No one was in any particular hurry and no one acted like a cowboy throughout. I grew up riding with cowboys, frequently getting run off with by herdbound horses, and suffering from that common phenomenon that most Velcro-butt kids do: starting out on a nice horse and then getting bounced from one naughty horse to the next for the duration of the ride. This ruined group rides for me for a long time, and I haven't actually ridden in a big group (apart from plodding with lesson kids) for years, apart from one pleasure ride where I neatly got out of having to do anything fast by volunteering to take the beginner group and stick to a plod on Arwen.

So I was a little bit nervous as we headed off, but I knew that Lancey isn't herdbound at all, so I dealt wit that by telling myself that if any of our companions started doing crazy stuff I wasn't comfortable with, I would just turn my little white Arabian around and go home by myself. He would let me. That was a good feeling. Of course, no one did anything silly at all and my fears were totally unfounded, but it was good to feel like I could implicitly trust my horse no matter what happened. He was perfect in the group for the entire day, the same as he would be at home, so I feel confident about expanding our horizons and maybe doing bigger rides with people we don't know.

Anyway, we picked up a brisk trot along the mielie fields, and Lancey was absolutely powering along. At one point his big dressage-horse trot started to get a bit squashed behind the leader, so we drew level with them, and he was quite happy to be in the front. I had two hands on the reins and he was working into the bridle but I wasn't hanging onto him. It was lovely.

After this we went through a gate and into a field full of cows. Lancey, of course, is not in the least worried about cows and he strolled along on a loose rein even when the little calves bucked and kicked near him and then zoomed off.

There was, however, a dam in the cow field and we had to ride over the dam wall, which meant crossing over some shallow water on both sides of the wall. The water was mostly hidden by grass, which turned out to be helpful - Lancey didn't realise it was there until he was already in it. He snorted and tiptoed through it, but actually crossed much more easily than I expected. Soon we were riding along the wall. He didn't want to go too near the water but didn't mind walking along the wall too much. He was rather amazed that some of the calves had gone into the water to cool off.

It was a perfect sunny day (and I burned to a deep shade of tomato red) and the water was an inexpressible blue.

With the dam behind us, we headed up into another grassy pasture, with glorious views rolling all around us. Most of the time we moved at a brisk walk, although we did trot up this long hill. Lancey felt AMAZING up every single hill we climbed on this day. Halfway up, the other horses often began to slow down a little bit, but I would just chirp at him and he'd find a whole other gear and power on up at a ground-eating medium trot.

At the top of the hill we found a glorious platea, looking out over the Vaal Dam itself. The second-to-biggest dam in South Africa, it looked truly vast rolled out below us. I didn't get any good photos, so you'll just have to trust me on this. The world seemed to just suddenly disappear at the end of the plateau, melting into the shimmering silver of the water.

You can see a tiny bit of the dam here, between the two koppies.

Lancey was happy to march along with the reins on the buckle while I chatted with the other riders. He took the lead somewhere around here and maintained it most of the time, even though he was totally happy to go in the back, too. He just has a really big walk.

We headed up and down through the koppies for a while now, admiring the absolutely untouched natural wilderness around us. Klipkraal is a privately owned farm, but its owners have gone to great lengths to take care of it. Some of its most incredible vegetation is its kiepersolle - I don't know the English word for them. Cabbage trees, maybe? They're very cute to look at.

The guest house where we always had our holidays is just off to the right here, in the trees

I had been intimidated by the prospect of riding 15km, which sounded like an awfully long way for a chunky lil dressage horse, but somehow we were already turning for home and Lancey hadn't actually broken a sweat.

The tall trees with round tufty tops are kiepersolle

We had to cross the water and the dam wall one more time on the way home, and Lancey LAUNCHED over the water the first time, but luckily not without warning. I was quite happy to sit his jump since I knew he would land quietly on the other side without any bucking, bolting or other funny business, although he did choose to land directly behind the grumpy mare, leading to a hair-raising few moments while I tried to get him out of there. Sorry, grumpy mare owner. I've been there.

Soon we were back at the horsebox and the horses were so relaxed that we untacked them and just let them graze loose in the farmyard while we had some tea and sandwiches (C brought a whole picnic - she is the best). I could hardly believe how perfect my Lancey had been. Riding in groups has been a fear for me for a long time, but I've also been so eager to see more of our gorgeous countryside from horseback, and now it feels like I can go anywhere with him and we'll be just fine. Water crossings maybe a bit hairy, but honestly I didn't even think of jumping off and leading him this time, which is always an option.

Of course Phantom decided that he no longer loads in a horsebox, so Lancey went in and out and in and out again a few times until someone suggested turning the box around so that the sun was shining into it and then Phantom hopped right in. Definitely something to remember for the future.

I am just so pleased to have my little white Arab. He might not get quite as much attention as clever Thunder, but he still means so, so much to me. This was a great ride and I can't wait to do another one soon!

Thunder update to follow!

God is good.