Climbing Mountains With the Volunteers

Recently, friend EM (not Erin, another lovely friend whose name also begins with E) and I were trying to figure out how long I've been part of the local volunteer first responders. The consensus was it's been either five-and-a-half or six years, which feels like an inordinately long time and also like no time at all.

Anyway, one of my favorite things about being a volunteer is that we get to go to sporting events as first aid support. Mostly this means sitting under a gazebo watching primary school rugby and occasionally coaching a hyperventilating child to stop, but occasionally we get hikes or mountain bike races that take place in some really gnarly terrain. And so the Heidelberg Volunteer Mounted Unit was born.

We haven't done a mounted event in a while, not since Lancey became my go-to (I always took a school pony), but when EM asked me to bring two horses to a hike in the mountains, I was more than happy to make this Lancey's debut in the mounted unit. It would be a good testing ground for him, although I was pretty sure he would be great. Mounted unit horses don't really have to cope with crowds and such, but they do need to be willing to go practically anywhere you ask and then stand very still if one is tending a patient, both some of Lancey's best attributes. And as it turned out, the former would be tested to the limit on this ride.

We were joined by Flash, ridden by EM. It was right in the end of April while I was still running myself absolutely ragged and so we arrived slightly late with two very grubby ponies, but we managed to get saddled up and onto the trail just as the last runners/hikers were heading out.

Immediately as we set off up the first major hill, I realized that I had absolutely nothing to worry about in terms of horses. Lancey was immediately calm and happy to be working, powering up the hill in that gear that only Arabians seem to have. Flash, too, was being his usual exemplary self. EM hasn't ridden much in recent years but they immediately got along and we were a happy group heading up the hill.

When we reached the top, a knot of hikers had gathered at the viewpoint. The horses had a bite of grass as we waited for the hikers to disperse safely.

Then we rode up to the edge ourselves to look down at a glorious river valley below.

It was after this that things got a little hairy. We continued to follow the hiking trail down the other side of the hill, and it wasn't long before we were descending sharply on a very rocky trail clearly designed more for human feet than horse feet. Lancey, bless his perfect heart, was more than game to head on down, and placed those little hooves of him exactly right for a very sharp downhill where he seldom had more than a hoof's width of room. We also squeezed between a bunch of trees; there were places I had to lie flat on his neck. Poor EM and Flash were right behind us, Flash content to do whatever Lancey did, true to his school-pony nature.

At one point we had to climb down a steep rock shelf about 60cm high onto another rock, and I hopped down to help Lancey, who scrabbled after me with a willing heart. We had to leave the actual trail then -- it was just too rocky -- and ride around it, scrambling through holes and weeds and rocks until we reached the bottom.

Lancey and I were both really breathless when we got there, but I was very impressed. There had been places where I had to use my hands to balance my way down, reins hooked over my arm, so I can't imagine how difficult Lancey was finding the terrain. Still, he didn't protest at all, following me willingly all the way.

When I looked back up, Flashy and EM were still at the top, Flashy regarding me with a pleading look in his eyes. We could have gotten them both down with us, too, but EM and I decided that -- since it was only a 5km loop -- it would be safer to ride the loop the other way, and not risk scrabbling down the hill unless someone got hurt and needed us. Bringing the horses had definitely been a good idea. There is no way we would have gotten any other kind of vehicle down there; if there had been trouble, they would have been by far the fastest way to reach it.

I got back on Lancey and pointed him up the hill, expecting to pick our way slowly back to EM and Flashy. Instead, when I clucked at him and loosened the reins, Lancey found a whole other gear and powered his way up there at a brisk pace. It was amazing. I don't think I've ever ridden a horse who could have done it like that.

My little 4x4 pony. It was such a great feeling, and a terrific shock to realize I wasn't scared a bit. I was excited to climb that hill with him. I wanted to do more than just walk on the buckle, and that was rather a revelation because for absolute years I have been terrified by doing anything else. But this was downright fun, and all because of the good little Arab under me.

We tried to ride the trail in reverse, but this was equally unsuccessful; in fact there were places I was almost on my hands and knees with Lancey gamely scrabbling along behind. This mission was summarily aborted when we saw that there was another way to reach the top, not coming over the hill, but nonetheless accessible. The trail was hectic on the way back, too. Brush and trees had grown so close over it that there were extended stretches where I had to pull my first aid bag off my back and dangle it under Lancey's neck, lying on his shoulders myself with my arms around his neck. Even so, the branches scraped along both my knees and my back. Muffled cursing behind me indicated that the taller EM on the wider Flashy was having rather a difficult time.

This difficulty intensified when I encountered a gigantic golden orb weaver in the middle of her enormous, beautiful web exactly at face height. Golden orb weavers are completely harmless, but EM is a giant arachnophobe, so she was less enthused about my encouragement to "just duck". Luckily, Flashy was not interested in stopping at that point, so poor EM didn't have much choice other than to duck for her life.

After this, someone reported a missing person, and indicated he may have wandered off along a track leading down the valley into thick fog. I had no idea whose land this was, but we had to try to find him. We set off, shouting into the fog. It was very wet here and much of the road was covered in puddles; I had to get off to get Lancey through the large puddle by the gate, but he handled the rest of them fairly well, skirting around them where he could but deigning to go through the smallest ones where he had to. Flash didn't care. He just slopped right on through.

After a nerve-wracking half-hour or so, the missing person turned back up at the base, so we turned around and trotted back to look after our hikers. By this point, most of them were back anyway, but we took another quick ride up to the viewpoint to make sure there were no stragglers (and also to take pictures).

The beloved was happy because he got to drive this little buggy thingy.

Epic beloved posing epically. Lancey wouldn't get particularly close because he said the wooden platform was Scary.

Your hour of need -- the most important 60 minutes of our day 💛

Amazing riding buddy 💜 And also the best school pony ever to grace this earth.

More of the beloved zooming around in the buggy.

With all the hikers safely home, we rode back to the base and gave the horses some well-deserved grass and water. The admiring volunteers crowded around to ask the standard non-horsy-people questions and pet them. Regrettably our rookie decided to do this while holding a tray of coffee directly over Flashy's head, and when Flashy raised his head to say hello, the rookie was summarily baptized in coffee. He is therefore now responsible for bringing coffee to the rest of us until the end of time, by the power vested in Flashy.

Somehow EM's stethoscope stayed around her neck the whole time -- she is such a pro

It was a very satisfying way to spend the morning gallivanting around on horseback serving the community. What was more, the volunteers kindly decided that the proceeds from the hike (we volunteer at true emergencies, but our events division is paid and certainly helps us to replace equipment and consumables, not to mention fuel) would be given to the horsies for their efforts. Flash got a brand new blanket and is in the running for a new browband, too. I still have to decide what Lancey will get. Maybe a nice new stable rug, if I can find a secondhand one.

God is so good.