The ride of the rings with Dart Stables

Horse riding with Dart Stables on the Ride of the Rings (1½ hours)/$169, Glenorchy
Waking up really early I am excited at the prospect of going for my first proper horse ride :) So leaping out of my bunk (while trying unsuccessfully not to disturb the sleepers below me) I find my cool weather gear and head for the door… Minutes later I am sipping a coffee and waiting for the mini-bus to take us to Dart Stables, Glenorchy…
I am not alone!! In total there are 5 of us booked for ‘Ride of the Rings’ and this entails another 15mins in the mini-bus to ‘Paradise’ where our guide ‘Megan’ and the horses are waiting :)
We are welcomed by Megan and soon nerves are put to rest regarding the mounts who are standing patiently eyeing up their potential riders ;) each one of us is assessed for prior experience and then paired off with an appropriate mount as well as being given guidance on how to mount and give instructions to horses - I am assigned ‘Chester’ (who is a little overweight for his height but tough and sound) and am reminded on how to mount him from a set of steps… After an excellent mount (If I must say so myself) I find out that Chester is the leader of the heard!! And therefore always wants to be at the front of the line :) but I end up being second in line behind our guide on route as the horses kind of organise their own hierarchy from there…
As we move off I become instantly comfortable in the saddle and start to take in the beautiful surroundings while feeding gentle instructions to Chester on where to go - the basic codes that I had at my disposal were; nudge into ribs with heels for forwards, apply backward pressure to rains to stop and then slacken once stopped (or you go into reverse), apply pressure low and out to the side on rein to turn left or right or to stop from eating!! This is generally only a gentle application of the rein although at times (especially if food is near) you have to heave a little harder to get attention (but never tug - after all the rein is in there mouth!). Chester was superb and responded well to my commands and encouragement and I found myself quickly bonding with the old chap - giving him a stroke and pat of encouragement/reward, whenever he did something right ;) Simply wonderful - He did pant a little up hill, but then again he was carrying me (all 75kg of me)!!
The ride was simply amazing and I enjoyed every minute of the 1½ hours taking in the sights and sounds of the landscape while bonding further with Chester flew past. Points of note on the trip relate mainly to LOTR (Lord of the Rings for those not in the know)… Several important scenes where shot in the Paradise area of Glenorchy and we are lucky enough to be able to ride through them and see them first hand - in the footsteps of legends.
The first leg of our ride takes us across sweeping grassland with bushes and then all of a sudden we enter an ancient Beech woodland, it is beautiful with golden leaves on the ground and all at once you start to feel the eyes of creatures upon you… (Gimli of course would claim that he would detected anything long before it could ambush us, but then Gimli isn’t here!!) - but I can visualise Haldir and the elves stepping out silently from the trees and taking our little party as guests back to Lothlorien to see Galadriel. You almost catch yourself holding your breath as you imagine the scene with Megan our guide filling in the details… Awesome.
Just meters away on the other side of the track is the hillside clearing which represented Amon Hen where the Uriki orcs attack the fellowship of the ring. Once again your imagination takes flight and using just the scenery that you are riding through you visualise the fall of Boromir to the Uriki chief ‘Lurtz’ and you are able to clearly see the final tree/resting place of this born leader of men. Sam also has a scene running to catch up to Frodo at the lake while orcs pour over the hillside fought off by the rest of the fellowship. Amazing to be covering the very ground of middle earth where the hero’s of the fellowship where filmed :)
Finally rounding the side of the beech forest we find ourselves looking out over the river Dart and the golden mile or Wizards Vale. You can imagine ‘Isengard’ the dark tower of Saruman the white standing tall within the valley before you with the peaks of the misty mountains framing the scene. Is that Gandalf making his way to the tower?? Or an army of orcs leaving Isengard ready to crush the realm of man??… Nope just a jet boat roaring along the river. There are lots of ways to experience the ring :)
We continue to ride back towards Paradise via a loop track and see more sights related to filming of both Wolverine (where the barn blows up!) and Prince Caspian (where the prince is being chased on horseback through the forest and is taken from the saddle by a low branch). A great tour and exceptionally knowledgeable and entertaining guide. It is ‘Paradise on Earth’ - a horse and rider walking through a beautiful landscape…
Returning to Paradise we find the other horses not lucky enough to have riders standing around chewing the cud or rolling about in the grass but they soon welcome us back ;) Giving the final few instructions to Chester I line him up at the rein rest I am given quick reminders on how to dismount before elegantly dismounting ;) (well maybe elegantly is the wrong word but I did stay on my feet)