Brenfield – Argyll riding holiday 2009


Last year I arranged for my cousin & I to ride at Cumbrian Heavy Horses

this year it was Jenny's turn to organise and she choose Brenfield






Tuesday 26th May


We set of on foot from the B&B just up the coast from Brenfield in the morning, as the coast road is dangerous for pedestrians we decided to make our way along the forest tracks above the B&B – this started with a climb up the 39 steps of John Buchan fame and liberal use of the sat nav on my phone to keep us pointed in the right direction, though my cousin wasn't convinced of its reliability to start with! We passed some very impressive highland cattle on the way




Having found the stables and introduced ourselves we made of back to the B&B with the intention of grabbing some lunch before riding in the afternoon – on the way the heavens opened and we were glad of our waterproofs – the poor family that passed us dressed in T shirts must have got soaked through!


After a light snack taken by the Loch side we drove back to the stables where we met our horses and our ride guide, Ronnie. She was working at Brenfield for just a while on a sort of vacation from the US. I rode Hamish, a 16.2 / 16.3 hand 15 yr old gelding warmblood/ID cross – he turned out to be very like my own horse, Scully, and I felt instantly at home! Gelded late in life, he came to Brenfield with problems as he still thought he was a stallion, he is now a very nice, well behaved and responsive horse. I was able to ride with my legs off his sides and just the lightest nudge sent him forward. Such a pleasure compared with Scully! Ronnie rode Ask (one of the owner's horses)


We set off for what was to be just a gentle 2 hour walk & trot introduction to the horses and the scenery which actually lasted over 2 & half hours.



Wednesday 27th

The picnic ride, I rode Hamish, Jenny rode Bragi & Ronnie was on Ask again.





Above – Bragi, below Ronnie on Ask leads Jenny on Bragi, while Hamish & I toodle along behind!





We opted to ride longer before lunch rather than after and had a lovely time exploring the forest tracks with their glimpses of the loch in the distance and plenty of opportunities for a nice trot and later we did just a little canter up a slope, very naughty! Ronnie warned us that we would be coming down these tracks a lot faster on the Thursday! We explored the reservoir as a likely picnic spot but decided on a patch of grass we had passed earlier – it was a bit boggy but the horses were tied to the trees and we had lunch, remounting afterwards was by courtesy of some raised manhole covers. Hamish was fine, each junction on the track he would look up the different paths, as if to say “can we go this way please?” He wasn't so keen on crossing bridges with water running underneath if it was noisy – he trotted over very smartly!



Thursday 28th

The day of the beach gallop!

I was still a bit unsure about galloping after last year's unscheduled dismount from Ollie the Clydesdale at full gallop!

The ride was led by Tove (the owner of Brenfield) riding Bragi with Ronnie acting as tail guard. Jenny got Sean, an Eskdale pony – Tove said “If your small enough to ride a pony, take advantage of it”. I was on Hamish.






We were joined by 3 others – a lady reporter and a gastro pub chef and his partner, so seven horses & riders set off along our now fairly well known tracks above the Loch






Well, as predicted by Ronnie, we certainly moved a lot faster, every straight (ish) section of track was taken at canter and we were soon back at the place we had picnicked at the day before where we dismounted to give the horses a rest - I used the raised manhole covers to remount and walked on to let the next person use them - got told to stand still by Tove 'cos our reporter lady was bouncing about trying to mount from the soggy ground!



A few canters later we were having a "wee" stop - Tove has trained the horses to wee by whistling to them - I was at the back with the Ronnie and she said she wondered what other people in the area thought was going on! I said that if they were birdwatchers they could add another to their list - the "Lesser Spotted Tove" – we both laughed!



Eventually we were above the town of Lochgilphead and crossing the canal – Bragi wouldn't go over the wooden canal bridge, played up horrendously and Tove had to ride backwards over the bridge fighting every inch of the way!



All present and correct and briefed by Tove on pain of death to stay to her left on the sands we set off across the road and into the stream running into the Loch






along the stream until we got to the sand (mud)




and as soon as Bragi hit the sand we were off!




Well not much to Tove's left, more in her hoof tracks!




Eventually we ran out of sand and cantered into the sea




and after a short walk to let the horses recover a bit, we were off again at trot through the water




then back to walk as the water deepened – at this point our reporter lady's horse decided to have a roll! She was dumped in the sea up to her neck – and she was the only one not to have brought a change of clothes as suggested!




Jenny's pony just about had long enough legs to keep her feet out of the water




the horses (and our reporter) waded to shore and climbed out onto the road and set of for the pub at a smart trot – notice the horses' legs and feathers are wonderfully clean & bright compared with the picture of when we set off!




the horses were “parked” in the pub car park, fed and watered while we were likewise inside!






The return journey to Brenfield was almost as exciting as we went round the back of the pub and worked our way up some fairly steep roads until we found ourselves at the bottom of a fairly long flight of steps up the hillside – the first time I have ridden a horse up steps! More flat out canters along the muddy tracks returned the horses' legs to their previous state and us to the stables.



Another memorable horsey holiday over all too soon.