Gayle Ritchie joins a trek on horseback for a unique charity founded by Dunfermline-based adventurer Louis Hall.
I WAS a bundle of nerves when we rocked up in Perth’s South Inch car park with two horses in tow. My friend, Karen Inkster – who runs an equestrian centre near Dunkeld – was at the wheel and seemed as cool as a cucumber.
Karen was taking part in a charity trek run by the Big Hoof and, while she would ride Connie, her Standardbred, she’d invited me to join her on her gorgeous Arab x Trotter, Promise.
I’d never ridden Promise before – I had only just met her – so we hadn’t had a chance to bond.
Knowing we might join the trek for around 18 miles, I was keen to take it all in my stride . . . until I saw the funfair setting up, the tour buses reversing and the bin lorries doing circles around the car park.
Panic kicked in.
“Don’t worry – the horses are bombproof,” Karen reassured me as I mopped my sweaty brow.
To my surprise, it seemed she was telling the truth.
Neither lorries, buses, waltzers not dodgems elicited the merest batting of an eyelid from our trusty steeds.
After a quick grooming session, we hopped on and headed to St John’s Kirk – smack bang in the middle of the city centre.
We were meeting the Big Hoof team, founded by Dunfermline-based actor and adventurer Louis Hall.
The plan was to ride to Little Glenshee.
The team, meanwhile, had already been on the road for three days, having started off in St Andrews.
Their final destination was Iona, a mere 205 miles away!
I knew of Louis’s previous exploits and had chatted to him about them – including his last, which saw him ride 1,800 miles from Italy to Spain to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.
I’d been curious to meet the twenty-seven-year-old, and now was my chance.
Karen and I found Louis, plus his travel companion Kiki Ho, and their two Arabs, Sasha and Istia, waiting outside the church.
A massive crowd had gathered to take in the spectacle. Not only was Louis dressed in his kilt, but he’d gathered together a group of walkers from Glasgow-based mental health charity Venture Trust.
They were accompanied by long-distance runner Francesca Goodwin and Highland pony Moy from Ardverikie Estate – which is near Newtonmore – who was carrying some of the crew’s gear.
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