Magical Hidden Trails by Horseback

There’s always magic when you go with Laura, Christian and their crew.

Whether its your first ride ever with them :

Hidden Trails……

A seven day ride up north,

Duracks, pastoralists, the Kimberley’s and me

A round about Victoria’s mystical Wonnangatta ride;

Wonnangatta.

Or beautiful brumby territory; the Bogongs;

(you’ll be glad to know there isn’t a blog, 😝

There is a facebook album with the story on each photo –

sorry, but if you interested – open the photos individually and you will

‘get the picture, so to speak ‘ 😝

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.6191761317509588&type=3

Or down in the Howqua ;

regardless of how many time you go.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.9346216082064080&type=3

And then there is

THIS TIME.

Where we had:

Amazing weather.

Amazing people.

Amazing horses.

In other words,

nothing has changed.

Riding with https://www.hiddentrails.com.au/

is

ALWAYS AMAZING.

And this time was no exception.

So come along ‘for the ride’

and enjoy the photos (credit to the entire gang for these)

It all began in Mansfield,

where friends from S Australia, NSW and Victoria

united over dinner and morning coffee

and off we went to Mirimbah

to meet our horses

and the Most Amazing Crew of People.

We rode up hills.

which went up, up and up

To reveal fantastic views

Whichever
way we looked

We stopped:

the horses drank and

we listened to the sound of water

We rode,

we looked,

we listened to Matt’s explanations

We went to the top of the world

Had a look around
waved goodbye

and then had one last look….

Just to make sure….
Because things may look different through the horse’s eye

We sat around

Sometimes on our horses….
Sometimes leaning against each other
Sometimes on the ground
Sometimes round the fire
Other times round a table
Sometimes unsure – a foot in each camp is probably safest
Or perhaps far from the madding crowd!

We had, as always, amazing food, fabulous fires, heaps of laughs,

And for three wonderful nights,

we had

another day to look forward to.

Like this one

Moments of quiet
Moments of conversation, contemplation, anticipation
Moments of laughter
And unbelievable beauty.

And just like that, it was time to leave.

Even the horses knew that.

and we hurried for those last memories to be made

Happy, contented people.

There is a ps 🤣

a mini reunion which saw us last to leave The Anvil, after midnight,

just as the rain arrived and we walked home, wet, happy, tired, tipsy

with such such special memories of a fabulous week.

And all thanks to http://www.hiddentrails.com.au/

Thanks as always to Hidden Trails.

Family, Ritual, Tsagaan Sar

A little like those eternal Christmas Day planning to be at Mum at 12, Uncle Ben at 2, can we fit in Aunty Jane?

Except this seems to have more grace,

more ritual

less ‘resentment’

(although, of course I have no idea of the conversations that may occur behind the scenes 😆)

Manlon, his aunt and his son

We were so privileged to be included in this

Treated like family

Welcomed like friends.

We visited several sets of family in the afternoon.

Always with the same form of greeting;

Greetings of the elders.

A ritualized form of salutation.

Tables were laden with food;

again all traditional for the Tsagaan Sar

Gifts were given and received,

noticeably given by the hosts and received by the guests.

Even we were given gifts –

Mine a hand made small camel

We drank salted cows milk; camel milk, sheep milk, vodka, whisky

and who knows what else.

We ate horse meat dumplings, beef dumplings, mutton dumplings,

and who knows what else.

We were greeted, welcomed, ‘watered’ and fed at each home we visited.

And spent time with my first Mongolian horse.
None have names, few have class, all are amazing.

The glamorous Bolormaa and I

There was so much pride in their culture

and traditions.

It was a privilege to to see.

I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the ‘fun’

which it was.

A ‘gentleman’ and me
That’s me on the ‘white horse’
Actually the no name horse

As were some of the kids; with so much joy and laughter…..

Bridles to show off with

Moments of sheer joy

While the youngest
Watched the action
With clearly mixed feelings 😂

There was so much to absorb and experience.

And exhausted, satiated, overwhelmed, content,

we loaded ourselves into our vehicle,

were serenaded (after a fashion)

and wearily went ‘home’

My head was spinning;

I needed to process what I had experienced;

I jumped out the vehicle and wandered home

via a delicious coffee and quiet read.

Time out.

And finally came home to find this remarkable young lady STILL working.
To finish a school project.

A remarkable day.

Tsagaan Sar: New Year: Traditions.

Hope, Regrets, Pain, Joy,

Past and Future

It seems wherever I have travelled to temples, shrines, synagogues, churches, caves, cathedrals, the search and teachings are pretty much universal.

Humility, Hope, Grace, Acceptance, Community.

And today was another privilege and expansion of experience

As Manal and Bolormaa invited us to join them on their

annual New Year visit to The Temple.

Fascinating to learn how the temples survived the soviet era, or of course, in many cases did not, and were resurrected subsequently.

The detail in the curtain

The skill in the carvings

The colours against the backdrop

The sense of symmetry

The deceptive sense of solitude

Undone as we walked through the curtain

to a world of noise, prayer, movement, colour,

and at the same time strange solitude

as everyone was

focussed inwards

Sensory overload would be one way of describing this morning.

Awe, Voyeuristic, Intrusive, Communal, Humbled

are all words or rather feelings that came to me

as I joined in the procession sometimes on my own,

sometimes alongside a fellow traveller,

of the spiritual or literal kind.

I will leave some images here,

perhaps through them, simple as they are,

you too could join me on this privileged journey.

Manal, Bolormaa & Erdenezuut
Father & son : a moment captured

And just to remind me of the strangeness of our ‘New World’

These photos

Walking up to the temple, a Mercedes Benz pulled up;

and an elegant man got out, put his monk robes on and walked up

and into the temple.

And the privilege of this morning did not end there.

We did not go with the family to the Shaman – it was an overnight trip.

But we were shown their visit,

for anyone interested.

A glimpse into the Mongolian world.

The Sharman and his home

Supplication

Mongolian gold, faith, hopes and life

and that was just the morning!!!

The afternoon visits are a whole story in themselves.

Watch this space……