Saddling up for 50 years
The Saddle Up riding club started 50 years ago and it’s still going strong. Carly Thomas tracks down some of the original members and hears their stories.
In August 1968, a group of friends got together. There is nothing exceptional in that, but the idea ignited that night was.
The thing they all had in common, at the centre of that bantered-about beginning was horses. They were busy running around after their children’s equine activities with the Tiritea Pony Club, but they weren’t getting much riding in themselves.
‘‘We wanted to be part of the fun too,’’ says Nancy Trotter, with a mischievous smile.
And that’s how the Saddle Up Club started all those moons ago. A club for riders over 21 with the sole purpose of getting out and about on their horses, or as the case was with most of those founding members, on their children’s horses.
‘‘We just jumped on what was in the paddock and off we went. It was wonderful, very social.’’
Back then, the joining fee was $1 and the club quickly gained 40 members. The Tiritea Valley was its stomping ground. It was much less populated back then and the riders would adventure out on long and ground-covering treks.
The farmers in the area were accommodating and the open country they rode through 50 years ago is now closed in with houses and smaller lifestyle blocks. Nolan Trotter says the riding was great and will never be the same again.
‘‘We had no trouble at all riding to Ashhurst and then down on to the bridle track and then on to the Esplanade.’’
A big chunk of the Manawatu¯ Bridle Track was initiated by the Tititea Pony Club as a way of keeping riders off the road. It’s now a busy path, but back in the day, says Nolan Trotter, ‘‘it was a busy riding track’’.
Nancy Trotter sweeps her arm across towards the hills. ‘‘That’s where we all used to ride, but you can’t now. We had such a marvellous time.
‘‘I remember we had a family picnic up the Kahuturewa Valley and we were all swimming in the river. Horses were in and kids were in,’’ Nancy says, ‘‘and parents were in too, boots and all.’’
One of the members, who has a heavy truck licence, would hire a Majestic horse truck and pick up people’s horses if they were going anywhere further afield – longtime member Kathy Scott says they would often go to the beach.
‘‘People would just let us ride on their properties back then. The farmers were very amiable. A lot of them had originally ridden or been involved with horses. It was different and we had wonderful days, absolutely marvellous.’’
Pub rides and cocktail parties were also boots-and-all occasions. Christmas parties are said to be legendary. One held in 1973 at the Dransfields’ home on Kahutwerwa Rd came with instructions for ‘‘ladies to bring a dish of curry, salad, desserts, savouries, garlic bread – all kinds of goodies’’. And the men? ‘‘Bring a bottle of wine and if you wish to bring additional supplies of alcoholic beverages. We shall certainly be very pleased.’’
‘‘We would move around different people’s places for the parties,’’ Scott says, ‘‘and there used to be the most amazing punch in an enormous bowl. I still have the recipe. Sometimes we would have 100 or something people and it just used to vibrate.’’
Mock hunts were always rip-roaring and ‘‘a bit mad’’, says Helen Harker, another long-standing member, and in the club minutes of 1970 sympathies were extended to Tricia Grant, ‘‘who now has broken cartilage in her knee, a black eye and firsthand experience of what its like to have one’s girth go twang over a spar’’.
The first mock hunt was nevertheless said to be a great success on a beautiful day, with the small charge of 50 cents providing a bottle of whisky for the farm owner. Scott says it was really about riding for pleasure.
‘‘You’d be riding along, talking to people and we looked forward to it. That was the whole point of having a club, meeting up with like-minded people and just getting out with our horses.’’
One day, trials, dressage competitions and ribbon days were also enjoyed. The emphasis, Scott says, was not on who had the best horses or the best gear, but rather on having fun, keeping the horses fit and having a good day,
‘‘There was no snobbery, none at all. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?’’
The club’s first one-day trial was held in 1969 in honour of Scott’s first marriage. The show was held in January, a month before Scott’s wedding, and at the day’s conclusion an afternoon tea was held with a presentation of ‘‘pantry gifts for the bride-tobe’’.
One of the biggest events was a 40-mile endurance ride beginning at Aokautere to the other side of the Manawatu¯ Gorge and back. Held in 1974, the course was tough and hilly, crossing the Tararuas using roads, tracks and paddocks.
It was one of the first of its kind, not a straight-out race. The winner was the person who had the best combination of time and fitness of the horse.
Local vets and Massey University got on board with the event, as it provided a live study on equine fitness, heart rates and recovery times. The event grew over the next few years to become a national 100-mile event in 1976. Harker says it was a lot of work.
The common denominator in the club was horses, Harker says, and to this day the love for them is what has kept the club going.
Vice-president of the club, Greer Murrie, says the dynamic has changed since those early days. Access to farms has become limited and health and safety requirements makes things tricky, so the focus has shifted to competition, with riders coming from as far away as Wellington to attend events.
‘‘We have been lucky enough to work with Manfeild in Feilding and have community access to the equestrian park. We have used that as our base for about the last five years and during spring and summer we try to run at least one competition a month.’’
The club has held on to a relaxed style, so it’s still not about the flash gear and perfect horses – more the getting in and enjoying horses and having a go. You won’t see jackets, plaits and sparkles at their shows and the big event of the year is their own version of the Horse of the Year competition. ‘‘We find that many of our members are riders that are returning to riding after having a break, life stuff, having kids, that sort of thing. Others just haven’t been out on their horses much and just want to get out.’’
So 50 years on and things have changed, but the ethos remains. The plotted idea from many moons ago is still alive and the love of horses and the adventures they can bring are very much at the heart of a club that has ridden into many sunsets together.
The Saddle Up Club will be holding a 50th golden anniversary afternoon tea on November 17 at Kyrewood Park tearoom and a 50th golden anniversary open show on November 18 at Manfeild.