ADVENTURE waits for no one – this was the attitude of equestrians Chris Grimmett and Di Chatterton when they embarked on an international horse trail ride in Spain.
With both ladies being members of Beaudesert Trail Horse Riders, once they told other riders their initial trip-for-two expanded into 11 with a combination of Club members and Chris’s family and friends joining in for the ride.
“We mentioned to people that we were going, and we had a flood of people wanting to come with us,” Chris said.
The group of 11 had a lovely time in Spain with their eight day ride kicking off with a bonus two days at a Paella festival.
“It’s wonderful to be able to go out there and see a different country, different culture, and have some horses assigned to you that really suit you – it’s something that I would recommend,” Chris said.
“The people who did the ride, they were just excellent; they were so nice, so helpful and looked after us so well.”
“The horses were the highlight, they were wonderful – we all wanted to bring our own horse back, but we can’t do that of course,” she added.
The Spain trip was a remarkable way for Chris and her relatives to connect and spend some time together.
“The great thing about it was doing it with friends and family and that was just amazing – I really loved that, personally,” she said.
“To be able to go over there and do that ride, it’s a big thing in their life. Once you’ve done one, you get a taste for it, and you’d want to do more.”
Although Chris enjoys horse trail riding overseas, she knows that it’s not for everyone.
“Some people thought ‘Oh no, we would never go and do a ride overseas.’ It was too scary for them,” she said.
“I think they just thought of riding strange horses in a strange environment was all a little bit much.”
Chris looks forward to her next international trail horse ride and is excited to plan her next destination.
“I’ve done Tibet, Africa, Spain, Germany, Morocco – so, I’m not sure which way I’m going next,” she said.
“But I will go somewhere.”
