FEATURE
A horse walked into a bar… JANE CAMENS explores the cheery world of pub rides – with a bit of a caution on drunk riding.
a bunch of other people who wanted to do something similar. Thus was born the famous annual 20-kilometer Morpeth Medicine Ride, which ran from 1993 until 2003. At its zenith, the Morpeth Medicine Ride attracted about 750 riders. Literally every sort of horse and pony would be dragged out of their paddocks to join in. Some came with horse and cart. It was a big charity fundraising event with the proceeds going to help kids with cancer. Kids from the hospital were brought along in carts and Riding for the Disabled at Raymond Terrace was involved, as were the mounted police. Gibbo, who was an instructor for ATHRA coorganised the first events with ATHRA’s then national secretary Jackie Mann. Safety was a priority. “We probably had 30 or 40 stewards on that big ride,” Gibbo recalls. “There was definitely no drinking allowed. There were too many people. Some would turn up with their sulkies hiding bottles under a blanket, but they were confiscated.” The ride finished with a parade down the main street of Morpeth, with horses numbering in the hundreds. Huge crowds cheered on the riders. Then everyone could retire back to Gary’s place for a shot of medicine or cleansing ale.
Wine and Horses in Perth Hills (WA) Maryanne Phillips of Wine and Horses in Perth Hills, Western Australia, organises winery and pub trail rides along the beautiful Kep trails that follow the pipeline from Mundaring Weir 75km to Northam. These are BYO horse rides.
Image supplied by Nash Horse Trekking.
B
efore you raise your glass this holiday season, drink in this cautionary note, it’s both unsafe and illegal to ride a horse if your
blood alcohol level is over the legal limit for driving a motor vehicle. The most recent arrest was of a woman above the limit who rode her horse into a drive-in bottle shop in the city of Logan, near Brisbane. Once you’ve digested that sobering information, it is my happy duty, with the holiday season upon us, to investigate ways to mix a few sensible drinks with horse riding. This is but a little tipple of the pub and vineyard rides offered around Australia. 42
The Morpeth Medicine Ride The idea for this exhausting research arose out of a tale told to me by my friend Gary Poole, later extrapolated upon by his mate ‘Gibbo’ (Terry Gibson). Back in the 1990s, Gary owned the River Royal Inn in Morpeth, a pub near the town of Maitland in the Hunter Region of New South Wales. In Gibbo’s memory, on the bar, Gary kept a nine-gallon barrel of “fairly ordinary” wine, known as ‘The Medicine’. A band of horse-riding drinkers got the idea of doing a few rides from the Royal to a pub in the town of Gresford, a two-day ride away. It went ahead with no dramas and attracted
HORSEVIBES MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2019
She has been running the rides for almost nine years. “I host rides about every six weeks, but also I’ll host others if people request one in particular. I kept hearing about horses going to waste in paddocks and women not riding due to losing their confidence, or having nowhere good to ride nearby, or just not having anyone to ride with,” she said. “I thought I’d start a few clinics and trail rides and try to put some fun back into it.” There are a lot of pubs and wineries nearby, including the Mount Helena Tavern, Chidlow tavern, Lion Mill Winery, as well as Avonbrook Winery in Clackline. Plus, there’s the Bakers Hill Pie Shop, which is a favourite.
