Taming the Dragon                                   

Samba and Ocean headed off to the Red Dragon in October and had a blast. Ocean stayed at a horsey farm B&B with his own little paddock – we made a long weekend of it travelling down on the Thursday. The farm was fantastic lovely views, 20 minutes from the venue and fresh eggs. Julie our host went above and beyond – only horsey people offer takeout bacon sandwiches at 4.30am on ride morning. Samba stayed down at the venue in the stallion stables. He had a great time parading with the Irish team.

The weather was incredibly wet in the run up to the ride – lots of wet weather gear packed. Both horses were entered in the Little Dragon 80km ride on the Saturday. The route was amended slightly due to an impassable river crossing. Ride day dawned dry but with very low cloud. The plan was to take it steady near the back. The ride began with the 21 starters circling ready for the start – it was a controlled start with everyone sensibly trotting down the road behind the Starters car. Both horses were good and when we arrived at the bottom of the big hill we took it very steady – it’s a really long steep hill which on this occasion was completely covered in cloud.

We were crewed by Jan, Paddy and Mick in two 4X4 vehicles. It is just as well they had done their homework as far as mapping, reading directions and attending the brief; because the remote Vet Gate and crew points were not all easy to find.

The day flew by both horses going well together – Ocean mainly leading the way and Samba doing great speedy gate opening. There were two loops back to the remote vet gate – the trot ups here and at the venue were all inside. The going was good and the views between the clouds were fabulous, the hardest parts were the down hills. Then we were heading for home, it had been dry all day until this point when we had a cooling drizzle. Ocean speeded up over the last big hill and we had a blast. The horses raced for the line with Samba winning on the line. We came 12^th and 13^th having taken it safe and steady all day.

It’s a great trip – you should do it! The ride is brilliantly organised everything running like clockwork – lots of smiling helpers and great marking with meals available at the venue. It is possible to ride shorter distances on each day and have a lovely holiday. We will be back – but respect to the dragon – those hills are big!

Gill Brown & Sarah O’Neill

B&B contact www.cwmfillo.co.uk

Ride details www.endurancegb.co.uk/main/Red-Dragon