SHAHZADA 2004, A Rider’s Experience By Ady McIntosh
This was the 4th year of drought for St Albans. Trust me to pick a most challenging time to attempt this ‘ultimate test’, and it surely is, definitely not for the faint hearted.
For those who are not familiar with this ride, it is the longest endurance marathon in Australia, being 400km. 80 km is ridden each day for five days over some very challenging country in the MacDonald Valley, two hours NW of Sydney.
The ‘red’ team, consisting of Barb Steemson, myself, Eastie(horse), and Elsa(dog), (all red heads including me with a bit of help) departed in the midst of some wild weather here in WA. Going to be a wet trip we thought reluctantly, but we managed to escape the wet or squeeze between squalls at times across the Bight and actually had a very civilised trip to Sydney. We arrived at St Albans on the sixth day of travelling and actually brought some rain with us for that night. It didn’t last for long and any puddles soon disappeared to the fierce sun that was to follow.
Being the first to arrive on site, Ross Mudie, the computer wiz and PA man for the ride, greeted us and found where we were to camp. It was a week before the ride was due to start so Barb departed to Sydney for a few days with her infamous sisters while I had a peaceful time familiarising with the area, having a few rides, collecting firewood, and catching some extra sleep.
The camp started to liven up late Thursday, much to Eastie’s delight. He was convinced by this time that he was the only horse left on the planet, besides the local ferals that had been to visit during the night. So it was soon a normal endurance ride scene as people rode their horses each day, did last minute clipping, shoeing etc.
The organisers were very busy doing their last minute chores. Water was at a premium, the river in stagnant pools, so a hole had to be dug to find a supply for the camp which then had to be pumped up to a holding tank. Showers were non existent for some time as a secret wasp’s nest was blocking a gas supply pipe for the hot water and it took a few skilled plumbers to sort this gremlin.
Sunday saw pre-ride vetting swing into action under the warm sun, which was to stay warm for the week, temperatures reaching 27-30 degrees each afternoon.
A helicopter chose to visit that afternoon, one landing out of several for a pub crawl that winds its way up the MacDonald Valley. This caused a bit of a stir for those camped down next to the riverbed where it landed. The hotel proprietors cancelled that visit for the rest of the week, a considerate thought.
Pre-ride talk was at 6 pm Sunday with much information from ride organisers, vets, radio comms.
We were camped in a spot near two other camps where riders had done the ride before. Their advice and help before and during the ride was wonderful. Margaret Godby, Janine and Brooke Warner, and Neil Clarkson supplied me with many invaluable hints, especially regarding the course itself. And of course there were others out on course, Alan Caslick helped us negotiate McKechnies the first time and several others at different times. ‘Kill Bill’, aka Bill McMillan-Track Manager, also delighted in telling horror stories of the track. The locals, which include Bill, are renowned for having to sweep their tails to the side as they sit down! There were also ‘drop’ bears to be seen, in the form of bears or even lions, hanging from trees along the way. Even a sign at the bottom of Prestons wishing everyone a nice ride. Reminded me of a certain course marker in WA who has a similar sadistic habit!
The ride commenced at 0400 hrs on the Monday, a relatively easy break-in day, so the organisers assured us. 64 eager horses powered along the Common road and up Johnny’s Hill, Transmission Line road, Wrights Creek Rd, and back to base, 52 km. The first legs of each day were the longest and second legs shorter which was a godsend in the warmth of the afternoons.
The afternoon leg introduced Eastie and I to our first ‘real’ Shahzada challenge of McKechnies but we survived to continue along the Woomera Path and down Jack’s Track back to base. First day completed with no major dramas.
Second day, I get wobbly knees just thinking about it. Started at 0400 in some fairly decent fog, out on St Albans Rd to find the base of Boyds. This is one of the goat track climbs like McKechnies, and being dark added to the challenge. Ignorance was bliss in this case for me as I asked someone who knew where they were going to take the lead. The track was lit with light sticks but it was still tricky to stay on course. We tucked in behind Linda Meredith on her stallion who was a steady climber and off we went. Apparently all hell broke loose below us as several came to grief but we were blissfully unaware at the time. Once up the top we were back on the Woomera Path, along to descend McKechnies (in daylight by this time) along Branch Rd to face the dreaded Prestons. Seemed allright to start with, climbing gently with the incline getting more steep. Eastie was keen and in front of his stallion mate. As it became trickier and quite steep,
Eastie started to feel a bit reserved about being so brave and after baulking at one point and getting a bit close to the drop down the side, I elected to get off and let Linda take the lead, which wasn’t easy either on this one horse track. We eventually made the top with my lungs screaming their displeasure at this task, and there was a nice meandering track for a few minutes before the descent began.
Now no-one had ever mentioned the descent I am sure but Eastie and I were finding out rapidly what was involved. Definitely into rock hopping, sliding mode down here. A piece of advice from Ron Malone at this point became fairly pertinent, don’t look back at your horse. Mind in saying that, you had to make sure you were out of the way of your horse to let them jump down & negotiate their own way to enable them to keep their balance. We made it back to base feeling a bit worse for wear and when vetting Eastie was put on a warning for being tight behind. He wasn’t the only one tight behind! I was rediscovering a few muscles that hadn’t been out of the closet for some time! So time to find the services of a masseuse, for Eastie, not me!
The second leg was 28 km, out Wrights Creek Rd, up Blue Hill, down Short Wellums back to base. Short Wellums was a surprise, people had omitted to fill me in on that one, another goat track that had some good tricky patches. Before vetting Eastie had a once over from the masseuse and plenty of Hot Spot and we managed to survive day two. One helluva day.
Day 3 began on Settlers Rd, up Shepherds Gully which had deeply eroded sandstone crevices to be avoided in the dark, onto Old North Rd and 8 mile track and back along Wrights Creek Rd. There was a water point outside Lyn and Adrian Bailey’s place where we had stopped for a drink and some very rare luscious green grass on the bank. Eastie sunk his nose straight into some stinging nettle and spent the next 2 hours flapping his lips and wriggling his muzzle trying to rectify this malady. Made for easy mucous membrane check when vetting!
The afternoon leg was up Jacks Track, along Woomera Path and down Boyds. Phew, glad hadn’t known about that when we went up it in the dark! Everyone was running close to time on this leg. We only made it in at 10 minutes to five to find some very distressed strappers. It was all under control guys!! Then the time was extended half hour for those still out on course!
Day 4 saw us out on Wrights Creek Rd again, up Blue Hill, along Transmission Rd and down the Steps. As we came over the top of the Steps a peanut gallery greeted us, all perched on various rocks with cameras in hand and plenty of advice. Eastie found their presence a bit disconcerting and I found it more disconcerting that he was distracted by them and not listening to me. There were about three very tricky turns on the Steps, otherwise the remainder wasn’t too bad. We returned to base along the Common Rd and vetted through with really good comments from the vets as many others were struggling at this stage.
The afternoon leg went up Jacks Track, along Woomera Path and down Bakers Creek, nothing too horrendous. Up on Jacks Track there is a very large sandstone rock, about 3’6" high with a hole the size of a 15 litre bucket which had water in it. Horses were managing to drink out of this so I asked Eastie to step up to investigate. We had a mal-communication occur because the next thing I knew he had launched himself up onto this rock! He was getting very casual about negotiating this rock hopping business! This was all very well, but we had to get back down somehow, which was achieved in a civilised manner, much to the amusement of Ruth Green.
Unfortunately the end of this day was our demise and Eastie was deemed to be lame. A big blow as he had been travelling so well but the concussion had taken its toll. It was so nice to stay in bed at 0400 hrs the next morning!!!
14 out of 64 horses completed this years ride, less than 25%. The majority of vet outs were lameness, most of which are an indication of how hard the roads were. I had never realised how much road work there was and later learned that some had not come to the ride knowing what the conditions would be like due to the lack of rain.
Aside from this, I had a wonderful ride, traversed some stunning countryside, was wrapped in my horse’s achievement and met many lovely knowledgable people who were more than willing to share, help or make absolute fools of themselves in some of the entertainment activities during the week.
As far as I know my strapper did not disgrace herself whilst I was out on course!
Barb did a fantastic job of keeping me fed and watered and on track and tended to Eastie’s every desire. He was a very well catered to horse and even Elsa was taking every bit of bribery on offer, of which there was plenty. So a huge thank you to Barb. To the ride organisers, a huge effort from so few. There is a threat that next year may be the last. It would be a great loss to Australian Endurance to lose this ride so we all need to hope that others will be prepared to take the task on.
As described it certainly is "The Ride of Your Life."