#and a horse trail

[whywishesarehorses]

Pensioner sets off on 600-mile pony trek with pet dog in saddlebag

Jane Dotchin, 80, has been making the unusual journey from Northumberland to the Highlands since 1972. (Story from STV News)

An 80-year-old woman who wears an eyepatch is on an annual trek with her pony from England to the Highlands – on a seven-week adventure which began in 1972.

Jane Dotchin packs her saddlebags onto her trusty pony’s back every year, and heads to the hills from her home near Hexham, Northumberland, on an epic 600-mile trek to Inverness, covering between 15 and 20 miles a day.

She set off on August 31 with her steed, Diamond, aged 13, and her disabled Jack Russell named Dinky for company, from the off-grid smallholding where she lives.

She carries everything she needs including her tent, food and just a few belongings – and despite wearing an eyepatch is determined to continue as long as she can.

Ms Dotchin said: “My mother would look after my other ponies but she wasn’t that keen on looking after my Halfinger stallion, so I rode him down to Somerset to see a friend, which is about 300 miles.

“It was a bit of a hard slog, but it was good.”

After that initial journey, she caught the taste for the open road and travelled to visit friends near Fort Augustus, near Loch Ness, every autumn since.

The journey takes around seven weeks depending on weather and Ms Dotchin tries to stop off to see people she has met over the years.

She said: “I refuse to go slogging on through pouring wet rain.

“There are a few different routes I can take depending on the weather.

“I don’t want to go over hilltops in foul weather, but I work it out on the way.

“I don’t bother with maps, I just keep to the routes I know.

“It is nice to go and see [people] again – I ring them up in the morning to say I’m going to be there in the evening.

“I don’t warn them too far in advance, because if the weather suddenly changes or I decide to stop early then they can be left wondering where I’ve got to.”

Disabled Jack Russell Dinky, who has deformed front legs, travels in a saddle bag.

Ms Dotchin said: “She manages fine, when there is a nice grassy track she gets out and has a run, but she doesn’t like stoney ground but she is a nice hot water bottle for me in the tent.”

She said: “I asked for something good and solid in my old age and he got me a cob from Ireland. I struggle to get on her half the time, but otherwise I manage fine.”

Her diet consists of porridge oats, oatcakes and cheese which is bought at local shops.

She prefers to make porridge with milk, but water will suffice.

Ms Dotchin added: “You can always boil it from a stream.”

Her bathroom habits are equally DIY, and she said: “I dig a hole.”

Ms Dotchin is devastated by the littering she has seen over the years and said Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, is somewhere she finds “shameful” due to the amount of rubbish.

She said: “It’s appalling, in particular single used barbecues which are left lying all over the place.

“Cumbernauld is the fly-tipping capital of Britain.

“There are some lovely people there who let me camp, but some of it is so disgusting and shameful.”

Campervans on single track roads have also become a more persistent problem.

She said: “Drivers just didn’t seem to know how wide they were, I was forever just about getting swept off the roads by them.”

The right to roam has helped with countryside access, but she said: “There are still some locked gates or little side gates that you can’t get a horse with packs on through.”

For emergencies she carries an old mobile phone as the battery lasts six weeks.

Ms Dotchin said: “I keep it switched off and just ring out to ring up landowners to get gates unlocked or to warn people when I’m coming but sometimes the trouble is getting a signal.”

During the foot and mouth crisis in 2001 she went on bicycle instead.

She said: “I covered many more miles with the dog in a pannier but it was not the same, I missed my horse.”

In recognition of her independent spirit, and many years of long distance trekking, she received The British Horse Society lifetime achievement award last year, which she said was “a bit of a surprise.”

During her travels she witnesses rutting deer and stags fighting in the autumn, and foxes.

She said: “There is always something interesting happening and there is never a dull moment.

“I will probably be stopped one of these days.”

#horse #news #irish cob #draught horse #trail riding #hacking #horseback riding #equestrian #horseblr #horse riding #draft horse #equine

[ahedderick]

Bear with us

Yesterday evening my daughter, home from college for the weekend, decided to take Hero out for a quick ride. A while later I heard my husband get a call. His voice raised. "a BEAR?!" . . . ""Well, get back to the barn!"

um-what?

When she returned she told us that Lady, running a little ahead of the horse as she usually does, startled two black bears. She instantly deployed guarddog.exe, and barked furiously at them. K noticed that Lady's barking seemed a lot more than usual for a squirrel, and halted Hero to look around carefully. On of the bears had climbed a tree to get away from Lady (50ish lb, 22kg, WAY more bark than bite). The other ran off. K and Hero froze in place, and the bear decided to come back down the tree. Once it hit the ground, Lady got guarddog.exe confused with herdinginstinct.exe, and started chivvying the bear TOWARD K and Hero. There they stood, in the path of a running black bear, with a screaming hellhound right behind.

Hero, whose exploits have included the Plastic Bag Panic of 2018 and the Frog Freak-out of 2021, was nonchalant and unbothered by the bear. (K much more bothered). The bear turned sharply to get the hell away from everyone, and K was able to disengage Lady from pursuit. They returned home very quickly. Thank heavens Nutmeg wasn't with them.

It is always some damned thing around here.

#horses #horseblr #tennessee walking horse #trail ride #farmblr #appalachia #farm #black bear #bear

[romanian-goddess]

#mine #view #perfect view #horse #trail riding #equestrian #equine #hobby #passion #nature #photography #sunny day #autumn vibes #holiday mood

[barnlarn]

More trail shenanigans. The real question is “what does my horse know about rhubarb that I don’t??”

#comic #drawing #horse life #trail riding #equestrian #horse girl #art #sketch #story #correct I use a bridle with no noseband #dressage saddle w/ western headstall #we ride goofy

[honeyrosepetals]

la frontera de honduras y guatemala

#mine #DO NOT REUPLOAD #photography #mountains #landscape photography #landscapes #honduras #guatemala #original photography #photographers on tumblr #grainy aesthetic #rural #rural aesthetic #ruralcore #horses #cowboys #travel photography #explore #adventure photography #rivers #nikon photography #lensblr #animal photography #animals #trail riding #horseback riding

[inked-up-gentleman]

His name is Gator and we're best friends

#me #mine #selfie #horse and rider #horseback riding #b&w #I love him #he has to wear a mask otherwise je eats everything on the trail #lol

[theruby-redmare]

Rode into town to get some ice cream

July 2023

#pony #trail riding #horses #adventure #cricket

[horsefigureoftheday]

Horse figure of the day: Trail of Painted Ponies "Spot"

#trail of painted ponies #horse figure of the day

[finchwingart]

A secret santa from last week 👁👄👁 horse's shapes are fun

#finch art #horse #this was for a red dead redemption horse trail server im in #most specific and best community ever

[alllthesewordsleftunsaid]

Pretty lady and our view today

#horse #horses #horse riding #horse rider #equestrian #equine #dressage #mare #thoroughbred cross #trail riding #mountains #mountain riding

[shadyufo]

just spent the last half hour watching otters playing in the pond in my pasture!!! it is a pretty small and shallow little pond and i NEVER would have expected to see the otters come up this far from the creek. they were splashing and squealing and churning the water up like little sea monsters. watched them until it was too dark to see.

rip to all the minnows i put in there a few years ago haha

#words #random rambling #cant believe the horses didn't go check them out #they just kept chomping on their hay lol #i SO wish i still had a trail camera on the fence above the pond ugh

[skycowboys]

I don’t normally post my own horse things, but today I got to ride through Narnia and it was magical. 

#it's been snowing all week #first time out on the trail since last weekend #my horse was a live wire lol #slice of life

[arthursfuckinghat]

Out of all the things that can happen in rdr2, none of them have creeped me out as much as these

#I feel like I'm being watched and I am afraid #I go past that tunnel all the time doing the jewellery glitch so it freaked me the fuck out that it's so close #and the rock too #that whole trail of blood just to turn the corner and see a corpse #fuck man #I got jumped so many times today by lemoyne raiders and bounty hunters and o'driscolls like just leave me alone guys #I'm down nearly 700$ because of my stupidity arthur how do you put up with me #sigh #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #mick squeaks #arthur morgan #liveblogging #cw: gore #cw blood #lloyd my horse

[tiliman2]

“U.S. people are taught that their military culture does not approve of or encourage targeting and killing civilians and know little or nothing about the nearly three centuries of war-fare-before and after the founding of the U.S.-that reduced the Indigenous peoples of the continent to a few reservations by burning their towns and fields and killing civilians, driving the refugees out--step by step--across the continent....Violence directed systematically against noncombatants through irregular means, from the start, has been a central part of Americans' way of war. “

Military Historian John Grenier

#us history #wounded knee #sand creek #trail of tears #the long walk #bear river #thanks taking #in Country #🇺🇸 #land back #crazy horse #tecumseh #sitting bull #Geronimo #chief joseph #emiliano zapata #Joaquin murrieta #Pó Pay #captain Jack #war crimes

[barnlarn]

Remember, the instant you talk up your horse, they'll prove you a massive liar.

#comic #art #sketch #messy #based on a true story #literally happened this morning #equestrian life #horse girl #trail ride

[kelpeigh]

Found this ridiculous picture of myself while looking for a different ridiculous picture of myself

#horses #horseblr #bison #just out with my trail buddy