Horse trekking… whose idea was that? We had initially come to Pucon to visit the Antilco horse farm which was by far the cheapest riding in the area as far as I could find from my research. On arrival we had considered a half day ride around the area, but, as it happened got a little more that we planned. The first weekend was their first weekend of 2 day horse treks and it was very reasonable to go, so we decided to go for it. The horses all looked really healthy and whilst moulting slightly, Jen was almost exstatic by the trip planning. The day came and we saddled up our horses, mine a light brown Mare and Jens a dark brown Mare. We were accompanied by two french medical students who were spending a semester observing at a nearby town and Antilco guides Jamie and Luis. We trotted off in an organised manner, our horses behaving themselves for the moment.
The trip was terrific, and luis and jamie both knew the horses well, Luis is a born Puconese guide, wilderness expert, horse trainer etc, and Jamie was spending a couple months working while travelling. We headed into the sun with dark skies threatening rain, but thankfully disspearing sooner than later. The trail meanwhile changed from dusty road to backcountry and then road again through Mapuche village and finally onto a steep hill side. My horse developed its own personality very quickly and was taking me for the ride it seemed, trotting when it felt like it, galloping at will too. It didn’t manage to throw me off by the time we had lunch and also managed to find itself lots of yummy snacks of leaves, twigs, grass and anything else it fancied along the way. Jen seemed to have more control over her horse…
We stopped for lunch on a nice hill side overlooking Pucon and Lake Villarica, with dark skies in one part, sunshine in the other and the volcano in the other direction it was a terrific view. The horses didn’t seem to care too much, the grass was apparently much tastier. The next stage was through the first pass and the path wound its way around the steep mountain sides, thickly forested, crossing streams and rivers. At one stage it got a little too steep for us and we pulled our horses up the path while Luis and his horse rode on ahead. His skills and horse were admirable; although our horses all really wanted to take a bite out of his baring their teeth and flattening their ears everytime he got too near. They did the same to each other, but to a lesser extent.
Eventually we reached a level which was perhaps the tree line and trotted and cantered through the landscape. My horse refused to drink anything when the other horses were busy drinking, choosing instead a choice small waterfall with a selection of branches and trees around my face height instead. Only the best for my horse. We reached our camp for the night and it was cold, perhaps 2 degrees celcius and as night fell we huddled near the fire for warmth, and importantly, for steaks and sausages cooked by the fire. The steaks were mounted onto a bamboo stick and grilled near the fire and then later cut off, resulting in fantastic steaks, eaten with a lovely potato salad and other stuff. The meal was finished with Pisco Sour, grilled marshmallows and chocolate… What a great day.
The next day the horses were recovered from the paddock nearby, our frozen bodies thawed over steaming cups of tea. The tents and stuff was repacked and saddled. I decided to get on my horse which I had left snoozing on the horse and it wasn’t quite as pleased to have me on its back, bucking a little as I tried to walk it across to the others. The horses were all a little frisky that morning and I learnt a little about rein control. My horse refused to do anything with kicks, but responded instead to a small whip attached to the reins which I had to whip it with when I wanted it to get moving. Downhill frisky horses…. Jens bit most horses that came too close, Jamies was generally very excited and well mine, once more, did pretty much what ever it wanted. Walking down slopes for example, was largely not an option, a trot was the only acceptable way, so it would stop and wait for the other horses to clear out and then trot down. Finally, we reached the flats along the river again near the farm, the path was beautiful and the plants very tasty. I think until we reached the last bit of road my horse had some kind of plant in its mouth the whole time. I had been watching the others trot at this point, and decided to try standing in my stirrups for the last bit of the ride, but this didn’t really have the reaction I thought it would. My horse simply got faster and faster and broke into an outright gallop, what fun! When I finally stopped it I was pretty much at the front gate and waited around for most of the others, one other horse and beginner rider had joined my mad dash so we joked about our horses and our poor riding skills.
The whole stay with Antilco was outstanding, and highly memorable. I would really recommend it to anyone, even a non rider. The team was able to give me pointers and help my riding along, while the equipment is very comfortable and felt more secure than the western kit I had used in Australia and Mexico on shorter rides. The closed stirrups also felt pretty good, and well with the horse deciding over much of the route, the chaps came in very handy. I also havent seen Jen much happier whilst doing any of our activities.. beaming pretty much the whole time. Definitely worth returning to see Matthias and the crew there again. MT
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