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There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” Winston Churchill Last year I visited my local RDA (Riding Develops Abilities) on the Sunshine Coast. I was fortunate to spend a couple of hours photographing the morning lessons and get a brief glimpse into how the […]

The man’s face is worn and tanned like a well-loved leather boot. He sits deep in his rustic sheepskin saddle, his feet pushed out to the sides, his stirrups positioned near his heels. Spare spurs attached to the saddle chink in rhythm with the clip of his horse’s shoes on the rocks. A rawhide lasso […]

Each year with my Globetrotting  clients in tow we make our annual pilgrimage to Kenya for the Maasai Mara guided ride. Before we embark on our riding adventure through the pancake-flat plains of the Maasai Mara, we spend a day playing tourists exploring the dusty streets of Nairobi. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust situated in the […]

A friend recently told me about an amazing mobile art project titled ‘Wild Horses of Sable Island‘. She was fortunate to see the exhibition in the flesh which she described as breath-taking. Even through a blinking computer screen the black and white, emotive images of these powerful and resourceful equines and the touching video spoke […]

I wanted to share with you a very clever artist that lives out ‘whoop whoop’ in rural Queensland who paints the most beautiful, child-like, candid, colourful and whimsical paintings of horses. Laura Crane has a natural ability with the brush, the use of colour and an affinity with horses. These three elements have gone into […]

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There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” Winston Churchill This photo was taken by Kate Pilcher on a remote estancia in Northern Patagonia, Argentina.

Naadam Festival – Mongolia The girl’s cheeks are flushed beetroot red, her half moon eyes bright with anticipation as her wiry bay pony jigs around in a circle. Shadows of her horse’s ribs are visible beneath the make-shift saddle, a stirrup-less foam pad that is secured by a rawhide girth strap. The number nine is […]

“To ride a horse is to ride the sky.” Author Unknown Photo taken by Angus Johns on a gloomy beach day on the Sunshine Coast, Australia.

Normally at this time of year, when the daylight hours start to contract and there is a razor-sharp crispness to the air, signifies the start of polo season (in Queensland, Australia we play polo throughout the winter months). My morning ritual begins with a dawn awakening, letting Harry Noodle (kelpie x cattle dog) off the […]

“A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.” Pam Brown This photo was taken by Steven Pilcher  within the dusty depths of the Namib Desert, Namibia.

I have a love affair with Kenya. I’ve been travelling to the country, the land of the happy, shiny people every year for seven years now. Unfortunately this year, I can’t participate on our annual pilgrimage to the Masai Mara with my keen-as-mustard globetrotting guests to migrate on horseback alongside thousands upon thousands of zebra and […]

We’ve been living without television for over three years now, however occasionally on rainy, wind-swept nights we tune into our favourite programs online. Last night I was brought to tears and left in absolute awe with the account of Leigh Woodgate’s life journey produced by Australian Story via ABC iview (watch it here). Without giving […]

Australia To truly capture the essence of the Australian bush and its colourful social life, you must attend a rural race meet before they become extinct. I grew up in rural Queensland, Australia on the pancake flat plains of the Darling Downs near a town called Dalby. My father and mother were the proud owners […]

Last time we were on safari in Kenya’s heart land, the Maasai Mara, we got our fair share of unseasonal rain and afternoon storms. Personally I love the excitement of a brewing storm on horseback, when your horse prances underneath you, the wind whips and lashes at your face and the thunder bangs overhead – […]

Argentina I was lucky enough to be taken to an amateur race meet known as a ‘Cuadrera’ in the province of Corrientes, which lies in the north of Argentina. Most of Corrientes is swathed in knee-deep water meadows with sandy, white bottoms and paddocks rich with grass. Corrientes has over 350 species of birds, which […]

“When a horse jumps, the sparks of love are born; when lightning strikes, it can take the legs from right out under you. A blessing of a novel from one of Australia’s finest writers.” Drusilla Modgeska I just finished reading Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears as recommended to me by a friend. I thoroughly enjoyed […]

Mobile Menders This article appeared in salt magazine, a Sunshine Coast lifestyle publication.  words & photos kate johns The screaming child clings protectively to his mother’s back, wrapped in a dirty patterned shuka. The child’s hair is dreaded together with ochre-coloured mud. He wears no clothes except for a red beaded necklace below his belly button […]

Can you imagine a time where mates were called Clancy and Banjo? The rivers shimmered with gold, and whiskey and tobacco were traded from bullock carts on the river flats;  your life’s possessions consisted of a mountain pony equipped with saddle, bridle, oilskin, stock whip and swag. Work was chasing cattle up rocky-edged mountain spurs […]

  It’s night time but you could be tricked into believing it’s daytime for the sky is illuminated by a full yellow moon that is suspended low on the horizon. I’m loping along a winding sandy track that ducks and weaves like a serpent across the earth through a grass paddock. My mount is a […]

This is an article that I wrote for a African Lifestyle, Travel magazine on a riding safari in Botswana.  Riding high in the Okavango I wake to a grumbling, whirring noise within breathing distance of my head. A flimsy tent sheet lies between me and this “thing” which sounds like a contented cat purring although […]