‘Wherever I wander, wherever I rove; the hills of the highland forever I love.’ – Robert Burns
It's been said that the highlands of Scotland hold more myth and fairytales than anywhere on earth. Scotland's Land Reform Act, which gives people the 'right to responsible access' with no strict trespassing laws. This offers an amazing sense of freedom not found in many other places!
We travelled with Stuart, our guide from Highland Packhorse and his two sturdy and reliable highland ponies, Angus and Brea. Angus was the larger of the two so he was relagated to carrying the gear and we share riding and leading Brea.
We rested the horses regularly and Stuart's philosophy is to let the horses stop, graze, look around and have short breaks.
He rides bitless and barefoot and he's trained them to be happy to drink from any clean water they come across, as well as graze a variety of herbage, heather, grasses and trees.
We set up a 'wild camp' alongside a river so we had water for ourselves, and the horses. Scotland has plenty of clean water sources, and plenty of rain.
The horses are tethered using rope halters, fifteen foot leads and a picket pin. They are trained to graze around the tether tie, never panicking when their lead is wrapped around their legs. Quite inspiring to see how they've adjusted to living out on the trails.
