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The
Ride concept was born with Barry's blithe statement when preparing to
move from KZN to Cape Town: "I'll ride my horses to Cape Town." This led
to research into historic rides and recreating them as adventure
television series, the first of which to be aired on SABC3 from the 3rd
of October.
Three years on however his horses are still in KZN!
The
time has come for Barry and Joe to set out on that original ride with
Cola, Cherokee, Pat and Jack; a ride with little concern for time, and
without the constraints of a TV production or need for a formal support
crew. The route will be vague and intentionally unplanned. Part fund
raiser, part road show, part social experiment, they will need places to
stay, for their horses and themselves: they will literally be throwing
themselves at the mercy of the goodwill of the people of South Africa!
The
Ride team will look to build on the success of their "live" coverage
during the recent Mongol Derby by streaming pictures and commentary on
the hoof via social media platforms facebook and twitter, as well as
through their website and those of their sponsors'. This "live"
interaction with their followers will be further enhanced by an open
invitation to all South Africans: the general public, the many people
who have helped realize their previous expeditions, members of the
media, and celebrities to come out and meet them on the road or to bring
their horses and join The Ride for a day or two. Along the way they
will be raising cash for their charities of choice, the Cart Horse
Protection Association, the Highveld Horse Care Unit, and the Coastal
Horse Care Unit. The Ride team will be looking for ways to help hands
dig deep into pockets, including those of their sponsors!
Long
time sponsor of The Ride, Equi-Feeds will continue to provide feed for
the horses for the duration of the journey, and have extended their
sponsorship to some cash towards covering the costs of the expedition.
This expedition will be powered by Toyota in the form of a Landcruiser sponsored by Halfway Toyota.
Bookings for talks will be welcomed, and may help define the route.
Barry and Joe have undertaken three expeditions to date:
In
October 2010 The Ride of the Peacemaker recreated the epic journey
completed by Dick King 168 years ago, when he rode 960km from Port Natal
to Grahamstown, to request help for the besieged British garrison.
Barry and Joe faced the challenges of traversing cityscapes, suburbia
and farmland on horseback, as well as the remote and dramatic landscape
of the Wild Coast, in their attempt to retrace history.
In
May of this year Barry and Joe were forced to cut short The Ride of
Harry Whackalong Smite as a result of a back injury that Barry sustained
when he fell off his horse on day two, 256 km into the proposed 950km
ride. This expedition was to recreate the journey undertaken by Sir
Harry Smith when he was sent by the then Governor of the Cape Sir
Benjamin D'urban to take command of the British garrison in Grahamstown
at the onset of the 6th frontier war. This expedition will be restarted
in May 2012.
In
August Barry and Joe travelled to Mongolia to ride in one of the
toughest endurance horse races in the world: the Mongol Derby.
Registered as the longest horse race in the world by Guinness World
Records in 2010, this multi-horse race is based on Genghis Khan's postal
system of the 13th Century. The Ride does the Mongol Derby was a 1000km
race across the Mongolian wilderness.
These
expeditions have been filmed by leading South African film production
company Cooked in Africa Films and are scheduled to be broadcast on
SABC3, starting on Monday October 3rd 2011, at 8 PM.
The Adventurers
Barry Armitage
– started his career in the international yachting industry based out
of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where adventure and travel were part of a
day's work. Thereafter he returned to South Africa to develop a
ground-breaking wildlife reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal where the history of
the Anglo Boer War and horses became a passion and sowed the seeds for
the idea that was to become The Ride. Barry now lives in Cape Town, with
his wife and son.
Joe Dawson
- Educated in England, Joe returned to South Africa to live in the
Midlands of his native Kwa-Zulu Natal. He joined Barry in the
development of Dalton Private Reserve, where the two, already related
through marriage, developed a bond and mutual reliance that will stand
them in good stead when undertaking the first journey in the Ride
Series. A passionate conservationist and horseman, Joe is fluent in Zulu
and runs the Dalton Private Reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal, where he lives
with his three children.
The
Cart Horse Protection Association It is estimated that working
carthorses support over 6000 people on the Cape Flats. Founded in 1995,
The Cart Horse Protection Association is a registered Non-Profit
Organisation dedicated to protecting working carthorses from abuse, and
is committed to contributing to the upliftment and training of the Cape
Flats carting community. The organization has a solid track record as
the Cape-based custodian of the working carthorse, and continues to be
involved with the carting community at grassroots level. The Cart Horse
Protection Association (through the generous donations and support from
individuals and corporate donors) provides a clinic, daily patrols, a
call out response, and veterinary and rehabilitation services to working
cart horses on the Cape Flats. The organization and its volunteers also
aim to offer support, education and training to cart horse owners and
drivers who collect scrap metal as a means of generating income for
themselves and their families.
Over
the years the Cart Horse Protection Association has proved to be a
creditable NPO working in the field of animal welfare with excellent
social investment returns for funders and donors.
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