The Ultimate Test Ride: The Gibb River Road

Hi

My name is Anthea Thomson, and I'd love to tell you about my ultimate test ride of my new Ride Proud riding pants!

A couple of friends and I decided that with the covid -19 restrictions which meant no campdrafting or rodeos to fill our weekends we needed to do something for our own peace of mind (sanity), we needed to get out and spend some quality time with our four legged family members, and spread the word about riding for mental health awareness  and so the dream to ride the Normally extremely busy Gibb River Road was hatched!

This Road is not just a road it is a destination in its own right, a mere 660 km of mostly dirt road from start to finish, and we wanted to ride it from east (Kununurra end) to West (Derby end)

Long story short we planned to do it in the July school holidays 4th - 18th, so kids could come.

So at 1pm on the 4th July we saddled on the East side of the Pentecost River and rode  across to our first camp spot at Home Valley Station, which was closed to the public due to covid, but kindly allowed us to stay, and for the next 13 days we spent many hours in the saddle, stopping to chat to people, letting kids meet the horses and my faithful dog Pip who did more k’s than all of us and of course have a ride. No we didn’t ride the whole way we did load and float some of it but most of us rode just over 387km. 

The nights early mornings were very cool dropping to single figures but the days were glorious 31-34, and I can honestly say my Ride Proud Riding pants did me proud, I didn’t wear them every day but they were super comfy and great to wear in a range of weather conditions, we had lots of lovely stops where we took the horses swimming (I took my riding pants off for those moments) finishing at Meda Station on the May River Derby. 

If anyone is sitting on the fence about purchasing a pair of these pants, my advice is buy them you won’t be disappointed!

   ~ Anthea Thomson