Riding the Trod project website live at last!

After much ado I have finally managed to create a website for the project see www.ridingthetrod.com

Anthropology Research Experience Module

Have spent the last week introducing anthropology students from the University of Wales Lampeter to the Riding the Trod project and associated issues such as access to the Trod, people’s perception of and engagement with the local landscape, farming traditions, cultural tourism and heritage in the Cambrians and so on (for more info see www.anthropologyresearchexperience.wordpress.com). As a result I have been a bit slow updating the blog, and so will be adding some retrospective posts over the coming days, but I was prompted to add a post today after we visited Teifi Pools, the first really challenging section of the Trod. We were fortunate enough to encounter a local farmer checking on his stock grazing on the mountain, and he reiterated the view which has been expressed by several of my interviewees that the land over this section may well prove inaccessible for horses… This has made the need for a trial run on foot all the more pressing, and as soon as my teaching commitments finish for this term Alex and I will set out on a reconnaissance mission.

As for the Research Experience module, I have been really impressed with how the students have engaged with the project and the research they are conducting for their assessed coursework will prove really useful in terms of providing additional ethnographic material relating to the following themes;

- farming practices and traditions in the Welsh uplands

- the Red Kite as a symbol of Welsh identity

- Strata Florida as a site of pilgrimage and cultural tourism destination

- conflict over use of the Cambrians

Preparation continues

After some seriously inclement weather which put the fitness regeime back a few weeks we finally managed to get shoes on the horses courtesy of farrier Tom Baker, and have resumed daily rides. The council conveniently re-opened a local bridlepath which has proved to be a welcome break from road work.

Some relevant passages from Gerald of Wales

I have just stumbled across the following excerpts from Gerald of Wales’ Description of Wales (written 1183-5) which relate to horses in Medieval Wales;

“The higher class go to battle mounted on swift and generous steeds, which their country produces; but the greater part of the people fight on foot, on account of the marshy nature and unevenness of the soil.” (Chapter eight)

and

“Not addicted to gluttony or drunkenness, this people who incur no expense in food or dress, and whose minds are always bent upon the defence of their country, and on the means of plunder, are wholly employed in the care of their horses and furniture.” (Chapter 9)

The following is from Gerald’s Journey Through Wales (written c. 1188);

“In this third district of Wales, called Powys, there are most excellent studs put apart for breeding, and deriving their origin from some fine Spanish horses, which Robert de Belesme, earl of Shrewsbury, brought into this country on which account the horses sent from hence are remarkable for their majestic proportion and astonishing fleetness.” (Chapter 12) – this is a particularly interesting observation because it suggests that cobs were not the only horses being bred in Wales in the Medieval period.

Notes from day spent with Andrew – the route

The following is a transcript of my notes taken during our day with Professor Fleming. While they may not make much sense at the moment, I hope that when I upload a scan of the annotated map it will all become clearer! (nb. the spellings of place names may be incorrect at this point but have been left in for authenticity of fieldnotes):

- Start at Penddol Fawr and make way along lane below Coed y Rhiw

- Footpath – Chapel – gate – cross stream onto footpath

- Tyn y Cwm – talk to Mr Jones re. access (also land belonging to Robert Owen, Troed y Rhiw – another person to talk to re. access)

- Below Llyn Egnant (dam)

- Water authority – talk to re. access

- Above Nant Melan – series of slight incomplete terraces along edge of valley

- Then distinct hollow way down to Claen ddu wen

- This is very wet and difficult – perhaps do a recci in a 4×4 vehicle?

- Look out for cut in terraces – do these help or hinder access?

- Around square 67 (on map) going gets very wet

- Head of Nant Mellyn also v. wet

- Trod then starts to look more like an abandoned railway cutting and becomes very boggy

- Next section very well-marked

- Ford at Afon Claerwen – incline – dry and well-marked

- Rhyd Hengae after ford

- Past lakes to left

- Gets wetter along Clawd ddu Mawr

- Blanket bog on immediate right – another area needing recci

- Ford Elan – track disapears – head for road

- Trod then shadows the modern road along a footpath – immediately below modern road

- Past spur on left (which leads to Strata Marcella, another Cistercian house)

- Follow modern road to Sarn Geufron then rejoin footpath

- Rhyd Garreglwyd (?) below Meolfryn (?)

- Need to zig zag along terrace below

- Coed Nannerth Fawr – this is private land – need to obtain permission for access

- To get to Nannerth Fawr – river crossing – ford – then along modern tarmac road

- Leave at Gilfach Farm and cut through railway embankment

- Trod leads up to a cattle grid – how to get horses past?

- Then across to Gilfach farm – owned by Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (talk to re. access)

- Down terraced way from Gilfach to Tymshimley (?) then Banc Gelli-Las (again, check re.access) onto bridle path

- Wye Valley Walk

- Quarry above footpath

- From here access gets more difficult – need to find out who owns land and ask permission – talk to foot paths officer for Powys who should be able to help

- Above Moel Hywel

- Need to find out about access in ‘Parc’ where footpath runs out

- Gateways on either side of road – why? Something Andrew is interested in – perhaps to do with herding livestock?

- Need permission to go through land above Llan Goch

- Through woods and onto track used by scramble bikes then track to Abbey Cwmhir

Starting fieldwork – A visit to Rhayader

Monday 15th March. Alex and I met Professor Andrew Fleming in Rhayader to discuss the route of the Trod and visit some of the places where access would either be tricky or need to be negotiated in advance. As I am not particularly good with maps, I took notes while Alex sketched out the route on an OS map of the area (OS Landranger 1:50,000 No. 147). It appears that there are going to be several issues re. access and so we need to think about the best way to approach landowners to request permission to cross their land. Andrew also pointed out particular sections of the Trod where the horses may find the going particularly difficult, and so we will need to schedule additional trips to sus out the best way to negotiate wet areas, fences, foot bridges, cattle grids and busy roads.

After pouring over the map in a cafe in Rhayader town, we collected some supplies and drove in convoy to the last section which Andrew felt would present difficulty – forestry commission land at Lewer Cwmhir (OS: 03, 70)

‘Bringing in’ the animal – to shoe or not to shoe!

Didn’t ride the horses today – partly because we were both busy and ran out of daylight, but also because they are currently without shoes. In the interview I did with Chris she noted that I needed to get them shod asap. When I turned them out today they were a bit ‘footy’, i.e. their feet were a bit tender after our ride around the block last night. Because we have to ride on the roads then we need to consider their comfort and metal shoes would stop their feet wearing down too quickly. However, this is currently a contested issue – many endurance horses are ridden ‘barefoot’, and I have a very good friend, Val Price-West (www.whitehillequine.co.uk) who rides all of her horses without shoes. However, Val has the luxury of living on the edge of forestry commission land and so has to do very little roadwork. The more ‘traditional’/conventional approach sees riders equip their mounts with metal shoes which are nailed onto the ‘dead’ part of the hooves to protect the sensitive areas when the horses are ridden on roads, stony ground etc. But metal shoes on tarmac also exaccerbate concussion on their joints as the horses move…

This led me to thinking about another debate, this time from within anthrozoology/human-animal studies – that of ‘bringing in’ the animal, i.e. considering the perspectives of the nonhuman animals who are involved in relationships with humans. It is one of my/our aims in this project to consider the perspectives of the three horses who are also involved (Elvis, Psyche and Squirt – see the ‘Horses’ section of www.ridingthetrod.co.uk). How will they be most comfortable? Obviously, as we have to ride daily on tarmac which will wear down their feet, then I think that shoes will be a necessity…

We are also trying to ensure that the tack and equipment we use is as horse-friendly as possible, again to bring the horses themselves into the equation. We already ride ‘bitless’ (see www.bitlessbridle.co.uk for some very compelling articles written by vet Dr. Robert Cook on why bits are bad!) and are considering ‘converting’ to tree-less saddles, which, from what I have read on the subject, allow the horses to move with greater freedom than conventional saddles which contain a wooden tree (frame) – but will have to wait to see how funding for the project develops!