Great Western Pleasure Ride

24/07/2023

Evening all, we hope you're rugged up wherever you are & keeping warm through these Winter nights ❄️

Many of you have reached out over recent weeks enquiring about our 2023 event and if there's tickets available. We have just published an update on our website which explains the tough decision our organising committee has reached regarding the future of the ride, you can read it here - https://www.gwpleasureride.com/event-update

We encourage those of you who attend other similar trial riding events to share them with this community and continue your love for simply getting out & about and enjoying time with your ponies 🤎💛🧡

Lastly we want to thank you, every one of the 1,600 people who follow us on this page and have likely attended one of our events over the last 20+ years. You turned up every October and made our event the success it is today, memories that will live on in our hearts for years to come ❤️

An update on our event plans and preparations.

03/04/2022

We hope you're all enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Over the past few weeks many have been reaching out to enquire about our 2022 plans. Our committee had a meeting last week to discuss our event plans and made the decision to not return in 2022 and focus on returning with a really big bang in October 2023 instead.

As we're sure many can imagine or potentially even experience themselves, being part of a small rural volunteer committee can be equal parts rewarding and challenging. Especially when the past 2-years have placed significant pressures on everyone with regards to the ever-changing environment in which we live.

Our committee is the same volunteer committee who also help organise our annual race day which is held in January (you may have heard we had an unfortunate fire incident this year), and our Good Friday Rodeo which is obviously fast approaching, amongst others that use our grounds all throughout the year. The Pleasure Ride is one our favourite events though and we like to give it 110% every time we do it. The tough realisation for us this year is that we're a little weary, and simply don't feel comfortable giving you 50% when we know we can give more.

Our website has been updated with the 2023 dates and we'll be sure to post updates over the coming months when we start planning things. So many people have been joining us in Great Western for many years now and all we can hope is that you'll keep in touch and put our event on your radar next year. Your ongoing support and patience means so much to us, because after all, we wouldn't have an event if it wasn't for you ❤️

31/08/2021

We have some really sad news friends 😭

In light of recent circumstances, and in consultation with relevant authorities following the Premier's message earlier this week regarding the lockdown period being extended "indefinitely", the committee has made the difficult decision to cancel this years' event. Those who have registered will be receiving full refunds from today. A full statement can be viewed on our website here - https://www.gwpleasureride.com/2021-event-update.

We would like to thank you for being such a wonderfully understanding & supportive group of people and look forward to hopefully seeing you sometime soon. Please keep yourselves and your loved ones safe during this difficult time and remember this isn't forever. And whilst it can be a difficult conversation for some, the message is a simple one - please get vaccinated so we can hopefully have an event in 2022 🙏

An update on our event plans and preparations.

13/07/2021

How is it July already! The good news is that October now isn't that far away. The bad news is that current outdoor restrictions still don't give us the full go-head just yet, but let's see what the coming weeks bring.

As we near the event date we ask you to keep in mind our cancellation policy which you can read here - https://www.gwpleasureride.com/rules-and-conditions. And whilst we are getting close to the rider capacity limits there are still a few tickets available which we would encourage you to grab quickly! We are taking fewer riders this year & expect to sell out over the next few weeks.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please get in touch. We're here to help 😊

07/01/2021

The 2021 booking portal is now open! 🍾🐴

Everything you need to know can be found on our website https://www.gwpleasureride.com. Please ensure you read the Cancellation & Refund Policy updates (namely the COVID Conditions for now) and be aware we have fewer tickets this year. We only have 150 spots instead of 200 (pending further COVIDSafe event regulation updates) so we apologise in advance for those of you who may miss out. We'll be sure to open a waitlist in due course as needed though.

Please bear with us whilst we continue to work through things over the coming weeks and months, but don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns in the meantime. We'll do our best to answer what we can.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing everyone again in October, but let's collectively send plenty of positive vibes into the world for now just to be safe 🙏🤞

06/01/2021

Hey there pleasure riders! Thank you very much for your patience & understanding whilst we got over the Christmas & New Year period. Or just 2020 in general really.

We will be setting up the 2021 booking portal and updating the website tomorrow, so for those very eagerly waiting to secure their spot, please check online tomorrow afternoon. We'll endeavour to send everyone who registered for 2020 an email as well so please keep a lookout for that too 😊

We haven't started looking at what the tracks or trails will be as yet, but if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to reach out.

03/11/2020

Evening everyone 😊

We’ve had a few people enquire about when our 2021 event will be and when the online booking will be open.

It’s always on the second weekend in October, which will be Friday 8th - Sunday 10th 2021. And we’ll aim to get the website updated and the online booking portal open in the New Year.

As we’re sure it has been for everyone, this year has been tough for us and the people behind the scenes of this event have a few things going on right now. We really appreciate your ongoing support and patience, and we promise to have 2021 open for you all soon!

💙🐴

20/07/2020

We have some very difficult news to share with you regarding our 2020 Great Western Pleasure Ride event 😔. Thank you in advance for your support & understanding - https://www.gwpleasureride.com/2020-event-update

03/06/2020

Morning everyone.

We have been receiving a few enquiries of late wondering if our ride will be going ahead this year. Please know that, for now, we are still proceeding as normal, but will be closely monitoring things over the coming weeks and aim to make a formal decision by the end of July.

If we don't proceed this year and cancel our 2020 event, all registered attendees will receive a full refund. This means we still encourage you to register if you're interested in joining us as your money will be returned in full if it comes to that.

Thank you for your understanding & patience whilst we navigate this situation together.

09/12/2019

Evening pleasure riders!

If you're planning on purchasing a friend or family member an entry to our 2020 event for Christmas this year, please let us know. We can send you a nicely designed voucher to give to them, instead of our far less attractive order confirmation email 😕 🎄🎁