Cavalcade held up by pupils

There was a little highway robbery on the Otago Cavalcade yesterday when Macraes School pupils relieved the 68 riders and drivers on the Tussock Creek light wagon trail of all their gold coins.

The pupils, dressed in period dress and toting toy guns, would not tell the Otago Daily Times what they intended to do with their loot.

Driver Erin Allan, of Gore, said she had enjoyed the camaraderie on the trail for the past 13 years and the opportunity to drive a gig through some beautiful country.

Mrs Allan said her son, Luke Swanson (31), had ridden the trail for the past 10 years.

Mr Swanson, who was intellectually impaired, liked socialising on the trail but, above all, looked forward to the freedom of ‘‘playing cowboy'' on 16-year-old mare Jasmine, she said.

Jasmine was the only horse he had ridden on the trail, and the pair had a special rapport.

The gig Mrs Allan was using looked like an authentic 19th-century cart, but had steel wheels and brakes. Even so, drivers had to keep a close eye on the track or terrain when travelling crosscountry.

‘‘I have been lucky, and have only broken a trace [the line which attaches a horse's harness to the gig] once in 13 years,'' Mrs Allan said.

The trail yesterday covered about 44km between 8.30am and 6pm, before stopping in the Nenthorn Valley, near Moonlight.

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