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Sydney Chic's 'the longest ride' experience
To celebrate “The Longest Ride” released today on Digital HD, Sydney Chic was invited to experience a fun day of horse riding and a “Ride to Lunch”. As part of this experience, I was given a sneak look at the film, which I downloaded on iTunes and loved every minute of it. Now I’m not a film critic, and I’m not about to spoil the film for you, so I’ll just give you little bits and pieces because as from today, you can download it yourself.
The one thing to note about The Longest Ride, it is a love story about two couples, and I personally thought it was very clever how the two stories unfold. I must say watching Scott Eastwood wasn’t too hard to do because he certainly has inherited his father’s good looks.
Back to the Ride to Lunch. For someone as awkward on a horse as I am, I had to laugh when Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment invited me, and a friend, to have some fun with horse training and then a ride over to Centennial Park Restaurant for lunch. I'm always up for a challenge and trying new things so I accepted and was keen to see how I would fare.
On arrival we chatted with Kathleen who manages Sydney Horse, and then we were handed over to Sarah, to give us both a lesson on the mechanical horse. That actually gave me a lot of confidence, as I knew it wouldn’t take off with me screaming on its back like the last time I rode a horse and vowed never to get on one again! I can’t say my training was as romantic as when Luke (Scott Eastwood) gives Sophia (Britt Robertson) her first lesson on the mechanical horse in the movie, but at least I managed to stay on it.
Photo of Deb and Bonfire courtesy DL Photography
After passing with flying colours on the mechanical horse it was time to meet a real one; “Deb, meet Bonfire”. Any fear of horses went straight out the door when I was introduced to Bonfire, for a start he’s not as big as those other horses, and there was something very gentle about him. Andrew and I both mounted our horses and off we went to Centennial Park with our guides, Sarah and Lachlan. Now there was no galloping in the wild as the scenes are in the movie, but we can’t complain about the vast open space of Centennial Parklands, it’s truly a beautiful way to spend time. In the movie, the scenery is spectacular, and even though I blog about Sydney, I’m really a country girl at heart, and luckily I have family in Northern NSW where I can frequently get my quota of fresh air.
Andrew, my riding partner, is a huge fan of the American Country life, so he was in his element riding his horse “Russell”. On the way over to the Equestrian Centre we were talking about the release of The Longest Ride, and what we were going to be doing today. Andrew reminisced about a time when he was 16; in 1976 he was at the red carpet night for the newly released Clint Eastwood western 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' at the George St Cinema Complex. It was a big night in Sydney and they closed down George St and had popular radio presenter of the time, Ward Pally Austin riding down the street dressed as a cowboy on a lovely big Palomino. We thought how funny it was that after all these years, Andrew is doing this adventure with me to celebrate the Digital HD release of The Longest Ride starring Clint’s son, Scott.
Photo courtesy DL Photography
This brings me onto reminiscing; I mentioned above that this is a love story about two couples and the other couple involved is Ira Levinson played by (Alan Alda and Jack Huston) and his true love, Ruth (Oona Chaplin). A truly touching story, with Ira reminiscing about his love for Ruth during the 1940’s, and their life together. I have to admit, I’m not the biggest romantic on the planet but I was glued to this story. It’s a beautiful film in so many ways.
Unfortunately, our Longest Ride, had come to and end and we were safely delivered by Bonfire and Russell to our destination to have lunch. After saying goodbye to our horses and their handlers, we enjoyed a fantastic meal at Centennial Park Restaurant, consisting of three courses and a glass of wine and/or beer.
The entrée was remarkable and I could have probably just had that! The fish 'n' chips were scrumptious and as for the dessert, fabulous!
For those who would love to experience their own Longest Ride, you can hop on to www.sydneyhorse.com.au and to look the part www.ariat.com.au
More photos in the video below of our day.
The Longest Ride is available now on Digital HD
Sydney Chic were guests of 20th Century Home Entertainment, Sydney Horse, Centennial Parklands and outfitted with Ariat. Read more about my Disclaimer here.
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