Blog 7. Ben Freeth’s Ride for Hope – Riding through the Namibian desert and into the Omaruru riverbed.

28 September 2025

A chameleon watches the horses; A garland in the desert

The picket line

At around midnight one of the Appaloosas got loose and managed to spook two of the Arabians.  They broke out of their picket fence and headed off east into the desert at speed.

Pat Retzlaff was awake, heard the commotion and woke me up as we were sharing a tent.  (The mist can come in very thick close to the coast and drench one’s bedding, so we were all under canvas or in horse boxes at night). 

Tobia got onto their tracks but the Arabians were going at a trot and there was no way in the darkness we would have caught them. 

There is nothing so difficult as to go back to bed and have the powerlessness of doing nothing when there are horses heading off to who knows where in such a vast expanse of open desert. 

What we could do was pray.  I prayed we would find them and that the mist would not come in as it normally did.  Tobia prayed that somehow the blankets that they had on would catch them up.

At dawn it was clear.  There was no mist! 

Soon after dawn, Johannes and another headed off on horses on their tracks.  Pat jumped into the car with Adroux. After about 20 km moving at a canter on tracks they saw them, but the Arabians were on their way, stopping for nothing. 

Pat and Adroux had to give up in the car after another 10 km or so and came back to tell us that Johannes was on their heels but he couldn’t see how they could be caught. 

Catching two Arabians bred for endurance in the natural environment is not so easy in an open desert with the nearest fence well over 100 km away and no cell phone signal. 

Amazingly - or maybe not so amazingly - knowing God - one of the Arabians got caught by his blanket.  The country was open desert with almost no vegetation and yet it happened. 

Ida was on top of a dune and she saw movement several kilometres away.  She shouted down and some of us went up.  There, way in the distance, sure enough, the horses were coming back.  What joy! More tears.  That desert is blooming!

Prayers were answered.   Prayer to the living God is very powerful!

A very happy Tobia after their 2 Arabs went walkabout and ventured 30 km into the desert.