My guide Giorgi and I had not planned on ending up in the village of Roshka, but in Georgia sometimes the mountains have their own plans for you. The next morning, the road to Shatili was still impassable, but the rain had passed and the weather in Roshka was beautiful.
We decided to go riding in the valley where Roshka lay, up to the Chaukhi glacier. Giorgi convinced our host to lend us his horses for the day.
Traditional Khevsur saddlery has some unique elements. In addition to the Caucasian saddles with a cushion on the seat (similar to the ones I’d seen in Pankisi), the typical bridle for a backyard horse in Khevsureti has no bit and only one rein. A sort of hackamore effect is achieved by a bit of chain sewn to the outside of the noseband, and you steer by pulling with an open rein to turn in one direction, neck reining to turn the other way, and pulling straight back to slow down or stop. If your horse disagrees with you about stopping, you go in tight circles. It’s not the securest system of control, but it seems to work for shepherds moving from one pasture to another.
As our two horses were being saddled, a yearling colt was nosing about the farmyard too. As I’ve also seen in rural Romania, young horses roam around loose in this community until they’re old enough to work. It teaches them some social skills and common sense around everyday objects.
We were presented with the horses’ right sides to mount (If our hosts had heard of the old cavalry custom of always mounting a horse on the left, they held no truck with it) and set off into the mountains. The colt decided to follow us.
It soon became apparent that our junior follower was going to be a problem. He was at an age when his mother had recently weaned him, and he wanted quite literally to suck up to other horses in the hope of getting some love and attention. Our mounts, neither of which was his mother, found this irritating and aimed kick threats at him whenever he got close.
Eventually, the situation started to get risky. Giorgi’s horse in particular was hitching her hindquarters and making snaky bite threats constantly. He dismounted and tried to chase the colt off, but the youngster just thought Keep Away From Giorgi was a terrific new game. We phoned our hosts, who sent their son up on the colt’s mother to try to drive him back to the valley, but when he arrived he hadn’t brought a rope with him and the colt had no intention of following anyone’s directions. He was having too much fun.
By this point, both Giorgi’s horse and mine were getting excited by all the running around that was happening. With unfamiliar mounts and minimal rein control, one or the other of us was going to end up tossed against the famous erratic boulders of Roshka at the rate we were going, so we ended up sending all the horses packing back home and hiked the rest of the way to up the trail.
The trail is very pleasant, and not especially steep for a mountain trail, but I found myself having to rest quite often. The internet tells me that Roshka is at 1870 metres, and we were probably above 2000.
The hillsides were steep, but could nevertheless be quite wet. Large quantities of snow had slid down the mountains earlier in the spring and was now melting with distinctive ridges and troughs on top, and a constant trickle of water below. Wherever there was a little pocket in the mountainside, it was filled with water and signalled by patches of alpine dock.
Back at the guesthouse, Giorgi and I set out from Roshka back down the road out of the mountains. Along the way we stopped at the roadside cafe again for a supper of khinkali. The cafe has a fox that comes around and accepts gifts of khinkali and kebab to bring back to her kits.
The day ended at a family guesthouse in Pshavi, where I stayed the night with a kind senior couple who were friends of Giorgi. I have to give my guide credit. When everything about our plans went sideways, Giorgi Gortamashvili managed to keep going and improvise an excellent day’s adventure despite everything. If you’re looking for a driver and tour guide in the mountains of Georgia, he’s your man. This is his website.
Kartvelian Adventures 