Riders called from far and wide to the Otago Goldfields Cavalcade

Martha Lindstad (left), Ann Coppin and Katherine Watts have travelled from overseas to take part in this year's Otago Goldfields Cavalcade. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery

"You've got to live it while you have it," beaming Norwegian visitor Martha Lindstad declared yesterday.

Ms Lindstad (26) was taking part in her fourth Otago Goldfields Cavalcade, riding in trail boss Les Beattie's Over The Top to Owaka riding trail, and there was a strong international flavour among the participants.

She first came to New Zealand on a working holiday visa four and a-half years ago. She was working in an apple packhouse at Ettrick and borrowed one of former cavalcade trail boss Stu Moore's horses to go riding.

When Mr Moore received a copy of the cavalcade DVD, filmed by Dunedin cameraman Ross Wilson, and she saw it, she thought it looked "pretty cool".

It was the people that she enjoyed, and the "social life", along with the countryside. "You ride around awesome scenery, seeing a lot of countryside most people wouldn't get a chance to see," she said.

This year, she brought along Ann Coppin, from Western Australia. The pair were mustering cattle there when Ms Lindstad started talking about the cavalcade and Mrs Coppin said "find me a spot".

Mrs Coppin (63) reckoned she had been riding for about 60 years and horses played an integral part in mustering at her home, a cattle station encompassing "about half a million acres".

The cavalcade was totally different from riding for a living and she was having a very enjoyable time on "a lovely horse".

Despite admitting to having a couple of challenging days, Englishwoman Katherine Watts (56) still wore a wide smile and said she was having an "absolutely fabulous" time.

She was visiting her partner's parents in New Zealand last year when she spied the book Gold Dust and Saddle Bags: Tales from the Cavalcade in a library. Enthused, she looked the cavalcade up on the internet, saw it was still happening and decided to do it.

From Derbyshire, where she is a self-employed accountant-bookkeeper, Ms Watts sold her last horse in 2007 and had not really ridden since.

Things had improved slightly from the first day, when "they had to help me off the horse and drop me in the corner and I was there for about an hour", and two river crossings made for the "best day".

She reckoned it might be her last ride, "because nothing is going to compete [with this]".

The cavalcade finishes in Owaka on Saturday.