It was very cold overnight & the fire needed to be restarted a few times. Despite not a great sleep, it was a fairly early start, not that we minded. It was our first day of horse trekking! Something we have been avidly waiting for.
After breakfast I helped Bakky's wife feed all the kids (baby goats) then catch them & put them in a spare ger to protect them from the cold weather.
It's very rewarding work, living nomadic. We both love the hands on approach & the rewarding sight of the satisfied goats wagging their tails & playing in the snow.
After the morning work was done & we had all of our stuff packed, it was time to meet our horses. It's also worth mentioning we have to pack extremely light, apart from clean jocks & knickers, our only clothes are the ones we will wear. No clean clothes for 3 days!
Fearing the weather I wore 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of legging thermals, tracksuit pants, thermal singlet, T- shirt, long sleeve shirt, jumper, scarf, beanie, gloves & jacket. Tom & I shared a back pack for our sleeping bags, camera, go-pro, toilet paper, baby wipes & extremely minimal toiletries. We had a small disagreement about the necessity of sunscreen, which was left behind. We were then dressed in traditional Mongolian Dells which are the giant wool insulated coats designed for horse back riding in extreme cold weather.
We were warned about the half wild nature of Mongolian horses, especially in spring. The horses aren't used in winter & were still a little bit weak & skinnier than preferred. However they proved to be very tough & strong enough for our trip.
Tom was first to meet his horse, a handsome old grey gelding. Tom would later call him Gandalf The Grey. He was a sturdy, well mannered slow horse who loves eating & sleeping & dislikes moving fast unless he absolutely has to.
I was paired with a dark brown gelding who was a little bit naughty & is a dominant member of the herd, has a bad habit of biting & kicking the other horses. We bonded really well though & I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him.
Undra our guide had a dark brown horse who was also fond of biting, being an experienced horse rider she didn't have any problems controlling him though.
We set off through the snow at a nice easy pace. The sun was bright, the sky was blue & the snow was sparkling. We continued like this for a few hours, winding up & down hills, across rivers & through trees. We kept at a nice slow pace, occasionally the horses would slip on a rock or break through a section of ice. When we stopped for lunch the ground was still covered in heavy snow and it was still very very cold, but we could see the snow starting to melt & the forecast was all sun.
When we stopped at our guest house it was just before 5pm and we had covered approximately 18kms.
By this stage a lot of the ice on the open fields had melted & it was dripping off trees. It was that perfect half green grass & half snow that showed off the beauty of the land.
We went into the families ger & had milk tea, made from their Yaks. It was the first time I had seen a Yak up close, they are quite majestic & playful. This nomadic family has a lot of Yak, as well as hybrid Yak/Cows, sheep, goats, horses, 2 dogs & a ferociously affectionate cat.
We spent the remainder of the sunlight playing with the animals. It was around this time when we started to remove the clothing & sun glasses from our faces & noticed the partial & severe reflective sun burn from the snow & the wind burn. My forehead, eyes & cheeks were protected but my nose & chin were very bad, it was only the freezing temperature that prevented me from feeling it & was probably a factor for the severity.
Sleep that night came very easily & didnt seem long enough when we awoke.
- Alli
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