The Yurt camp starts to wake up and the bustle of activity starts. The family that owns this place are incredibly hard working people. They have young kids and there are a constant stream of new travelers coming and going. A lot of people trek in here on foot or come in on horseback. I didn't know that was an option! haha. that would have been fun!
We have a nice warm breakfast and some of us linger in the dining hut and drink our Chai. We haven't had a lot of days where we haven't been heading off right away after breakfast, so the calm is nice.
Some of us decide to walk down to the lake to swim and others decide to go for a hike up the mountains. Robert had been making friends with the local young men last night, who I had originally thought belonged to our Yurt camp but as it turns out, were just guides spending the night before they went back to their camps. You can stay along the entire perimeter of the lake, and many people do a multi-day journey along the 29km lake. I had assumed from the chatter that they were all playing nice and that he had had a fun night with them, but I gather they wanted his playing cards but then wouldn't let him play with them, so he took his cards back. Good on ya Robert!
The lake is beautiful and Erik swims and the rest of us sit on the shore with the cows and just take in the scenery. When we get back to the camp three new travelers have arrived, they are from Belgium, and have arrived on horseback. We spend time chatting with them, playing cards, hanging out on the swings, and before you know it its time for lunch. It's a lovely white fish from the lake which at first glance I think will be awful, but actually is quite tasty.
I had joked with the family that Avery had been counting the days in our trip until we would be horseback riding and that after we rode she would be counting the days until we got home and she could go see Fox, the new pony we bought during the first week of being away. We had gone to see him the weekend before we left and fell in love with him. We were doing vet checks and coordinating his arrival to Vancouver during the first week of our trip - so of course Avery is desperate to be home to see him. We are both feeling sad that we can't be home to greet him when he arrives but we know he is in good hands with our coach while we are away.
So the day arrives and if Avery could bounce of the walls of the Yurt she would be. I think everyone is a little excited. Avery had been up early and had been watching them bring the horses in. They hobble their horses here so that they don't wander off too far, and most of the day they are tied up and saddled next to the Yurt camp, but in the evenings they let them go. In the morning they were bringing them in and she is counting them until she gets to the magic number of 11 plus guide horse.
With lunch behind us its time to get ready for our adventure. I had brought jeans for this day alone, an extravagance but I didn't want to ride is shorts. None of us had boots, just runners, except for Robert who had somehow managed to lose his already, so he would be riding in flip flops. They seem to ride in all sorts of footwear and didn't seem to mind at all.
The tack here is of course pretty rudimentary. It's definitely more western, but not as elaborate. They use a saddle blanket on the base, and then the saddle itself is sort of a metal/leather frame with a horn, but the seat is not built out to sit in, they instead strap a very large velvety blanket to the seat of the saddle to sit on. This is very comfortable to start, but as the hours wear on, that blanket starts to feel pretty thin! The bridle was a bit bridle with rope reigns in most cases, and the stirrups were leathers with metal stirrups, so more English style.
As we all move towards the horses, our guide helps us to discuss with Azamat who has ridden before and who hasn't. We tell him that I have ridden, Avery has ridden, Emily has ridden and that mom had ridden a long time ago. While I wouldn't have wished my horse on anyone else in the group, there are times when I really wondered what the hell I had been thinking. They handed me the reins to "$hithead" (yes, I named him that) first and up I went. The horses aren't beautiful, but they are mostly pretty and calm, and mine was tall and strong and as I tested out his steering, he did respond.
Avery hopped up on a beautiful buckskin, as did Emily. Slowly everyone was given a horse and everyone mounted. Erik ended up on a very small horse and I have to admit I couldn't help but giggle at his long legs on that tiny horse. We made sure that Fiona was on a very slow calm horse, and they took this seriously and I felt very comfortable with the choice. She stayed at the rear on her pokey horse which is exactly where I wanted her. Not what she was hoping for, but she would get over it. Cadence had a lovely little horse with a lot of spunk, and Dave was on a very calm horse who kept a pretty even speed of slow throughout the ride. I was feeling nervous having all my kiddies on these horses with no safety gear, but sometimes you have no choice but to throw caution to the wind. I had to hope that the little they knew was enough for them to get by, and it was, they all did great and nobody got hurt.
As we got going I quickly realized that I had my hands full. This was no ordinary trail horse, he wanted to move. Actually the front pack of horses, all ridden by women, were fast movers. Poor Erik's horse kept turning around and wanting to go home and Fiona's horse was going so slow that she had to be lead and we were getting all spread out. Mom said we were riding the feminist horses, haha, as the people who had ridden (all women) before seemed to be able to get their horses moving more quickly.
The one thing that I had noticed the day before was that they really ride differently, the horses heads tend to be high and they seem to always have a very constant and hard pressure on the bit. It became apparent that this was going to be the way we would need to ride, as letting off the pressure on the bit meant "go time" for these horse. If I let off the pressure, this guy was off like a shot.
$hithead wanted to be in the lead, so he pushed his way around everyone else to be out front all the time unless I really worked hard to keep him back. I just sussed him out a bit, but realized that I was going to have to be one tough cookie to keep this guy in line.
Azamat rode up to me at one point and gave me the ok sign...was I ok? I wasn't sure. I wanted to ask him where the hell low gear was, but no english, I would have to figure this out on my own. We were doing lots of circles and my hands were going to be sore from pulling back on the reins all the time. But I like a challenge, and he wasn't going to be in charge unless I let him be. We were fighting each other, but I felt like I was getting the upperhand.
The scenery was gorgeous and we rode up and down the rolling hills and along the lake side. At the crest of a hill Azamat took a couple of group shots and we did some horse trading...haha. Poor Erik was having a hell of a time, so he traded up. After some shuffling we seemed to get into a good rhythm. I think mom ended up on Erik's horse and she was able to get him going. She took Fiona's horse on the lead line and that worked out really well. I couldn't safely take Fiona behind me, this guy just had no slow speed. I had to work hard to keep him in check and if I let off, we were not cantering, but galloping.
At one point, I had pulled back to check on Fiona and some of the others got out in front. Well, you know who was not happy about that, I decided that I would let off the reins a little and see what would happen...well holy crap...I don't think I've ever gone that fast. We were moving fast already when he decided he wanted to pass Emily and he found a whole new gear. The surge of speed with which he took off almost took my breath away. This boy had legs, but the brakes were another thing altogether. If I had been more confident it would have been interesting to see how long he would have run for and where he would have taken me. He clearly had a mission in mind and I was obviously hindering it.
We followed the shore for quite a while and then headed inland. We would circle back to the camp up and over the hills which was exciting. We climbed hills and dropped into beautiful valleys. We would sometimes come upon other Yurt camps, and other times feel like we were the only people on the planet.
The fields were speckled with beautiful purple and yellow flowers and they seemed to stretch on forever in each direction. At one point Azamat got off his horse and picked me three purple flowers for my three daughters. Very sweet. I also think he was curious to see the way that we were riding. With our recent English riding training, we hold the reins very differently from him. He was riding a very young gelding who was clearly still in training. He too was working hard to keep his horse in check.
 |
| Robert aka "the flip flop rider" |
 |
| $hithead looks tired out now doesn't he?? |
My butt was killing me, the soft blanket had been comfy at first but the metal of the saddle below had been steadily stabbing me for the last hour or so. We dismounted slowly and walked off the stiffness that was settling in. I was going to be sore tomorrow. It had been a long time since I'd ridden for that long.
Unfortunately, it had also been incredibly hot today, and while we had put sunscreen on multiple times, the areas that I missed were now super burnt. I guess at higher altitudes there is less of the earths atmosphere to block the sunlight. According to google, UV exposure increases about 4% for every 300 m (1000 ft) gain in elevation. Oops. That would explain the vibrant shade of red my skin was now turning. Fiona also had burnt hands and Cadence and Avery each had small patches on their shoulders where the sunscreen was missed. My skin would slowly blister over the next few days and then peel off in sheets. I've got to be more careful!
After riding it was back to the lake for swims and then we read in the fields, played cards, the girls played soccer with the kids from the camp and generally we just had a really nice time. Supper was another great meal of soup and bread, then more socializing and hanging out until the cold was too much to bare and we all huddled into our Yurt for the night.
We decided against having a fire and despite my toes being cold for the first little while, and we were snug inside for the night. There had been some concern that it would rain tonight, but we would take our chances.
At one point during the night, Dave and I both woke up and decided to trek across the field to the bathroom. As we stepped out of our Yurt, the sky above was spectacular. The rain had obviously stayed away. It was like being in a planetarium. The stars were magnificent and you could see with utmost clarity the milky way. That night sky, surrounded by this magnificent countryside is a memory I won't soon forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment