Halfway gone

Thankfully the story doesn't end with me crying by the side of the road. After the sun had set behind the mountains, I heard a car engine in the distance: help was on the way! I opted to get a carry forward to the next station, about 8 km away (you are allowed one carry forward during the race). Those 8 km were the scariest of the whole Derby! I'll take a Mongolian horse anyday, the bloodwagon driver drove like a madman! At one point, I thought we were going to flip over or at least crash into a ditch. He very skilfully managed to get us to the station in no-time where the vet let me know my horse was indeed not doing well and I had made the right decision calling for help. We kept an eye on him that night and after a few hours he was doing better and was allowed to join his buddies and go out with the herd. And I got a nice surprise: I got to sleep in an actual bed! Esther and Rendell had saved me a spot, so comfy!

The next morning, Esther and I decided to ride out together. We got up early and were on our horses at exactly 6.30. Our plan was to ride four legs today. Since I had only done two stations on the first day, we had to do a four leg day in order to make it to the finish line on time. The horses we got at HS14 we're really nice and fit so we made good time. The route was easy to navigate and flat, I think we made it to HS15 in 2,5 hours. Halfway there we ran into Ava, Molly, Sally and Mike with three horses. They had camped in an empty ger but unfortunately Mike's horse had run off. We hadn't seen a loose horse and since there wasn't much we could do, we kept going to HS18. Happy reunions were had when we ran into Jacki, who had fallen off on day two and was rejoining the race today. After a quick stop at the station, we got on our next horses and were off again.

Unfortunately, the horses we got for the second leg weren't as keen as the ones we got that morning. It was a long leg and it was pretty hard to keep them going. We had to trot a lot (so painful! I had some pretty bad chafing at this point) and came up with some pretty creative ways to keep them moving (Tsjakka!!!). The scenery on this leg was very impressive though, we rode past a massive river, rolling green hills and saw a camel that thought he was a cow. Another surprise awaited us at the next station: they had apple turn-overs! I ate two and managed to stop myself from devouring more as I didn't want to upset my stomach, which had finally, sort off, settled. This station also had a 'toilet' that was conveniently placed right next to the path people rode in on. Thankfully I heard the other riders come in on time.. Time to go on!

Leg three led through the hills, with some amazing views on the way. At one point we took a little detour around a hill but ended up at a stream with around a hundred mares drinking with their foals, an incredible sight! I named the horse I got on this stretch Harry. He was the clumsiest horse I rode all Derby. While the others were all really good at dodging marmot holes, he seemed to purposefully step in them. We almost trampled a few marmots and I got close to faceplanting in the dirt a few times. We miraculously made it to the next station with only two hours of riding time left. I was tempted to just stay the night and try for four legs again tomorrow but thankfully Esther pushed me to go on. We asked the herders for their fastest horses. They gave us two pretty small but stocky mounts and told us to go around the hills to a pass and then head for the station in a straight line. As we crossed the mountain pass, I looked back to the valley behind me. The sun was sinking lower and lower and washed everything in a beautiful golden light, it was breathtaking. One of my favourite views of the Derby. We didn't have lot of time to admire the scenery though, we had a station to get to.

The valley we rode through was devoid of any gers so there was nowhere to stay the night, unless we wanted to just put our sleeping bag down by the side of the rode. We decided we could make it to the horse station if we pushed a little more. When our horses seemed to be getting tired and I thought I was going to have to spend the night with the marmots, we passed some herders on bikes. Their yelling urged our horses on and they seemed to get a second wind. They were obviously well trained, we cantered almost the whole way, trotted them into the station and they passed the vet check straight away! We had made it to HS15 and rode around 160 km today! Also at HS15: Rachel and Sam, who we hadn't seen since the start of the race. Sam was unable to start due to illness but rejoined the race on day three. They were both a little worn but doing well. Patti and Abby also joined us in the ger. Day 5 had come to a close and we were halfway there. At this point it was just as far to go back so we might as well keep going!