Like a Country Song

Happy birthday to me! This year I got to celebrate my birthday in Wyoming, cowgirl style. Yesterday Steph, Heleen, Alissa, Linda and I went out to Cody for a lovely dinner (with a giant desert, Steph's face when she saw it was priceless). This morning I had the best surprise ever. I came back from my run and heard something in the lodge. I went in but there was nobody around. Suddenly I hear crying coming from the kitchen so I walk in to see Steph and Heleen sitting behind the counter. I thought something was wrong but they were actually trying to surprise me, except they were laughing so much they didn't hear me come in. It was the funniest surprise ever.

Today is the start of a new session. We are at the airport to pick up the new group, I'm very excited to meet them! We had a great first session with some amazing people. I was very sad to see them leave but we had a lot of fun in their last week. We went to Shoshone National Forest, always one of the highlights of the session. I drove up the mountain with the horses in the giant trailer. Thankfully they just fixed up the (gravel) road and it was pretty good, although compared to African roads, it was like a highway. We discovered a new trail on the mountain, rode on some really narrow trails with low hanging branches and crossed the river a few times.

One morning, we got up at 4am to do a sunrise ride, a beautiful ride as always. We also went to Reed's place to get the rest of our horses. We wrangled them into a corral on our horses. Wrangling horses is one of my favorite things, it makes for some fast riding and quick turns, especially since these horses weren't too keen to go where we wanted them to and the field they were in is huge and even has a creek running through it. MaeCile and I went back with the trailer to get all the gates and the feeder out. Unfortunately the feeder didn't fit in the trailer. We tried a few different things but nothing really worked until we tried to put the feeder on top of the trailer. By some miracle we managed to get that giant feeder on top of the huge trailer, just the two of us! We tied it with some halterropes and made it all the way home over the gravel road without it moving an inch! I was very proud of us. The funniest thing was that it took eight of the interns to get the feeder off again.

Between the two sessions we had a week without interns. We had a busy week training horses and catching up on some projects but also managed to go on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Linda, Heleen, Alissa, Steph and I spent two days exploring. We went on a few nice hikes, I saw some new places and the best thing: we saw a grizzly bear! I really wanted to see a bear and since the last group saw so many I was very hopeful. Unfortunately we didn't see anything other than bison and elk. Right before we left the park though, there were a lot of people standing around looking at something so we decided to pull over. The Grizzly was about 80m away from us and she strolled around the area for almost an hour. It was so beautiful to watch her and amazing to be so close to such an amazing animal. Best part of the trip for sure!

Country Roads

After four busy weeks at home I’m back in Wyoming, enjoying my cowgirl life. And this time I get to share it with Heleen! We’d been looking forward to coming out here together for so long but it still feels a bit surreal to have her here. Everytime I see her walk by I think ‘O yeah, Heleen is here!’. It is so good to be able to show her everything I always talk about, going on adventures together and making more memories. We came here halfway through a session, which I think can be a bit challenging as the rest of the group already knows each other, but they are all great and we have lots of fun! And of course Stephanie and Linda are back! One of my favorite things about the ranch is meeting up with old friends and making new ones from all over the world.

We’ve had a busy first week: we went to cow camp, soaked in the hotsprings, visited two rodeos, trained young horses, took four horses to the vet and did lots of riding. I had never been here during this time of year before. It is the rainy season which means everything is super green and beautiful. But it also meant we got rained on when we tried to sleep outside at cowcamp. I was so cozy and warm sleeping next to the fire when Stephanie woke me up. We moved into the little cabin that is there, which was a lot less comfortable but at least dry. Unfortunately Kaylyn woke us all up in the middle of the night screaming ‘snake’. She was convinced there was a snake crawling over Cara. We tried to look for it but didn’t see anything and since I was pretty exhausted I just fell asleep again. I’m still not sure if it was actually there or if it was a dream but I know I dreamed of snakes after that.

On Friday, we took three lame horses and one colt to the vet. I got to drive the big truck and giant trailer again! It always makes me feel super badass to be driving around with that. We went to get the colt castrated, I had never seen that so it was very interesting to witness. Heleen said it looked just like dr. Pol does it. The vet also took X-rays of one of the horses’ legs. He turned out to have arthritis so unfortunately he won’t be able to work anymore, but at least we know what is wrong now. Dr. Gould always explains everything really clearly and loves answering our questions so it was great for the interns as well. And he said we could start riding Pirouette again (she was lame too) so I’m really excited to take her out again.

In other great news, we have a cook this year! Remember last year when Hannah and I just reheated leftovers or put pizza in the oven somedays? This year we walk in the house and amazing food is just there waiting for us. Besides being a great cook, Alissa is also a great person. She is always interested in people’s stories, always has a smile on her face and is super organised and on top of things. She has only been here for a few weeks but it feels like she has been here for years and it takes a lot of stress off MaeCile, who finally has time to sort out other things, and me as well. It’s going to be a great summer!

Ponies, Puffins and Planes

Of the things I thought I would never see in life, snow in May is definitely one of them. Although technically it was the 30th of April. Anyway, in typical Icelandic fashion, my last day had about three different types of weather. When we brought the horses in from the field in the morning, it was snowing. On my morning ride it was almost sunny and in the afternoon I rode in the rain for two hours. And so my last view of Iceland was the same as the first: a dreary landscape from behind a bus window. But somehow Iceland manages to still be beautiful, even on a rainy day.

On one of the rare sunny days, Mary and I went to one of the Westman Islands, just off the south coast. We took a ferry that made us feel seasick after about five minutes but it was definitely worth it. Again, there were not a lot of tourists here. We took a walk around the island (it's only 5x7km) and didn't see anyone else on the trail. It was a beautiful walk, we hiked along the east coast with its steep cliffs and amazing view of the other islands. The trail went through fields with sheep and horses and we ended up at a bird hide. This was apparantly a good place to spot puffins, the bird this island is famous for and the reason we came. You guessed it, there were no puffins in sight. The only one we saw that day was made of wood...



We had a lovely day though, with 7 degrees and sun it was a summer day in Iceland! We had lunch at a cute little black beach and walked back to the harbour following a path through the fields. Unfortunately it didn't say anywhere that the path was a dead end, we ended up at an airstrip that we weren't allowed to cross. As we had to be back in time to get on the ferry we decided to try and go around the airstrip by climbing a few fences and walking through a lava field. At one point I honestly thought we would get lost on this tiny island, but we made it to the ferry in time.

After a nice dinner with the girls and a walk along the beach where a random dog and a cat joined us, my time in Iceland was almost over. I guided a few more tours. Least favorite tour guide moment: one of the horses bolted because a guest started screaming. Then it was time to go to the airport, where I had to spent the night because my flight was at six, no point in getting a hotel for those few hours. It wasn't too bad though, I managed to sleep a little on the plane. It's good to be home again, see everyone and ride my own horse. Although I must say she looks a bit strange, after only having seen Icelandic horses for two months ;)

The Ultimate Iceland Roadtrip part 2

After car number three broke down on us last week, Ilona and I attempted another road trip in our 'new' staff car this week. We went to explore Snaefellsness, the western peninsula of Iceland. If you're planning a trip to Iceland in the future I can definitely recommend this area, it was beautiful and there were hardly any other tourists. We made it into a two-day trip and stayed in Olafsvik overnight but you can easily spend more time in the area. It is a little over an hour to drive there from Reykjavik and it's not far from the Ring Road if you're taking a tour of the whole island.

As we couldn't go whale watching last week (due to the car breaking down halfway there) we decided to try again on our way to the peninsula. So we stopped in Reykjavik and got on the boat for the morning cruise. And we got lucky! We had some amazing sightings. There were 3 or 4 humpback whales swimming, playing and feeding around our boat for over an hour. They got really close so we got a good look at these giant animals. This was my fourth time whale watching here in Iceland as I didn't see anything the previous times so I was extremely happy. In addition to the humpbacks we also saw a Minke whale. A pretty good morning!

After the successful start of our day we went on to Snaefellsness. We had a full schedule with cliffs, waterfalls, beaches and hotsprings that we wanted to visit. One of our first stops was a mineral spring. The whole village used the spring as their water supply and there was a tap where you could try some of the water. These people must really have gotten used to this water because I almost spat it out, the huge amount of minerals in it made it really disgusting. Another interesting stop was the beach at Ytri Tunga (with yellow sand instead of black this time) where a colony of seals was living. So in addition to the whales, we also spotted seals today. They were all sun bathing on the rocks, very cute! We tried to find Sönghellir cave by driving up a mountain on a gravel road with a sign saying it was 'impassable' but our little car made it up. The cave was a little disappointing but the view was definitely worth it.

I'm almost getting tired of all the waterfalls, almost because they are still super beautiful, there are just so many of them! We saw about a hundred more and could even see one from our hotel window. At most of these waterfalls though, we were the only visitors. I don't know if Snaefellsnes is not very popular among tourists yet or if it was just quiet but I loved it. We drove along the coast line where we saw some beautiful cliffs. In general, the scenery when driving around the peninsula is breathtaking, you don't even have to leave your car. My favorite stop was Landbrotalaug, a hotspring in the middle of nowhere. There were two natural pools, the one we tried first was around 50 degrees Celsius and we didn't last for more than five minutes. The second one was a lot smaller and 'only' 40 degrees with a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance. A must do!

Road to the Mongol Derby

I figured it was time for an update on my Derby adventure. Even though it is only in August 2019, it is on my mind almost every day. I must admit, sometimes I'm wondering what I got myself into (especially when we do our workout and I just want to quit). Other times I am really looking forward to riding through the beautiful country. Sometimes when I am in a really great mood I severely underestimate how hard it will be, but then I remember that only half of the contestants actually make it to the finish line. I am going to work very hard to make sure I will be one of them though.

As I mentioned before, it is a 1000km race on half wild horses, through the rough Mongolian terrain. I will have ten days to complete the race but most people finish on the 8th and 9th day (if they finish), so I will be riding more than 110km a day. That means around 10 hours in the saddle. I don't think I've ever been on a horse for that long at a time. Obviously part of the training is spending as much time in the saddle as possible. I am not sure how I'm going to do this yet, I'm either going to do lots of training with Vasti (she might die) after work, or find a job at another stable abroad in the months leading up to the Derby to spend all day around horses. Besides just riding, it is also important to ride lots of different horses, to learn to adapt quickly to different personalities. Going back to Horseworks this summer will be super useful as I will get the chance to train lots of different (young) horses. 

To be able to stay on a horse for so many hours a day, I will have to do lots of core strength training. I have a confession to make: I am super unfit. Or at least I was, I couldn't even do one push-up or crunch. It's a good thing I don't have an office job because I imagine it would be even worse. But together with Ilona and Mary, I started doing the '7 minutes' work out every day. We do the normal one and the abs workout for about half an hour every day. I am always very sceptical when I see those videos of people who do a workout for thirty days and lose half their weight. While I haven't lost any weight (unfortunately) I am definitely improving. For the first time ever in my life I can actually see some ab muscles when I look in the mirror ;)

Another advice I got from previous contestants was to take up running (in case you fall off and have to run after your horse, and of course general fitness and endurance). Unfortunately I didn't bring my running shoes to Iceland (shitty excuse I know), but once I get back to the Netherlands I will start! I will follow a training schedule, to be able to do 5km in 10 weeks. I tried this before a few years ago and kind of failed at it, so it'll be a challenge. I know there are people out there who can run 5k without training but that is definitely not me, I can't even run for three minutes without training. I am also thinking about starting swimming again, and dancing just because I love it so much. So yeah, now that you know how shamefully unfit I am, you can understand a bit better what I am facing here. But hey, at least I have a goal to work towards, and I really want to make it! I'll keep you posted on the progress. 

(You can also support me by donating here, I will be riding for 'Cool Earth', more on the great work they do later). 

Land of Ice and Fire

Iceland is often called the Land of Ice and Fire. A rugged landscape of volcanoes, waterfalls and glaciers. Some parts of the country you can only get to on horseback. Even though Iceland is getting more popular as a tourist destination, there are still plenty of 'wild' places to explore in this extreme landscape. Last week, Mary and I attempted another roadtrip and went off to see some less well-known spots. After a bit of car trouble we were off to Nauthusagil, a beautiful waterfall in a gorge. It was a bit of a mission to get there, you had to walk on slippery rocks in a stream, and part of the way was climbing along an almost vertical bit of rockface with only a chain to hold on to. But even I managed to get there in one piece, so I would say it's not too bad. The waterfall was pretty but the way there was even more beautiful I thought. And the best part was that there was nobody else there. It almost felt like you were in a different world as the narrow gorge sheltered us from the sun, I could see where all the stories about fearies and trolls came from.

After visiting the waterfall, we wanted to try if we could see the crest of the waterfall, so we attempted a little hike up the hill. We couldn't see it though so we decided to go higher, and higher, and higher. Untill we were at the point where we thought we might as well climb all the way up to the top of the hill, which turned out to be a lot higher than it looked. But we made it up there! And the view was definitely worth it. We saw the plains on one side and the snow-capped mountains on the other. It was gorgeous! And I wasn't even too exhausted, I felt a lot fitter than when Ilona and I hiked up Skogafoss a few weeks ago. The daily work-outs must be paying off. After our mountain climbing, we visited another beautiful waterfall (again no people there!) and ended our day with a swim at Seljavallalaug, the oldest pool of Iceland. The pool was in the middle of a valley, surrounded by beautiful green mountains and heated by a hotspring (but still not very warm, unfortunately).

Meanwhile at the stables, I feel like I know a bit better what I'm doing. I'm still not sure me 'training' horses is very useful but I perfected my tour guide talk (including all the fun facts I mentioned in one of my previous blogs). I still marvel at the view every time I go outside (we are surrounded by mountains and volcanoes) and I've met a lot of interesting people. We have weekly riding lessons and I am definitely making progress. I love trying new things but it is quite frustrating when you feel like a complete beginner when trying a new way of riding. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I always want to be able to do right at the first try. Of course I know that's not how it works but often I have to remind myself that it's oké to do something wrong and that is how I learn. The tölting is going better though and it's a lot of fun to do.

In other exciting news: Heleen and I are making heaps of progress with our horse travel business 'Centaur Trails'. We have our first official partners now, soon the website will be filled with awesome horse riding holidays all over the world. In June, our first client is going on an 8-day riding tour in Montenegro and I can't wait for all her amazing stories, photos and videos. You can follow our progress on instagram, facebook and twitter. In less exciting news, I am still horrible at website building, despite all my efforts and a lot of help from google. It takes a lot more work, time and skill to build a website than I thought. Thankfully Heleen is a miracle worker and able to fix most of my messes on the website ;)

What I learned from travelling

Exactly one year ago, I arrived in South Africa on what was supposed to be a three month break before real working life started. Except I'm still travelling, a year later, and still have more trips planned. So I thought it was time for a 'what travelling taught me' post, very cheesy but also very true ;)

1. Be flexible
Don´t plan everything because the plan will change anyway, and you'll miss out on a lot of great stuff. This one was definitely the hardest for me. If you´ve known me for a while, you know I used to plan everything up to the smallest detail. On every trip, I had a very detailed schedule. And not just a list of things I wanted to see, no a daily schedule with set times. I know I drove some people crazy with this but there is something to be said for being organised. You get to see everything you want, you're prepared for anything and you don't miss the last train home. But you also might miss that outdoor concert in that little park in Santa Fé. Or that amazing view from the top of a mountain in Iceland. Working at the ranch where plans change depending on the weather, or in South Africa where 'now' means it might happen next week (or tomorrow, or not at all), forced me to be flexible and go with the flow. And I quite like it. The best things happen unexpectedly.

2. Stay positive
Travelling has taught me to always see the good in everything. Of course it's amazing to be travelling this much and I realize how lucky I am that I get to do this, instead of sitting at a desk all day. But as with anything else, it's not always just easy and fun. At times, it's hard work, there are moments where I really miss my friends and sometimes I wonder what I am doing here and why I am not putting my degree to better use. But than I ride a horse with the wind in my hair and a gorgeous view in front of me and I just feel so happy. The past year had many highs and a few lows. But a good friend reminded me that even when things don't go your way, there is always something good that came from it. My friendship with her was one of those things! Looking back on it, it opened up other opportunities and most of all, it taught me a lot about what I can do, how to stand my ground and what is really important.

3. My own strengths 
You often hear people say they 'found themselves' while travelling. While I wouldn´t go that far, I have learned a lot about myself through travelling. When you go to a new place, where you don't know anyone and plans often go off the rails, you really learn what you're made of. I have learned that I can be quite flexible and creative. I have learned I'm a lot stronger than I thought. I have learned to stand up for myself and be proud of what I can do instead of always doubting my skills. But I also care too much and sometimes trust too easily. I am stubborn and can be bossy and I like making my own plans instead of following others' rules. But I can also adapt quite easily. I´ve become a lot more open and confident. I know what makes me happy and how to prioritize that.

4. The importance of friendship
The highlight of every trip were the people I met on the way. With some, I only got to spend a few days, others a few months. But every single one of them played an important part in making all my trips so amazing and a lot of them I consider close friends. I love meeting new people, hearing their stories, getting to know them and have adventures together. It's crazy how close you can get to someone over just a short period of time. But it's not just new friends, I also appreciate my 'old' friends more. Being away from my close friends is hard but thankfully I speak to most of them regularly. They know me better than I know myself sometimes and they always manage to cheer me up. I've met some wonderful people who really understand me and even though they are sometimes far away, I know I can always call them. I feel very blessed to have friendships in which distance doesn´t matter.

5. Inspire and be inspired
A friend recently told me that she felt so inspired and motivated by what I am doing and I realised that was the best compliment she could give me. What I love most about working at the ranch is that I get to share my passion with others and teach them, help them to get better and reach their goals. I always encourage people to do what they love, even if it's hard or takes a while. So realizing that by just doing what I'm doing, working and travelling, I can encourage and inspire others to do what they want made me really happy. And it works the other way around as well, hearing about other people's plans and adventures inspires me too. Every single person you meet, changes your outlook and perspective on life.