Horse riding

It's amazing how much more you appreciate Spring after living through such a freezing and long Winter. The past couple of weeks has seen the temperature in UB rise over zero degrees, which has made many of us very excited and starting to actually think that there will be a Mongolian Summer. This has also seen the locals downgrade to their Spring coat/jacket, one we would consider suitable for our Winter (I'm staying in my Winter coat for just another couple of weeks).

While the countryside is still covered in snow, a few of us AYADs thought it would be a great chance to visit Stepperiders, a ger camp located about an hour south of UB in the Bogdkhan Uul National Park. Stepperiders is run by a local family and they take you horse riding through the surrounding park.

We arrived at the camp on a Friday night, stayed over in a ger that they kept warm all night with a fire, and spent most of the next day at the camp.

In the morning we hiked up a nearby mountain so that we could enjoy the beautiful views of the park. We had to create our own path to follow, so at some stages I found myself buried knee-deep in snow. In the afternoon we went on our horse ride with the local guide, who was so lovely. My horse was incredible as it powered its way through the deep snow and ice. Some of the other horses though tended to hesitate a bit more.

Despite the weather maybe being around -5 or -10 on the ride, I didn’t feel the cold (perhaps I've finally learned how to rug up), except for a strong chilly breeze on the mountaintop towards the end.

After our ride, the local family cooked us lunch consisting of noodles, veggies and meat. After a couple of mouthfuls I realised that this meat was actually horse meat. A few days before, a friend had told me that the taste of the meat is actually quite similar to the horse’s smell. Unfortunately, this meant that I had broken a promise I made to one of my sisters back home who is passionate about horses. I’m sorry Em, but I had no idea, and once I realised I stopped! And I don’t plan on eating any more..

I’ll definitely be taking another trip back to Stepperiders in the Summer. It will seem like a completely different place without the cold weather and snow.