Inner Mongolian Internationl Endurance Event - out on the course.

Course marking flag - the course was well marked throughout.

Water at the ready - Vet gate 2.

A cage full of criminals? No - Vetgate 2 officials waiting for action in their airy little yurt.

g
The leading horse being vetted.

Back markers, mainly the international set, including Austrian, 2 Hungarians and Malaysian girl Asrin, second from left.

And it was all going so well.

Cheerful endurance race competitors herded onto a military truck to inspect the course. President of the Asian Equestrian Federation Mr Ho in front.

Five kms further on and not so cheerful.

Photos while I have the chance

Peng in his beekeepers hat and Li Jing riding across the grasslands on Shandan and Zorbee. My usual viewpoint from the steady Bajiu.

Sign promoting population control which appears to have been singularly effective.

Obligatory baby holding with friendly farmhouse family at Gaoshanpu

Find the pig. Kang Bao.

Yet another unusual bedroom

Wolf or Not?

This large canine trotted past while we were picnicking on the grasslands. Hua reckoned it was a wolf, Li Jing not. What do you think?

Li Jing Update

At last I can download a photo. This is Li Jing on danger zone Zorbee by the sign announcing our arrival at Inner Mongolia last week - unfortunately it appears to have had an altercation with a lorry.

The latest on Li Jing is that he has broken his collarbone but not his ribs. Being the the hard man that he is, he is intent on getting straight back in the saddle, but we shall see. Conveniently we had already arranged to attend a big endurance event in Xilingole over the weekend, so that gives us a breathing space to decide our next course of action.

We are now esconsed in a 5 star hotel in Xilingole courtesy of the Chinese Equestrian Association, quite a change from the simple farmhouse we stayed in last night, and where we have left the horses in the care of a local farmer who came to our rescue.

Zorbee Does It Again.

Hua and I are sitting in the trailer in the middle of the Inner Mongolian countryside while Peng carts Li Jing off to hospital at Shangdu, 30 kms away. I did not see the incident as I had ridden quietly ahead at a sedate walk from our last rest stop because of my bad back.

Apparently when Hua trotted on Zorbee got over excited and fell over, and spookily Li Jing appears to have mirror image injuries to mine, only hopefully not as bad

It looks like it is going to be a long day as they have only just left and it is already 6 o'clock. We may end up camping where Peng unhitched the trailer when he got the news - at least there are shady trees to tie the horses to.

I am writing this using the solar powered socket in the trailer, today being the first time I have tried it.

Through the Grasslands

Now in the unappealing industrial town of Hua De, Inner Mongolia. Communication is proving very erratic, hence the lack of blog posts (I have written some but have not been able to publish them or download photos) and apparently my Thuraya Locate points have not got through. E-mail contact comes and goes without warning!

We have been following a quiet country road through some lovely country, varying from open grassland with cows and small flocks of sheep with attendant shepherds, to yellow and green bands of cereal crops or neatly planted cabbages and potatoes, bounded by belts of poplar and birch. Thankfully we have been able to ride the whole way on earth tracks or grass verges. Occasionally we pass through little mud or red brick villages with sunflowers in the courtyards, the odd pig snuffling around and donkeys or mules tied up to graze on the outskirts. Inevitably we collect a small crowd of curious and friendly locals, who are amazed to see a foreigner in their neck of the woods, particularly on a horse!

Unfortunately my back has been playing up and Li Jing is also not well, so we have been taking it easy though we covered about 33kms today. Over the last few days we have stayed in a friendly farmhouse, a hotel in Kang Bao (with very welcome hot shower cubicles downstairs!) and in an empty schoolhouse - heaven for the horses since they had a whole grassy yard to themselves.