Hola!

 

This time I got the chance to ride in the north, and it was a great experience again! Everything started Saturday morning at 4 a.m…. I first hoped I misunderstood the time, my Spanish not being very good yet, but yes, it was definitely 4 a.m…. ok… and once I’m up, it’s not much different than 7 a.m   or 9 a.m… So we went to get the horses, fed them, put the bandages on and at 5 a.m the truck came and we loaded all 7 horses. So we were already on the road at 5.30 a.m. I thought I could sleep a bit in the truck, but the roads being not as smooth as in Europe for example… I didn’t sleep…

 

Anyway, on our way we had a quick breakfast at a typical Ecuadorian restaurant. Rafael (the driver) and German (the chagra guide) asked me if I take the same as they do, I thought yes, whatever. So first we got a nice fruit juice, then came a huge plate with rice, some vegetables, 2 fried eggs and chicken… Not exactly what I’m used to eat at 7.30a.m… But as I had been up for somany hours, it felt more like an early lunch, so it was ok. I didn’t manage to finish my plate, and was only waiting for the coffee, but then they brought a bowl with 2 hard boiled eggs ( more eggs…) and some bread with cheese. I offered my eggs to German, packed the bread for later, and learned that next time, I won’t order “desayuno completo” (breakfast complete)… A friend of mine who lives in Quito with her ecuadorian boyfriend already told me, if you want to make an Ecuadorian man happy, just feed him rice with eggs… ))

 

We arrived at the Hacienda Pinsaqui a bit later, took the horses out and all our stuff, and Rafael left again. We gave the horses a good drink, and then prepared them for the ride. Later Fernando (our guide) came with our 3 guests, Samantha and Andrea from the USA and Yvonne from Scotland, 3 very nice easy going funny ladies! After a quick coffee at the Hacienda, we took off with the horses, having a nice ride in that very green area, crossing many villages with lots of kids being always very enthusiastic about the horses.  We arrived at the Hacienda Cusin in time before the rain, the horses enjoyed their fied with lot of grass, and our guests enjoyed the beautiful Hacienda with its lovely gardens.

 

The next day we had again a great time, crossing villages with sometimes nasty barking dogs, but I’m always amazed to see how the horses really do not care at all, even when the dogs are coming very close.  In the afternoon we arrived at the Hacienda la Marced, where they breed bulls (for bullfighting) and beautiful Spanish horses. There is always something to look at there, either when they bring the mares with their foals to the hacienda to check and feed them, and then look at the stallions playing beautiful… Or to see the cows, “fighting” for the best place at their ‘self-service” station… And Diana, the owner of the hacienda, always has nice stories to tell about the region, the traditions, etc…

 

On day 3 we made a round circuit, first one of the hacienda’s worker came with us, so we could see how he fed the bulls, then he gave us a show on his Spanish horse, which just looked great! He made his horse lay down while he was still sitting on him! Great!!! He then left back home, and we kept on going higher into the hills. We looked at some farmers catching their sheep with a lasso in order to vaccinate them, we had a talk with a shepherd laying on the road while watching his herd, and then had a nice picnic in a little pine forest. On the ride back home we saw more beautiful scenery, Fernando always telling us interesting things about this and that and arrived again at la Marced in the afternoon.

 

On day 4 the guests rode to Olmedo with Fernando and German, I waited for Victor to come with the car, as I was a bit out of order, having had some stomach problems all night… L So unfortunately I missed that part, but as the ladies told me later on, it was very nice as well! In Olmedo the truck was already waiting, we loaded the horses and Fernando went to have lunch with the guest in a hacienda. Then they’ll drive more south, close to the Cotopaxi National Park, where they’ll meet Cesar (the chagra guide working on the second part of the trip) Wednesday morning, with fresh horses. I’m sure they’ll have a great time in the south, to me it’s definitely the most beautiful region, I quite fell in love with the Cotopaxi… J

 

So, and I’m back at the farm, happy to see the other horses again, and Guapa the dog, curing my stomach ( I already feel much better!) and dreaming about the next tour…

 

Hasta luego!

 

Sip

Hola!

We had a fantastic day today, beautifull weather, but as soon as the sun shines here, it gets really hot right away!!! Makes me miss the clouds sometimes… I’m more used to -30, as I’ve lived 7 years in Finnland… But as it was in Finnland, you also have to wear many different layers here, because the temperature changes dramatically  wether there are clouds  or not. So when the clouds are on and off, I keep on putting one layer more ore less… Wich can change every 5 minutes… Keeps you busy…

The other thing, is that when there are no clouds at all, the sun shines really extremly hard, I experienced it again today… I don’t l ike to wear hats, just don’t get used to the feeling, but here I soon found out, that there is no way to go out without something on  your head… So I bought a nice hat at the Otavalo market, north of Quito, and even finally wore it today for the first time! I had nicely left it in my room since 2 weeks… So my head was fine at last, but instead I burned my neck… It obviously takes some time for me to learn how to handle this… And to really “believe” that the sun REALLY is MUCH stronger than in Switzerland!!! Hope today was my last sunburn…

Today I avoided my “oatfield-fight” with the horses  by not letting them onto that field. But tomorrow I’ll take the battery and put electricity on the fence… Hope it will convince them… We’ll see who wins that war…

Hasta luego!

 

Sipuli

Hola!

We got some visit from Kelly this weekend, she is from USA, working as a teacher in Quito, and heard from Saly over friends of friends of friends… She did a master work about nutrition for horses, so she came to have a look at our horses, an at the same time got the opportunity to come ride with us on a great tour yesterday! We left in the morning with 8 horses direction the mountains, went up and up, and it got more and more beautifull!!! Up in the hills it was quite windy, but we got an amazing view over the valley and all volcanoes! The scenery was just fantastic, and for me, beeing in the mountains is just always like beeing home… Luckily we had Cristian with us, who was reasonable enough to remind us we have to go back again… )) I could just have stayed there… So we rode back again, tired but happy… And with red hands for Kelly… She forgot to put suncream on her hands… ups…

Today we had an exact look at all horses with Kelly, measuring them with a special tape that gives an idea how heavy they are, taking pictures of them, looking at their food , etc… We did the horse check in the corral, and I brought one by one to Kelly. Platanito found that really interesting, he kept on trying to eat Kelly’s notebook, and wished to be allowed to get checked at least a second time… It was a nice morning, I could learn a lot! Not only about nutrition, but also how old the horses are. Sally had written a list for Kelly, and I was amazed to hear that many of them are between 15 and 20!!! So when I see how fit they are when we go out into the mountains… WOW!!!!! Great horses!!!

Kelly left at noon, and I worked some horses in the afternoon, and even got some extra exercise. ?Thanks the horses, because they escaped into the oat field… I don’t know who had the idea first, but all others must have been convinced very quickly about that great idea… Luckily I saw it right away, so they didnt get the chance to destroy much… Well, that’s part of the ife when you work with animals… They always have surprises for you… Anyway, I have to think about an alarm that tells me when they escape… Or I might hire a security guard… Or I teach Guapa ( Sally’s dog) to be a bit more border collie and to do the job she’s supposed to do… Regarding her genes… Ok, it would be horses, but thats just like a big sheep… bit less curly…

Well, I wish you all a nice morning/day/evening/night, wherever you are…

Sipuli

Hi everyone!

Don’t worry, Sally hasn’t started to breed sheeps… “My black sheep” is one of Sally’ horses, Platanito! Some of you will know him for sure! Well, poor Platanito had been limping for a while, and for a quicker healing, has needed a big rest, which also meant get out of the herd. But now he’s fine again, and first stayed in a field just next to the herd. That was ok, only Mister Henry was chasing him along the fence… As long as there was the fence, couldn’t happen anything… But it was time to reintegrate him into the herd… and I was a bit worried, I must admit, having seen Henry’s behaviour…. running to the fence, ears and head down… Anyway, it was time to do it, and Sally told me Henry normally isn’t a bighter or kicker, so… lets try!!! First I took out Henry and Benjamin (another one who has a bit black humor sometimes…) to another field, then brought Platanito into the herd…He walked around, easy, was more interested in the salt dishes (we give salt to the horses twice a week into half tyres) than in the other horses, and they also didn’t pay much attention to him. Only General Pintag came to say hello, and that was ist. I stayed there for a while, but everything was fine.
A bit later I came back with Henry and Benjamin, now it was time to do it! I really hoped it would work, I know more about these kind of situations with dogs (I’ve been working 12 years with dogs), and I know how that can look like… Not always friendly… Well, I opened the gate, Henry and Benjamin walked in… and… nothing happened! They didn’t even look at him! I was quite surprised, because Henry had been quite nasty to Platanito before, but it was as if nothing had ever been different. I was realy glad, again I stayed there for a while to be sure, but obviously, the “black sheep” was “white” again…

Otherwise everything works well here, we finally got a bit of rain today, after days of sunny warm weather, which was really good, it started to be a bit dry. We keep on training the horses, either riding or working two together in the round pen. And then there are all the tousand other things to do, cleaning and greasing sadlles, bridles, etc…, then I spent quite some time doing some gardening in front of the house, as well as cleaning all buckets, all tools, etc… There is really ALWAYS something to do!!!

I’ll leave you for now, my dinner is ready!!!

So, for those who are going to have dinner as well: “Bon appetit!”, and for all others… hasta luego!

Sip

Hola!

For those who knows the movie, remember the fabulous landscape where Mister Kevin Costner is riding through? Well, I could do the same 2 days ago!!!! ))

I got the great opportunity to ride one more day with the 3 nice ladies I mentionned last time, Adrianne from Australia, Karin and Lotta from Sweden. And I must say, that was the most spectacular ride I’ve ever done!!! Thank you Sally once more!

My trip started on tuesday afternoon when I drove to Chilcabamba with the car, with all the equipment for the horses, their food, the private luggage from the people, and a few kilos fresh oat on the top of the land rover. The driving was, let’s say a bit adventurous… The roads here are not exactly what we call roads in Europe… But you can drive on them… And after a while, you get used to it, and it”s even great fun!

I arrived at Chilcabamba (which is just at the border from the Cotopaxi National Park) about half hour before the group came. They got a bit wet at the end of their day, but that didn’t seem to bother them much, they were all smiling and telling me how fascinating their day had been. I helped Cesar to take care of the horses, we fed them and then brought them to their night field. Later on we had a delicious dinner, nice chat and went to bed at a reasonable time.
The next morning Cesar, Santiago and I woke up with the sun, went to get the horses, fed them and prepared them for the day. After a great breakfast with fresh fruits, eggs, bread and a lot of coffee for me, we started our ride into the Cotopaxi National Park. The scenery was already fantastic in the morning, and it got better and better during the whole day!!! We had a fantastic view over all volcanoes around us, they were all covered with snow at the top, which gave them that very special touch. We saw one condor, and many many wild horses, amazing! I took I don’t know how many pictures, just couldn’t stop anymore. Anytime I thought ok, now have a “camera-break”, just 2 minutes later the nature offered us again such a spectacular view… I couldn’t resist… We did lots of cantering, or should I say galopping? We learned from Adrianne that these are 2 different things!!!!  One is a bit slower, the other bit faster… One is a bit more controlled, the other a bit less… . With our definition, we would say we did many canterings, and a few (controlled!!!) gallopings! And that was just… waouh!!!! Cantering in such an amazing scenery… A dream that came true for me!!!

We rode back to the hacienda in the afternoon, all with happy faces and somehow still couldn’t believe what a day we’ve had…

After another great meal and a viewing of each others fotos, we went all to bed, tired but full of great sensations, hundreds of fantastic pictures in our head (and in our cameras…)…

Thank you Cesar and Santiago for the great guiding, and thank you Adrianne, Lotta and Karin for the great time I spent with you!!!

Hasta luego!

Sibylle

Hi everyone!

I’m Sibylle, the new volunteer working for Sally! I arrived here about 2 weeks ago (from Switzerland), but it already feels as if I’ve been here 2 months… Which is a very good sign I’d say! The everyday life here is always exciting and different: taking care of the horses, riding them out or training them in the corral, bringing them from one field to the other, cutting oat for them, repairing fences or whatever needs to be fixed, getting all stuff ready for the tours  ( from cleaning saddles to food packing), etc… It’s never boring, and always great to learn so many new things!

Last Saturday came 3 nice ladies to do a week tour to the Cotopaxi, and I got the great opportunity to ride one day with them and their 2 guides Cesar and Santiago. It was a fantastic day, the nature here is really incredible!!! We rode up into the mountains,  from there we had a great view over the big valley, Cotopaxi and the other volcanoes around ( I can’t remember the names…). We got nice opportunities to canter, rode along a huge lava flow ( Santiago told us this volcano erupted only 500-1000 years ago! ), and then had lunch above a beautifull lake. In the afternoon we moved on, and were lucky enough to see 2 condors!!! Amazing!!! When we arrived to the Hacienda at Guaytara, Sally was already there with the car, we took care of the horses, fed them, etc…  and then  drove back home. The 3 ladies stayed overnight there with Santiago end Cesar, and rode further on their trip today. I’m sure they’ll enjoy it!!!

So, Guapa (Sally’s dog) lays on the couch, lazy lazy, and I think she needs some company… ))

Hasta luego!

Sibylle

 

COTOPAXI NATIONAL PARK

What a breathtaking place.  Running wild horses, flower covered ground, and lichen painted rocks are backed by the gigantic glacier covered volcano that reaches just under 20,000ft.

We rode through the wide open spaces and into the grassy hills that stretched into the mountains.  We passed women hand tilling potato fields and  swirling eagles while cruising steep steep slopes that dropped off into moist alpine valleys that proved to be perfect for a picnic.

It was nice to hear from lifelong riders that this was one of the top notch days in all their experiences.  The more I find out about the horse world, the more I realize how lucky I am to have landed here with Ride Andes, learning great form and style and with some of the best riding worldwide.

Resting on the top of the world after setting off on the run of dreams across the wide open grassy summit of this mountain on a our day of exercise for the horses.    We all felt relieved once we cut loose with the other horses that were up there sprinting in there excitement of having visitors.  the ride had everything you could want: creek crossings, walks to trots to runs, all topped with the small villages, local culture, and cattle that dot the landscape.  And that’s just a ride from the house!

Here’s a little video shot during a break http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8zkFZ-f2R8

With a break inbetween tours, we get a chance to do what we love…ride!