30days30years

The Man from Snowy River

Those who have been following my 30 Days for 30 Years adventure from the beginning will know I’m allergic to two things – cats and horses. Strangely I seem to have development a temporary (I’m hoping permanent) tolerance for them.

When I was staying with Leda and Pal in Oslo they were cat sitting for one of Leda’s work colleagues. Usually the more fluffy the worse I am when it comes to cats and on a scale of one to 10 this cat was about a 6.5. It was a pretty crazy cat in that it could open up doors but leaping off the floor and onto the handles. Has anyone else got a cat that does that? I’m not sure if it’s normal because I’ve never owned a cat! Anyway it was a good cat in that it kept to itself so with the help of antihistamines it was like it wasn’t there.

I have had major concerns about the Mongolia leg of my trip because of the horses. I am literally in the middle of nowhere about five hours from medical aid surrounded by horses so it really is an idiotic thing to attempt health wise. I’ve been eating hayfever tablets like lollies which seems to have done the trick but this afternoon was another ball game when I decided to get on the back of a horse.

I’ve felt like I’ve missed out a bit by riding the motorbike so much because I haven’t been able to chat with Mr Aralbai as he rides along with the eagle. Unfortunately I didn’t get to chat to him today either after the sudden death of one of his friends. That meant Armenbek took me horse riding instead. And guess what!? No allergies!!!

I’m thinking I might have missed my calling such was my expert horsemanship. Well in my mind it was brilliant. Maybe it was just the horse being kind, I don’t know but I felt very confident and was trotting along in no time like Tom Burlinson in the Man From Snowy River. Take a look:

This was in stark contrast to the last time I rose a horse when I was about 11. I lived in a small country town in Australia and all my friends at school were horse mad. One day I went with my friend Marie after school to ride her horse Prince. I was so allergic that when I returned home my eyes were so bung my mum thought I had actually been kicked in the face by the horse.  That day was right up there with the time I got super allergic to my friend Laurie’s two fluffy white cats and got welts on my eyes. There was literally little sacks of fluid on my eyeballs. Not fun!

I also managed to get the eagle to attack the fox on camera: