How not to prepare for a 2000mile horse trek ..

 The intended here putting my best foot forward, but alas still with the aid of crutches... as a good friend of mine's grandad used to say "you can't always sometimes tell whats least expected most!"

 Its now almost 3 weeks since I fractured my heel in 3 places when i decided to dismount from a moving horse , whilst wearing cheap boot trainers that not only got stuck in the stirrup , causing me to land with all my weight on one foot , but also whose sole seems to be designed to increase the chances of said injury .

  So its been a time of pills n potions , and foot up , and today marks the first day i can stand up without crutches and I'm hoping to get on Tio tomorrow and be walking with one stick at the weekend . Then hit the trail the following weekend possibly via the fiesta de San Isidro in Cadiar , and get a wig on to get through Andalucia and Murcia (about 400km) before it gets any hotter (and drier) . I've been praying for rain obviously  but we've only had one days worth throughout my convalescence .

   The horses all look great and are on grass all day every day . Iris and Emil , the young adults of Lobrasan have been taking Tio out for me so he's still really fit and ready to go at the drop of a hat ...

    The Scoot Boots (boots for barefoot horses) are still stuck in Spanish customs, bearing in mind that Scoot Boots (from Australia) are sponsoring us, hence the boots aren't costing us anything, customs and excise are charging us import tax and VAT which in total means we've got to pay 50% tax on the retail value of the boots which were actually a gift. Big thanks to Scoot Boots and vice versa to the authorities.

     Now the good news, Luis and Melinda, part of the Spanish go fund me team, like our story so much that they have donated 1000€ to our go fund me account, so a huge thanks to you both and to our guardian angel.

      The saddle bags are finished and fantastic, Chiara Calegari has done us and Lorna (and herself) proud. Big thanks Chiara seamstress extraordinaire !
 
      So in effect we are still waiting for the Scoot Boots before we can go, meaning me and my left foot aren't holding us up; the System is. As Brother Culture would say "the only good system is a sound system" peace and love M.

       Heres a picture of my foot as of today , not bad eh .

Tragedy!

We have had a major set back! Tragically/annoyingly/most inconveniently, Mark has cracked his heel bone!!?!?
He instinctively (but stupidly) jumped from the horse rather than hit the tree and landed heavily on his heel..
Having jumped myself from my horse Rayo a few years ago as he galloped out of control on a cliff edge, knocking myself out and breaking a rib, we have now both learnt first hand that you are safer staying on !!
Coulda, shoulda, woulda,  dont change anything so we are doing everything in our power to facilitate a fast recovery.
Mark has a massive half boot, velcro strapped, stabilising thing that he reckons he'll fit in a stirrup as the show must go on.
But I  reality we can't leave on Sunday as planned.. we are gutted..

Super Saddlebags!

Another exciting progression is the making of our bespoke saddlebags! 
Here you can see how they are coming along - we had a test fitting at the weekend with all horsey friends looking on and helping decide on height, positioning etc..
Really handsome and super functional.
Made by our lovely neighbour Chiara, you know where to come for yours!

Yummy!

This is the kind of stuff we need to find on route! A lovely grass stop on our way back from Taffys after the Endurance race.
Me in the saddle again, back fine! & Rayo sounder than a pound!! 
Thank heavens.
Back home now with frantic final listing and doing!

The Raid

Hey friends! 
Sorry its all gone a bit iratic! Lots going on and up and down like a yo-yo!
The Raid, pronounced "Rayid" is the Spanish name for an endurance race...
Our friends put on this one annually so we always take part, always until now that is, just before the weekend I hurt my back - Nooooo! How now???
Then - after the weekend Rayo has suffered a blow, perhaps a kick to his pastern and is LAME! Never been lame in the 4 years he's been with us.
Now it's Wednesday,  we can feel lucky that both him and I are almost 100% again.. (100% in my case probably only something to aspire to).
So lucky Mark (even though he's only the groom) got to ride both horses in the event!!
Perfect fun for my cowboy.

The Intended here with a few reflections on the past weeks  ..
most importantly all three horses r in very good form and getting plenty fresh grass and lots of exercise trekking up and down the mountains of las alpujarras and today i rode my tio 15km up the contraviesa to taffy and shauns where there is an endurance race on saturday morn of 20 or 40 km and tomorrow im riding rayo leading lorna another 15km up the...and then possibly racing 2 horses saturday..
Thats the upside ..and the reason for all this riding is that my intended has done her back in whilst clearing a balsa earlier this week so no riding for nikki for a while .. hopefully she will see the chiropractor de Timar forthwith ... and thats the downside..
pre bad back this was the state of play...lorna the packhorse is a diamond and can do the job for us..we love her..we've bought a huge 3 horse lorry in england which will be ferrying the 5 of us over the channel  .. she looks a beauty and the to be brother in law Julian who knows about these things reckons shes a good old girl , and she's resting now at the end of the 2000mileaisle ... i've got my maps covering the spain portion of the gr7 up to Andorra ,bought for us by our friend and neighbour Hannah , and im drawing the route onto the maps using the gr7 waymarked route on viewranger so feeling quite confident about the orienteering (although we always get lost)but i still have no new phone for using with gps/google earth so i see a sharp learning curve on the road ...i've been downloading plenty toonz so we have fresh sounds for the trail and a few audio books including don quixote which seems apt....i've started using a hackamore bridle on tio which is bitless i.e. he's got nothing in his mouth and its working great for both of us and im really happy about that .. our friend and neighbour Chiara is busy making the saddle bags for us ..bespoke all the way  ...nikki just finished the amazon order for cooker,powerbank,speaker,solar panel,memory card,shovel..all should be here next week con surtae..internet shopping is a stressful business  ...just phones to sort now ..maybe a trip to Orgiva...so all in all things goin well and stress levels rising steadily......i will leave u with a photo of our 2 fantastic boys regarding the falling andalucian sun..

Not long now!

6 weeks and counting!
Still sooo much to do!!
Lots of things coming together but not quite achieved..
Some things taking longer than expected and we're having to breathe and count slowly..

We are now 5 instead of 4 on every ride, Lorna is getting fit, she has now settled in and has passed through the 'shy, careful, newcomer' stage, into the 'if I try this and see what happens' stage...
Carrots are useful and so is Mark.
Tio and Lorna seem well matched in pace.
Rayo and Lorna would be ok if I was Elastigirl.