March 23rd

Despite setting the alarm it didn't go off but the old body clock worked once more and I woke up at 6.20 – not bad with a 6 hour difference. I was picked up on time and joined by the Lufthansa crew from their Mexico flight coming out to the ranch for the day. Also at the ranch when we got here was an Air France crew.

Forgot to mention a couple of interesting things from Mexico City.

We were advised not to use the lift in case of fire or earthquakes! Eek!

The drive down was interesting –my daughter DeeDee would need a general anaesthetic. All totally loco and apparently in the city, after 11pm it is perfectly legal to go through a red light!!

As we left Mexico City I was wondering what was in store for me and was looking forward to a nice cold beer and a rest in the sun. 

The road surfaces got worse and worse the closer we got to the ranch. On the final mile or so it was just a matter of weaving around the enormous potholes and trying to keep the van in one piece.

On arrival there was Uschi standing there with open arms. I was so pleased to have arrived in one piece and her welcome was 'Mi casa es su casa' - My house is your house. How nice!!

 

 
I was shown my room which is really rustic and given a guided tour of the house and grounds. It is truly beautiful with a hot tub outside overlooking the nearest waterfall, apparently the pool under the waterfall is over 25m deep. So – I won’t be going in there then!! 



We went out straightaway on a ride so didn’t have time to text everyone back home nor to put on much suncream as I usually practically bathe in the stuff. I just got on the jeans and a clean t-shirt and half ran over to the stables. 

I was given a lovely stallion called Gigolo to ride, so named because he has an eye for the ladies! 
The saddle was deeper than a western saddle with a nice sheepskin pad - hopefully this will mean that I may be able to sit down afterwards without any pain! The bridle is also different with a funny little strap around the horse's right ear and also a quite severe bit. We were shown how to neck rein and then off we rode.

 The horses were excellent, very responsive and all clearly loved a good fast canter. Everything was going well for the first hour, had some fast canters and then we aimed for the village so we could have a beer. Unfortunately during a canter poor old Gigolo managed to step in a ditch and I went arse over apex and fell off. I was badly winded and couldn't get my breath for a while.

Meanwhile Mr Gigolo was living up to his name as he had spotted a grey mare at the bottom of the field and just had to go and introduce himself. He was posturing and preening himself and giving out little squeals of delight. His target however was not that impressed which only served to spur him to go to greater efforts! Eventually one of the wranglers managed to grab him and bring him back for me.

I can't remember how I got back on, I think I may have stood on a big rock and off we all went again. It was a bit tricky going past the grey mare as Gigolo was convinced that she was playing hard to get and insisted on dancing and half rearing to show her what a fine chap he was.

We rode on a little further and stopped off for a beer. This meant getting on and off again - but hey anything for a cold beer! At this point the wranglers also rang Uschi to tell her I had injured myself and she offered to come out in the car and get me. To be honest I thought a trip in the car over those potholes would have been worse than riding home.

 

 It turned out that I had bruised my ribs quite well, so I decided to spend all afternoon in the Jacuzzi. Uschi is giving me some horse cream tonight to put on. No riding for a couple of days for me so will just have to sunbathe and chill out. Quite nice really after such a hectic journey.

Just me and Lufthansa tonight for dinner – Air France have gone back – very gay stewards! They are all lovely and I am surprised I understand quite a lot of the conversations but of course their English is excellent.So – sat here with a glass of red and about to have dinner.

Night night