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Anyone with long hair that regularly wears a helmet will know what I’m talking about.  Those annoying knots you get at the nape of the neck after you’ve been wearing your helmet, especially when it’s hot or raining.

In Mongolia I’m going to be wearing my helmet for up to 12 hours a day in all sorts of weathers with no hair washing for 10 days!!  So what I thought should I do to make things as easy as possible whilst I’m there…

Cut it off!

But let’s not waste all that hair.  I have therefore donated my hair to The Little Princess Trust.  A fantastic charity that makes real hair wigs for children and young people that have lost their hair due to illness or treatment.

http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/donate-hair/

For someone that has had long hair since I can remember this was quite a big deal.  This is undoubtedly the shortest I have had my hair since I was under 10!!  A massive thank you to Anke and the team Headmasters Weybridge for my new look!  I love it!

 

And let’s not forget the other charities that I’m raising money for;

The Horse Rangers Association – a youth development charity, that I have been a member of since I was 10 years old, that offers opportunities to it’s mainstream members, but also outreach programmes to local schools and communities and has a Riding for the Disabled section.

Save the Children’s East Africa Food Crisis Appeal – raising money for the drought stricken countries in the East of the continent, supporting hospitals, operating mobile health clinics, providing water trucks for schools and clinics, providing livelihood support for people who have lost their livestock due to drought.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

Cool Earth – the official charity of the Mongol Derby. A not for profit organisation that aims to mitigate the effect of climate change by working in partnership with rainforest communities to reduce the destruction of the worlds rain forests.

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

So I thought I’d give you a little insight into who I’ll be riding with in Mongolia.

There are 44 entrants this year, 18 men and 26 women from 12 different countries. 2 entrants are back for a second time, one for a third! Competitors ages range from 18 to 70…

For the first time in ride history there is only one British entrant, me!  So I will be flying the flag for the UK in the race this year.  There are 5 other European entrants, 2 Irish, 2 Dutch and an entrant from Portugal.  Unusually this year there are also entrants from Botswana, Pakistan and Uruguay.  The remaining entrants come from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

So it is a truly international event!

Like me many entrants have been riding all their lives but never taken on an endurance race so I’ll be in good company with other novice endurance riders.  There are rodeo riders, ranchers, eventers, jockeys, trainers, breeders and just plain old enthusiasts.

So it takes all sorts to take on this race, but with two things in common, a love of horses and a crazy sense of adventure….

 

 

Please support me on this crazy journey by donating to both the event charity Cool Earth and my nominated charities, The Horse Rangers Association and Save the Children.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

 

 

Over the last few months I’ve spoken to a lot of people about the adventure that I am undertaking this year.  And I’ll be honest the more I learn about the Derby the more daunting yet truly exciting it becomes.

I must admit that I went into this with a bit of a romantic notion of what I was about to undertake.  I first heard about the Derby nearly 10 years ago and decided then, that one day, I was going to have a go.  So this year when I knew that I was able to apply I did so without even thinking about it. I was 50% convinced that I wouldn’t actually get a place. I was applying late in the day, I have never owned my own horse or done any competitive riding never mind endurance riding so I wasn’t sure that I would have the necessary credentials. But clearly whatever I said in my pre-race ‘interview’ convinced the organisers to give me a go.

Don’t get me wrong I knew it was 1,000km on semi-wild horses with a support team for emergencies but little other help during the actual race, and I knew that it was always going to be an immense challenge and not like anything I had ever undertaken before.  But what I don’t think that I had really appreciated was the practicalities of the challenge.

The potential of 10 days riding at 9/10 hours a day has a romantic notion for many riders, but actually doing it is a totally different thing.  That plus the speed of the ride being a steady canter for most of the time.  Whilst out in Ecuador I worked out that we were riding at an average of 6km per hour which is faster than I would usually ride back home in the UK, but is still 6km per hour slower than I will be riding across the Steppe!   And then there’s the kit, all 5kg of it…  Changes of clothes therefore will be forgone for medical kit, baby wipes and water sterilisation tablets! Oh and of course the sleeping bag.

So why would I take on this crazy adventure?

Because sometimes in life we have to challenge ourselves.  We go through the day to day living in our own little worlds and not really experiencing what the world has to offer us. So this year I am making the most of the situation that I have found myself in, to take every opportunity that arises, to experience new things and new places and to cross a few things off that bucket list. I’ve already found that for every thing that I cross off a new wish is added to the list but no-one ever sees or experiences the whole world so that’s not really surprising.

To go an live with nomads on the plains of Mongolia, which after all is the birth place of the horse, is an opportunity that so few people in the world get to experience. There aren’t many wildernesses left so to go an experience the way that people actually live in this spectacular place is, I consider, a privilege.  So I’ve grabbed it with both hands and aim to make the most of it.

And then there is All the Wild Horses, a film shot by Ivo Marloh a 2013 and 2014 competitor which I have just watched,

http://allthewildhorsesmovie.com/trailer.html

And if I wasn’t already convinced this was the challenge for me, I am now….

 

So please please support me in this adventure and help me raise funds for some great charities

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

I’m looking at up to 10 hours a day in the saddle whilst I’m in Mongolia so some serious training needs to be done. So what better, I thought, than a stint abroad working with horses. Ecuador wasn’t really where I was looking, but was where I ended up.

Introducing… volunteering with Ride Andes, a Latin American based horse riding tour operator that offers both scheduled and tailor made riding holidays all over Latin America.  Based about 2 hours North of Quito (the capital of Ecuador which I didn’t know until recently!), living and riding in the shadow of the elusive Volcan Cayambe.

Volcan Cayambe is actually on the equator so we’re pretty close, but at 3,100 meters above sea level trying to avoid the sunburn is a must. I’ve certainly got some interesting tan lines (face, neck and hands only see the sun).

Looking after 16 fantastic horses ranging from the 14hh Andean pony (who might be small but certainly has a big personality) to the 15hh Anglo Arab and the 16hh Quarter-horse and many in between. Rriding at least once a day for around 3 hours in some of the most amazing scenery I’ve ever seen. I’ve also been lucky enough to have the opportunity to ride in the Cotopaxi National Park.

So not quite 10 hours a day in the saddle but it’s certainly getting me closer to the end goal.

A truly incredible experience. Thank you Sally for the opportunity.

 

 

Please support me on my journey

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

So it’s probably about time I introduced you to the charities that I am raising money for on this crazy adventure.

The Horse Rangers Association
The reason that after 30 years I am still riding horses is down to this unique organisation which I joined as a 10 year old. The founding mantra of the organisation was that every child should have the opportunity to learn to look after and ride horses. It’s certainly taught me that. The unique set up of the organisation allows youngsters to develop responsibility, integrity and a caring nature. Youngsters from all walks of life meet on a weekly basis allowing life long friendships to develop. As they get older they are encouraged to mentor and teach younger and newer members, allowing them to develop as individuals. A large part of who I am arises from growing up in this environment.
Since it’s inception in 1954 the organisations activities have evolved and the organisation became a member member of the Riding for The Disabled Association in 1974 offering opportunities to children, young people and adults with disabilities. It also has outreach programmes in the local community offering, amongst other things, days out for young carers to give a break to those youngsters who are shouldered with immense responsibility at a young age.
A truly unique organisation vey close to my heart. Please help me raise money for youngsters who wouldn’t get these unique opportunity elsewhere.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

For more information on the charity visit www.horserangers.com

Save The Children
A family link to this one, my brother in law has worked for them for a number of years spending time on the front line in The Sudan, North Kivu in the DRC, The Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and Liberia during the Ebola crisis.
Specifically I’m looking to raise money for their East Africa Food Crisis Appeal. Many of you may not know how bad the situation is in East Africa, droughts and water restrictions in South Africa made the news, but a number of years of drought in the East of the continent is having a devastating effect on Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan. In all four nations Save the Children support hospitals, operate mobile health clinics, provide water trucks for schools and clinics enabling them to stay open, provide livelihood support for people who have lost their livestock and provide support to combat outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea.
I visited Kenya in 2016, where my other half spent a year working with remote communities that had suffered from 3 years of drought, and saw first hand the effect it has, particularly on the very young, the elderly and those who rely on livestock for survival.
Save the Children literally save lives by providing nutrition to malnourished youngsters, just £10 buys a two week supply of high nutrient peanut paste for an acutely malnourished child.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

For more information on the appeal visit www.savethechildren.org.uk/how-you-can-help/emergencies/east-africa-food-crisis-appeal

Cool Earth
Cool Earth is the official charity of the Mongol Derby. A not for profit organisation that aims to mitigate the effect of climate change by working in partnership with rainforest communities to reduce the destruction of the worlds rainforests. The local rainforest communities rely on the forests for everything, food, water, clothing, medicine, the list goes on. By improving the livelihoods of these communities they are better able to protect the forests from the threat of commercial logging and agriculture, they are the forest’s best possible custodians.
After all what’s the use of helping future generations if we don’t leave them a world worth living in…

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

For more information on the organisation visit www.coolearth.org