We pick our next horses and get them geared up by the Mongolians. We quickly grab something to eat, fill up our camel bags and get on our horses. The horses don’t seem to be very impressed and are taking it easy, after 2km’s we're discussing if should maybe go back, the horses seem to be rather lazy already! But we carry on, we give them a good drink and nibble of grass and they seem to be a bit perkier. 10 km’s down the track Georgie suddenly canters past us on a very keen going horse! Lara and I are so jealous, we want horses like that one! With Georgie out of our sight by now, our horses are still taking it easy but mine does not want to leave Lara’s horse too far out of his range so I call him “Sticky”. We go over and around some hill, through valleys and through a bit of desert again, and we see station 7 and there are Clare and Chloe on the other side of the road. It has got pretty warm by now and we’re pretty happy to be getting a new horse underneath us! We arrive at urtuu 7, take Sticky’s saddle off and present him, his heartrate is still a bit high, 88bpm, so take him for a little walk a try to cool down although it’s pretty hard because it was quit warm. Finally after 10min it’s under 64, and I can pick a new horse again! It’s so exciting picking a new horse, you never know what you’re going to get and you just hope that it’s a fast and easy going one. I ask for a fast and good horse, the herder points at a pinto and some other coloured horses, I pick the pinto he looks fit and has a kind eye. We’re ready and the 5 of us, Chloe, Clare, Lara, Georgie and me, canter off. Chloe’s horse is a little rocket, Georgie goes good for the first 1km and then she pulled up for something, I canter past her and Clare is on my heals. Clare, Chloe and I continue together, it’s time to go up this mountain, I’m pretty happy that there’s a good jeep track that we can follow. Every time when Clare and I get within 20meters of Chloe horse, I bolts and Chloe seems to be just a passenger. My horse, now called Duo Penotti, thinks it’s a fun game and together with Clare’s horse they races after Chloe’s horse! It must been pretty funny to watch us, 3 girls riding these smart horses who just do what they think is fun. After 15km the horses seem to have settled down and can do a decent slow canter now. We’re following a track in a narrow valley surrounded by massive hill on the left and low ones on the right, the temperature is rising, my knees are not feeling great and Clare is out of water. We have a little break, I have to take painkillers and Clare is having a big drink out of my camelbag. Finally the sun is starting to set a little and it’s not as hot any more. Duo Penotti is doing a great job, eating well, drinking well and is a pleasure to ride. The last 300meter Clare and I hop off our horses and walk to urtuu 8, it feels great to walk and the horses seem to enjoy it too, Duo Penotti tries to dig while he is eating, he probably feels like having a roll but with a saddle on I tell him that he’s not allowed to roll yet. All horses go straight through the vet check and are all fine, Lara comes in 10minutes after us and also her horse vet through fine. We all quickly fill our camelbags up with water and carry on, we are going to try and make it to urtuu 9 before 8.30pm without getting any penalties. Every minute after 8.30pm that you arrive at an urtuu you get 2 minutes penalty time, and when you come in between 9 and 9.30 you get a flat out 3 hour penalty!