Early October in Western Mongolia. I had just attended the Festival of Eaglehunters in the provence capital Ulgii and with my friend John Green we embarked on a four day hunt with Aralbai the eaglehunter.

The long hunt as it was called meant we would hunt each day and either find accommodation and food at a Kazakh winter home that we passed or sleep out on the hill.

When I arranged this trip from the comfort of my home in England, the words “sleep out on the hill” intrigued me and added a feel of adventure above what I had already experienced. It also filled me with a bit of anxiety as I knew how inhospitable those hills were and how cold it got when the sun went down, even in October.

As always it turned out to be another fantastic trip and the horses again were magnificent.