EMMA'S RIDE ACROSS MONGOLIA
The sun is going down over the grasslands of Mongolia, and Emma Novak is putting up her small tent. Her two horses are eating grass near a river. Emma has ridden for seven hours today, and she is tired but happy. She is twenty-one years old, and she is on a journey of 2,000 kilometers. She is crossing the country alone, on horseback.(lines 1–9)
Emma grew up on a farm in the Czech Republic, and she has loved horses all her life. When she was fourteen, her grandfather gave her an old book about a traveler who rode across Mongolia a hundred years ago. "I decided that one day I would do it too," she says. After school, she worked at a riding center for three years to get ready.(lines 10–14)
A journey like this is expensive. Emma's family and friends gave her money so that she could buy two strong horses. She also needed a tent, a saddle* and warm clothes for the cold nights. "Everyone helped me," she says. "Without them, I could never have started."(lines 15–18)
Emma could not ride every day, because the horses needed to rest after long days on the road. On those days, she stayed near a river and wrote in her diary. Two things made her very happy on the trip. She often met families who lived in large tents called gers*, and they always invited her in for tea. She also saw wild horses running across the hills.(lines 19–23)
Emma usually ate dried meat and rice, which she cooked on a small fire. Sometimes families gave her fresh bread and cheese. After three months, she reached the city of Ulaanbaatar, the end of her journey. She did not want to sell her horses, so she gave them to a family who had helped her. "They will have a good home there," she says. Now Emma is writing a book about her ride.(lines 24–28)