RE: Bette's post re: results & world cup

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

I somehow missed Bette's post, so I'll say up front that I have no idea what
she said. However, when people are discussing the current state of endurance
riding in the world today and the changes that we may have to look to, it's
a good idea to remember that we are not talking about politics, we are
talking about horses, horseracing, horsemanship, and how to best fund
endurance to the greatest benefit of horses and riders. You can't make
blanket statements about Arab attitudes about any of these things any more
than you can make blanket statements about American, Canadian, French or
German attitudes. There is too much variation. As a chosen citizen of an
Arab country that is stumbling into endurance, I'd like to point out some
things that could probably qualify as facts:

1a.   The US has a CHERISHED history of travel on horseback, a good fifty
years of endurance riding, and an immense amount of space in which to ride
which is relatively well serviced with roads, water, and fodder. Horses are,
for the most part used as pets or for sport.
1b.   Most of the countries in the Middle East have a history of travel by
camel with horses being used for relatively brief forays in raids. Many
countries in this area still use horses and donkeys extensively as part of
the general economy for transport of goods or work on farms. Almost none of
the countries are really well serviced with roads, water, or fodder.
Endurance riding is less than ten years old for the most part.

2a.   Much of the US endurance philosophy is based on an amateur sport in
which a bunch of riders get together and decide that it would be fun to see
how well and quickly they could go from point A to point B on horseback, the
way they did it in the good old days.
2b.   Most of the horses in the Middle East that don't actually work for a
living have until recently been used for show jumping, polo, or flat racing
if they were involved in sports, and just messing about if they were not.
However, due to difficulties of terrain, lack of water, lack of roads and
sometimes interesting military restrictions to travel, going from point A to
point B hasn't been an option unless you are moving cabbages from your farm
to town.

The UAE are coming to endurance from a flat racing perspective and
background. Mohamed Maktoum and his family are some of the most prolific
breeders and trainers of thoroughbred and Arab flat race horses worldwide.
Endurance provides an outlet for using these horses after they would be
considered finished at flat racing. The Gulf area is, geographically
speaking, somewhat height challenged, so understandably, their races are
flat and fast and they take place in big empty areas where 4 wheel drive
vehicles can accompany horses.  I rather doubt that would be possible at
Tevis or Old Dominion from what I've heard. The climate in the Gulf is
inhospitable for much of the year to say the least....hey, they come to
Egypt for holidays. All of this pushes endurance as practiced there in a
certain direction, which is how fast can horses go on a long flat track?
Ok. If that's what you want to find out, cool. Personally, I don't think
that this challenges what I enjoy most in the Arab horse...its mind.

Some of the source of conflict here appears to be economic. Yes, the UAE has
a tiny population and lots of money and if they want to spend it on the most
up-to-date electronics and best trainers and best grooms and best horses and
best vets for endurance racing, well, they have the right to. Sure, we all
wish we had that kind of money. Most of us don't. This is why UAE
sponsorship of rides is so tempting, and to be perfectly fair, useful in
getting people introduced to endurance.  Locally, we can run a ride for
peanuts, have minor prizes like tshirts or little cups or ribbons or mugs
with our local vets and volunteers, and we can have fun at it too. When they
come to help out, they bring the electronic gates, the foreign vets, big
cash prizes, all the bells and whistles...and they are very nice bells and
whistles. When said bells and whistles are offered with no strings attached
at all, that's great...it's the strings that are the pain, but they don't
have to be there.

Frankly, AERC should be able to accept funding from the UAE without strings.
Unlike us, the AERC knows how to set up and run rides.  We have been
learning how to do this with the funding help of the UAE, which occasionally
has made some of the local organisers (not riders) feel somewhat
beholden...and likely to bend to wishes even when they might not be in the
ultimate best interests of the environment, sport, riders, or horses. AERC
doesn't need to feel beholden for anything. If the UAE wants to send a
cheque to help defray the costs of running FEI rides, take it and cash it.

I've been following Ridecamp now for a couple of years. I've learned a lot
and tried to pass it on to my fellow riders who don't have access. I'm also
following Tom's horsescience list, and I'm still digesting some of the stuff
I'm learning there. I'm not a great fan of long distance flat racing and I'm
not keen to see endurance become a spectator sport. I'm a constant thorn in
the side of people who want to drive cars alongside the track at our rides.
I, personally, don't like to think of that as endurance riding. But the
people who are doing that, just like the Pride project at more traditional
endurance rides, are contributing a great deal to our knowledge of what
horses can and can't do and how we can help them to do their best. So while
it's not my sport of choice,  I do think that it can add to our general
knowledge base for the good of all. For myself, with my not-world-class
horses, I'd rather figure out how to do a multiday across the Western desert
or through the mountains of Sinai....rides that neither need nor can really
use the electronic bells and whistles, but whose logistics are fairly
horrifying... I mean we all saw Charleton Heston in the 10 Commandments,
right?

I don't see this as an either/or situation. The FEI has its way of doing
things and a goal of finding the "best", whatever that is, while many of our
local groups don't worry so much about rankings. The FEI have very good
funding. This can be used advantageously by any group of people with the
knowledge and strength of will to do so and not be tempted by whatever dark
forces the demon dollar may exert. The riders and trainers in the Gulf can
teach us a lot about fast work in extreme weather, but Australia, the US,
Canada, France and Germany....even Egypt....can teach them about the
conditions that they will not find in the Gulf. The sorts of speeds that
work in Dubai will kill horses in rougher terrain. What we have to try to
remember is to speak the same language: Horse.

I had no idea when I started that I had so much soap in my soap box.
Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net



Many Arab countries and the United States have been on the opposite side of
the geopolitical conflict
known as the Cold War since the 40's. The US and the Arab countries have
been (and still are) on the
opposite side of the Arab/Israeli conflict. We have been on different sides
of one conflict or another
for over 50 years. And if you have been paying much attention to the
newspaper it should be somewhat
obvious that the Cold War may not be as much of history as we would all like
and Russia still has a
large interest in maintaining a geopolitcal sphere of influence in the
middle east.  Added to that
terroist funded by some Arab countries have proclamed a holy war against US
interest and the people of
Israel.

We still have armed forces in conflict with one Arab state and do not have
dipolmatic relations with yet
another.  While one cannot paint all Arabs and all Arab countries with the
same brush, there is a rich
history which documents why the Americans and Arabs might not trust one
another.

T

"guest@endurance.net" wrote:

> Nickie nrene@hotmail.com
> <<<Perhaps some ride campers do not realize that Arabs have computers, too
> and are probably reading many of the posts--- they do speak our
> language--- some more properly than us>>>
>
> Bette,
> This was a great post...I can assure you that people in the UAE do read
some of these posts
> (I live in the UAE, have for 5 years)--it seems that Arabs are the last
ethnic group that is okay to
> attack unreservedly, to Americans they can do nothing right!!!  I hope
everyone reads your post
> and really thinks about what you wrote.   Thank you for writing it.
>
> Nickie
>