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Re: [RC] Pres Cup broadcast - Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

These are not the same sport essentially and should be recognised as different sports. The sport done in the UAE is long-distance desert flat track racing with vehicular accompaniment....that's a mouthful, so they can call it LDDFTRWVA or something. The UAE/FEI style races that have been held in Egypt lately have been unqualified disasters with very few real riders (ie people who actually train their own horses) participating. Some of the people who had come to endurance from the flat track have gone back to the flat track and are holding 11 km flat races under the auspices of the Jockey Club. These have done well and we've seen no problems for the horses, while the spectators enjoy them. And then others of us toss a beer in a saddle pack and go out to sight see. When I want to try real endurance, I'll go to North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia, anywhere but here. Bought journalism is cheap, just like tinsel and military marches on CD's.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
www.ratbusters.net
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." --Leonardo da Vinci



On Friday, Feb 21, 2003, at 01:00 Africa/Cairo, Barbara McCrary wrote:

Let's examine the differences between USA horses and UAE horses. 1) Their
horses live and train on the ground they will be run on. 2) Their horses
do not have on their winter coats. 3) Some of OUR best riders are over
there training their horses. 3) They have bought some of our top horses
over the years, horses that have never been heard of since.
This is just a totally different type of game and we don't have to go over
there and race against them if we don't like the way the game is run. It's
up to us, isn't it? If we want to go for the adventure....fine. If we want
to go for the money....not so great. Considering that our playing field is
not level, we should not feel less capable. It just depends on whether we
can tolerate the bragging afterward. If we don't like it, we can stay home.
I tend to avoid situations where I have been humiliated before. On the
other hand, whether or not I ALLOW myself to be humiliated is up to me
somewhat, isn't it?
I think that we will never be able to beat the status quo (although Valerie
Kanavy did so) because of the imbalance of circumstances. Also remember
that our horses bear the trauma of being flown halfway around the world to a
totally different climate. We have great horses in this country; let's not
ever forget it! Do we REALLY want endurance to become a 100-mile flat-track
race? It doesn't sound like the endurance I know and love. Let's have a
President's Cup ride on trails like Old Dominion, Tevis, Swanton Pacific,
etc. and see how it goes........and let's do it when there is a foot of snow
on the Tevis trail.

Barbara McCrary

----- Original Message -----
From: "Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <msgabbani@xxxxxxx>
To: <steph@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 12:54 PM
Subject: Re: [RC] Pres Cup broadcast



The support rig situation is very troubling here as well. We don't have
a set area for our rides and the area that we used to have to ride in
for pleasure have become quite treacherous due to overuse by cars, not
to mention the trash issue. The big question I have is how often can
those horses pull off long rides at 20+kph canter. Is this a sport for
shooting stars only?

Maryanne Gabbani

On Thursday, Feb 20, 2003, at 20:25 Africa/Cairo, Steph Teeter wrote: 
The support rigs situation has gotten totally out of control. At one
point
there must have been over 50 rigs driving along next to each running
horse.
I think this is a bit excessive.... and dusty.

These 'cream of the world's crop' UAE horses are phenomenal. They
rarely, if
ever broke out of a 20+ kph canter, except to stop at water points,
and to
change leads. And honestly, they looked tremendous at the end.

The 2004 WEC is going to be most interesting.... are there any or many
non-UAE horses that can come close to that sort of performance over
there??
(I know... that's the point). 


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Re: [RC] Pres Cup broadcast, Barbara McCrary