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Pronounced 'Mal ay ZEE a' .The language and names elude me, can't seem to
remember them, strange sounds, different rhythm of speech, phonetics are
different. Food is great! Dr. Nik took me to a 'real' Malaysian restaurant
last night, wow. Such flavors, sweet peanut sauces, an incredible dish from
northern Malaysia (coconut, peanut, lime?, spicy and exotic). Fun talking to
Nik about the sport, and about the Ridecamp characters that he's come to
know from afar (Bob Morris, Heidi, Truman, Howard, Dr. Susan). Believe it or
not, much of the Endurance world is following Ridecamp - learning, laughing,
cringing, biting tongues, wishing they could meet all of you.

I was up early again this morning (5:30 - but making progress). Breakfast
with Dinah, now I'm sitting at the Internet station in the hotel lobby,
country western music playing, Garth Brooks singing... feels like home :)

Dinah is 'working' today. She left with the other Ground Jury members after
breakfast, stopping at the Federation office (Equestrian Association
Malaysia) and then heading out to the ride site to set stuff up, get ready.

Yesterday was a press conference, to welcome Sh. Hazza and Sh. Khalid and a
few others from W'rsan stable that hope to participate. Very gracious and
welcome, many thanks for the opportunity, thanks for coming, etc etc. Lots
of cameras, TV station, W'rsan brought their own TV crew too. Not too many
questions from the press (Nik said their own press has no idea what the
sport is even about - no clue what questions to ask!). One fellow eventually
stood up and asked a long questions, in Arabic, to Sh. Hazza - the words
'World Endurance Championship' , 'Gold Medal', 'Drug test', recognizable in
the carefully framed question. A long answer from Sh. Hazza, (I was very
impressed by his composure), and some brief English translations of his
answer - not touching on the actual issues, guilty or not, but the strong
message that Sh. Hazza wished to convey was that the UAE stables do not
condone the usage of performance enhancing substances, in any way, never
never never. Very composed, politically correct response. I suspect this
young man will eventually hold some important positions in the UAE. He had a
very  'royal' demeanor about him.

We went out to ar-Raudah Equestrian Center after the conference, to look at
the horses, figure the place out, meet the other ride organizers.
Interesting drive out, through the city outskirts, narrow bumpy roads once
we got off the freeway. Houses, fruit stands, reminded me of a cross between
Brazil and Egypt...
We have a 'driver' - to escort us to and fro, whatever we need. A part-time
law enforcement worker, part-time driver, and equine veterinarian by
training, though he doesn't practice. He has ridden, but not endurance yet.
Maybe, who knows? he said. Nice fellow, has a 6 month old boy 'I'm very
lucky'.

The al W'rsan contingent was out there too, selecting horses for the ride.
Since
Abu Dhabi had sent news that they were coming, and would ride leased horses,
the OC has been scrambling to find horses for the foreign riders. Several
were flown over from the island (Borneo) - the only other Arabians to be
found. We were there to take a look and select our mounts.  This group of
horses was on the thin side, and a little worn out. Short notice, no time to
properly prepare and screen them, not too promising.

The al W'rsan folks picked out what they thought would be the best horse for
Sh. Hazza - a big rangy bay - on the thin side (though they say that only
thin horses can perform here in the heat) - but a decent ride record, and he
had a good frame, deep chest, decent legs and feet. I picked the second best
horse, a (thin) (a little worn out) gray stallion - legs and feet were ok,
but I wasn't thrilled with his condition. Had a low resting pulse, good
record but his teeth and eye betrayed his lack of youth and vigor. I saddled
him up, and took him out for a test ride. Felt pretty lame right from the
start, disappointment was settling in since I hadn't seen any other horses
that looked like promising rides, and this fellow was it. I rode by the al
W'rsan group down on the pavement, they were checking out their big bay and
a few others. Smile and shrug. Impressive (my mount) warmed out of the
initial lameness as we rode up the track, but still at this point I was
figuring this (our test drive) might be the only riding I did here, or maybe
if he vetted through I'd get a single loop. But, like everything else in
life, disappointment is relative - when weighed against the reality that I
was HERE, in MALAYSIA, with horses, endurance - I just couldn't bring myself
to any level of self pity. Good lord, even a 1/2 mile jaunt up a jungle lane
on a lame horse was more than I might have hoped for at another time.

We trotted the poor beast over and over, the owner was sure he was fine (her
vet had said so), the lameness was subtle, couldn't be seen on the gravel,
but could be heard on the pavement, and seen more clearly when he slowed
from the trot into the walk. Marcello (Brazilian vet working for al W'rsan
stable) came over and helped me evaluate Impressive. Sore suspensory, old
fracture above the pastern on the L front, old tendon injury scar tissue,
sort of sore in many places. "He might be able to start".

Not worth it. Poor thing, ready for retirement I think, or at least some
rest. Pretty decent stallion, maybe time to breed him. Lilah (one of the
Malaysian riders who went to Jerez) was very kind and helpful, she was
sympathetic to my lack of desire to start a less that perfect horse. Maybe
the owner has some other horses (not qualified or prepared for a 160km) that
I could do an 80km ride with? Great idea, we could ride together (Lilah has
a lovely gray Arab that she loves dearly and is bringing on slowly). Sounds
like a plan, I made arrangements to look at the other horses the next
morning. Wouldn't be so bad.

That night at dinner Dr. Nik told me that he made arrangements for another
horse for me for the 160km. Shu'aib
(http://www.endurance.net/edaranclassic/shu_story.html) had two horses, one
that he would ride, and another that his groom was going to ride. He offered
the second horse to me. Ok, here we go again! Wonderful offer. I'll check
him out this afternoon. Vetting is at 3:00 - if he vets in, I'll take him
out for a test ride afterwards :)

Crazy sport...

Steph


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