[RC] A new Egyptian 50 mile ride- post probably longer than the ride - Maryanne Gabbani
Introduction:? With all the talk lately on the loss of 100's and so on, I was finally inspired to stick my neck out here in the wilds of Giza to actually try to put on a civilised 50 mile ride.... meaning for me, something that was not just a straight dash in the desert. The Egyptian FEI does have some desert races on the model of the UAE, but I fell in love with something that I met on the internet and the model is very, very different.? Believe me, I've never seen any groups of people at one of the desert rides come in singing anything! They are grim, competitive, and tough. I'd given up on endurance here because the only alternative to the FEI rides has been another group who again always ride in the desert, usually on the same repetitive trail, and seem to have the goal of being back in time for breakfast. I've done a few 20 km loops with friends and clients with them and we always come in last, having had a good time chatting, fooling around and taking pictures....but our horses usually are at the vet check within five minutes and pass just fine thank you.
The ride I have been wanting to put on is a tough one in some senses. I want no more than 20 km of desert and the rest trails and dirt roads in the countryside. I've mapped out a couple of hundred km in the countryside that I use for my riding business and much of it is really beautiful. It is also very much inhabited by poor Egyptian farmers and their families and livestock, so that riders have to deal with the local population as much as the trail. This has always been the big stumbling block.? I could write a book on the sociology, but suffice it to say that urban Cairenes don't even really speak the same dialect of Arabic as the farmers.? The other stumbling block is the fact that riding in the desert is point and shoot riding. There are no animals to slow down for, no single track trail, no irrigation ditches to hop over, no pickups, no donkey carts, no children to dodge....and training point and shoot horses to behave in close quarters isn't necessarily easy. A countryside ride includes spaces where you can canter, even gallop, for a while but you have to be ready and able to slow to a walk in a heartbeat. In other words, to ride in the countryside, you really have to be able to ride because while I can scout out the trail the day before to see if there are any new hazards, there is no guarantee that someone won't put one on the trail that morning.? Diesel water pumps are the biggest offenders there and one can hardly ask farmers not to work just because we want to play, so the riders have to ask, VERY NICELY, for the pump to be shut off briefly or to find a way around without going into someone's field.? I've found the farmers to be very kind obliging people when they are spoken to with respect, but that can go out the window if you are rude.?
I haven't come up with a name for the ride yet...thinking of the Gamoosa Gambol...and I have sent an email out to riders and friends of the trail here to invite them to the ride and to offer help in training their horses in the ways of the farms. I have NO idea how many people will show up, but if I do it alone, I'll still do it. My horses are putting on a lot of mileage on slower rides with clients and I want to see how they do at a real distance. I think that I have at least four who can do the distance so even if I just recruit four friends to ride my horses we can have a good time. The nice thing about a farm ride is that you cannot ride the whole thing at a flat gallop, so you are almost forced to relax and enjoy yourself.
If you haven't been bored to tears already, here is the email that went out as the first salvo in the effort to try out fun endurance in Egypt:
I am currently in the midst of finishing my house on my new land that is roughly across the Mansoureya Road from Dr. Ali Abdel Rahim. Hopefully by November as the weather cools off, the garden will be semi-civilised and, most important, the insanely huge barbecue (aka: the Starship Enterprise) will be functional. In the light of these changes, I'm proposing to put on an 80 km (50 mile) ride from my place sometime in November. I will make sure that this does not conflict with any of the EERA rides.
The reason that I am writing now in February about a ride in November is that I am planning on holding the ride in a rather different fashion from any that have been held before and people who want to take part will need some lead time to prepare. The proposed ride will have the following parameters:
1. Route: I'm thinking of having three loops from my farm with the first being to the lake at Dahshur through the desert on the way out and back through the countryside. There would be a trot by vet check at the lake.? The second loop would be twenty km in the countryside out towards the Moneeb. The third loop will be twenty km in the countryside south towards Sakkara.? The only loop that actually involves going through a village is the first and the village involved is one that I ride through frequently and that is friendly and welcoming to riders. One of the advantages of having the ride primarily in the countryside is the fact that grass for horses to snack on is frequently available alongside the trails and there is water available all along the trail so that it is easy to have a water stop for horses using the pumps. The trails would be continuous loops with as little repeat trail as possible.
2. Skills needed:
A.Horsemanship:? Riders will need to take the time prior to doing the ride to get their horses and themselves used to the obstacles that are met in the countryside. These include livestock such as water buffalo, cows, sheep, goats, and donkeys who are often tethered next to the trail and who can be frightened by horses galloping past. Participating horses need to be able to be ridden with a considerable level of control such that riders can slow to a walk or slow trot when passing near livestock and people. Some of the interesting objects that might be encountered include: water pumps either working or not, laundry hanging on buildings or between trees, bicycles, donkey carts, camels, flocks of sheep and/or goats, poultry, puddles of any possible size, small irrigation ditches that might have running water in them, proximity to other horses.? This last hazard is perhaps one of the most difficult as there will be areas of trail that are not amenable to passing safely and horses will simply have to follow the horse ahead, AT A SAFE DISTANCE, until it is possible to pass. Riders must train their horses to allow another to pass or to follow behind at a reasonable distance (ie, a minimum of the length of a horse, but preferably two lengths).? There are areas where horses can canter safely for some distance, but due to the uncertain nature of the environment, riders have to be prepared to transition to a slower gait at a moment's notice.
B. Social skills: The ride will be held in an area where we will be engaging in a sport while most of the people we encounter are working. We will be using their working space for our fun and we have to treat them with the greatest of respect and courtesy. My experience over the past years of riding in the countryside has shown me that if the farmers and their families are treated with politeness and courtesy, they are the most obliging individuals imaginable. The routes for the rides are being designed such that we shouldn't have to bother any group of people more than once. It is vital that riders take the time to politely greet people in the appropriate way as they pass, that any stupid comments from adolescent boys (the worst offenders with regards to manners in any culture simply by virtue of their age) are ignored or referred politely to the nearest adult in the vicinity. I find ignoring works best and I simply don't hear the odd disrespectful comment. Horses must not be allowed to snatch snacks from fields, piles of forage being collected, or from passing donkeys and carts.
There will be vet checks at the farm, but the responsibility for the soundness of the horse will rest first and foremost with the rider. There will be prizes for various categories but nothing worth endangering oneself or one's horse for, and since I will be purchasing them they may exhibit a rather odd sense of humour.? Twelve hours will be allowed for completion of the ride and there will be spots chosen where crew cars can meet up with riders on each loop, but it will be impossible for riders to be accompanied by cars. This is a ride for horses and riders only.? Crews, friends and families are welcome to spend the rest of the day at the farm barbecuing, chatting, playing with the dogs, gamoosas, donkeys, parrots, and other creatures while waiting for their riders.
I would suggest that if this sounds like fun to you, and I realise that there are many people to whom this will not appeal in the least, you contact me as soon as possible so that I can show you the trails that we will be using and help you train your horses for this sort of riding if you wish to do it.? I will be doing the ride whether anyone at all joins me simply to see how my horses handle the distance, so if no one at all wants to do the ride, if only a few people want to do it...it really doesn't matter that much. But I would like to share the fun with as many people as want to join in.
In other countries where they do these sorts of rides on trails as opposed to in the desert, the trails are marked in advance. One of the difficulties of marking a countryside trail in Egypt is the fact that anything large enough for a rider to see is quite likely to be removed by a bored kid or someone who feels that the object (plastic ribbon or paper plate) would be useful. I will set the trails early so that people can practice on them to see what sorts of things will be encountered (and there is absolutely no predicting) and so that they can learn them. I will try to mark them for the ride, but no promises as to whether the markers stay. I will also take a series of photos of landmarks and turns and make them available either in print or email form to participants.
This is not the sort of ride where everyone stays together because over 80 km we will find that our horses have varying capabilities. If you want to ride in small groups, that works unless someone gets pulled. But then hopefully another group can be formed. I heartily recommend that a kind, patient Arabic speaking person be a member of each group. There will be people asking what on earth we are doing.? A pleasant and patient answer to these questions is always appreciated, I've found.
Please drop me a line if you are interested in this rather bizarre activity and please feel free to pass this email on to anyone that you know who might be interested.? If you are interested but haven't done any distance riding, your horse will need the time to be conditioned to be able to complete an 80 km ride. I will be happy to help with this as well. But there is time between now and November to have a horse conditioned to be able to complete this ride. If you are determined to come in first, you will need to do much more work and the main prize for first place will be the rider's satisfaction.
I'll post updates on my progress, and if anyone will be here for a holiday at the time, you will be most welcome.
