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Quinn (Ann and Hal's son) said that  it bit the end off of his paddle  
while he was out rowing on Shining Moon Lake. Two others claim to  
have witnessed a 'rather large animal' jumping into the lake from the  
wooded shore, Loch Ness... maybe. Shining Moon Lake must have  
something special - if not a monster, perhaps just a bit of Japanese  
magic. During dinner tonight, Hal told us that Kusuyama san - one of  
the early pioneers of Endurance in Japan, now deceased, - had  
mentioned to him, years ago, that there was a special area in Japan  
that would be a perfect place to hold an Endurance Ride - a beautiful  
mountain area outside of Nagano (host to the '98 winter Olympics)  
where there was a majestic mountain, a live volcano - Mt. Asama, and   
a lovely lake called Shining Moon Lake. Over  20 years later, here we  
are. Hasumi san never knew Mr. Kusuyama, never met him, never knew of  
his vision of an Endurance ride here, it just happened. Magic perhaps.

We had a lovely dinner - informal barbeque - at Hasumi san's home on  
the shore of Shining Moon lake this evening. A gentle and friendly  
atmosphere (everybody was a wee bit tired and sleep deprived). Ann  
and Hal Hall with their lovely kids Alyssa (13) and Quinn (17), Becky  
Hart, Connie Creech, Dinah Rojek, Jim Baldwin, Mike Tomlinson, Bob  
Sample, Surendura Babu (Dr. Bobby), Gary Kussman, Kiyotaka Yaguchi,  
Masafumi Tanaka, a few others who helped make this ride happen but  
whose names I can't recall - and of course Harumi and Seiichi  
Hasumi.  This fabric of lives, woven together with the common thread  
of endurance riding, grows stronger - in depth and in reach.  We find  
ourselves immersed in the lives of people of different cultures and  
backgrounds, just for a moment, and then back to our regular lives,  
richer for the experience, more tolerant and understanding. More  
accepting.  says Bob Dylan, 'blame it on a simple twist of fate'.

This sport, these horses, whose appeal spans all cultures, brings us  
together:
Surendura Babu - whose father was once the mayor of Bangalor, India  
-  who as a 13yr old remembers shaking hands with Indira Ghandi. A  
veterinarian whose involvement with Endurance began with Qatar's  
first endurance marathon in 1994, and spanned the growth of FEI  
endurance under the employ of Shk Mohamed bin Rashid al Maktoum of  
Dubai. Gary Kussman, whose job as an Army Intelligence agent in Japan  
in the 1970's -  posing as an English teacher at a school in Tokyo on  
an intelligence gathering mission, met Seiichi Hasumi who wanted to  
learn English - Hasumi san was a man determined to break the mold of  
ordinary life in Japan and who, with the partnership of his wife  
Harumi, has reached the top - and beyond - of each venture that he  
embarked upon, and Gary has been there to help at each step of the  
way.  Bob Sample, Australia's Snowy River horseman, who sought a life  
with horses,  and built a legacy with horses, despite a city  
upbringing and a 'non-horse' family. Hal and Ann Hall - Hal's life  
with horses was sealed after his first ride - Tevis - at age 14,  
followed by a vision and ambition which led him to study successful  
horse bloodlines, which led him to talk his mother into driving him  
to Nebraska to look at some horses on a cattle ranch - Hyanis Cattle  
Company - which led to El Karbaj and Tevis wins, Haggin Cup wins, the  
1976 Great American Horserace from St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento  
- a lifetime of endurance riding and Tevis buckles. Becky Hart  and  
the amazing RO Grand Sultan, the horse that was given to her as a  
spare when she purchased a 'real' endurance horse - World  
Championship legends, a sharp and focused rider, and perhaps the best  
Endurance horse that ever lived ...

I could go on and on, and every continent, every adventure, I see the  
same fabric being woven with different threads. Royalty and grooms,  
aristrocracy and common working people, and the great equalizer - the  
horse, the trail. Together as competitors, as supporters, as partners  
- all the human labels fade  when you're astride the horse, and the  
trail and the day becomes the challenge. We revere the horse, we  
welcome a physical challenge - the dirt, the fatigue, the effort, the  
end. We love the adventure, the 'around the next corner' eagerness.  
We make friends fast, we bond with the horses, and people, that we  
share the effort with. We are of the same ilk, and wherever I go, if  
I am with other Endurance riders, it feels like family.

We head back to our respective homes tomorrow - our different lives,  
goals, challenges - but this group, and the larger group of Japanese  
whose lives felt the jolt of Hasumi san's vision of a 100 mile  
endurance challenge - wove our lives together for a short, intense,  
period - and the horses - Atina, Pony Boy, the Hokkaido ponies,  
Rushcreek Ideal - they too are now woven into this new little piece  
of the tapestry. My good friend Mercedes Tapia of Argentina and her  
recent ride in Italy, Merri and the raven, weaving a little thread  
through New Zealand and Australia, Leonard Liesens taking a piece of  
Belgium to Africa - Algeria - last month,  New Zealanders in South  
Africa, South Africans in New Zealand.

and all the horses...

Steph

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