Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

yet another  strange story in this runaway sport!

Yesterday we went to the HH Presidents Cup for Junior and Young  
Riders. Endurance in the UAE is truly a phenomenon - unlike Endurance  
in any other place that I've seen. By the end of the day my head was  
reeling, even more than usual... Every one of the UAE rides that I've  
been to this year has been viewed from different angle - a different  
purpose. Yesterday John and I went with our 'host-friend' hats and  
our 'press' hats. A group of young riders was invited to participate  
in the race - Marketa Terberova, Petra Trojakova and Katarina Kysela  
from Czech Republic, Raphael Sabion and Karina Camarg Aroya from  
Brazil, and Raja Adib Raja Hariz from Malysia. Adib is Raja Mahmood  
Ym Raja Hussein's oldest son (chair of Malaysia Endurance committe,  
active in WEC preparations and rider qualifications). Adib came to  
ride in Chile last December, a fantastic kid - funny, friendly, a  
good sport, really a nice boy. So John and I planned to go and help  
Adib and the other foreign riders, and cover the event for  
Endurance.Net.

From the start, there seemed to be some confusion about arrival,  
transport, host, horses, etc., for the foreign invited young riders.   
As foreigners coming to the UAE - we typically feel 'out of the  
loop'. The cultural differences, language difference, all of this  
seems to result in a bit of confusion. Our need to know when/where/ 
why/how and to know it Now, and to feel like we understand what's  
going on, becomes totally frustrated. Here in the UAE, things  
happen... or they don't, or they will, or maybe they won't... but no  
amount of worrying and asking or demanding seems to ever help,  
really.  I have certainly grown to appreciate these people, and the  
complexity of their culture - the lack of urgency and hit or miss  
punctuality, the reverence for time on a different scale. What  
matters a few minutes or hours, or even days? Hundreds - thousands -  
of years of developing rules for social and hierarchical behavior  
simply can't be altered in the span of a few decades. But, that  
growing appreciation hasn't seemed to help temper the feeling that  
there's no knowing - or predicting - what is really going on!

John and I left the Ladies Challenge race early. (We missed the  
finish with  Ladies riders in full gallop during last loop and flat  
out race to the finish - 30km/hr average pace - one horse missed the  
sharp final turn to the finish line and ran straight for the stable,  
one of the riders had her pad and weights fly out from under the  
saddle, one horse crashed into a few things after crossing the line  
and before it could be stopped... and Shka Madiya had scratched in  
the morning because her horse ran away with her... pretty wild!). We  
went over to the hotel in Abu Dhabi to meet Adib and Hamdan bin  
Mohamed (rider, ride organizer, family friend of Mahmood) who was  
travelling with Adib.  They were in good spirits. 'Raja Adib'  
translates to 'Prince Adib' and the hotel staff were calling him  
Prince and he was really soaking it up :) Nothing like being 16 yrs  
old, in a foreign country, to ride an Endurance event for young  
riders -  at the invitation of an important Sheikh!

We finally coordinated with the other riders (Czech, Brazilian) and  
their drivers, and went out to the venue at Bouthib Endurance  
Village. The understanding (one of those non-arab understanding  
things...) was that Al Wrsan would supply horses and the kids were  
now going to try them out and find a suitable horse. So we met up  
with the Wrsan folks at the venue, friendly guys. Watched all the  
incredibly fit and beautiful horses getting off the vans, the kids  
were wondering which of those glorious animals they would ride.  
Watching and waiting - while the grooms vetted the horses in, saddled  
them up, rode them around the crewing area, and then went out on the  
trail. And disappeared... A few hours later, it's getting dark, and  
nobody said 'here's your horse, give it try'.  Nobody said anything.  
But we just figured they knew what they were doing, so didn't ask any  
questions. (guests, foreign guests, nobody wanted to be rude or  
questioning).  Now it's dark, the vetting has closed, the horses are  
gone, and we're still standing around. The drivers show up and say  
they have instructions to take every body back to the hotel. And the  
kids must arrive back at the venue at 4AM. (it's a 6:30 start). So of  
course we all assume that the early arrival is to give the kids a  
chance to try the horses and find a suitable one.

John and I went back to Steve and Pamela's for the night, and drove  
out the next morning to meet everybody and get them off to a safe  
start. We got there around 5:30AM and they were still just standing  
around not knowing anything! They didn't have rider numbers yet, no  
vests, no horses... hmmm. We couldn't find the Wrsan folks, and then  
some Bouthib Stable folks came and rounded up the kids and took them  
over to the registration room. Everybody crowded into the room (small  
room), quick questions, blank looks, noise and a little confusion.  
It's 6:15 AM now (6:30AM start time) and one of the officials tells  
the kids they can't ride unless they have proof of age. They need to  
show it now. What??? John sort of lost it at that point and had a  
head to head with the official. A bit of temper flare, but this is  
ridiculous. And I overheard one of the vets saying a bunch of horses  
just showed up that morning to get vetted through...

Finally the officials tell the kids to grab a vest with their number  
and go outside. Ok - now we have 5 foreign riders with numbers and  
vests... but still no horses. It's 6:20. They wander back outside  
(it's still dark) and somebody says 'find a horse with your number!'.  
Ok, there's dozens of horses being walked around by grooms, it's  
awfully dark, but we start finding the horses - there's #49 - isn't  
that your number Adib?  This is a Boudhib horse, not Warsan, and  
these are Boudib grooms. We're finally figuring out that Warsan never  
did have horses for the kids, and they had to round up some last  
minute mounts for them. (and as it turned out, Warsan wasn't even  
told that they were supposed to give them horses?... or whatever,  
more confusion, disconnect..) Ok, now it's 6:28, we toss him into the  
saddle on the horse that none of us have seen until this second - how  
is it? Need to shorten the stirrups, get back off - one hole? two  
holes? - just one - ok get back on. It's 6:29, walk him a little see  
how he feels - ok, now head over to the start gate. Just in time for  
the entire pack of galloping horses to take off. Adib does a few  
circles as he gets to the gate, out onto the track, we can barely  
make out the shape of his gray horse, and John and Hamdan and I run  
for the truck to join him on the track.

When we find him again (where the rigs can join the track) he's  
marginally in control. He's riding well, but the horse is at a 32km/ 
hr gallop (by our speedometer) and bobbing his head so it's hard for  
Adib to keep a good seat and quiet hands to rate him. I'm so afraid  
at this point that we'll have another runaway on our hands... but he  
keeps riding, and he's pretty strong, and eventually seems to settle  
the horse into a controlled gallop. Sunrise is close, I can finally  
breathe a little, and then there's a screaming coming from behind him  
- one of the Czech girls is on a full runaway. Her crew rig went  
flying past us, so we stayed with Adib hoping his horse wouldn't  
follow suit... we came upon the girl - still on her horse - with the  
grooms holding her. We stopped and got out to help if needed. The  
other girls came up and I guess they figured the worst was over and  
all left again together. One of the grooms got in the truck with us  
holding halter and lead rope. They seemed to be in a semi-controlled  
gallop, maybe the crisis was over, and then the girl's horse started  
surging ahead again. I hollered to Adib to get in front of her and  
maybe that would hold her back. His eyes got very wide, but he moved  
up and started to pull in front of her and the girl's horse took off.  
Really took off - away she went, screaming. John gunned the engine  
and we flew up the track to head her off. We ran out of the truck and  
onto the track and blocked the path of the horse. yikes! There was  
another big group of riders that she had just flown past and they  
skidded to a stop when we ran to block the course. Pretty chaotic  
there for a second, but her horse slowed enough for the groom to grab  
the halter and we pulled the girl off. She was hysterical at this  
point - hyperventilating, gasping, crying - and when we put her on  
the ground she fainted. Poor thing!!  She eventually came around  
enough for us to get her in the back seat of the truck. I told the  
groom to ride the horse back to camp. We told Adib to go ahead and  
ride with the other girls, we'd find him again. Then the other Czech  
folks came up - the chef d'equip, one of the other rider's fathers -  
they took her with them in their car. Poor thing! Not a very good  
ride experience...

So back in the truck to catch up with Adib... and on with the day. He  
and the girls were riding together now, and the Brazilian kids joined  
them too. Perfect... settle into the routine. Back to camp, and Adib  
and Raphael's horses were out with lameness. We realize  by now that  
these were 'spare' horses - who knows what their recent riding  
history was - last minute recruits. We stayed in camp some with Adib  
while he got some breakfast, and then headed back out on the horse to  
take photos and help the others. All the horses given to the foreign  
riders eventually pulled with lameness. Three loops was the farthest  
any of them got. What can you do? Just make the best of the  
opportunity to travel to a foreign country, meet people, stay  
positive, and try to salvage the day!

We decided to go back out on the course and follow and photograph the  
front runners. Absolute insanity!! Racing horses, racing crew rigs,  
dust, noise, honking...  rigs flying past each with centimeters  
between them. Crews hanging out the backs, photographers hanging out  
the windows. Zooming and leap frogging for water drops... this is is  
Endurance Rally racing. It's fun and crazy and intoxicating and  
exciting... the kids are urging their horses, horns honking, engines  
racing... and those amazing horses running and running and running.  
It got wilder and wilder the closer to the finish we got. And the  
horses ran faster and faster. I wish we could have clocked their  
speed. At one point, a few kilometers from the finish we drove on  
ahead, wanting to be at the finish line to take pictures as they  
crossed. We really had to speed up just to get far enough ahead. I'm  
guessing over 40km/hr - pushing 50. Two horses finished at a full  
gallop...nose to nose.

When they really race here, they race to the very edge...they race to  
win -  but that's a whole 'nother subject for my next chapter.

later,

Steph

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