Fw: S.A Qualifier Ride for Dubai

["Kathy Dobrowsky" <arikaras@iafrica.com>]

> Hi to all,
> Well am back from a glorious weekend watching the cream of the South
> African horses compete for the honour of competing in Dubai in December.
> I had decided not to ride so was there in a Journalistic capacity,filming
> and taking photographs.
> The top horses really moved,it normally takes three hours to get over the
> mountain,it took them about a hour,the riders impressed me by there
fitness
> and determination,they ran up the mountain and ran carefully down the
> mountain.Great for the horses as the 2nd vet check was just 6 kilometres
> from the bottom of the mountain.It was cold when the horses set off at
2:30
> am,gradually the weather got rather hot,I also landed up crewing for one
of
> the riders,had to water his horse down every 3 kilometres.
> The course from there was deceptive ,slow gradual inclines and long steep
> downhills to the next vet check.After that vet check the road was boring
> ,long gravel roads that seem to carry on forever and all one sees in
Karroo
> shrubs.We were with the horses most of the way until a extremely rocky
> section where alot of horses can get bruises,we met the horses at the
next
> vet check,the top runners were in excellant shape and clocking speeds of
> over 20 kilometres an hour.I stopped crewing there and filmed the top
> horses going though there paces.
> The competition was tough,the front horses had been well prepared for
this
> 100 Miler,they were cantering and galloping along effortlessly.At the
last
> vet check,one of the top runners was disqualified ,hart breaking for the
> rider,his horse had a neck cramp(the horse was fine the next day I might
> add).The vets were good and were very strict the slightest sign of any
> problems and the horses were out.
> I rushed off to the finish missing the first horse that came in by a few
> minutes,filmed the horse Al Borak Rambo being vetted he had a pulse of
> 40,this after a hard 100 miler.Most impressive to say the least,his rider
> is young,fit and ran a lot,well done to Pietie Wanneburg for this
> achievement,his horse also got the BC,he deserved it.
> One of the most exciting finishes were yet to happen,two of the Eastern
> Cape riders came galloping in head to head,they were lying in 6th and 7th
> position,this was definately a crowd pleaser,the horses were amazing and
> looked fresh as if they could do this ride again,the owner of one of
these
> horses decided that his one horse was to young ,only 7 years old and
> withdrew him from the team for Dubai ,far to stressfull for a young
> horse.The other horse Souvereign Pegasis is sure to go with his delighted
> rider Micheal Lord on his back.
> I filmed all the top ten horses being vetted after the finish they looked
> good,some of them were tired but some looked like they had done nothing
at
> all.Well done to the all the riders who competed and finished this
> ride,definately a not soo easy ride and a real test of endurance for alot
> of the riderrs who have not done mountainous 100 MIlers.Out of 50 entries
> only nine horses were disqualified,most riders rode sensibly and
carefully
> and ran alot and took great care of there horses.I take my hat off to
these
> riders and off course there horses!
> There now is a long list of 15 riders,only 6 can go will know in about a
> weeks time who is going and who is staying.
> Well thats it from a very envious Kathy who could not ride due to her
> back(bloody body has to let one down sooner or later)
> Maybe next time I will be there who knows!
> Regards
> Kathy
> Ps will  be putting the pics onto my webpage sometime tommorow!!!!
> http://196.7.177.40/aht/
>