Beatiful morning! Coffee and toast at the hotel then off to the stable
which will be full of activity today.
Beatiful morning! Coffee and toast at the hotel then off to the stable
which will be full of activity today.
Lots of rain yesterday, poured and poured for a couple hours, then cleared up, the course should be perfect, the rain will settle the sand and make it easer for the horses.
Yesterday we moved the horses to the official stable at the Hipocampo. Did registration stuff, looked around, checked horses, visited the other barns, then it began really really raining - like the downpours in Virginia - warm rain though.
We had lunch at the cottage. Jose and Ana Maria Novoa (from Chile) arrived the night before. Ana will ride one of Miguel´s horses, Mora Peteco, on the 120. She was at the President's Cup in Abu Dabi, and just got back from Quatar, doing a race there. She said the sand was deep and they ended up shortening the course because it was so tough. She finished 5th on a local horse, the final loop was done at 30km per hour! The best horses took most of the time to recover at the end, many did not recover in time (this is crazy fast no?). Ana has been riding all over the world, her husband Jose (great guy!) is a doctor, and Endurance is their sport. She´s headed to New Zealand next, then to USA for the Biltmore.
Valerie and Meg arrived yesterday afternoon, they´ll be riding horses owned by Carlos Larerre in the 160.
After lunch we packed into Miguel´s truck and drove the course- a bit confusing, and there are old markers left up from last week´s ride - could be a few folks getting lost. Miguel said they would probably put out lime arrows for the turns which will help a lot.
The loops for the 160km are:
Celeste (sky blue) - 35 km
Amarilla (yellow)
Roja (red) - 30 km
Lila (lilac... whatever happed to primary colors?!)
Rosa (rose)
Blanca (white) - 15 km
There was a barbeque at the stable last night - a highly engineered production with racks of lamb, chorizo, ribs . A large gathering, plenty of food. I was really wishing that I could converse in Spanish!
This morning there is a parade (horses in hand).
On to the race....:)
Steph