2004 Braganca Paulista
Images by Cidinha Franzao
Schedule of Events || List of Starters || Venue
Results
Steph's Stories:
Arrivals and a Quiet Week-End || Touring the Countryside
Ride Day at Haras Endurance International || On to the Finish || Finish daze in Brazil
Arrivals and a Quiet Week-End
Henrique Garcia met me at the airport, a friendly, smiling handsome Brazilian. (how can an entire nation be so beautiful?). Henrique navigated the Sao Paulo traffic with ease.
Sao Paulo is the third largest city in the world, a metropolitan area of 18 million people, with many different ethnic groups. It is the heart of Brazil, huge and sprawling, energetic and diverse.
There are some very poor people living here, with tiny brick and cement buildings packed closely together, and clustered along the hillside. We drove through some nice sections too, some very stark contrasts in population.
Tonight was the night of the National awards for the Brazilian Arabian Association, so the plan was to meet Aamarylus at the house, and go together to the awards. But... on the way to the house he decided he could probably squeeze in one more veterinary call, so he wheeled around and we headed back out to the country.
We drove around (seemed like circles to me) and came to a small jumper/eventer stable nestled in the woods. He did a lameness exam on one client´s horse, and then another rider asked him to look at her horse too. H is very kind, very human, and also a very good vet. I think the world is his friend, and he had a hard time getting away. Finally we headed back to the house, met Amarilis, and cleaned up. Amarilis in not the typical Brazilian, blonde and blue-eyed, of Swiss descent, but in her words "I am 100% Brazilian!" These people have a stong national pride, they love their crazy country.
The awards ceremony was in a nice part of the city, in an old hotel, tall ceilings, very ornate, and they served a wonderful dinner! Several courses, most excellent food. There were many awards to present, and everybody was handed noise-makers (whistles, rattles, etc) - each award was accompanied by music and lound cheering. A very animated ceremony! Endurance has only recently become a recognized sport of the Arabian Breeders Association, and the endurance riding awards were by far the nosiest. I think I saw a few halter people cringe :)
The next morning (Saturday) Amarilis had to work at her clinic, and I went with Henrique to go to his ranch, and to make some more veterinary calls. He has several endurance horses of his own, plus over 20 that belong to clients that he boards and trains for endurance. He employs several people to help ride and take care of the horses, and has a very strict training program. He has daily charts for each horse with the workout program, heartrate and recovery (before and after each workout - including a 10 minute CRI for each horse), feeding schedule, special requirements. Plus he personally evaluates every horse, every day, to monitor weight, soundness, etc. He has developed a special feed for endurance horses, a Ca:P balanced rice bran supplement, and a specially formulated electrolyte developed with funding from Gatorade.
We arrived at the ranch, and Henrique was a flurry of activity, checking horses, taking blood for papers for the ride this weekend, filling out passport ID charts, talking with his riders and clients, etc etc. Nice place, several large grassy pastures, a barn with a few stalls, tack room, hitching rails, concrete for trotting horses for soundness, shoeing, etc.
A very nice ride, along the roads and trails, nice forests, so many new bird songs and trees and plants, very rich. Sao Paulo is situated at 22degrees latitude, right on the Tropic of Capricorn - one foot in the subtropic zone, the other in the tropic zone. Very very green, brilliantly green, and the blue sky was studded with puffy cumulus clouds.
Luis´ profession is Agro-Ecomony (studied at Columbia University), his English is excellent and he seems to know everything about Brazil. He explained the people, the agriculture, the geography, and his face would light up when describing certain areas, such as the Pantonos region in the southwest of Brazil. (later). Brazil is a land of cattle, coffee, sugar cane, soya, grain - a highly productive nation, capable of feeding most of the world. And much of the western wilderness of Brazil is still unsettled.
Steph