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
Ride day at Haras Endurance International
Saturday morning, up early and at the hotel cafeteria for breakfast with Luis and Renato (a friend and rider who boards and trains at Henrique´s ranch near Sorocaba). Plenty of coffee and some fruit and bread, then off to the ride. This is my day to do my first Brazilian Endurance ride, on a young horse - his first 80km ride as well - with a wonderful man who can not see, and it will also be his horse´s first 80km ride! Wow... (insha´allah...)
We arrived at the stable, and the horses were already saddled up and
ready to go (Henrique´s crew is very good!). We rode down to the
starting area, Vilson at the head of Luis´ horse, and warmed the
horses up. Luis need to do a minor tack adjustment and I could see his
hands trembling while he worked with the buckle on his reins ... from
excitement, nerves? I do think this is one of the most incredible
people I´ve ever met. And I have to admit that I was a bit anxious
myself. Luis has ridden a lot of Endurance (also vaulting if you can
imagine...) . Last year he was invited to ride in Dubai at the
National Day Cup. He rode his trustworthy mare, and Vilson Suarez
(friend and rider for Henrique) went along to Henrieque´s amazing
horse Bodolay, as his guide. There´s a whole ´nother story....
So Vilson and Luis have done many rides, many miles together and have developed a good/fast system for communication. Now - we sould have to do it in English (or very poor Spanish.) Luis studied at Columbia University, in the US, so his English is very good, but still... He told me that the most important things would be when to duck under branches or overhead obstacles (the command to use is ´lay!´) and also when to make a turn - right - derecha, or left - isquierda - or to slow down for hazards. But. Nobody told me that Luis likes to go very fast! My biggest challenge would be keeping up with him and trying to look ahead down the trail.
We started a few minutes late to avoid the crowd and danger. Both
horses were well behaved, strong but not difficult to control. But
what a different ride! I had to look ahead, to see well in advance,
and I also had to try to keep up with this crazy endurance rider. He
was usually in front of me, often galloping while I called out
´duck!´... no, ´lay!´. It took several low branches before we got the
system down (he has quite a few scratches on his face and arms :) and
then I had to remember when to tell him it was ok to sit back up
again. But mostly it started working.
And then there were the spider webs - other riders went around them, but of course Luis couldn´t see them, and his horse didn´t care, and I couldn´t see them in time to warn him - ´lay!´, ´duck!´... ´spider!!´´. There was one golf ball size spider that I saw in the middle of one web, just as Luis went flying into it. He managed to duck in time to miss the spider (I think) but got a facefull of web. Fortunately Luis has a wonderful sense of humor :)
And.. then I had to get the timing right for the turns. At first I
would tell him too early, and watch in horror as he turned his horse
into a hedge, or a wall. Finally I got it right. With Vilson as his
guide, Luis had learned to turn NOW! as soon as the command was
given. So once I got the timing right, we just had to deal with the
translation - left, isquierda! (with a bad accent), Now! Ahora! Ooops!
and... Luis, come back!
It was truly an adventure. I had to keep the concentration up constantly, as the course had a lot of different trail, changing and turning frequently, through the woods, around fields, along lakes, through villages. A challenge even under normal circumstances. No daydreaming. I really enjoyed it though, Luis is a wonderful man and told me many stories, and many things about his native country.
We got to the first vet check fine, were met at the ingate by Henrique and crew, fast efficient, horses pulsed down quickly and vetted through fine. The second loop was more difficult - much hillier, and a lot of hardpack clay road. And the horses were less than enthusiastic about going back out after the 40 min hold (neither horse had done more than 40km before... what´s the deal?) We squeezed and pushed them out the gate, past the stable area (Luis´s horse tried more than once to turn back into his pen) and through the feed barn past bags of grain, dogs, tractors and men. We finally got them out and going well again, but it was tough going, and IMO too much hardpack and rock and hill to keep the same pace as before... ´Luis.... slow down... come back!..´
Good riding, but some bad luck. Halfway through the 2nd loop, Zephyr
(Luis´ horse) stumbled and pulled off a front shoe. I had an easyboot
(this time!) for Firebird, but it was large for Zephyr and not the
best fit. We made it a few more miles, but he was starting to favor
the foot, and getting worse the farther we went. Now what?? We could
just walk the horses the remaining 10km, but Luis thought Zephyr was
too sore even to walk in, so he said he would stop and stay with the
horse and wait beside the road until I could send somebody out to get
him. How sad..... we went a little farther to a shady place, and I
rode off, leaving him standing there hold his horse (he preferred to
stand, rather than sit while holding Zephyr) .
It took me about an hour to get back to the stable, but I was able to send a message with a crew person that drove by on the way to camp, to send a car out for Luis, and somebody to bring the horse back in. So 30 km to go, just me and Firebird. I spent more time looking around now, relaxed a little, and more focused on my horse. He was more responsive now, and willing to move out, but it was very very hot and humid and I could feel him becoming stiffer on the downhills. This was a pretty difficult ride, and Firebird is still young, without a lot of conditioning in the hills, so we slowed down and enjoyed the scenery. We were met by H and crew, he vetted through fine, 40 min hold, and out on the last 22 km loop, which would be the toughest loop of the day.
- more to come -
Steph