The Ride

Friday late afternoon, and the camp finally came alive. We went out on another 'horse-testing' ride, rigs following horses, then around noon we went to lunch in San Antonio with Ruben and the boys and Hernan and Santi and Pablo and Jose and Anita Novoa and Mauriano ( young rider from Argentina currently 1st ranked FEI YR). Wonderful seafood! (this is Chile) Our restaurant was perched on a hill overlooking the harbor - fishing boats, tugs, cargo ships, cranes, construction, lots of activity - this is Chile's major port city, and a very busy one. When we got back to Las Brisas late afternoon, there it was - ride camp! Lots of rigs, lots of horses, trotting lanes, signs, tanks, tractors pulling water tanks to settle the dust, camp fires for dinner, all the noise and activity of an Endurance ride camp. And it was fun to see many of the same FEI officials that were in Argentina and Uruguay. Friendly familiar faces.

Trotting out for the vets went fine, riders were paired with owners and crews, final adjustments made to tack, and plans for morning meeting and pickup. The ride would start at 3AM. yuck! By now the coastal fog had settled in, it was quite cold and damp with a breeze off the cold pacific waters, and the thought of such an early start was a bit chilling itself. The temps would be good for the horses, but it would be dark, foggy - some of the course was pretty tough - and fresh horses in the dark of night. I can't say anybody was looking forward to that. There would be a lead car and a tail car so the horses would pretty much stay in a group for the first 40km loop.

We all met at the camp by 2am, and it was cold! Only 25 horses were starting the 160km (out of 120 or so horses for the entire event) so most of the camp was still sleeping. Lights bobbing and horses snorting and riders searching for each other in the dark, and finally the start. And the waiting! Huddling around campfires in the dark morning cold, drinking coffee, a little conversation... And so the day went. The first vetgate was somewhat chaotic - all of the riders arrived at once (since they all rode together between the lead and tail rigs) and the ingate timer was quickly overwhelmed. Riders were searching for crew in the dark, all milling around the table, try to get the time recorded on the cards, and back to the crew or riders. There weren't any lights at the venue - just crew and rider headlamps, and a few lights on the timer tables, and the vets did their vetting by headlamp (everybody passed :) - it was a challenge.

It warmed up a little in the afternoon, but for the most part it stayed cool all day. Good for the horses, and the riders stayed comfortable, but for the rest it was a lot of sitting by the fires waiting. The riders were enjoying the trail, some beautiful scenery, but it was tough and the Malaysians were trying hard to keep up enough speed to finish the course in CoC time.

*So - I'm going to editorialize here for a minute: I absolutely hate the CoC! This is the FEI Certificate of Capability which horses and riders must obtain in order to compete at a World Championship. In order to earn a CoC horse/rider must finish a FEI 160km (100 mile) course in a time of 13:20 or less. This is supposed to indicate that horse/rider are good enough to compete in a World Championship. I don't know where they got the 13:20 number from (that works out to , maybe they averaged all the rides speeds in the world, I don't know - but I do know that this CoC has turned our sport into a flat/fast terrain sport, at least at the International level. I can think of many rides that are excellent tests of the quality and ability of horse and rider that cannot even be WON in 13:20, much less top ten.

This course was not a fast/flat track - it was a technical ride, an honest Endurance race. And horses that finished this challenging ride in 13:21 hours would be much more qualified (imo) to compete at a WEC than a horse that finishes a fast flat (easier) ride in 13:20. Yet, by FEI standards they are not.

As a direct consequence of the CoC, riders, and ride managers, who are supportive of International competition have had to change their concept of Endurance from a competition over technical terrain, to a competition over relatively flat terrain. This is not good for our sport.

-Ok then, I'm done with the editorial.*

This was a tough day, tough on the horses, tough on the spirits. When Zul was injured (loop 2) spirits dropped even more. Horses were being eliminated gate by gate. (In the end only 8 horses and riders in the 160km race, out of 25 starters, earned a completion.) And finally towards the end, just 3 Malaysians were still going - Dato Kamaruddin, Norlaily Binti and Burn (Bakar Aman). Dato was getting ready to heading out on the final loop, just 7 minutes behind the leader. Go for it! everybody said, spirits jumped, his horse looked great, maybe he could catch the leader. Meanwhile Laily came in for the vetcheck before the final loop and her mare was lame. Burn came in for the final vetcheck and his horse was sound - but tiring... it was unlikely that he would finish within the 13:30 CoC cutoff.

In order to qualify for the Malaysia WEC, the FEI has ordained that not only must riders qualify by obtaining one CoC, they must earn a 2nd CoC within 12 months of the WEC. This is going to be a real challenge for the Malaysians, hosts of the 2008 WEC. They did not get confirmation from FEI that their bid would be really and truy accepted until November 2007 (after the successful Sultans Cup). This leaves them less than 12 months to qualify to compete in their own event. They must earn 2 CoC's (same horse/rider) before the November WEC. It is not easy to qualify in Malaysia because it is difficult to finish in under 13:20 without over stressing the horse in the hot/humid conditions. So they are also going outside their country to qualify. And unless they finished this ride in under 13:20 it would not count towards WEC qualification. The pressure to ride at CoC speed on this course took its toll. Out of the 8 starting riders from Malaysia, only one - Dato Kamaruddin - would be 'successful'. Burn and his horse Amira Alborada did indeed finish the ride, with Raja Mahmood 'pushing from behind'. But he did not finish in 13:20, and he did not even earn a completion from the ride organizers because he was 15 minutes past the cutoff time of 14 hours.

But, on a happier note Kamaruddin left the vetgate at at gallop- everybody cheering, the horse looked great, the owner encouraged him to try to catch the winner, and spirits were high. Kamarrudin managed to gain the 7 minutes covering the final 12km at 26.5 km/hr and got the leader in sight, but Ricardo Acaya and his horse Don Pancho were also strong and impossible to catch. Ricardo galloped across the finish line for a first place, and Kamaruddin and ABD Ghani finished around 20 seconds behind. Both horses completed the final exam looking great, Ricardo Acaya and Don Pancho finished with a winning time of 11:32 (14.3 km/hr) and Kamaruddin's horse Ghani won the Best Conditioned award.

I really did enjoy Chile - loved the people, very friendly, good horses, beautiful countryside - Ruben did an outstanding job of moving horses and people around and making sure everyone's needs were met. The Malaysians did not have a very successful ride, from the WEC perspective. But they are determined, and on a path, and in general they are on a very steep learning curve with this sport. They are excellent riders, but still fairly new to Endurance, especially at the International level. This experience will add to their knowlege, help sharpen the focus.

My last two days in Chile were fairly relaxed. I went back to Santiago with Ruben, Santi, Hernan and the boys. Burn also came along. He would stay with Ruben in Santiago until Zul (Zulkifi Saari) could be released from the hospital to return home. He would need to stay in the hospital under observation for a couple weeks because of his serious head injury - Burn would stay too. We visited with Ruben's family, had a nice asado at the Ranch, prepared by a group from Columbia who were working at the Rancho as lifeguards, dance performers, sports trainers - a great group. We went to look at some top level jumping horses - Hernan is a professional jumping competitor and trainer. It was fun to see the big elegant jumpers, and the place we went to was the site of the Record Mundial de Salto Alto a Caballo - world record for jumping horse - where on February 5, 1949 a horse jumped 2.47 meters (8.1 feet!).

And on the last day Ruben took me and Santi and Burn on a long drive to the south - he was looking at a piece of land that was for sale, as a possible place to set up his breeding operation. Two hours of driving south on the Panamericano (Hwy that cross S. America) with the snow covered Andes to the west, green green fields, vineyards and orchards, wheat fields turning golden. I love to drive through new country, love a good road trip, and the land was beautiful - rolling grass pastures, eucalyptus and poplar trees, bordered by a small river - plenty of water. On the drive back to Santiago we stopped at a restaurant for a late dinner - steak - lomo, salad, another taste of great Chilean wine... All tired, but for me it was a nice peaceful end to a very intense week.

Next - New Years in New Mexico! December 30 - another ride, another rendezvous with Raja Mahmood and Mat Din and Dr. Hiniza (Bashir) and yet another group of riders hoping to find their next 160km horse and earn a CoC!

Steph