Well, my ride wasn't a long one (though the story might be!), but it was fun and it is still an amazing thing to be riding horses in Malaysia!

Bev and had I received invitations back in June to come to the Sultans Cup and ride one of the Royal Terengganu Endurance Stable (RTES) horses on November 6. So the planning begins. I was also invited to an EnduranceX (endurancex.com) event on Easter Island - Rapa Nui -on November 18. I managed to arrange flights so that I could go direct from Malaysia to Easter Island rather than returning to Idaho. so... that's 24 hours of flight time (plus layovers) from Malaysia to Los Angeles. Then 14 hours flight time from Los Angeles to Santiago. (plus layovers). Then 6 hours flight time from Santiago to Easter Island... if my math is right I'll be spending about 45 consecutive hours in an airplane. OMG. I think that may be a record.

Invitation accepted, no hesitation! And accept for the tight scheduling (5-day Canyonlands ride to manage the end of September, Halloween ride the end of October - the weeks of trail marking and prep for each of these event) then hop on a plane the day after the Halloween ride and arrive in Terengganu 2 days later, and less than three days before the race, with little time to acclimate to the flipped time zone - night is day, day is night, and then ride in the night (which is day in Idaho) after trying to adjust to being awake in the day (which is night in Idaho)... it boils down to total sleepless exhaustion!! But worth it!

We were picked up at the airport by our liason and drivers - Amin, Wan, Samsuddin - wonderful guys, fun and willing to take us anywhere, any time, very serious about their jobs as hosts. The state supports this event, and these guys work for the state - the Yayasan Terengganu - the Terengganu Foundation.

We're staying at the Sutra Beach Resort again - lovely older resort on the South China Sea (East coast of Malaysia) - nice open air restaurant and lounge, very very nice 'infinity' pool which perfectly blends into the ocean if you get your eyes down at the water line and look east. A few islands are visible off the coast, thunderheads building up over the ocean during the day. Fishing boats if the water is calm enough. November is monsoon season, so sometimes big storms roll through and they shut down all the commercial fishing.

We settled in to the rooms, met a few of the foreign riders - Raimundo from Chile, Sofia from Uruguay, Yvonne and Jean from France, Norbert and Jane from Australia - also Otto from Indonesia, some Thai riders whose names I don't remember. A nice group - and much more relaxed since the Royal Stables is supplying the horses and nobody has to worry about getting out to the barns to take care of the horses all day.

The next day Bev went touristing with our liason and driver and I worked some in the morning and then slept, to be awakened in time to go out and meet our horses. This is always a source of anxiety for me! Wondering - will the horse be good, bad, hot, relaxed, etc. Saddle fit? These are all horses trained by the RTES - so you know they're going to be pretty nice - but still, it always makes me a little nervous until I'm actually up and riding.

I was given a very tall (16hh at least) mare - full Arab - from Qatar. She was tall and leggy, lean but not too thin. And very strong and forward! A bit of a rough ride, her trot was huge and strong. I asked about a saddle... oh? you didn't bring one? (uh oh). They had just two left to choose from - a Wintec all purpose and an older Specialized Saddle - Euro model. Bev chose the Wintec and I chose the SS since I ride them at home and thought it would be the best choice for me. Unfortunately it had seen better days! the sheepskin cover was pretty much shot, and the stirrup leathers had been replaced with thin english stirrups which were hung over the tree so there was no way to adjust the stirrup position. And the leathers weren't long enough - they punched a new hole as far down as possible and that was it, but I still felt like a jockey. uh oh.

We all went out for a little warmup ride - about 7 miles along the track to the beach, along the beach and back to the track. My mare picked up a nervous canter from the beginning rather than a trot and was lathered in little time - I was starting to wonder how she'd be at the start! She finally settled down to a trot as we came back to the venue, but I was already feeling rubs from the saddle and leathers. yikes... could be a long night.

I'll finish up in another post - once I get going these things get kinda long!

Steph