The room I'm staying in is right above the beach, the crashing of the waves is constant, wind rattling the palm tree leaves - very tropical! Nice for sleeping... but for some reason I keep waking up at 4am - haven't been able to make the change yet. It's a nice quiet time to sneak down to the restaurant (open air dining area) and catch up on email and work though. Nobody else is up, just me a few little resident cats to greet the morning.

We did our registration and weighing during the day, and did some miscellaneous food shopping for the ride. It had rained so hard the night before that the track was too wet to go out on so there wouldn't be any riding. We did practice trotting though and met our grooms - (they were actually mounted policemen from Kuala Lumpur). It gave them a chance to know the horses, know us. My 'groom' was Datam, Bev's was Abu. Very serious young men - eager to do the right thing. I'm sure it must be a huge honor for them to be brought in by the Royal Stable. And what must they think of these wacky American women?!

The evening was the big Welcome Dinner Reception. Wow - this was the biggest and best dinner affair I've seen yet. Tuanku Mizan and his procession were brought in, yellow carpet (of course!), top state dignitaries, royal relatives. Everybody of any importance was introduced. Sponsors recognized and thanked. A lovely woman was the MC for the night. Top rate entertainment (Malaysia's favorite singers were flown over from Kuala Lumpur) - lovely traditional dancers, story telling. Great food. And a late, sleepy night!

Finally race day! We had managed to find some extra pieces of tack at the stable - longer stirrup leathers for me, softer leathers and a smaller pad for Bev, some spare parts if we needed it. So we make quick changes to the saddles, tried the new gear on our horses with a little stroll around the venue, and then packed stuff over to the crewing area. And discovered that we would have our own 'chalet' for the night. To share with Rai from Chile and Sofia from Uruguay. Food to be delivered all night, bed, shower, kitchen... we had been worried about food, buying crackers and canned coffee and potato chips to get us through the night. No problem! The horses would be taken care of, we would be taken care of - the royal treatment :)

The ride briefing was brief! well organized, informative - they really know how to do it all very well now. We were set with ride vests, maps, loop and hold time info. Ready to start. (after a little rest at the hotel - but no sleep for me - still too wired I think!).

We planned to start late and avoid the craziness at the start and in the warmup area. These horses here are FIT and PUMPED - this is a top FEI race, a big deal - with serious prize money, prestige, etc. There were quite a few very focused and determined competitors. We all went to the venue together from the stable, sixteen RTES horses being ridden, a lot of pride there! Once we got to the venue the horses were hand walked by the grooms until we were ready to get on and go. I was feeling better about being able to handle my horse after having made some tack adjustments, and we intended to ride conservatively, but still its impossible not to be nervous for the start of a race like this!

ok, I'll take a break, send this out and finish in the next post. (on and on and on goes the story.... :)

Steph