You had me at HORSE...

I have always loved horses.  I love all animals actually, but in particular horses.  And cats.  My siblings and I started riding at very early ages, I think I was probably 7 or 8 years old.  We lived on the island of Jersey, in the English Channel, and my family had two horses.  The island is very small, about 45 square miles, and was a very safe place to raise children.  I had the freedom to roam, and my parents felt very comfortable with my girlfriend and me taking the horses out for the entire day.  No cell phones, no contact, but no worries.  It was idyllic.  Riding remained a passion throughout my life, and I’ve been lucky enough to continue riding off and on over the years. 

I lived in Quito, Ecuador in 1997/1998 when I was 30 years old, and I rode at the Los Chillos Country Club.  I had my own horse at that time; a beautiful dappled grey named Gasparin (Casper, named after the Friendly Ghost).  I hadn’t ridden since my childhood in Jersey, and I wanted to start show-jumping again. I was only one of two adults in our classes, and we laughed no end at my competing against these youngsters in shows!  Right before we left Quito, I competed in the National Championship, for which I was totally unqualified, but had nothing to lose. The height of the jumps started at 1.20 metres (just shy of 4 feet), and I hadn’t been jumping that high in my classes.  I was totally thrilled to compete in such a spectacular & important event, and didn’t care one iota when I actually fell off during my round!  My pride didn’t even take that much of a beating, I was just so happy to be there in the first place. 

I continued to take jumping lessons when I lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, but took up a different kind of riding when I lived in Cairo, Egypt in 2001/2002.  I rode at the fantastic Sakkara Country Club about an hour south of the city, with their trainer Sayeed. Owning a full-blooded Arabian stallion was a symbol of status, and many of the horses at Sakkara were owned for show, but not actually ridden.  Sayeed immediately asked me to help him exercise these beautiful creatures once he realized I was a competent rider.  ‘Exercising’ the horses was heading out into the desert, passing newly discovered pyramids, active excavation sites etc., for miles & miles before letting the horses race each other back to the stables (holding on for dear life as Arabians can really move).  Good grief – when Sayeed asked for help, I almost fell over myself trying to say yes, and thank you, and OMG all at the same time!  

Things became epic when Sayeed told me about desert endurance racing - a series of long distance rides, each longer than the next.  In this case, they started at 40 kilometers (25 miles), and moved up in 20 km increments.  I believe the finals were 100 or 120 kms, and there was a very substantial purse.  Competitors from Dubai, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states flew their horses in to Cairo for the final race, so large were the winnings.  By this time I was ‘leasing’ my own horse, Leonardo (leasing simply meant I was dedicated to riding this particular horse daily in addition to helping Sayeed), and his owner gave me permission to compete.  Sayeed and I upgraded Leonardo’s diet and started him on a serious training regimen.   For the sake of brevity, I’ll simply tell you that my racing career was short lived.  We made it through two 40 milers before Leonardo’s owner discovered that we had turned her mild mannered pony into a lean, mean, racing machine.  She could no longer handle him (ooops!) and promptly ended our shenanigans on the spot.  We unfortunately left Cairo shortly thereafter, and so ended my endurance racing greatness.

 

Myself and Leonardo, race day
(picture from film, remember that stuff?)

This had truly been a larger-than-life experience. To be an American woman, training and competing in Egyptian Desert Endurance Racing was most unusual.  To compete in a foreign event such as this was truly educational/mind boggling; all rules were out the window, no holds barred.  Even my trainer cheated.  Imagine: 

The race started as the sun, a giant ball of red, came up over the dunes on the edge of the country club lawn.  There were possibly a hundred stallions whinnying & stomping their feet, and some were fighting.  The excited riders in traditional garb were emitting the high pitched vocal ululation, and police on camels were doing crowd control.  A single rifle shot rang out, and we all leapt forward as one.  I immediately lost control over Leonardo, and didn't even try to wrestle with him.  I simply wove my fingers into his mane, lay along his neck and gazed with wonder at the scene unfolding around me.  It was an experience that I will never forget, an experience that has my heart pounding again now as I type.  I’m a VERY lucky woman.