Re: RC: Wish me luck, I can really use some

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <gabbani@starnet.com.eg>]

Debbie LaBerge wrote:
> Are you riding or organizing this event?

I'm helping to organise these events and if I'm lucky I may even get to
ride. Some rich folk from the UAE are bringing in FEI vets and so on. If I'm
not so lucky I'll do some work with the ground crews. I'll learn no matter
what, so I can't really lose.

> What's with the blue beads?

The colour blue is supposed to ward off the evil eye. When I first moved
here, I thought it was one of the most ridiculous ideas I'd ever heard.
After owning horses for a while, I'm beginning to wonder. The evil eye is
basically very negative energy directed at someone that is envied for some
reason. To avoid this, people often say how ugly or stupid a colt or even a
child might be although they believe the opposite. They just don't want to
attract undue attention. It's not at all uncommon in the countryside to meet
a man who dresses so simply as to almost look poor, yet he's a very wealthy,
successful farmer.  I don't know why Mel Gibson painted himself blue. I'm
not sure if the Celts also believed that the colour could ward off evil. I'm
almost willing to try anything.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
gabbani@starnet.com.eg

> Maryanne Stroud Gabbani wrote:
> > I've gone from an organiser/rider to an organiser/driver to
organiser/?????.
> > Friends are muttering about the bad eye and my horses all have blue
beads
> > braided into their hair. Short of taking up Mel Gibson's Braveheart
makeup
> > scheme, I'm at a bit of a loss.