Anything...except duct tape UAE part 1

[Coujurs1@aol.com]

 It all started after the Carolina 100.  We got a phone call asking if we 
would consider flying over with Goat and riding him in the President's Cup.  
Duane and I debated this for about a day, and decided why not!  Go somewhere 
we have never been, while we are somewhat free to do so.  Then the rat race 
began!  No one had a clue when exactly we would be flying over.  We all had 
to join AHSA, then start passport proceedings on Duane, Goat and I.  Ask 
permission from AHSA for me to compete, sort of strange since I have been in 
this sport longer than AHSA, but since it is a FEI ride and I haven't 
nominated before, we weren't long listed.  What a nightmare it is to get 
passports!  Especially Goat's.  They say on it that it isn't as bad as 
everyone says, bull! And since we weren't sure just how fast we would need 
them, we had to expedite it all.  I now own stock in Federal Express.  
  Found out that absolutely everything with this group we are going over for 
is last minute, paperwork, plane tickets everything, and boy does that mess 
with my anal self.  Goat had to have health papers for both Germany and UAE, 
dealing with the government...enough said.
  Finally got all the paperwork in order (hopefully).  We talked about going 
halfway on Thursday, and talked with friends, Gini Wilson, James Agnew and 
Buddy Gleason all said come stay!  Thanks guys!  But, since everything was 
last minute, we didn't know if I had plane tickets until Thursday night.  
  Up at 3am, to get ready to head to Atlanta. Goat had to be at the USDA barn 
by 12 noon and it's around 6+ hour drive.  Washed the sleepies out of his 
eyes and put him in the trailer.  And off we go, shock of shocks by the 4am 
time frame we set.
  Arrived in Atlanta and finally to the USDA barn (why is it men can't give 
directions?  The guy shipping didn't know the exact exit, said it would have 
Air Cargo on the exit, it did, if you came a different direction than the one 
he told us).  We get there with 2 tack trunks, a duffel bag, 5 bales of hay, 
and 2 bags of Goat's feed.  This will all come into play later.  We brought 
all the hay because only 5 horses were to be shipped, and that would leave a 
space in the Cargo trailer that the horses rode in, empty.  Well, we take 
Goat into the barn and there is another horse.  John (shipper) said they 
bought him a day or so ago, and were shipping him over too.  FMR (I think) 
Jubilee, used to be owned by Debi Foti.  So no extra spot in the box.  Tack 
trunks etc would have to be tagged and put below.  Feed and hay (some) was 
put in the box with the horses.   
  In pulls Mark and Becky Elliot with the other 4 horses.  Mosjon, Corkey, 
DJB Conquistador and Abdeel.  They had been keeping these horses for a while 
at their place, Sunburst stables.  They invited me to come bring the horse 
trailer to their place and stay the night, and ride to the airport in the 
morning with them.  Thanks bunches Becky and Mark!  I stayed until all the 
horses were loading in the boxes and they were taking them to the plane and 
headed to Becky and Mark's.  We stayed up much to late telling war stories 
<g>.
  Off to the airport, Becky's dad dropped us off at Marta, my first time!  
Actually a pretty good way to get to the airport.  We ran into the other 
person going with us, Michelle Owens, at the airport.  After 8 or so hours, 
we arrive in Amsterdam, decided the 6 hour layover would be better spent 
seeing Amsterdam, we caught a tour bus for a 3 hour tour (Gilligan fan's?).  
In reality, we all wanted an Amsterdam stamp in our passport.  The bus took 
us to the "red light" district, and the driver told us that no, prostitution 
wasn't legal there like we all thought, just that they didn't enforce the 
law.  Another misconception shot!  I thought everything was legal in 
Amsterdam.
  Back to the airport, and another 8-9 hours of flying.  Arrived in Abu Dhabi 
at around 2-3 am on Monday morning.  After picking up our Visa's (mine had 
the wrong passport number on it but it was never picked up!), and threw 
customs, we found 2 drivers had been sent for us.  One of my suitcases had 
been lost, so I had to file a claim for it.  The drivers took us to the Abu 
Dhabi Hilton, where we all had rooms waiting.  Since we had been up and awake 
for oh about 40 hours, we were looking forward to that.  I got to my room and 
of course couldn't sleep.  Watched the AFC championship game.  Finally just 
about dozed off at 5 am, and Duane calls and says he is in the hotel.  He 
calls again at 8 am wanting to go off to the barn and check on the horses.
  I get up, grudgingly <g> and call the driver.  The horses all look good, 
but no tack trunks!  Both of ours and Darolyn Butler's are missing.  Goat 
gets his first grain (and just a little at that) since Friday morning at 3am, 
since the shipper doesn't want to risk colic, he doesn't want them grained 
during shipping.  
  Seems they are having a qualifying ride at Al Wathba.  A 47K, the horses 
have to finish one of these in order to do the longer distances.  It is sort 
of set up like a competitive ride, you can't arrive at either vet gate before 
a set time.  And Pulse determines the placing at the end.  Mark, Becky and 
Michelle come out to the facility.  We get out on the course with our driver 
to see how it is done, cars everywhere!  And people running out with liter 
bottles of bottled water to pour on the horses.  We met our host at this 
time, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan.  Very nice gentleman, very 
Westernized.  He went up to the barn to see the horses we brought over.  He 
invited us out to his place to see his horses.  We quickly stopped and ran 
into KFC to eat since none of us took time to eat all day!  And on to Al 
Reef, Sheikh Tahnoun's stables.  Ashraf, the man that escorted us most of the 
trip, was over all the grooms for Al Reef.  Sheikh Tahnoun showed us through 
all of his barns, 4 of them.  They all have concrete floors with rubber mats 
in them, and appear to be portable.  We saw "old friends" Michelle Owen's 
horse she sold to them Ras Basquelique, Debi Foti's ex horse Almost home. 
Then we were escorted in what best could be described as a tent like 
building, appeared permanent, but the roof was canvas.  A beautiful display 
of food was set up on the floor, with a big screen tv in the corner <g>.  We 
all sat down and were told to dive in.  I was sitting near a gentleman named 
Asamo (sp?), he pulls this bread back and there is a lamb, an entire lamb, 
head, tail, teeth and tongue.  And looks me in the face and asks if I would 
like some.  Thinking this is a test <g> I hold out my plate and say sure!  He 
rips off a piece with his hands and reached into the belly of the lamb and 
pulls out vegetables of unknown origin.  Now, I don't eat many vegetables as 
it is, especially not green ones.  These are green!  But, again thinking it's 
a test, I dive in.  Not bad, as long as you don't look at the donor.  (the 
tongue sticking out was a bit much.)  Sheikh Tahnoun didn't eat, found out 
later this was a sign of respect for guests, that the host didn't eat.  We 
all talked and he was telling us about some horses that got pulled and said 
"and that sucked", we were about to roll on the floor, here is this gentleman 
in full Arab dress, using this very western term.  

Nina Gibson