A friend passes

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

I don't know how many Ridecampers remember the first endurance ride in Egypt
in March 2000. It was a marvel here, 100 horses all playing in the desert at
once, and it was set speed so there were no winners or losers, unless your
horse couldn't meet criteria or you didn't pay attention to your time. No
one believed that so many people would be interested, and no one thought
that riding 20 km could be so much fun. Of course, we've been through more
now, are a little jaded, and 20 km is just a training jog. But the wonder of
the FIRST RIDE for 100 people was something miraculous. One of our riders,
Richard Hoath, wrote a marvelous story of his ride with his 20 yr old plus
stallion Sam...it's in the Ridecamp stories called a Pheromonal Perspective.
Yesterday Sam had to be put down due to internal bleeding. We don't know the
cause. It was very sudden and Richard, naturally, is devastated. Only last
week he and Sam were out in the desert and Sam was doing his usual routine
of shouting greetings and challenges to horses and jeeps alike. I like to
think that despite our distance we are at the fringes of the endurance
community, and Sam was a real treasure. Too old and crazy to do more than 20
km.....but, boy, could he ever do them in style. Richard put in a lot of
time volunteering at later rides.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net