Ridecamp: [RC] Masters Ride in Egypt?

Life in Egypt is wonderful. Really. I love it here and wouldn't trade it
for anything, but every now and then something happens here that truly
mystifies me. I was really enthusiastic about starting endurance here
thinking that if ever there was a unifying sport that could teach good
horsemanship at all levels of the social spectrum, this was it. There's
no reason, assuming "normal", friendly endurance rides (ie, the kind
that we don't usually see here) that a professor, a student and a farmer
couldn't be riding together and sharing information on training and so
on....something that does not happen in sport jumping or dressage. It
sounded good, but somehow something went wrong. 

Here's a good one for you. I just got an email from one of the
veterinary students that got hooked up with endurance the first year
here in Egypt when I was working the races. Apparently there is to be a
120 km endurance race in Egypt on November 2, but no one knows where, or
who is sponsoring, or how to register, or anything. We have no idea if
this is a local federation ride, or if it is something being somehow
imported....NOTHING! We know that riders in the Nazlit Semman area (the
rental stables near the Pyramids) have been training, but with whom and
for what has been a deep, dark secret. It is a fact that most of the
riders from Nazlit Semman are grooms (usually working for the horse
owner and sometimes a stable owner) who sometimes ride the horses for
training and sometimes in competition as well. I don't have a problem
with this; in fact, in 2000 when we started I was proud of the learning
that these guys did. Many of them can't even read and write. But the
rest of the riding world has now been locked out of endurance somehow. 

There is a strong perception among the powers-that-be, whether national
or local, that there are "pyramids people" and "Sakkara/Abu Sir" people,
and never the twain shall meet.  Ummmm. The twain are about 10 miles
apart (16 km) geographically and many of the more prosperous stables are
moving into the Sakkara/Abu Sir area because of governmental pressure to
leave the Giza plateau area. So what gives? 

I assumed that this must be one of those Masters series races. There
were rumours that there was to be one held in Sharm el Sheikh this fall,
but I can't even find their website anymore. Is it still around?

Mystified in the desert,

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


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