Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

It's the end of summer here and people are coming back from their 
vacations, so the Friday Morning Gang got together today for its first 
ride of the season. And a lovely ride it was, since the weather this 
summer has actually been bearable for the most part. We had the 
inevitable sunshine with big fluffy white clouds and clear skies.  Our 
summers are the lay-off time, sort of like your winters. I mainly ride 
at night during summer so fall is wonderful for me and time to get back 
to work for the horses.

Sabrine Kharma was bubbling with stories about her crewing experience 
at Tevis this year with Jeremy Reynolds.  She and her mother opted for 
that as a summer holiday and what a way to do it. Nothing but the 
winner of Tevis!!! Sabrine was really impressed with the caring and 
helpful manners at the vet checks. At a serious race here, no one would 
think of asking a competitor for a bucket of water even, but there, she 
said, everyone was helping everyone else. Nevertheless, she was amazed 
at the speed with which a crew could strip a horse of tack and have it 
pass the vet check.  She listed off names of people that she met and 
talked to, and said that the knowledge among the riders was 
outstanding. Some people "would answer your questions with a book of 
information", which impressed her no end.  She said that she really 
liked talking to Becky Hart, though, because when she asked her a 
question, Becky just gave a short clear answer, and that "was just the 
right amount of information" for Sabrine to absorb.  You all got rave 
reviews, guys, and it's another example of the wonder of the endurance 
family world wide.  I expect to find her signing on to Ridecamp 
sometime soon as well.

There's been some talk of an Egyptian stopover after the WEC in Dubai 
in January.  Apparently the Reynolds' are talking about it, maybe Becky 
Hart, Paddi has mentioned wanting to come, and the Hall family (Anne 
and Hal) have been in contact with me.  The FMG are delighted with the 
idea of having visitors again and I would suggest that if there are 
going to be people coming, please let us know as soon as possible. We 
have the Sakkara Country Club and Hotel just down the road from all of 
us (simple rooms, cable TV, phones, and a pool, run by a show jumper) 
where the room rate is somewhere around USD 30 per night. Each room has 
a double bed and a sofa that can do for a single.  My suggestion is 
that if we know that X number of people are coming after the WEC, we 
can block book the rooms.  They have about 25 rooms, and I doubt that 
we'd need them all but it's better to be sure.  Also, EERA will want to 
do some rides while visitors are here and, as Steph and Co. know from 
last Feb, getting things organised takes a little time.

Get those reservations in, folks.

I also have a daughter going back to Columbia University in Manhattan 
tonight after a nice summer break in the menagerie. (She's the one that 
likes animals!)  She's studying biological anthropology at Columbia 
with an eye to working on old bones here, but she'd like to learn more 
veterinary skills.  She's been my veterinary right hand since she was 
about 6, handling equids, dogs, birds, rabbits, you name it.  I 
suggested that she try to get to some of the rides to work as a vet 
recorder or assistant and she thought that would be a great idea. She 
wants to learn the kind of vet work that we often have to do here 
because you just can't get  a vet when you need them, ie, sort of first 
aid without  technological back-up.  She's not an experienced camper 
but would love to learn. She's a good cook, has a great sense of 
humour, likes horses, loves donkeys, and speaks 5 languages including 
Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, and naturally English.  She's an 
inexperienced rider, just rides here some when she's home, but she's 
really good with horses and not at all afraid to handle them. She did a 
lot of butt-marking our first couple of years of endurance here until 
she went away to college....and marking butts on Egyptian horses can be 
pretty exciting. If any of you are anywhere near the NYC area and would 
like to break in a volunteer, her email is yde2001@xxxxxxxxxxxxx  Her 
name is Yasmine Gabbani and she is a darling but she has no car.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
www.alsorat.com

"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and 
you miss all you are traveling for"  Louis L'Amour


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