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Next chapter- The UAE connection.

Shortly after arrival Eduardo, Mercedes and I ran into Grace and
Madiya during dinner in the Bab al Shams. Hugs and hellos from the
Idaho friendship. They invited me to come ride with them sometime
(Madiya's stable is close to the Endurance City) - and we exchanged
phone numbers.

A week later, the Nations Day Cup was being held at the Endurance
City. This is is an important UAE ride, usually held at the EIEV venue
in Abu Dhabi. (Ridecamps in UAE are: 1) Abu Dhabi with the Emirates
International Endurance Village, and recent addition 2) Bu Deep
Endurance Village - and 3) Dubai with the Emirates Endurance
City). Since the Abu Dhabi EIEV was undergoing construction, they
moved the whole event to the Dubai Endurance City, so all the folks
here already for the WEC were able to watch it. A nightmare for the
WEC quarantine stewards, a bonus for the riders and crews who were
able to see how the venue worked - ingates, crewing, vetting areas,
trails, etc.

Madiya had entered this ride - her first entry in a UAE ride - the
first UAE woman to ride - and she finished on her own horse. What a
grand accomplishment. The next night I got a call from Grace. She invited
us over for a small celebration of Madiya's ride. I called Eduardo and
Mercedes and off we went. More visiting, stories, and the first
threads of talk about helping to crew for Mercedes during the
ride. Wow - this would be great!

The current plan was that I would both drive and crew for Mercedes on
the trail - but it would be much easier with more people, and to have
a native driver and experienced crew was a real bonus. Plus it was
shaping up to be a lot of fun. My experience at the big high stress
events is that IF you can find a way to have fun, stay light, enjoy
the day without succumbing to the stress and difficulty, then you are
a step ahead. This doesn't mean that you lose focus or get sloppy -
but if you can find a way to laugh, relax, enjoy yourself then it's a
psychological boost - for both rider and horse. And it's a better
frame of mind for the inevitable problems that arise, and snap
decisions that have to be made as the day unfolds.

So over the next days we stayed in touch, and Grace helped us find
some stuff that we needed, loaning us some coolers and a feed table
for the vet checks. The table was very cool - an aluminum table with
holes for two buckets so the horse could eat without having to drop
his head or fumble for buckets. Kasal is generally a good eater, but I
think he really really liked his table, making him feel pretty
special. We set it up during training so he learned to look for it
when he came in off the trail. His own special table.

Ramping up -

Things were looking pretty good, organized, confident. We had a brief
(mandatory at these events) scare with Kasal. After he was re-shod, 6
days out, Mercedes thought she could feel an irregularity. Sometimes
it was subtle, but noticeable at the hand trot, other times we
couldn't see a thing. Sometimes he would take a few funky steps at
first, and then nothing. He had been re-shod with the same shoes, so
no change there, we added pads (no packing, just pads with a hole in
the toe for sand to work out - which is how most of them do it here)
but otherwise there was no real change.

For 3 days we were scratching our heads, but could find no indication
of the problem. No soreness in the joints, no sensitivity to hoof
testers, no clue at all. We had Joyce (helping the US team) come out
and do some massage and body work with him - and when Mercedes walked
him down the concrete walk towards his stall she heard a subtle clink-clonk
from the shoes. Ok? now what, there's the clue. She couldn't see
anything wrong with the shoe, no loose clips, no loose nails, the shoe
was tight. But by then it was time to close the barn and leave till
afternoon, so no resolution. After lunch we went back out, more
watching listening, finally I noticed that the weld on the shoe (an
eggbar style welded shoe) had a hairline crack at the surface of the
weld. It was very subtle, but when we started cranking on the shoe -
it was apparent.

At last! Hopefully no damage was done during the days of training with
the broken shoe, and we weren't entirely sure when the weld actually
broke. So the shoes came off, and the farrier got to work building a
new set. We ran out of daylight, so put a barefoot Kasal back into the
stall for the night, and made plans to shoe him first thing in the
morning. Before the new shoes went on, we discovered a pretty severe
corn on the inside heel of his 'bad' foot. These poor tough beasts?
we do our best, but seem to be human always, and our little errors are
sometimes discovered, sometimes the horses just tough it out,
sometimes the little errors bite us in the end. But we were lucky -
with the new shoes, paring the sole a little extra to prevent more
bruising, painfully careful to get the lateral balance perfect- Kasal
was happy, and the mystery solved.

Now for the vet-in, the last minute preparations, and a tour of the
course.  The course tour was scheduled for Tuesday morning. Every
Federation was allowed one rig, so every rig was packed brim full -
all of the riders, the Chef, and anybody else they could squeeze
in. We had arranged to meet with Grace and Madiya to start talking
about driving, crewing, etc on race day - but the time for the riders
to return from the course viewing came and went. And still no team,
and still? Finally I got a call from Eduardo. The truck carrying
the Uruguay had flipped and rolled out on the course. It was a high
speed tour - everybody rushing to keep up and get parked in time to
hear the discussions and explanations, and maybe a little too much
racing and fun, and not enough caution. The Uruguayan rig hit a bump
at the wrong angle and lost control. Riders were thrown from the rig
as it rolled and some were in serious trouble.

The Argentina rig was a ways behind them. Eduardo, ever careful and
caring, wouldn't take the risk of racing to keep up with the crowd,
and came upon the accident just after it happened. Mercedes jumped out
and was immediately at the side of the girl who was most injured - a
head injury was apparent, unconscious, and who knows what else. I
think Mercedes will be (or was) a Medical doctor or EMT in another
life (in this life she is a veterinarian). She couldn't be shaken from
the girl, and spent the rest of the day with her, holding her hand
when she gained consciousness, staying with her, instructing the
medics on the IV drips, the need to stabilize her spine, etc etc. She
flew with her in the medic helicopter to the hospital, and stayed by
her side the entire time. Our final day of planning and organization
was not to be.

The girl was going to be OK - a nasty head laceration, but no critical
injuries, and the other two injured riders were released. I don't know
if any of them were able to ride - I think they did a fair amount of
substitution, but I don't have all the facts. Uruguay also had to
withdraw a horse from competition due to injuries sustained during the
fireworks display at the pre-ride celebration party. Some misfortune
for Uruguay.

So that day was pretty much done in, but for Mercedes - she did what
she had to do. I'm proud of her, we're all proud of her - she has her
priorities right. The next day was trot-ins. The evening before, Kasal
was not exactly perfect - a few funky steps when he first started the
trot in hand, and then perfect?. Que sera sera .

He passed the trot-in with flying colors - light steps, floating down
the lane, ears up, head up - as if he knew. Yes, this I remember, this
I know. Now I'm ready.

We finally met up with Grace and Madiya late that evening. Everything
was packed, ready, vet check stuff was set up, plans made, strategy
discussed. And when Grace and Madiya showed up the magic started. Such
good, positive energy - such enthusiasm, everything will be
wonderful. Don't worry about a thing. Don't worry - just put your foot
in the stirrup and ride your horse and everything will be fine!

We drove back to the hotel late. John had been in the Media center,
getting everything ready for coverage the next day - starting the
stories, more photos coming, logistics, etc. A short night, and early
morning and back on the road for the 40 minute drive to the Endurance
City.  A very dark drive, the rest of the world was still sleeping.

I went straight to the venue, and waited there for the riders to come
from the quarantine barns. Mercedes and Kasal looked eager and
focused, but not nervous. Just right. 180 horses milling around, we
followed as best we could to the starting gate, it was still the dark
of night, but brightly lit from the stadium lights. A mile or two of
rope lights were strung on either side of the trail on the ground to guide
the
riders until there was enough dawn to see where they were going. And
they're off!

Next chapter - the ride


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