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[RC] grass and trees and winter travels - Steph Teeter>>"rides2far@xxxxxxxx" <rides2far@xxxxxxxx> wrote: Angie (who would love to log on and see a photo with grass...or a tree) >> Ok, you'll get trees and grass, somehow, this weekend I promise. At least one photo :) Here's an update on winter travels: The India trip didn't get past the Indian Embassy. John and I went on Tuesday to get a visa (Sunday and Monday were special holidays, embassy closed). I had read on the Indian Embassy page that it takes 1 day to get a visa. When we got there, room FULL of people, noise, already felt like India, we were sent back and forth with questions/ answers and finally told that since we were in UAE on tourist visas, rather than resident visas, it would take FOUR days to get a visa. This is Tuesday, the flight was Friday - but Friday/Saturday are weekends in UAE - so offices would be closed. The India event was Sunday... it wasn't going to be possible. Really disappointed!!! but nothing could be done. The fellow in India was a pretty high ranked guy with embassy contacts, but still couldn't manage to get our visas pushed through in time to go. But- we're already making plans for next year! So that means we'd hunker down in UAE until Presidents Cup instead of spending the 2 weeks in India. We've managed to stay very busy anyway - following Sheikha Madiya around to rides, plus competitions every weekend - sometimes 2. We've been staying at the little chalet at Madiya's stable 'Al Maktoum Stables'. She has a nice stable sandwiched in between Juma's place (Emirates Stables) and another stable (Ahmed Al Marri trains here, Shk Rashid's horses and some others). Next stable down is Shk Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's stable. In the other direction are several other stables - all Al Maktoum horses - some of Shk Rashid, Shk Hamdan... it's basically 'stable row' - a couple miles of training stables, all within short driving distance of Dubai International Endurance City - where all the Dubai rides are held. I'm going to write a 'story' on the whole UAE endurance scene before I leave here... it's pretty amazing. Not like anything else. Grace Ramsey is staying with Madiya too - she's been mentoring Madiya for years, both here in UAE and back in the USA. The Sheikha is a very incredible individual. A real spark for life, tough, determined, and hilarious. I'll spend some time doing a Sheikha Story too! or maybe a book... So it's been this little group of us - Madiya, Grace, John, me, Ali Khan the stable manager (he's from Jaipur - Rajasthan and we will definitely visit his family next year. Ali has a wife and daughter back home, his father is a retired arm/cavalry guy and he runs the farm. one of Ali's brothers is here working for Madiya too. Ali is a very special guy - hard worker, easy to be around). Then there's Lisa the Philipino maid, Lilly the dog, and all the grooms and stable help including Jani (?) who makes the best chai tea in the world. It's been fun. And did I mention the dust and wind storms we've had during the past week? This is not a very hospitable land... it's amazing what the country has done to make it civilized and attractive to tourists! We've been spending time with Pamela Burton too - her husband Steve took a job here last summer helping the Abu Dhabi developers with their marinas (Steve's a boat guy). Turns out he knew more about marinas than anybody here so now he's in charge of all the marina developments in Abu Dhabi. Pamela writes and does photography - endurance, flat track, other stuff too. stays plenty busy. They're really enjoying the culture and country here - with many sad and funny stories about Americans trying to find their way in an Arab country... So this weekend there are two races (not rides!) - the Ladies Challenge Round II (I decided to stick to photos and stories rather than ride again), and the next day the Presidents Cup for Juniors. We'll go to both races and stay with Steve and Pamela in Abu Dhabi. Then John's birthday is Sunday and we're going to go to the flat races at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club with Ted Lewis. (Ted came with HE Mohamed al Saed to Idaho in '04 for the Abu Dhabi Arabian Nights ride in Idaho - and we've kept in touch with him since then. he's a race track steward so we'll be his guests). The US group and other foreign riders will be here in the next couple days for the Presidents Cup - the weekend after this, Feb 16 - so we'll track everybody down and start doing coverage for that. This is the 'big event' on the calendar here, and we've been covering it for the past 4 years. Sort of know everybody by now :) Then, back to the USA. I'll spend a few days with our NEW GRANDSON!! in Seattle, and John will head back to Arizona to relieve Merri of the Sick Horse Duty. The horses are still recovering from the strangles that we brought back from the New Mexico ride. And my horse Jaziret is still quite sick. Still has a fever, plus a systemic inflamation that results in swelling - edema - in his legs. He's back on antibiotics for the strangles/fever and steroids for the swelling and inflamation. Poor horses! I've been reading some about strangles - and turns out the reason it is so often recurrent at farms is not due to reinfection, or bacterium harbored in the grounds, but that some horses are 'shedders' - the bacterium can survive in the gutoral pouch of the horse, even though the horse no longer shows symptoms. And periodically it can be shed with nasal discharge. So since Jaziret is still sick, they've xrayed his head - which will indicate if the guttoral pouch is infected. and if it is..,. might be some serious expense involved in flushing and cleaning out the bacteria. Not a happy situation. so we'll go back to Arizona and take care of the horses during the month of March - Merri will be back in Oreana with the rest of the horses and the dogs... and then Merri and I are off to Spain for the 10-day Andalusia ride, and then I'm going to Malaysia to the Malaka Invitiational ride... and then back home for the Owyhee Fandango. then off to Japan for the Shining Moon.. and then I want to STAY HOME for the rest of the summer!! We'll see what else is in store for the year.. that pretty much sums it up I think :) Steph (also longing for some green stuff) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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