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[RC] A different and interesting view on the Derby - Maryanne Gabbani

I was sent a link to an article in an Oregon paper http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/06/mercy_corps_mongolian_horse_ra.html? and a copy of one of the comments on the article which I paste below. This reader gets directly at one of the most serious issues bothering me....the issue of motivation of riders...adventure as a cure for boredom.? Every summer my nice little third world country is innundated with Saudis and Gulf Arabs looking for relief from summer heat and relaxation in a more easy-going and inexpensive society.? What does this mean for us? They go to the pyramids stables, pay a premium on a rental horse and very likely come back on foot telling the owner that the horse and tack can be found in the desert, dead. Doesn't matter, they can pay.? Or maybe a nice car race would be fun, like the kids who were drag-racing on the main road to the airport and lost control wiping out a family who were trying to get some cool air on the broad median.? No problem, since Daddy flew them out immediately. Egypt isn't their home, they have no responsibilities towards anyone here...we aren't real people. I sensed a lot of this same attitude in the early emails that I read during the planning phase this winter and it made me quite uncomfortable. The discomfort reminded me of the utterly callous treatment of the Egyptian horses and riders by the Emiratis when we were providing the "local colour" for their wonderful wins in Egypt. Here are the thoughts of the reader of the Oregon article:

From a Reader in Portland, Oregon -

"I have 15 years experience in Mongolia, traveling with the local horses. My problem with this race is not the issue of horse abuse, nor rider abuse. Mongol ponies are up to the task and frankly, if the the self described "adventurists" suffer bruised bums, broken legs, black death, etc. that's fine with me.

The problem I have this: Are these bored (by their own much trumpted admission), rich (by virtue of the fact that they are paying $200 us or so per day) young riders prepared to explain to the Gobi herder (who takes them in after their horse has run off, their butt cheeks are rubbed raw and they are parched and hungry) that the reason they are "racing" is to alleviate their oppressive and apparently chronic boredom?

Mind you, they are going to be talking with a man and his family who daily face the "challenges" that these bored, upper class adventurists face only for a week or so. They are going to have to look this man in the face and explain that their own lives are so devoid of purpose and meaning that they need to spend the equivalent of this man's annual wage so that they can release themselves, however temporarily, from the ennui that afflicts them. But... it's ok, because hey, we are hitting up our friends and neighbors and raising some money for a CHARITY!! and that makes it all ok. Mercy Corps should be ashamed to be associated with an event that self describes it's project with such ludicrous, narcissistic hyperbole. A "race that makes a roman emperor weak at the knees" and all this biggest, baddest bullshit.

It's yet another case of Mongolia being used as a backdrop for "fantasy" adventures where the landscape, the horses, the people are mere exotic props. Imagine the tables turned and a bunch of rich Mongolian kids (they exist) doing a wild motor rally in souped up Mini's through the hedgerow lanes and motorways of Britain. Do you suppose an event like that would be allowed? But it would be ok because they are donating some money to a charity that feeds homeless people.

Why does this have to be a "race"? That notion is actually antithetical to Mongol tradition ( terms of how you behave when traveling long distances). They do have horse races, but they are very specific in length and age of horse and the jockeys are ALL kids under 10 (for obvious weight reasons)and the horses are conditioned rigorously. A better model would have been a culturally and historically recreation of the post to post system but run as a cooperative experience and it would have INCLUDED YOUNG MONGOLS. But apparently only a RACE can dispel the boredom of the jaded youth of the West.

I am so fed up with the notion that bad behavior in foreign countries is made acceptable because you donate some money to a charity. Do these riders actually know just where the money goes and what it does? Or is it enough to "help poor people"? Isn't it rather like buying an indulgence? If this event involved an additional week in Mongolia, during which the riders with hypenated names worked at building toilets or teaching English or something that actually demanded more of them than the writing of a check, then they just might learn something that would help them alleviate their boredom in a more lasting way."

The Adventurists do seem to be taking note of the comments being made and do seem to be making some efforts for this to be a less "interesting" experience for those concerned. Hopefully, all the reassuring press releases are based in actual fact.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
msgabbani@xxxxxxxxx

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