More from someone in the UAE:

[Lucy Chaplin Trumbull <elsie@calweb.com>]

This was posted on the eurolist by Marcy Pavord, wife of one of 
the vets - Tony Pavord - in the UAE. She kindly allowed me to 
re-post it out to Ridecamp. It's an interesting slant - showing 
a "vet's eye view", as well as it being from someone supporting 
the British Team:

> It was an incredible event and I think we'll all be talking 
> about it for a long time to come.  It provided food for thought 
> in many respects and I think everyone who was there learned 
> one **** of a lot.
>
> First things first!  The vets worked incredibly hard, both before 
> the competition, working out how best to control the event to 
> prevent problems and during the event to make sure that every 
> horse got the best possible attention.  There was a team of I 
> think 22 commission vets, of which Tony was one.  He also went 
> out two weeks early and did day and night stable duty, looking 
> after the horses pre-ride. They had quite a few problems, most
> of which can probably, if a little speculatively, be put down 
> to riders doing too much work with them before they had recovered 
> sufficiently from the journey.
>
> A few of the less experienced countries did not have their own
> team vet, or the vets did not come out till nearer the competition.  
> There is also an important research study being done on the effects 
> of travel/competition and stress, going to a hot climate, etc.  
> The results should be interesting.  The commission consisted of 
> half FEI panel vets and half vets working locally in the Middle
> East.  There was a training seminar for the whole commission 
> before the ride to make sure they all understood how they had 
> to carry out the vetting procedures and what standards to
> apply.  In addition there were several local vets operating 
> as roving vets on the course and a full team of treatment vets, 
> running the clinic that was specially set up at the vetgate.  
> Every horse, pass or fail, was cleared by the clinic before it 
> travelled back to the stables at Ghantoot.
>
> There were a few hiccups, such as the transporter that got 
> stuck overnight in the desert with I think 9 horses on board.  
> However, the horses were all looked after...
>
> One horse was put down after the race, but the post mortem 
> showed that it had a pre-existing problem with its heart valves, 
> probably due to an earlier illness. This was an American horse 
> on lease to the Brazilian team.  A couple were detained at the 
> clinic in Dubai for a few days but were recovering well when 
> we left.  Given the number of horses competing and the
> inexperience of some of the countries this was a pretty 
> amazing result. The whole vet team did a wonderful job.
>
> On to other things.
>
> I did a couple of talks at pre-ride workshops along with 
> Valerie Kanavey. Talking about rider tactics she said that she 
> always kept her horse's heart rate under 130 for the first stage 
> of the ride, that this was going to be a free for all in the 
> early stages and riders should be careful not to go too
> fast, or get carried along, just because other idiots were 
> going too fast in front.  Not her exact words but that was 
> the gist of what she said.  

> So what does she do when it comes to the competition?  Gets 
> out in front with the leading bunch and not only stays there 
> but runs Sheikh Mohammed and a whole bunch of others right off 
> their legs.  Don't let anyone ever tell you again
> that championships are not won from the front!
>
> I have to say - yes I have to! - that the Kanavey team 
> are extremely professional and boy was that horse fit.  
> He didn't look any more particularly wonderful than any 
> other horse and he was what Tony calls 100 mile sound at 
> the finish, but you certainly couldn't have eliminated him for
> lameness.  If I had to guess what their "secret" is, I would 
> say, they are on to every detail that can improve their 
> performance and are 100 per cent on the ball. Also they are 
> out there to win.  Having the money and time obviously help (!) 
> but even so you can't do it without determination and a
> lot of hard work.
>
> The Americans in general were undoubtedly the best
> prepared team - what they didn't have in their kit 
> was not worth having and who they didn't have in their back 
> up team was not worth knowing.  There were at least three vets 
> in addition to the team vet that I know of, plus a huge number 
> of people detailed to man specific crew points and keep track of
> statistics i.e. how the competition was doing, so they knew what 
> their medal potential was at any given time, despite the breakdown 
> of the ride computers.  They even had their own generator and 
> water sprays which they set up in the vetgate the night before 
> the race.
>
> New Zealand on the other hand had less experience and less 
> ballyhoo but were incredibly nice, down to earth, sensible people 
> and their horses and riders (average age I think around 48!) were 
> all extremely hardened and fit. Several of their horses earn their 
> keep looking after stock on their sheep stations back home.  They 
> rode a tactical race, concentrating on getting their team round in 
> gold time - and succeeding!  All the horses, along with the Aussies 
> are due in Britain for the quarantine period before they can
> go home and they arrive on Friday at Heathrow.  Both the NZ 
> and Aussie horses were really impressive.
>
> The other horse that took my breath away completely was 
> Ratzia d'Alauze, a French mare by Persik bred by Denis Pesce, 
> which won Florac in 1997, bought by Sheikh Mo and ridden by 
> his son Sheikh Hamdan.  She finished in fourth place, trotted 
> up beautifully and presented within one minute of finishing,
> pulse 56/56.  All day, she just walked straight into the 
> vetgates, what a mare!!
>
> Well, what about the Brits performance.  OK, to finish four 
> out of five starters in a race of that calibre must be a 
> commendable effort.  I wouldn't want to take anything away from 
> that and every horse that finished that race successfully, in 
> unaccustomed going and conditions deserves tremendous respect.
>
> But why didn't they do better?  We've taken the intermediate 
> team to Belgium for several years and beaten them hollow every 
> time - how come they overtook and beat us en masse?
>
> And Brazil?  Argentina?
>
> Someone said oh this was a contest between horses from hot 
> countries and cold countries and you can't draw any real 
> conclusions about the differing performances... so New Zealand 
> is a hot country then?  I think not!  It has extraordinary 
> climatic extremes of hot, cold, violent winds, etc.  Belgium
> is hardly hot either.
>
> Brazil and Argentina may be hotter, but they've hardly the 
> experience that we have. 
>
> Somebody from New Zealand said to me with great satisfaction, 
> "We just trotted round quietly, looking after our team."
>
> So did the Brits I guess - just a lot more slowly!
>
> Please don't take this as a gripe against our horses or 
> riders.  The four that finished did so in great condition and 
> I'm sure they were riding to their team orders.  I just think
> they could have done it faster.  Another comment I heard was 
> "You need to be in there with a shout - if necessary, you can 
> slow down later or pull the horses if they are tired."  I think
> this is the crux of it.
>
> For some countries, just finishing is important at a world 
> championship, e.g. for Brazil - they were over the moon.  But 
> for us, who have been there and won team gold twice, there isn't 
> a lot of point in that IMHO, and I stress this is only my opinion.
>
> If we don't have a shot at a medal, I really don't see much point
> in being at the starting line. All this is very speculative, as 
> I wasn't involved with the team or how they were doing during 
> the race and they weren't even at our end of the vetgate,
> so I didn't see them at all.  I think we need to have a think 
> about our philosophy though.
>
> The French for example gambled and this time they lost.
> The first gamble was not travelling their horses until a week 
> before the ride.  That proved a mistake.  The second gamble 
> was in trying for a team medal.  Only two finished, but they 
> finished in =11th place.
>
> In any other ride, I would say, yes, to finish is to win.  
> In a World Championship, I don't think so.
>
> Nevertheless, all congratulations to Jo, Carrot, Jane and
> Anne. They went there and did the job they were told to do 
> and their horses are still in the top 50 in the world.
>
>    Best condition:  This was won by Cameo Zaire, the horse 
> that pulled out of Shropshire Hills 100 because "the sky was 
> leaking too much" then went on to pip Silver Leaf for the Spirit 
> of Sherwood 100.  He finished seventh individually, ridden by 
> Musallem al Amri and he trotted out next day with big floating 
> trot that would bring tears to your eyes.  All credit to the
> trainer Ali Al Amri.  I had a long talk to him in the bar 
> on our last night and I'm really impressed with his attitude 
> to his horses and his ability to bring out the best in them.  
>
> Ali had two horses in the race and he pulled the second one, 
> Lionheart, because he was tired.  He didn't wait for the
> horse to be spun.
>
> Nelson and Sheikh Mohammed.  Nelson was not at his best, for 
> one reason or another.  He put up a brave show, but in trying 
> to keep with Valerie Kanavy he took too much out of himself and 
> had to be pulled at the last vetgate. Disappointing for Sheikh 
> Mo but I'm sure he'll learn from the experience as he does from 
> everything.  They have the Middle East Championships ahead of
> them in February.  Sheikh Rashid was also in their team and 
> his horse pulled out somewhere on the course, so that they only 
> finished two of their four, Sheikh Hamdan on Ratzia and Abdullah 
> Bilhab on an American horse called Cass.
>
> There are other interesting things to mull over, especially 
> some of the discussions among the vets as to ways to improve 
> the safety of the horses, etc.
> ....
>
> Marcy
-- 
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Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@calweb.com
Repotted english person in Sacramento, CA 
http://www.calweb.com/~elsie

with Mouse and Provo
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