Sunday, February 14 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!! This is our 4th one in the UAE! How strange. Today we went to take care of the horses in the morning. They were both doing well. They got to spend the day out in a large paddock together. It seemed relaxing for them and was the least they had to do since they arrived here. We also packed all of our gear up as the horses were to ship out on Monday.
After that we headed to Sheika Madiya's barn. It was a good thing that Jeremy had a hand drawn map in addition to a verbal explanation because we were driving on a highway type road and then had to look for a certain Kilometer marker and then hook a left handed turn, off- roading, as in deep sand, to a road that ran beneath the one we were on. It would have been really cryptic had there not been the verbal instructions. After an hour plus drive we were there. Madiya showed us around and we got a tour of her horses. After this we had a wonderful lunch with her and her friend and sister. The meal was delicious and had many traditional plates. When we finished eating we went to her barn and there were horses waiting, saddled and ready for us. Eryn, Jeremy and I all rode. Craig, Ellen and Jeremy O followed us in their crew truck . (Jeremy O flew in after the race, as he had a different race he had to attend on Sat. as a trainer, to visit with his dad). The ride was really fun. We rode in the desert and galloped along effortlessly. It was so enjoyable. Madiya's horses are very nicely trained, they all took their leads with ease and were very rateable. After we were done, we visited a bit longer. Eryn had to fly out tonight so the other car that had Ellen, Eryn, Jeremy O and Craig in it left sooner than us. They also wanted to go to Global Village to buy some Arabian horse oil paintings. Jeremy and I then headed back to our barn to take care of the horses one last time before we flew home tomorrow morning. Both horses had a great appetite and they looked happy. We drove back to the hotel and then we all had dinner. We had a message at the hotel to call the Veterinarian. Jeremy called him and it turns out our horses will be delayed a few days, maybe up to 15 days. There was an error in the shipping. Our horses shipped with the European horses and something about that was incorrect so now they are dealing with the quarantine and importing issues. Whatever, at least the horses can rest and it isn't raining or muddy here. They will have a groom to walk them two times a day, feed them and blanket/unblanket. They will be fine, actually better off. In all, it has been a great trip. I forgot to mention that there were many curious inquiries on the Easyboot glue ons. Many other riders had never seen such a thing and it called a lot of attention to Smitty. Pretty cool, spreading the word on how easy it can be to go barefoot. Also several veterinarians during the race commented on how amazing Smitty looked and they had to ask a few times if this horse had really shipped over from the USA or if was a local horse. We assured him he was an American product:) Until next time, which will be at the end of the month at the Sand City FEI ride in New Mexico, Heather | |||||||
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