Saturday afternoon...

... and there's a ping-pong tournament on the veranda!

With Arne Victor, Anette, Daniel and Jonathan!

Portraits by Anette Bengtsson

I have been spoiled since my arrival, as I have been in the company of a professional camera woman, or at least, so it seems... How I will survive after she has left, I have no idea, but in the meantime, I thought I would let you enjoy some of the portraits she has taken during the four week stay in Niger...

Kids from the street

Mahammadu, one of Ali's sons

An interesting guy at the race track... Actually one of the first pictures Anette took!

Stay tuned for part II!

/Ishtar

Maidougou settles the issue about Arwen's baby

Today, Maidougou the vet came over. I knew from Elisabeth that he was back in town (he has been doing his doctorate in Benin the last couple of years, only coming back to Zinder during the holidays) and I was anxious to see him, as he is one of the few people in Niger whose professional opinion I trust whole-heartedly. He had a good look at Arwen, pressed and checked just about everywhere and concluded (to my joy and dismay) that she is indeed pregnant.

The good news: if all goes well, she will have a foal! The bad news: I now know for certain and shouldn't let her train that hard. I talked about it for a while, and said that if Arwen isn't allowed to run, she goes berserk. He said she would have about another two weeks before the baby would position itself in such a manner that she would be uncomfortable moving around. Oh well, it feels good to have Maidougou back in town, because now at least I have someone to confer with. And keeping Arwen still is not easy! Anyway, I'm just happy there is a baby after all and that all the elhadjs who have claimed there is none will be proven wrong. Unfortunately, there will be no racing on Arwen's part on the 18th of December when the president arrives, but that's ok. At least there's nothing wrong with my mare!

That said, I'm off to have a dip in the pool together with Anette and half an hour of sunshine. Hey by the way, I forgot to tell you but Anette actually galloped for the first time yesterday! And what did she have to say about it...? Find out when she posts her answer on www.resedagboken.se (nettus)

Cheers!
Ishtar

Anette and I this evening

Horses in place!

I forgot to tell you that on Wednesday this week, Ibrahim and Sani had put up the horse fence (that my father had designed), so on Thursday, Anette and I moved them over. Arwen and Sahara are now definitively the most spoiled horses of Zinder as free ranging horses is something unheard of in this country. In town, horses are tied to a post and only get to move their legs when they are taken out (unfortunately for them if they happen to be a race horse, then they only get to walk to the race track, gallop for the their life and then walk back to the post again). In the villages, horses may be allowed to "roam" the countryside but will have two of their feet tied together to prevent them from getting far... Arwen was the only horse (at least that I know of!) who used to be let loose in Josef and Renate's garden and people often commented on it. I couldn't leave her over night however as she had the habit of opening the water tap when she was thirsty (obviously, water straight for the tap is nicer than the one in your bucket!) but never closing it after herself... :-)

In their new enclosure, Arwen and Sahara can now trot around as much as they want, buck and play and roll themselves in the sand. And for my sake, it means not having to stress over acquiring two restless horses, because they are quite content just being together (that as well is an unusual thing in Niger: horses actually being kept together!).


The fun part is that I now have the horses close by, and a bunch of happy kids as well. First of all, there is Maurice's family who lives on the same compound. The kids are all proud to have horses at the other end of the garden, and even the smallest one know their names. They are also aware that Arwen is a great race horse! When I go out in the evening, one of them will always accompany me and we stand and talk for a long while (I have always enjoyed being with people and animals, and of course, the combination is a special treat!). Today, Anette and I went over and gave the horses a shower, and then we let the boys ride. We (or should I say I as Anette took over the responsibility of documenting) ended up letting all the kids of our street ride and that was a lot of fun, even though it took a lot of time! I came up a few rules and in the end, my riding school turned out to be a "friendship school" where you weren't allowed to sit up on the horse if you weren't being nice to your peers. You often find groups of children quickly becoming a mob in this country, but this group was well organised and I was really proud of them.

Now, that being said, Anette and I later went out by ourselves and enjoyed the Zinderien scenery... I hear many people talk about how they love the desert, but I will always be a savannah sort of person... Just give me some sunshine, a horse and a track and I will enjoy every moment of it...


Ishtar

Back at the market

Today we were at the market again, where I mostly bought flipflops this time. A lot of fun just watching, though!

Ishtar

Training

Following up on our success, Anette and I rode to the race track again. The race horses train every Tuesday and Thursday, and even though Arwen trains endurance out in the bush, I like to take her to the race track so that Chinada can take her for 2600m. Most horses are lucky if they get to run 2000m but considering the time Arwen and I spend galloping in the bush, this is nothing for her!

On her second lap, Arwen got company, but she passed the other horses as well. There has been a lot of talk lately whether Arwen is truly pregnant or not - and even I have been wondering. Her belly is considerable small (but then again, she's loosing weight now that she's back running) but she hasn't been on heat since January and she has milk. More than that, I have no further arguments. I have know nothing about horses and foal-births; I have no experience of how long gestation period this particular horse species (the Berber horse -> subspecies: Nigerian) has. We'll just have to wait and see, but in the meantime, I must admit that few things would be more fun than racing (and winning!) with a pregnant mare in a country where stallions are overestimated and where pregnant mares spend their last six months tied up to a post somewhere.

While Arwen races, Sahara found it hard to stand still. She is still on some sort of trial period in my book even though I have (since the day I bought her) decided to keep her. There's no reason why not actually, even though I find it ridiculous to pay more for a semi-developed horse than I did for Arwen. She's nice, gentle and completely stripped of imagination, meaning that even the most common form of mischief never even enters her mind. She has been feeding incredibly well (she's the Grand Voleur, the big food theif) and I have started to imagine what she will look like in a year or so. She has not been introduced to Arwen's kind of racing but she has developed the typical race-horsish anxiety when she watches other horses rush past her. However, she's not interested in any other horse than Arwen, for in Sahara's mind, the two have become one and must be kept inseparable. It's gone so far as to have earned her the nickname "Arwen's Shadow". What else do you call a horse that has made up her mind to always walk behind Arwen and follow her WHEREVER she goes???

On our way home, we met Piccolo, one of the eight "puppies" that my late Bamse had in 2000. Though I gave him away at five weeks of age, this huge teddy bear has never forgotten where we came from (he moved in right next door, so maybe it wasn't so hard for to keep remembering...). Unfortunately, his owner just died, so I'm unsure what exactly will happen to him. It seems the guard will keep him, but there goes a good dog wasted because there's no way the guard family will have enough food to feed him. Unfortunately, that's life in this country.

Ishtar

Motorcycle dream

The day after Arwen had won, Chinada came over with a translator. He handed me a bill while the translator talked about motorcycles and I simply laughed. What else was I supposed to do? Arwen earned 5€ on Sunday, her very first by the way. Not that I would have, with all the expenses involved, gained a single € on letting Arwen race, but I have done it just for fun. I did not seek Chinada, it was he who came to me in January before I had my accident. He had just ridden Arwen at the race track - the second jockey to do so - and meant that she was one of a kind, and wanted to be the only jockey to ride her. He talked about championships in Nigeria and Benin and I told him that was not my thing. Arwen was just a horse at that time, my little Berber mare that enjoyed galloping with me. Chinada however was persistent, and if I remember it correctly, quite cocky at the time. I told him I was a volunteer without salary and did not have much money. No problem, he replied: "You could not even afford to pay me what I'm worth even if you had more money." Fine, I thought with a smile, but I agreed. Chinada would be her jockey every time Arwen went to the race track, and if indeed she was as good as he said she was, I would sign her up, even though I hate losing money (and a race is always a gamble). Anyway... This happened a week or so before my accident, and it would be another three weeks before Chinada started working for me on a regular basis. Arwen was going berserk in the garden and I needed someone to ride her out; and Chinada needed money.


Now since January, I have got to know Chinada much better. He is a brilliant jockey but a tragic person when it comes to money and responsibility. Though Chinada is seven years my senior (has two wives and several children, at least two more have been born since march 2006) I often think of him as being fifteen years old. He is a great worker and will do anything is scoaring sun shine. However, waiting for his salary (or paying back what he owes me) is not his speciality. Neither is showing up at the times when I ask him to; instead, he will be absent one day and then make up for it the next day, by working 3 times more than I have asked.

The last few days however had been working pretty well and I was almost comfortably settling in some sort of routine, which you so rarely get to do in this country. And then he shows up and spends forty minutes of my time asking for a motorcycle, because Arwen's jockey cannot be seen riding a bicycle! Lol! I answered him that first of all, I was the wrong person to complain to (as I do not care about status and do not hesitate to take a "lowly" job in Sweden, at least seen with Nigerien eyes...) and secondly, if he was so concerned with what people thought of him, why did he keep bowing down to the rich elhadjes when greeting them? Oh Niger is a funny country and the frustrating thing is that you meet a lot of people that you want to help, but in the end, somewhere in the back of your mind, you are aware that no matter how hard you try, it will take several decades for them to change their ways. Chinada has never taken responsibility for his family and he does not know what saving part of a salary means. He has worked all his life for people who have decided over him - left and right - but who have taken responsibility for him when he has lacked something. Though poor people are treated with lesser value by the rich in this country, I have never been able to understand who one would willingly be the servant of another. But that is Chinada's life. When he first started working for me, he picked up Arwen's droppings with his bare hands, drank from her bucket and jumped out of his chair when he saw me sitting down on a mat on the ground (lower than him). Luckily, things have changed, but when it comes to being realistic and mature, it seems just to be too much to ask.

In the meantime, why not try to understand the equation, which Chinada after all shares with many other people in this country: Arwen wins one race insignificant little race, her owner earns 5€ of which 2/3 are given to me, and my conclusion is that it is now time for her to get me a motorcycle...???

Isthar

Sure, why not?!

Yesterday, Anette and I rode to the race track together. I was a little bit worried that it would be too much of an expedition, but the fun thing with Anette is that she's always on. You name a suggestion, and she goes: "Sure, why not?"

So we ventured out, two women on two female horses, right into the men's world. I wondered how Sahara would deal with all the commotion around but she took it well and kept her cool. Arwen on the other hand was dancing and prancing, but at least she kept all her feet on the ground at the same time. I watched the first race on a moving back before handing her over to Chinada for a solo run. There has been a lot of talk about whether Arwen is actually pregnant or not, and the way she ended her run did not make people more inclined to believe that she was running with any sort of burden. Anyway, 15 min later (after a second race had finally been organised) Arwen begged me for another go. Ali didn't want to follow ("adults" don't play, you know) so I just stood up in the stirrups and gave Arwen free reins.
Another horse had gone off some seconds before us. I heard people calling me to stop and come back (there were other riders who would have gone with us and raced from the start) but the horse being whipped 50m ahead of us was good enough for me. And for Arwen as well, who just worked her way forward. We past them on the second straight, but then I started to feel how tired Arwen was (no surprise though, seeing it was her second lap). I sat down in the saddle and considered letting it go (with a potential baby in Arwen's stomach, why push it?), when I had a look at the other horse next to us, who was totally beat. The rider's whip was hailing but to no avail. Sure enough, Arwen was tired, but she was not ready to give in yet. So I stood up again and gave her as much inspiration as I possibly could, and sure enough, we passed them with a few inches and Arwen was pleased (people were cheering). Anette and I rode home together - two women on their mares with a pack of ten stallions (and their male riders) behind us. We trotted so much though during our way back and forth that for Anette's muscle's sake, I suggested that Chinada take Sahara out today.

He came at four, washed the horses, washed Arwen's millet (she won't eat it if she finds a single stone... talked about being spoiled rotten in this country!) and then rode out with me. Sahara got many compliments for being such a beautiful horse but I'm a little reserved abut her, not entirely having made up my mind. She's a nice little youth, but not my kind of horse. How could she be when I have Arwen? Anyway, I had played with the thought of letting Arwen race again (just for fun) and when Chinada asked me if we couldn't sign her in, I thought like Anette:
"Sure, why not?"

I had not thought that she would win - after all, I knew nothing about her full capacity as I had not watched her perform a full lap at top speed yet. There are always bad nerves involved when you enter your horse in a race, because the greater her reputation, the less you want to make a fool of yourself (or rather, your horse). I could hear her name being called as people placed their bets, and so expectations were high. I was surprised however that the other horse owners accepted to race against her, because in March, they all pulled out. But they hadn't seen her perform a full lap for so long, and besides, most of them still believed that she was pregnant. So in the end, there were five of them who set off at full speed, with Arwen in the lead. But what happened in the first turn? From afar, you could see how one of the jockeys stood up (the jockey stirrups are so short that he might as well have climbed up on top of the horse), pulled back the reins and cockily awaited the others to catch up with him... Yep, that was none other than Chinada on my Arwen... I have seen Chinada strategically slow down Arwen several times before (not with much success though), but I have never seen a jockey psyche the rest in such a cocky manner! I was sure then that the race would be lost and that Arwen at best would finish third, but she held the lead in a tight grip right to the end.

The funny thing was when I talked to Chinada after the race.
I go: "Great race, Chinada, but that stunt could have cost you."
He goes: "But I picked that up from you, Madame!"
I go: "?"
He goes: "Yesterday, when you raced Arwen!"
At first I couldn't understand what he meant, but then I remembered Isa yesterday, pointing his finger at me and saying: "Great race, but I noticed how you held her back towards the end!" He must have meant when I sat down and seriously considered pulling back from the race altogether, only to later spur Arwen with all the energy I possessed. Oh, was that actually me trying to create more excitement, trying to psych my "competitor"? Oh dear... You can't do anything unnoticed in this country.

So sure, Chinada, by all means, go ahead and change the way people race their horses in this country. Want permission to psych your competitors?

Sure, why not!

Ishtar

An afternoon with Chinada

Since Anette had muscle ache today (apart from that, her riding yesterday went very well - she even galopped!), I went out riding with Chinada this afternoon. I had already made up my mind to ride out far today, but since I was with a jockey, I got the furthest I have ever made in during my riding trips in Zinder. There are some beautiful places you can only reach with a four-wheel drive or by horseback in this country, and then you already know by now that I prefer horseback... Arwen was in great shape and so was Sahara, but the latter was under strict orders not to be turned into another racing mare, so that Anette and other people will actually dare to go out with me... Anyway, we galopped for half an hour before I remembered that I actually had a camera on my mobile phone!

A green Zinder is a rare sight for me, as I'm usually in Sweden during this time!

Chinada on Sahara, standing in the of a seasonal lake (tapki)

The sunset over the takpi lake...

Anette however took an ever more beautiful picture of the sunset during her walk in the fields...

Ishtar