Speaking Hausa in a public place

As I was shopping yesterday with my sister and sister-in-law (looking for fancy outfits for my sister's dissertation in two weeks), I got a phone call from Yaronbaba.


I haven't had much time lately and have been thinking about calling him a number of times, but just haven't found the opportunity. Then he calls me from Nigeria! A friend of his (or could it be his former boss?) introduced himself in English, saying that he was calling for YB, and that he would "now be passing on the phone". My first thought was something close to panic, realizing that I haven't spoken Hausa for so long! I was certain that I wouldn't be able to express myself. But the words came back quickly enough and I did a fairly good job.

We passed greetings, talked about the horses, about work, about tiredness, then advancing to when he would be going back to Zinder. On a more advanced level: I let him know that Ali was currently not in Zinder taking care of the mares, which YB was under the impression that he was. He promised me he would be back first thing after the races on Sunday. It was fun talking to him, fun hearing his voice again, and even more fun was realising that everybody was staring at me, trying to comprehend what foreign language I was talking in!

When I came back in the evening, I was really pleased. Not only did my sister find a great outfit; my not-so-rich jockey used his own money to call me; just to make sure that everything was alright and that the relationship was still going strong. Relationships in Africa are so important; I'm just so glad to see when I'm not the only one making an effort and when people actually invest their time and money just to bond - not to ask for anything.

Ishtar

The eternal second...

Arwen raced again today, the first time since her past disaster. I gave YB free reins to race in whatever distance he wanted - after all, he's the one doing the work and as a jockey, he only wants to race where he thinks he can win - and he chose the 1000m - my least favorite. But I thought why not. Although it wasn't her distance, she came in a good second place (Arwen the eternal second!) and that was fun. It's the last I see her race before I go, because according to her new Swedish training schedule, she's only to race every three weeks!

Arwen & Yaronbaba gets a visit from Arwen's exjockey Chinada

Ishtar

A telephone call and a riding lesson

I woke up this morning after seven hours of sleep from a telephone call from Nigeria. It was Ali and Yaronbaba. I didn't know at first if something had happened, and in Niger, phone calls are complicated matters. People shout to one another - even when the line is good - and as they are shouting, they cannot hear what the other one is answering; and so they keep calling "what? what?" until they run out of money. As calling is expensive business, I didn't want to waste their time finding out if anything was the matter, but Ali spent three minutes trying to explain who he was (but he didn't have to because the line was so good that I had no problem recognizing his voice) and where he was calling from, in case I had forgotten. I was happy that I was alone in the house, because finally I shouted "NAGANÉ, Ali!" (=I understand) and I could hear him laughing as he told Yaronbaba beside him: "She has understood!" Then Yaronbaba was on the phone, just wanting to say hi and asking how Arwen was and then it was goodbye. Lol, it was a sweet gesture and I really appreciated it.

After that, I had brunch consisting of fillet & horseradish, fried eggs, fruit (guava, grapefruit and the most wonderful orange I have ever tasted!) and coffee - no bread. That was very nice... Then I spent the morning doing housework of different kinds; making yogurt, ironing, cleaning etc. Time went too quickly and at 2 pm I had a rendez-vous with Emmanuel (age 10). I had promised to take him horseback riding because he has been so eager to help YB and me with the horses. YB was really happy when he heard about this deal, and on Friday evening when I checked with Emmanuel if he had asked his parents for permission; YB gave me a contemplating look and said: "You don't forget anything, do you?" I do though, I just try not to! Anyway, Emmanuel was thrilled when I arrived at 2 o'clock. Fifteen minutes later we were out on the street with two horses, him riding Sahara and me walking Arwen. He did a good job, and it shouldn't be long until he'll be able to follow me out in the bush.

Ishtar

This one is for you, Sofia

Remember the jeans that you wore out and left behind? Well, I gave them to Ringo, who fixed them up, and they are proudly being worn the one by who rides my horses... :-) Just thought you would like to know! Ps, now we finally know what size jockeys in Niger have! At least approximately... Arwen says hi: still no sign of "Dunderklumpen"... Not even a kick this last week!

Ishtar

Yaronbaba

The week, Arwen and Sahara have been enjoying the regular company of their new jockey, Yaronbaba. Since Arwen's belly is heavy, he has been taking her out for walks and Sahara has been taken out for rides in the bush (although their pace would hardly be my description of a good outing, but then again, horses are pities when they "have to" work, even when they ask for it themselves...).

As Sofia is leaving soon, we went out to greet him and brought Tabita with us. Tabita loves the horses and this puzzled Yaronbaba, who had probably never seen a girl so young be so fond of such great animals (in general, women in Niger do not ride).

Tabita: "Iiiiiihiiiii!"
Me: "Yes, Tabita, that is a horse! And yes, her name is Arwen!"

Me: "Now that, Tabita, is a DOG."
Tabita: "Ayayayay!"

Me: "Now as you're too small to ride a horse, maybe Baloo will let you ride on his back."
Tabita: "Mmmmm!"

Me: "See? There you go! But let's not get any dog hairs on your nice outfit..."

Ishtar

Training the Stubborn & the Lazy

Today, the Snowman and I had our very own scheme planned. He had recently bought a new horse and wanted to try it out, so I suggested that we race the three of them together: his newly bought who had the speed but lack the endurance, Snövit (the lazy but well-developed mare) and Sahara, my stubborn one...

Being one jockey short, the Snowman asked Chinada to ride Snövit. My ex-jockey cockily stated that he was certain that with this (lazy) mount, he would beat Sahara and her jockey (who has now replaced him and taken over his job). I said nothing, but thought to myself "You wish!"

However, more horses asked to join our party, which was not exactly the intention (we'd be racing on a whole different level!) and soon they were eight all together.

Chinada of course was quick to trade Snövit for the best mount!

After three jump starts, they finally set off, and Snowman and I were equally interested in our mares' progress, or should I say lack thereof...
Chinada won with a good margin on his black stallion...

... while Sahara and Snövit competed for the last position. In the end, Sahara won with a horse length, but it did not look very convincing, but then again, Sahara has been trained to run behind Arwen, so it was no surprise that she did not mind cantering over the finish line. I, however, knew that she could do better, and this provided me with a new challenge: how to get the lazy one (Snövit) and my stubborn darling (Sahara) to actually enjoy the game!

After all, it has always been much more challenging (and inspiring) to start as an underdog!

Anyway, Sahara was an eager mount and we worked on turns for a while, just for fun.

I even took Snövit on a second round, but now there's a horse that will run without passion!

A cheerful mood was set however, and Bala played out, making us all laugh. I was thrilled, because I had always taken him for being the serious one, and suddenly, neither Snowman, Sofia nor I could stop laughing...

Then, all horses had been ridden and Yaronbaba followed me into the bush where awaited a wonderful thirty minute full-gudu ride - my favorite!

Ishtar

Sunday afternoon at the track

In the afternoon, we drove out to the race track again. Ali and his son Isaka had brought the mares and the three of us (Anette, Sofia and I) came by car. Nice deal, if you don't enjoy riding or if you want to wear something other than riding jeans for a while...

Our mission was let Sahara train endurance again. The first time we did it, about a week ago, we shocked the entire racing community. Some watched with little more than indifference when she galloped her two first rounds, but when she began her third, everything grew silent. One by one, the men stopped in their conversation and everybody's eyes were on the mare that was doing the impossible: running a third lap! Now as you've figured out by now, I love surprised, but the surprise that reigned and the silence that followed was more than I had anticipated before! People just stared as Sahara finished off at full speed. And I was satisfied because she had given her all and was thoroughly tired, something Arwen never is...

Chinada was not there this time, as he had gone to Kieby in Nigeria for their two week races. Ali found me someone else however who dared to let Sahara continue her three lap training, and although he was slightly easy on her and had go back and let her run a forth lap, he was just as thrilled about riding Sahara as Chinada was after he had ridden Arwen for the first time.

It's a funny thing with horses and jockeys. And owners as well, I would say! You fall in love with your first horse, and after that, few horses will ever stand out like the first one. Although he has much faith in Sahara's potential, Chinada will never be able to appreciate this second mare as much as the first one. The other jockey however was so impressed with her that he wouldn't stop talking about it, but then again, he has never ridden Arwen!

My fiends however are in love with Sahara, because she's such a sweet and comfortable horse to ride, and being "Arwen's shadow", you never have to worry about where she's going or what she will do once she picks up her speed. Arwen is more difficult to handle. She's my horse down to the bone and what I love about her is that there is nothing she won't do for me. There is no "gudu" in the world that she won't squeeze out if she just gets the feeling that I'm in for a gallop... Only problem is that when she's not stimulated enough, she gets kind of cranky and will often initiate acceleration even when it hasn't been called for. Unless you LOVE galloping, such a mare will not make it to the favorites with the any new rider, and neither Anette nor Sofia are comfortable galloping amongst a million bushes and trees.

Anyway, we had a very nice afternoon. Arwen power-walked around the track and behaved immensely well until she realized that she was to be taken home without having stretched her legs... Needless to say, Ali was pretty tired when he finally arrived half an hour later... As for the girls, they monitored Sahara's three laps and were pleased with the results!

Now believe it or not, while the little jockey rode off with Sahara for her forth lap, I ended up taking care of his horse. Yuk, I don't like mixed colors! This poor fellow had been painted with white dots all over his brown coat...

Ishtar

Introducing Sofia to the race track

Since I haven't been able to ride for a long time (I'm still waiting for my wound to heal, not wanting to aggrevate the infection), I decided to stimulate myself visually instead. So Anette, Sofia and I went out to the race track, hoping to get a glimpse of one of the "sprattelgubbar" - as Anette so kindly calls them: the jockey wannabees that sit on top of exhausting horse, jumping up and down with the most amazing fury you've ever seen (it's incredible how they manage to stay on top of the horse, despite its lack of energy) trying to squeeze out the poor horse's last drop of energy... It's a highly entertaining sight, but I have never seen it work, nor have I seen any of the "real" jockeys do it... (Chinada would just dare!)

Ali was quick to come up to us. He was riding Satellite, one of the horses that he cares for (owned by a certain Elhadj at the other end of town) and had "dressed" him in the headset I had given him as a token of appreciation for the work he had done for me this summer. Had to help him put it right, but the stallion definitively looked a lot more handsome!

The race track may have no fixed times, but there is certainly a fixed order. First, the race horses arrive and walk a lap around the track. The horse carers then hand over their horse to the jockey, who will only ride them if their owner has arrived (by car). It's a very hierarchical place, which I love turning upside down.

The horse owners are mainly the richest men in town. Depicted on this picture, you find the Snow Man and the Gold Man, as we now refer to them. The Snow Man generally dresses in white which is the colour that shows that you do very little practical work yourself, or you would get dirty... The Gold Man has a doubtful background and believes that money will buy everything. However, success at the race track comes with a lot of hard work and (if you wish to take a short cut, which I do - not possessing enough patience to do things the Nigerien way...) innovating ideas. Since he has neither, and still wants to be on top of things, he solves the issue by buying himself a new horse about once every second month... Costly habit!

Now... Who wants to follow a race?

Step "1: Abbas and Chinada preparing for the start, which is never organised and takes about 15-30 minutes every time... (on top of things, the horses are so full of adrenaline that they can hardly stand still).

Finally, off they go...

... leaving behind a trail of dust!

After the first three hundred meters, they disappear behind the euphorbia hedge, only to reappear again for the last 400 meters.

Though they rarely do any wonder, whips are hailing during this last part, even though every race horse will always do his best to win. In the end, it all comes down to food and training. And some innovating ideas!

Ishtar