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

The camels show off

Yesterday, the horses worked on their parade; today, it was the camels' turn. Mmmm, those animals have been created for parades! They absolutely love it!! And I can't believe how peaceful they are; you put five bulls side by side and they walk with their heads together - no fighting... Now if it were horses........... Yes, you get it all right!

Some however did more than work on the parade, they tested their camel's "gudu"!

Mmm, I wouldn't want to race my horse against them... Once the camels have found their speed, they are incredibly endurant! It's amazing how easy they make it look, "flying" over the deep sand...

Now there were some small races as well, and Ali actually convinced me to let Arwen run. She was really happy about it, even though her jockey Chinada was not around (she got another one, a certain Yaronbaba), and to the cheering of the crowd, she won her race... I could not really believe it but I was happy to see that she did not give her all (still, that was enough to win...); now she will take it easy until the little one comes out. I've been "talking" to a vet on the Internet, who said that a turnout in the garden will probably be enough for her, so despite Arwen's love for gudu, she will be taking it easy from now on... Even if that means I have to send her back to Ali for a while!

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

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

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