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Welcome to Alexandra's Blog
On this page I keep record of daily happenings and updates in Abu Dhabi. On this page you can also visit older blogs such as Hungary 2009 and Kentucky 2010. For easy acess to these, please go to the Categories box at left.
alitoft@bigond.com
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by Alexandra Toft | 4/12/2011 2:49 AM | |
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12/12/2011Last night late, dad left for Australia. Today Is the first day where we don't have any horses to feed, and so there was no point going to the stables which are now empty. We got breakfast then went to Boudthib to watch a race. We didn't get lost which was strange and good. It was interesting seeing another race over here and I think from this whole experience we have learnt a lot. There was a lot of our horses in the ride and they all did pretty well. This afternoon we are leaving Abu Dhabi so we washed the car. The first car wash we went to, they said the car was too dirty for them to wash! The car had so much dirt and sand underneath it. The second place was an experience as we may have been expecting one of those electric automatic car washes but it was all hand done and very well done. They even cleaned out the inside and the engine and shined it. We went to Carrefour for the very last time this trip and had our very last pink berry. Today we decided to have a medium pink berry instead of a small, they were massive. We will defiantly miss pink berry. At the Carrefour we also had to buy Another suit case because we have run out of room. We went back to the hotel and continued packing until 4:00 when we checked out. We went out by the pool for a few hours where we had some fish n chips and played ping pong. Abdullah came to pick us up at about 7:30 and took us to Abu Dhabi International Airport. Our flight is at 10pm and Helen, Georgia, Maddie and Mette were also on the flight. Leinjte and Pietre were also flying out tonight and we said goodbye. Our flight was straight to Sydney so a very long one, 14 hours. We all slept most of the way though. Then an hour and a half flight to Brisbane. We were greeted by Nanna, Poppa, Dad and Ginny. It is very good to be home, but Abu Dhabi was so much fun and an awesome experience! Now we enjoy the Christmas holidays. 11/12/2011Today we had our first sleep in in Abu Dhabi. Breakfast in the hotel buffet then we went to see the horses. Dad and Narelle checked the horses a few times last night and when we got to the stables this morning most of us were all there. We began the massive job of cleaning up all of the gear. The wash bay was always full, with us all scrubbing towels and gear and rugs and stuff drying. The horses all look very well today, no problems among any. Zalman had looked after the stables yesterday but still believed he deserved as much attention as the others that had raced. on our way back to the hotel we went by pink berry, we had pomegranate frozen yogurt with lots stuff. Lunch at the buffet,then back to the stables. We continued cleaning all the gear up and packed everything into the trunks ready for the next stage of their journeys. Moonlight is a champion, and she was the first to leave our stable barn today. Al Reef came and picked up High Society, Zalman, Arrogance and Otis. HS and Zally will be trained for some future races for us. We will be seeing them pretty soon, but it was still sad to say bye for now, I always miss Zalman especially. We also said goodbye to our security/quarantine guard and gave him an Australian cap. During lunch I had washed my Australian team shirts in the bath tub for tonight's closing ceremony, however when we arrived back this afternoon they were still soaking. With just 30minutes until we had to leave for the event, we tried the hair dryer but luckily got the hotel people to dry it. He said it would take over half an hour, but it didn't matter, as long as it was dry enough. Georgia and I went in a car with Mette and Narrelle to the closing ceremony, which was at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Centre, and we got soo lost. We came close lots of times and we were aiming for a 7:00 rehearsal, however arrived 5 minutes before the actual starting time of 8:00. It was very scary and we were starting to panic when lost. We even had to ask multiple taxi drivers and random hotel concierges. The Ceromony was very nice and especially spectacular because we were a part of the most important thing, the medals Ceremony. It was amazing being given the bronze medal and we all felt very proud. We received medals, extremely heavy trophies ( which we don't know how we will transport home because our luggage is already way over the max), beautiful red roses and other gifts, on the podium we stood next to Uruguay who won the gold team medal and France silver. Allix also won the Individual Silver medal which is very exciting! The press and media took a mega amount of photos, it was crazy. And everyone stood for the national anthems. Afterwards was a nice dinner. This was fun and when everyone kinda went around the tables of all the countries, with some people getting ride bibs autographed, swapping shirts, pins and caps, and taking photos with team mascots etc. I swapped a couple of my Aussie shirts for a Brazil and a Portugal shirt and I also got a Chile cap. I caught up with the Argentina guy that had picked me up when I fell off in the second leg yesterday and chased after HS. We got home back to the hotel a lot quicker than we had gotten there. 10/12/2011Today, the day we having been working towards has finally arrived. Dad and Bridget went to the stables at 4:00 and fed the horses. We got up at 4:30, had a shower to wake up and made our way to the stables where everyone is nervously and excitedly preparing for the day ahead. We rode the horses up to the ride base and here it was crazy. Everyone was warming their horses up and trotting and cantering around. We made our way out to the start of the shoot and before I even knew, High Society saw horses go and he too was gone. We cantered down the shoot and I think we got in a good spot, behind the front runners. There were many out of control horses and when we hit the deep sand about 4km into the ride a horse without a rider came galloping past. This sent HS off and it was very difficult to control him. It was scary because of going through deep sand fast and probably too fast. On the second loop HS was just as strong, and when we came to the Torah Bora on the down hills he reefed like crazy. The ankles were numb and kept slipping put of the stirrups and I felt as though I could easily fall off at any moment. Unfortunately I was riding with some UAE horses, meaning loads of cars and shortly after completing the Tora Bora HS jumped into canter, I lost both stirrups and I indeed fell off. Luckily it was soft sand and also luckily it wasn't in front of everyone, no wait it was in front of everyone, including Sheikh Mohammed. HS went a long way of course, bolting with stirrups flapping. About 10 cars were chasing him through the desert while Some very nice Argentinians helped me into a ute to chase him and helped me get back on. Chris, Mette and Wendy also helped me get bak on him and I was back on track again. High Society successfully managed to keep me very alert when he shied every 300m when I caught a bottle to pour over him. The 3rd leg was far more uneventful, thank goodness! Moonlight and Allix were making a move and were having a great race. Sadly Arrogance vetted out after the 3rd loop. There was a compulsory represent after the third and fourth loops. On the fourth loop HS began to feel tired and for such a sensatice horse, whom you usually can't kick, he became desensitized. Brooke was also making a move at this point and Australia was looking in a good position for a team medal. On the last loop I rode with Ptis and Pierre and HS picked up and felt good. At this stage I was told that both Brooke and Allix had completed and pretty up there too! Therefore it was my job to complete and if I did so within a calculated time, we would win the Bronze team medal, amazing. It inspired me to go steady and look after HS so he would complete well. Coming off the last leg was an awesome feeling and I think everyone was happy to see me. The final vet check was extremely scary with but his trot was amazing!! I finished in 37th position individually. Although I may have wanted to complete slightly faster, I could not be much happier and I am so extremely excited and proud to be receiving a Bronze medal for Australia. As usual we learnt a lot from the day. Celebrations were in order and we had a nice dinner with the team near the pool at the hotel. 9/12/2011Today is very exciting, race day is tomorrow! In the morning we took the horses for a last ride, a relaxing mostly walk. At the stables we cleaned up all of our race day gear and also began shipping all our resources up to the vet gate. the stables today closed at 11:30 instead of 12:00 today because they reopen at 1:00 because pre- ride vetting starts at 2:00. Waiting at the stables for a steward to come collect us for the vetting was fun. We are all very excited, and we were focused on looking nice for the trot ups. Lesley plaited my hair and we all had nice green and gold ribbon. We wore our riding attire including helmets. Once we had walked up to the vet gate the coolest thing happened. We were given our riding bib numbers and the crew/ groom bibs. Guess what?!?! I am number 14. I mega coincidence because this is my favorite number and in When I can I ask for it, but I got it by luck, pretty good luck I reckon. Brooke is number 13, Georgia 15 and Allix is 16. The horses trotted up fantastically, we have taken the first step towards a great day tomorrow. The pre ride briefing was this evening. Conducted mostly by the Technical Delegate, Zulu, it was nice and short and informative. As the president of the vet commission, Brian Sheehan gave an inspiring briefing on what to expect tomorrow in the vet ring, and the importance of looking after our horses. We had booked dinner afterwards in the hotel buffet. We are all so excited, and also tired ready to rest up for the race tomorrow. We have all worked so hard, we feel that all of the horses look awesome and are ready to run. We think the first leg will ne fairly steady, saving our horses for later. But all will become clear, and we are looking forward to it. For results tomorrow there are two websites which will be live feeding updates. We woke up this morning, pretty tired, breakfast in the hotel and off to the stables nice and early. the horses have been eating very well and today we didn't worry about taking them for their usual trot up because today we have a session familiarizing our horses with the vet gate, where we can also practice our race day trot. We also decided to have our tram photos up at the vet gate, with the nice background. We put on all our best gear for the photos and rode the horses up to the vet gate. Wo got straight into the photos and we are lucky to have Sue Crockett as our photographer. We got lots of shots, with everyone in, grooms riders horses only, single photos, saddle clothe photos with Pip Archer and Jill Borton, Rug photos with the Arabian Horse Society rugs and LAS helmet photos etc. All our horses gear is beautiful black Zilco gear, we looked very nice. We then rode our horses around for 20 minutes until we were aloud to check out the vet gate. We practiced trotting into the vet gate, un saddling and then trotting up. Dad gave a brief on different plans and tactics we could adopt in the vet gate and we shared this time with the New Zealand tram and of course the Namibian team, who is Pierre riding the awesome Otis te (our quarantine barn). Each Quarantine barn had a different time slot, each with half an hour between to avoid any contact between horses. After this we organized things at the stables before heading back to the hotel. A few of us chose to stay back at the hotel for the afternoon and have a rest because the next few days are gonna be big. At 6:30 about 250 of the people from different teams gathered in the hotel lobby,we are going on another team excursion organized by the organizing committee. Tonight we are going to a desert safari BBQ. There were 10 mini buses lined outside the hotel and we drove for a while. We then swapped to bran new Toyota four wheel drives and drove further out into the desert.we had crazy drivers and my head hit the roof lots. When we arrived we had a camel ride and the setting was a beautiful party in the open desert air. There was carpet over most of the ground with small height tables with pillows on the ground where we eat. I wore my hippy outfit and dad wore a dish dash which was hilarious. There was some belly dancing and a nice dinner and we got some henna put on us. Henna is a natural dye and they put beautiful patterns on our hand, it stays on for a couple weeks. Henna is also used to assist in healing, and they commonly use it for things such as greasy heal for the horses over here. Abdullah took us back to the hotel. 7/12/2011This morning we had breakfast in the buffet and went straight to the stables. We are clipping our horses for the race and we began this process today. We took the horses out for an hour and a half hand walk. I cleaned my riding boots today for the team photos tomorrow and also my boots for tonight's Opening ceremony. We returned to the hotel at 12:00 after going to pink berry and Carrefour. At the hotel we now have to book for the buffet lunch because of the absolute packedness of the restaurant with all of the teams. It's funny because the hotel has four levels and up the stairs is covered with a layer of sand from horse people coming from the stables. It is fun to be among people who do the same thing as you, and are the best at what we do. We waited for a while for lunch, had it, and then went back to the stables. This afternoon Allix, Pierre, Georgia, Wendy, Dad and I drove the 1st leg of the course. It was really good to see it and I believe certainly important. We got out of the car at a number of points along the track and we walked so we could pick the right surface. We also got to drive the Tora Bora which will be a part of the 2nd leg. We are going to have to be very alert and picking the right trial because on one side it is very deep sand while in other places it is hard and concussive. When we got back it was late in the afternoon, we got ready for an extremely exciting part of the event, the Opening Ceremony! The Ceremony was held at the Emirates Palace Hotel, a spectacularly fancy place in Abu Dhabi' s city centre. We went in separate cars and had to go by the trusty Carrefour to buy dad a belt. When we arrived at the palace we were amazed at the beautiful place. The riders marshaled out of the way. We lined up in a single alphabetical line by country and we got to hold our flag and Arabic girls in costumes walked next to us. We paraded out behind a beautiful stallion and we felt famous, so many cameras! We looked very professional and great, in our Australian uniform, consisting of our white dress shirts, moleskins slacks, scarfs and boots.The atmosphere was amazing, it was outside in a big courtyard with palm trees and around 40 tables. The night had lots of traditional Arabic entertainment and a nice buffet dinner. There were some very important people there, and it is really cool because Brian Sheehan is the President of the Vet Commission, a first for Australia, and an honor. I swapped a couple pins with some other countries because I collect them and it's fun, we got home pretty late. From here on in the stables will be opening at 7 in the mornings instead of 8am. We still cannot take the horses out of the compound untill 8 though because quarantine regulations say that we have to keep them in the stables within an hour of darkness, because that's when the insects are most active. So we saddled up and took the horses out at 8 on the dot. We did the 20km loop
at a relaxing walk, trot and canter. Today I trialled a new bit called a Sheikh Rashid bit (aka a Dutch gag). The funniest/ scariest thing happened today out riding. We were riding around towards the shoot when we saw Blake walking Sophie up ahead, we heard car horns beeping and a few camels coming from all directions. We stopped a way a way and thought the camels would just pass. There was one main camel, a baby one with a crazy rider on it galloping up the shoot then back then straight towards us!! Bridget was riding Zalman who didn't worry about the camel, but I was riding High Society who can be a little shyish and sensitive. This baby camel galloping toward us, we can't really describe how close it came, it may have brushed past HS, but the moral of the story is he didn't like it. He jumped out of it's way, too quick for me. I lost my stirrups but managed to very luckily stay on. We were grateful for the Freemans in the car chasing after the camel, we were in a shock and very confused. We have no idea what on earth they were doing but apparently, according to the guys yelling and beeping in the cars, the camel was put of control. Although to us this did not seem the case, he was whipping it. Anyway there was also a group of camels, that I think had escaped and they were trying to catch them. The whole situation was very scary at the time, but really kind of hilarious, and we decided that trying to describe it didn't really give it justice. After our eventful ride we went to some local stables, had a beautiful traditional Arabic lunch of Lamb Brayami and a game of guess the horse where we guessed the names of Australian horses that have come over here. When we returned to the stables it was quite late, 5:30, we fed the horses and then went back to the hotel. Mum and Helen stayed at the hotel, Dad and Bridget went to another set of local stables and I and most of the team went on a team excursion organised by the Abu Dhabi Organising Comitee. We went to Ferrari World! I got a ride with Peirre, Pieter and Lintje. Apparently it was a 30 minute trip, however we managed to get slightly lost and got there a little late. All of the other countries were there, and it was open only for the World Championships teams which was really cool. The place was amazing. Seriously nice cars and also some pretty cool thrill rides. We went on a giant drop kind of ride except it also went fast going up. The ride went through the roof of Ferrari world and you could see the lights of Abu Dhabi in the open air, serisouly high up, then you dropped, fun! When we were lining up for the rides we asked the other teams if they were good. I would say to the french good? And they would say, yes yes good good and a thumbs up. It was really cool. We went on the worlds fastest roller coaster, we had to wear goggles! We were there for two hours and on our way home we decided to follow the South African team and also my GPS. I typed into the GPS the Mafraq hotel. Who knew there were two,and also that the South Africans weren't going back to the Mafraq. We defianately went to the wrong one, one in the centre of Abu Dhabi and so we did a bit of sight seeing on ou way home. 6/12/2011Everything is coming together. Banners are starting to appear and the base is transforming into a World Class vet gate. This morning dad arrived which is exciting and it was great to show dad what a great job we have done with the horses. We trotted the horses up outside the compound, they ate their breakfast and we took all of them for a ride. I rode HS, Maddie Zally, Georgia Arrigance and Bridget Otis. Yousef and Dad followed us in one car, and mum, Helen and Warwick in another. We did our yellow 20km loop and practiced grabbing water bottles and are also experimenting different riding styles. At the ladies race the other day they mostly ride with their hands high so the horse doesn't trip and they sit back with legs forward. HS likes this style and also appreciates posting, which is just standing up in the saddle, but we won't do that for long. I think I will work on two theirs normal/ sitting back canter and one third posting. But really these sort of plans are almost pointless because everything is usually different on the day, and all will become clear. We went back to the hotel and attempted to check into our official accommodation, but this was not going to happen any time soon. As the accommodation is starting today for every country and team at the Mafraq, well of course every country and team was in the hotel lobby plus baggage. The place was buzzing and it was awesome to see all the other teams from everywhere, all over the world. We met lots of people a few from Hungary which is pretty cool. Abdullah dropped off Pierre, Lintje and Pieter, aka the Namibian team. Twas great to see em all. In the afternoon Bridget and I took Zally and HS for a walk with Kristy and Moonlight. It was a fairly mega long walk and High Scociety is very full of it, shying at everything. When we got back we went for a drive on the track with Abdullah and he could not believe the 1st leg, sooo sandy and deep! It seems we will be traveling fairly steady, if horses permit, at the beginning of the ride. The farrier came again today, doing The Zalminator's and Arrogances feet. We are very impressed with the farriers job. We went up to the endurance village/vet gate to get our accreditation, but after waiting in line for a while they closed up for the day so we will have to get them in the morning. Nearing the end of the day, everyone tends to congregate in the stable alleyway where we discuss matters to do with the upcoming days and make plans for race day. We returned to the hotel and at 7:00 was our first official kind of meeting for the World Champs, it was a Quarantine meeting. Zulu pretty much discussed the importance of the quarantine precedures and stuff like that. We had dinner in the buffet, now we are no longer alone in the restaurant but are accompanied by all the other countries. Meeting people from other countries is one of my favorite parts of these events. After dinner, Courtney, Blake, Maddie, Georgia, Brooke, Pierre and I went and played some Fusball and Ping Pong which was lots of fun. 4/12/2011Today we woke up early and as usual had breakfast in the hotel buffet. We got to the stables and fed the horses and did their boxes. They have a nice routine each day where they eat brekkie then exercise. Today I rode Zalman and Bridget rode Otis. We rode for 15km, only walking and trotting today. We saw lots of camels again, but the horses still find them very scary! HS and Arry went for a hand walk. For lunch we went to the camel souk where we got our favourite chilli chips and icecreams. The hotel is getting busy with quite a few countries are staying here now. We went and had a swim at the hotel pool, here was Argentina having lunch, Austria, New Zealand and some of us Aussies. In the afternoon Georgia, Warwick, Bridget and I took our four horses for a hand walk on our training loop. While out everyone back at the stables were treated to a drive of the first leg for the ride, excorted by Zulu. Zulu is the track designer and also in charge of most things from Quarantine to accreditations. He had previously warned us that the course was going to be quite technical and will prove a challenge for the Young Riders. Although I did not go and see the 1st loop, I got the vibe that indeed the 1st leg especially will be a mega challenge, with very soft and deep sand for a long section just 3km into the race, which will majorly slow everyone up. Everyone was quite stunned when they got back from the drive and somewhat worried, as we were sort of expecting a faster racetrack kind of course. But all will become clear on race day. We had a gathering and mini meeting happening in the stables talking about the course and also other matters such as hotel room allocations because we have to move rooms tomorrow as the official stuff starts tomorrow. Its getting serious! When we returned to the hotel we got ready to go to the races in Abu Dhabi. The races were at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Centre, a spectacular place, and tonight was mainly Arabian races which is pretty cool. We checked out the facilities of the place by accidently parking on the opposite side of the park. They had a horse swimming pool, multiple indoor airconditioned walking machines and a riding school. We got there in time to see the last two races for the night, an Arabian race and a Thoroughbred race. We had bets between us of the winners for the races. In the last race, the Thoroughbred race, everyone chose a horse to win, and Allix and I got the closest, our horse number 9 coming second. The races were great to see and we had a nice time. The drive back to the hotel is about 25 minutes and we only got lost once, missing an exit. We had dinner at the hotel buffet, and when finished and leaving an Arabic man approached us and asked us to join him and his wife for his wife's birthday. Bridget, ofcourse, found it very difficult to contain laughter, as of course this man was a stranger. None the less, it was pretty awesome cake. The couple has been married for 10 years and it was the wife's 30th birthday. We had already finished our desert previously but tried very hard to consume the very nice rich chocolate cake given to us. They were very nice people and all the hotel staff also sung Happy Birthday with us. 3/12/2011
Today the day started very early, at 1 am when the hotel fire alarm sounded. It was very scary, but funny when everyone popped their heads out of their doors. It was a false alarm, but half an hour later mum thought she could smell smoke, but she was just imagining it. Every day at about 5:30 Arabic music sounds across the city, it is worship and prayer time in the mosques. On the way to the stables we asked Bridget if she had heard the alarm and she just said "What alarm?" We lead the Otis and High Society behind the car for 30km this morning. We stopped every 10 km for a drink break because it was very hot and each time Otis drank a whole bucket, he's an awesome horse. There were a lot of camels out and about this morning. They walk in heards of about 25 with 5 riders. It was pretty funny, because each time we came across them we slowed down to avoid the horses shying too much, Otis especially reckons they are sooo scary, but the camels shy at us too, its a funny sight. From 12:00 to 2:00 when the stables are closed we went to pick up our laundry from yesterday and also went via our favourtie place in the UAE, the Carrefour and of course pciked up a Pink Berry (today: original frozen yogurt with fresh mango, rasberry, coconut and almonds.) We got lunch from Starbucks again. We went back to the hotel then back to the stables at 3:00. We put HS and Zally into the yards for the afternoon, while Otis and Arry went for a hand walk. We picked up their stables and I took an entire hour to seperate all the sawdust into HS's stable. It was fun. We put the horses back in their stables and gave them their feed. We have been feeding Zally and Otis less because they are on their diet. A lot of the team were in Dubai today for the national day race. We left the stables early and went for a drive onto the course but we couldnt find our way very well and got confused by the flagsso went back to the hotel and had room service for dinner. Pierre's parents have arrived in Abud Dhabi as well today and we will be catching up with them probably tomorrow which will be good. Dad is leaving Australia tomorrow. |
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