Equestrian.Com.My, Zack’s Tack and Pete’s Blog-in-the-garden wish all our Muslim readers Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

‘This is the Luck that follows every Cast,
Since o’er my Net the Sultan’s Shadow pass’d.’

Beheld upon the Shore a little Lad
A-fishing, very poor, and Tatter-clad
He was, and weeping as his Heart would break.
So the Great Sultan, for good humour’s sake
Pull’d in his Horse a moment, and drew nigh,
And after making his Salam, ask’d why
He wept—weeping, the Sultan said, so sore
As he had never seen one weep before.
The Boy look’d up, and ‘O Amir,’ he said,
‘Sev’n of us are at home, and Father dead,
And Mother left with scarce a Bit of Bread:
And now since Sunrise have I fish’d—and see!
Caught nothing for our Supper—Woe is Me!’
The Sultan lighted from his horse. ‘Behold,’
Said he, ‘Good Fortune will not be controll’d:
And, since Today yours seems to turn from you,
Suppose we try for once what mine will do,
And we will share alike in all I win.’
So the Shah took, and flung his Fortune in,
The Net; which, cast by the Great Mahmud’s Hand,
A hundred glittering Fishes brought to Land.
The Lad look’d up in Wonder—Mahmud smiled
And vaulted into Saddle. But the Child
Ran after—’Nay, Amir, but half the Haul
Is yours by Bargain’—’Nay, Today take all,’
The Sultan cried, and shook his Bridle free—
‘But mind—Tomorrow All belongs to Me—’
And so rode off. Next morning at Divan
The Sultan’s Mind upon his Bargain ran,
And being somewhat in a mind for sport
Sent for the Lad: who, carried up to Court,
And marching into Royalty’s full Blaze
With such a Catch of Fish as yesterday’s,
The Sultan call’d and set him by his side,
And asking him, ‘What Luck?’
The Boy replied, ‘This is the Luck that follows every Cast,
Since o’er my Net the Sultan’s Shadow pass’d.’

From Fitzgerald’s shortened translation of Atta’s Conference of the Birds

The Sabah Polo Association has its field in the centre of the Royal Sabah Turf Club’s racetrack.  It is all very rural at Tuaran, about 40 minutes from downtown KK.  But once you get there, you can’t help but love the old world charm of the place.  The ponies aren’t anything much to crow about, mainly being very aged ex-Royal Brunei ponies, KL rejects and a few homebreds.  Polo is on the up-and-up but they know they have quite a way to go.

Of course there is nothing quite like KK’s mix of sightseeing, seafood and shopping.  Its natural attractions are world class. I had an awesome time in KK.

It is the people that make this place special.

There may not be many players, but everyone at the club are great friends.   It is a a real mix of people - Sabahans and West Malaysians, but more than that, it is the Borneo Bumiputra mix that adds the fragrance to this potpourri.    There are so many tribes in Sabah, and many Sabahans have inter-married to the Kadazan-Dusun, Rungus, Lundayeh, Bajau and even the Head-Hunters, the Murut.

The old guard of George Lai, David Wang, Fong Ming San and Dr Vernon Skinner have been joined by a younger set of players.  Jonny Chai, Johnson Or, Jason Chin,  Octavius Dares, Tunku Farazil and Michael Lo are organised by Simon Chia, the club’s polo executive. a polo player himself.  Perhaps the best is Alvin Lai, who is a second-generation player.  There is also Nancy Bandusena-Fong, Sabah’s only lady player.

Everyone gets along with everyone else.  There is real camaraderie.  There is much more tolerance, openness and acceptance - truly 1 Malaysia in action.

Thank you Sabah Polo Association for this wonderful education.  I truly learned a lot from you.

What is Strangles?  Equestrian.Com.My has collated four articles about Strangles - What you need to know as published on various websites.
1. Strangles – Wikipedia
2. Horse Strangles Disease — What It Is, and How To Treat It – www.horsesandhorseinformation.com
3. Straight Talk About Strangles – www.equisearch.com
4. Strangles in Horses - Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food & Rural Affairs

To read Equestrian.Com.My’s feature on Strangles - What you need to know, please click here: http://207.58.190.128/updates/938-strangles-what-you-need-to-know

Only Gatineau (equal 17th) finished outside the top four, to the disappointment of every Singaporean present at the Youth Olympic Games showjumping.

To get jump-offs for Gold and Silver, and a 6-way jump-off for Bronze was a great feeling for the course design team.  We were highly complemented by Capt. John Roche, the FEI Director of Jumping.   John Vallance did a brilliant job.

At first I thought the course was a little too easy, as we had many going clear from the 4 and 8 faulters from the 1st round.  But nerves played a part in the rounds of the Young Riders who were leading.   In the end, only two jumped double clears - Chirico and Gamboa.

In the jump-off, Chirico kept his nerve and won.  Gamboa, though he improved with almost every day, reverted to a flat-out running style in the jump-off, and took out a Chinese Temple wing.    The bronze for Dalma Malhas was historic in that she is the first ever Saudi female Olympian.  I hope it opens opportunities in other areas for more women in Saudi Arabia.  HRH Princess Haya was a little teary, when she presented the medal.

There were “Thank Yous” for all the volunteers, and even before we could leave the venue, the contractors were stripping off all the arena decorations, taking down the buntings and packing away the bleachers.

I wish I could say, “…till next year,” but the Youth Olympic Games comes once in a lifetime.  We will never see it in Singapore again in my lifetime.

So what is next for Singapore?  Will it kick on from here?  Will there really be an equestrian  legacy left beside the hardware and the horses?  Now it is up to the Equestrian Federation of Singapore and their National Equestrian Park.

YOG may happen once a lifetime in Singapore, but I am sure Singapore will not let the YOG spirit die.

Great Britain’s Carian Scudamore rode a very accurate clear round.  Qatar’s Abdurahman Al Marri has impressed me with the accuracy of his jumping.  He has not been blessed with a top horse, yet he can be proud of his 4-fault round on Emmaville Persuasion.  New Zealand’s Jake Lambert has drawn a very nice one in LE Lucky.  He is certainly doing nothing wrong.    South Africa’s Samantha McIntosh is also making no mistakes with Little Miss Sunshine.

Today, the day after the 1st teams round, the riders mainly did flatwork.  It was only the ones who had taken reserve horses and those who did poorly yesterday that schooled over fences.

My two favourites, Martin Fuchs has been great, schooling his horse quietly everyday.   He’s got Midnight Mist moving nicely off his leg, and is  already teaching the horse some shoulder-in.   This morning, Tom was still working on making Hugo accept his leg more, and improve the horse’s ability to make balanced turns while maintaining impulsion.  Hugo isn’t that impressive a jumper.  It is Tom’s riding that attracts me to them.

There is a quite a wide range of standards.  The Chinese rider apparently has been riding for only two years.  Unfortunately, this is far too obvious.  The Argentinean lass has obvious steering issues. Her horse , Glen Haven Accolade, seems to have understood this and therefore looks for the numbers herself.

Some didn’t seem that bothered with work this morning.  There was one rider who overslept  - you can tell he isn’t going to make it in the world of professional showjumping.   With no paddocks to turn the horses out in, and with no afternoon session, the horses have been stuck in their stables for most of the day.  The very least the riders could have done is walked them out after all the jumping they have done the last five days.

Hopefully the ones who put in the time and effort will be rewarded tomorrow, in the 2nd round of the Teams Jumping, and in the Individual rounds on Sunday and Tuesday.

The Straits Times does not seem to have taken notice that there are 2 rounds to the Teams Jumping, declaring on their website yesterday that Australasia had won the gold.  It just goes to show you have to be very careful where you get your news from.   And for that, Equestrian.Com.My has got them beat.

All of Singapore will be cheering for Caroline Chew and Gatineau, the lovely 8 year old thoroughbred she drew.  They went clear this morning, and look better with each day.  Singapore will go mad with delight if she can win a gold medal.  The Asian team is looking good, so she has two chances at it.

Our course  design team has learned quite a bit more from the training session, and the leader of the team, John Vallance has designed a 12-fence track for the 1st round, which will be held on Wednesday morning.

The course designers in our team are led by John Vallance, who was co-course designer for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.  This is the 5th time he is at an Olympic Games as a course designer.  Also in our team is Brad Longhurst, who has assisted John at the Premier Cup and Werner Deeg at the 3QE Classic.  Tiake (Jake) is a Maori who lives in Australia and is a wonderfully talented worker.

Zack’s Tack has supplied myself (I am an FEI International Course Designer), Sue Crawford and ex-national eventer and showjumper Tommy Wong.

Bukit Kiara’s Beverly Whittel has been seconded to our team.    Pedja Marjanovic and Sandra Lim are the Singaporeans in our group.

There are so many acronyms to learn.  Despite having access to the FOP (Field of Play) we are not considered ITOs, NTOs or any type of TOs.  ITOs (International Technical Officials) get gray polo shirts.  NTos (National Technical Officials) get purple shirts.   All of the others in the team got purple ones, except for us poor Zack’s Tack’s types who made our own shirts.  I am told we will not be allowed to wear them once they wangle us some purple YOG shirts.

For some reason the Course Designer and the President of the Vet Commission did not get gray shirts.  They were given purple ones, just like the horse handlers, street cleaners and pooper-scoopers.  I am told that Dr Roshni Selvam now has a gray shirt, though John Vallance is still pretty in purple.

Most days, we have no labour but ourselves. Not a big worry, you would think, if the morning, like today’s, is over before noon.  But if you have to sit around till after 4 pm while they rotavate, roll and reroll the arena before you get the arena to rebuild for the next day, the team tends to get a little hungry.  They don’t do puasa well, when they have to lug fences all over the 80 x 50 m arena.

Like the purple shirts, our team has been promised lunch vouchers.

FEI President HRH Princess Haya will be in Singapore to watch the games.  This evening the police were there to do a bomb sweep.  Four red paddy wagons came up the hill to our secret course designer’s cabin.  We wondered who had tipped them off, but in fact they were there only to turn their vehicles around.  From tomorrow, no liquids, food, lighters or sharp objects will be allowed into the venue.

If we course designers aren’t able to bring in our own food, those lunch vouchers had better be a daily occurrence, otherwise those fences might start getting taller.

35 horses were eventually presented for the trot-up.  With 31 riders, it means that there are just 4 reserve horses.  The horse trainers chose not to work the horses in the morning, which was perhaps a mistake in that the horses were very fresh for the trot-up, and this morning’s first ride.

The draw, on the other hand, was very professionally presented.  It went off without a glitch.  It followed a technical briefing where the riders and trainers were taken through the pertinent rules of this historic first-ever Olympic borrowed horse competition.

I was a little surprised that riders were told that if their horses were unmanageable, they could ask for a change, though they would only be allowed one change.  With only four horses in reserve, it could be an issue for the organisers.

This morning was the first occasion for the riders to try their drawn horses.  It was interesting to watch them work.  The Asian’s had all sorts of different styles.  The North Americans all rode in the hunter seat style that they are so famous for. The South Americans quickly got their fences up to maximum height and did most of their work there.

The Europeans were the most confident, working efficiently, then walking their horses out quietly for the rest of the session.

Fortunately, only one rider fell off.  Argentina’s Maria Victoria Paz came off Glen Haven Accolade.  She remounted to finish her session.

Singapore’s Caroline Chew drew well.  She was lucky enough to be drawn with Gatineau, one of the favourites of the competition’s horses.

New Zealand’s Jake Lambert looked to be very good operator, as did Canada’s Dominique Shone and USA’s Eirin Bruheim. Hong Kong’s Jasmine Lai was paired with Butterfly Kisses, which she rode very efficiently.  Nicola Philippaerts (BEL), Martin Fuchs (SUI) and Carian Scudamore (GBR) impressed with their professionalism.

Perhaps the outstanding horse and rider combination this morning was Australia’s Tom McDermott.  He looks an outstanding rider.  He had Hugo jumping very well.

The riders will get another training session on Sunday morning, before being given 90 seconds to school their horses over a course on Monday morning.

In fact, I have never worried about the “unlucky” number 13.  Way back, when God was still a child, I won two SEA Games gold medals wearing rider No 13.  Since then, instead, it has become my lucky number.

It will be interesting to see how the young riders cope with the horses.    There are some famous family names competing.  Will some horses go even better than in training?

I’m really looking forward to the action now.  Our fences are ready.  The course design team is here in Singapore.  All the training of horses, the rehearsals, the set-up for YOG is over.  Now it is time for the games.

All the best to the competitors.

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Huge excitement and anticipation now at the YOG venue.  The countdown to D-Day has begun.  The nerves are setting in as SYOGOC prepares to host all the riders from around the world, and luminaries like FEI President HRH Princess Haya, FEI Vice-President Chris Hodgsen and FEI Secretary General Alex McLin.

Naturally there is some nervousness that the horses will go well.  The Glen Haven Park team has prepared the horses in Australia and their pride rides with the horses.  They can’t control the riders that come to YOG, and being youths of 18 years and under, the range of riding abilities will be pretty disparate.  Most of the horses are thoroughbred or thoroughbred cross, with a few warmbloods thrown in.  It will be interesting to see how the Europeans, who are more warmblood orientated, ride the thoroughbreds.  Hopefully there won’t be many big issues.

There is a competition dress rehearsal next Saturday, so we’ll get to test our readiness for the Youth Olympic Games.

YOG is making me spend more time in Singapore than I have for the last fifteen years.

Food, glorious food!
We’re anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day –
Our favourite diet!

Singapore food is the food of my youth.   While I love many types of other food, there is nothing like the food you grew up as a kid with.

Thankfully I have lots to do at YOG with the fences and assisting on the course design team.  The physical exercise will allow me to eat!