FEI and the impact of outsider eyes....

I spent the morning on Sunday at Jamhuri Park watching and photographing Kenya's participants in the 2009 FEI (that's Federation Equestre Internationale) World Dressage Challenge.

It was a beautiful sunny day for a change, and the horses were positively gleaming, as were the competitors in their bright white dressage jods. (Usually I think to myself, "White for horseback riding, how silly is that?" but yesterday I had to acknowledge it really does look sharp).

The Challenge is designed to "promote and expand horse riding skills in developing countries throughout the world". This year, 59 countries are taking part.

What happens is that experienced FEI international judges travel to the countries involved to judge the dressage tests. The next day, the top riders also benefit from a clinic with the international judges to review their performances and work on weaknesses. Kenya competes with other countries in the challenge through its national team score from the day. The same judges travel to the other countries in our zone to judge their horses and riders performing the exact same tests.

For an interested but not very accomplished dressage newbie like myself, it was great to see some of Kenya's best riders and horses putting forth their top effort. The atmosphere was very different from the usual "one big family" Kenyan horse show feeling. Fewer loose dogs, for one thing. Even the resident Jamhuri Park monkeys were making themselves scarce. The hadada ibises, however, will always be with us...fortunately Kenyan horses and ponies treat them with the lack of attention they deserve despite the horrible racket they make.


Instead, there was a clear feeling that everyone was -- slightly nervously -- putting on their Sunday best for the visitors "from away."

"We are to be taken seriously!" was part of the vibe. "Aren't we????" was the other part. And it made me think what an island the Kenyan world of horses and riders is, how despite itself this world bridles a bit defensively when scrutinized by the sleekly tailored representatives of Europe (Judge Bo Ahman from Sweden, in the awesome pink tie) and South Africa (Judge Sharon Rhode).

Clearly, it's not easy to ride to an international standard when you cannot truly compete internationally. But the effort seems to pay off...with riders ending the day talking about what they needed to do better (shorten their reins, for one thing), and planning for ways to intensify their training.