Chapter Twelve
Preparing to Depart to the Ruala Tribe.
For four years I had been preparing for this time. Bint was prepared physically for her new life in the desert environment. Both of us had become connected spiritually, we could read each other’s thoughts. Her full sibling Dazshtan also shared that connection. They both were very aware that something was about to occur. They sensed that in my demeanor as I prepared them to be separated.
The group that was to shepherd Bint to the desert began to arrive. Walter and his wife Marget had completed a flight together as Flight Attendant and Chief Purser to Cairo on Lufthansa arrived after they had rested from the flight. Marget had planned to stay behind to help me support the horses at Al Ahmann. My grandpa was not going to miss this opportunity for anything. He was with Walter on the flight from Seattle. Doctor Rahman Marsufi had prepared two of his finest riding horses to accompany the entourage. Mike was able to ride a mare out of his mare Shahwanyssa that proved to be very handy in the desert regions. This group of excited Arabian horse lovers had prepared for five years for this occasion and gathered together in one of the meeting rooms at the Stud. Amir, Marget and I listened and contributed to the planning for their departure. Walter, Mike, and the Doctor would drive the two days as far as they could go then park their vehicles and ride the rest of the of the way through the desert for two days to the tents of the Ruala in the Wadi Sirhan. They would pony Bint the entire trip the last two days. Bint was well prepared since I had ponied her with other horses in the desert for many miles prior to her departure. A groom would also join them to help care for their horses.
With all the plans and details agreed upon, the group loaded the horses into the trailers and prepared to leave. But still being with that little filly for her entire life, it was hard for me to let her leave without me saying a proper goodbye. She was, after all, my ultimate responsibility. As I knelt before her, she pushed up against me, as if to hug me. With her neck and head wrapped around me, she pulled me in close to her. Blowing into my nostrils, our eyes connected. I sensed, as she gazed at me, that she knew an adventure lay ahead for her. To her, it was not a goodbye, but a continuance of our spiritual connection. I had prepared her well. She seemed anxious to get on with it. We knew that we would be together in the spirit. Forever.
February, in the desert, was favorable for traveling without the extreme heat. I could not avoid the feeling I had that came over me as they left. The conversation I had with Amir about the Bdul tribe and their interest in the new arrival of Bint in Cairo was disconcerting. Amir told me that the youth were very rough with their horses and used abusive western methods as they showed their horses throughout the Middle East. Rashad, accompanied by Amir to his tents back home traveled through the Bedu Petra of the Wadi Rum, the Bedu region where the Bdul ranged their horses. The lessons He learned at my home in Oregon influenced him. He witnessed some cruelty in the way the Bdul youth handled their horses. Amir had to pull him away from there because he was upset with those abusive practices. My hope was that my special horses that I had raised from the time they were foals would never experience such cruelty. Was that what Bint was going to be exposed to? Somehow, I could not shake that feeling I had when they left Al Ahmann. My family has developed through the years the same philosophy that Mike Chapman espouses. (Avoid politics, greed, and abusive practices) We follow “the Six Golden Principles of Horsemanship” more than anything else. While I was in Cairo, I vowed to be an influence for the betterment of our God given gift, “the horse.”
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