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Bachelor Bey gelding catches Qatar emir's eye BOISSEVAIN, Man. - Selling her best horse to a wealthy Middle Eastern sheik was bittersweet for Myna Cryderman, an endurance rider from Boissevain. Myna Cryderman discovered an Arab head of state wasn't horsing around when he wanted to buy her prized pony. The Boissevain trainer sold a purebred Arabian horse, TA Tango by the Arabian stallion Bachelor Bey, to the emir of Qatar for the princely sum of $150,000. Cryderman, who trains endurance horses on her ranch in the Turtle Mountains, has been riding competitively for 25 years and has competed with Canada's equestrian team since 1998. Agents in Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world because of its oil production, saw a photo of her horse on the Internet and gave her a call. The emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who leads the independent sovereign Arab state of about 800,000 people, wanted a horse for his son to race. Cryderman wasn't surprised by his interest. Horse racing is popular in the Middle East. Three years ago, she sold a horse to the royal family in the United Arab Emirates for less than half the price of TA Tango. In September, TA Tango, at only seven years old, made an impressive seventh-place showing at the Pan American Endurance Championships in Washington state. Cryderman, with TA Tango, hated to give him up, but the emir's emissary made her an offer she couldn't refuse.
He looked ready to race again in the photo that piqued the interest of the Qatar agents. A representative visited Cryderman's farm in November and asked to buy TA Tango. "I said, I'm not interested in selling.' He said: 'Not at any price?'" she recalled. Cryderman was reluctant to part with her prized horse, an energetic and inquisitive fellow who can turn on water taps. But she is in a sport that costs her $25,000 a year. She bought the chestnut gelding for $2,500 when he was three and trained him herself. The emir's son is just learning to ride competitively and hopes to ride TA Tango in the world championships Dubai, Saudi Arabia, in January 2005. "I have mixed feel-ings. I am disappointed that I have to give up Canada's chance at a gold medal because we aren't funded here like the U.S. or France," Cryderman said. ‘It’s very hard to part with him. If I was a wealthy person I wouldn’t even think about it’ But the offer- more than the value of the Crydermans' 640-acre farm — was irresistible. "It's very hard to part with him. If I was a wealthy person I wouldn't even think about it, but I do compete for Canada and it's very expensive," she said. "This has been a bad year for us, given that we are cattle producers." TA Tango has already been shipped to Texas and will be flown to his new home in the new year. As part of the deal, Cryderman arranged to ride him this summer in a race in France. Down the road, once he's done his duty in Qatar, TA Tango will be returned to the Boissevain family to live out his remaining years. "I insisted on that. I don't think I could have sold him if I didn't have that in place," Cryderman said. "They race them hard in the Middle East, so he might not (be competitive) for that long. We could have him back in five to seven years, or we could have him back in one. "And he could live well into his 30s with us."
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