RAISING GUBBIO
This entry was posted on 7/2/2008 12:01 AM and is filed under uncategorized.

Monday June 30 2008
I
don't think Fausto has stopped moving since he dropped me off at the
train station on Saturday (or, rather, since before he picked me up for
the first time at the train station on Thursday before that). He drove
out of the way to the Gubbio train station to pick me up again from my
visit to the Marramas, in the midst of another crisis - there was some
sort of weekend strike that stopped transport traffic, and it affected
the transport of his stables he has to build. Now he's scrambling to
get all the materials he needs, and he must use a different design.
"People won't notice - the stables will still be good - but I will know
it's not the best I had planned."
On the way to my room at the
Park Hotel Ai Cappuccini, we stop briefly by the vet gate/endurance
village area by the Roman Theatre, where a few more tents and towers
have gone up over the weekend. Matteo and another young man are still
busy at work there, and Fausto discusses some things with them while
answering his phone - constantly his phone rings. He's constantly
hopping in his car to go here and pick this up or drop that off, going
there to talk with yet another person or company who is helping him
with this ride. "It helps when you know many people!" Those many people
include friends and family.
Then Fausto has an interview with a
television station that he must change clothes and clean up for, then
he has to change clothes again so he can go shoe some more horses at
his stable, and then... and then...
The work never stops for a ride organizer or ride manager, and the countdown to the event never slows down.