Janmeda was an area where no buildings were allowed. I think we also called it the “polo ground” where you could ride on horseback and exercise the horses we kept in Addis Ababa. I seem to remember that we could ride there, in the morning up till about 10 am and then again in the evening. My horse was called Freckles, and he was the one who bucked every time I put my hand on his backside.
I don’t remember who the other two ladies were, but they were probably either English or Armenian or even American(doubtful)
The lady on the right-hand side was riding Dama, (a brown-haired horse with a white front piece and the lady on the left-hand side was riding Polperro or Pegasus (both whitish in colour). We kept the horses in stables near our house in Addis Ababa (The Kebena area) where we had horses in Addis Ababa and stables to keep the horses in. I can remember crossing the road to get on our horses and riding madly out of Addis Ababa on the track that led out to the Salutat plains (the main route for animals to come into Addis Ababa.) Not only horses but sheep and goats as well (looking back on it) I feel rather ashamed —but we were just children enjoying ourselves and probably being a real nuisance to other travellers. I remember we had stables across the road from our house in Addis Ababa, so we could cross the road, get on our horses and ride off for an hour in the dry season.
In the rainy season (kerempt) we would send the horses out to Mulu (or ride them out if we were old enough) and spend the kerempt at Mulu where we could ride out in the morning between 10 am and 2 pm before the daily storm would sweep down from Gabriel, the flat-topped hill near our house at Mulu or would come from the east (from Gulbi Mariam)
What fun it is to remember all that 50 to 60 years ago. I do wish I was young enough to do the same thing again but at 90 something or other, I fear I could not manage that again…..but I can still do it in my dreams…