South Africa News

Mogale Endurance Club
NEWSLETTER

Dear Fellow Mogalians,

It is with great pride that we congratulate the following members for completing FAURESMITH.

Danie Herbst Junior;
Bernice Binet;
Kay Lockwood;
Sophia Liebenberg;
Wendy Smallman;
Lianne Herbst;
Stephne Lockwood.

Congratulations to you all and for those who never completed the ride better luck next time..

It was good to see so many members at Dullstroom last weekend. Henno Pretorius and his family, Herbie and Johannie Geldenhuys, Laura Woods, Ance Deetlefs, Dr Paul VanDam and Franza Keyser and Julius Keyser.

To my knowledge all our members got through and this is also no mean feat as Dullstroom is a very difficult course.

I would also wish to thank the following club members who were so kind as to assist us with donations to obtain finance to assist with the furnishings of the luxury chalets which Mr William Khoury has built at the second dam. The members are, Antony Ball, Kobus Lombaard, Darnie Ferreira, Tim Anderson, Dr Paul VanDam and myself.

The new ride base apart from the grassing on the running lanes and vetting area which will take place early in September is looking absolutely superb and this is indeed a ride base which the club and its members can be very proud.

Monique and Laura recently returned from Brazil where they attended an international ride and I annex hereto a report from Monique on the ride which people might find of interest.

We will advise you shortly of the AGM which must be held before the end of October to enable all fees to be paid in and over to ERASA to avoid penalties. For those club members travelling to Walvisbaai I wish you the best of luck and a safe journey.

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YOUNG RIDERS: BRASIL 2008

In 2006 and 2007, Nick and Vitoria Lins of Rio, Brasil, came to South Africa to join us at the FEI Christiana Endurance Ride on horses prepared by Laura Woods (2007) and Laura and the Marx family of Wolmaranstad in 2008. Both Nick and Vitoria have been selected for the Brasilian team to take part in the World Championships in Malaysia in 2008. Nick recently rode with South African Carmen du Preez in Brasil: Carmen won the open 160kms event, and Nick’s efforts gained him the Brasilian Championship.

A return invitation was issued to Laura Woods and Petrus Marx as Young Riders to take part in the prestigious Festival Internacional de Enduro: Jequitibá (Sao Paulo, Brasil) on 25 July 2008. 33 Young Riders from Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, France, Italy and England and South Africa took part. The ride base was the exclusive Paradiso Resort, where spectators could watch the final leg being run around a fountain–filled lake.

The CEIOYR course of 122kms consisted of three extremely technical legs, with steep hills and hard roads, estimated at about a 10 handicap. The last two legs of 22 and 19kms were flat, fast and furious.

The horse ridden by Laura, NNL Millenium Bay, was recovering from a tendon injury and unfortunately despite a valiant effort could not get past the 4th leg.

Petrus rode Lumiar Simply Red, a fiery chestnut mare owned by Dr Paolo and Nick Lins. She has spent most of her 10 years as a show horse, only last year coming into endurance and with a mere 2 x 60kms and 1 x 90kms to her name. This was her first attempt at 120kms. She gave Petrus a hard time in the 1st leg, being most unwilling to be held in. After the 3rd leg Petrus decided to ride without a bit due to mouth injuries and the mare calmed down somewhat. Petrus was in the top ten from the first leg. The mare kept up her desire to run as fast as possible, and on the final two legs she and Petrus perfected their partnership. As Petrus approached the last 500m he passed two well known riders, Rafael Salvador (Uru) and Iuri Timoner (Bra) who then dramatically gave chase as they came in to full spectators’ view around the lake. Petrus casually turned around to see them coming in full flight, and he then turned on the power. To an exultant rendition of “Hier kom die Bokke” by the South African fans, Simply Red curled her tail over her back and leapt forward to sweep over the finishing line, giving Petrus 5th position in a time of 6h55. He was one of 23 who completed the course; 12 were eliminated.

This was Petrus’ first ride out of Africa. You may remember him in a documentary of Fauresmith made by Danie Ferreira (Urban Brew) in 2003. He was the little chap with big eyes captured in the early morning light; the commentator talked about his desire to become a Springbok – which in fact came true.

Petrus’ first horse was a Schneider; he qualified him in his first season and finished in the top ten children’s division at Fauresmith in 2003. Since then he has ridden for the national team on 3 occasions. His Arab gelding Shamalti Namib has been awarded Best Condition on 3 occasions.

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Lekker Ry.

MOGALE ENDURANCE CLUB
Per: TONY BERLOWITZ
CHAIRMAN