Has Endurance Racing Morphed Into ‘Win At All Cost’ Flat-Track Racing?

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by Paulick Report Staff | 10.01.2018

The American The American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) executive committee, in a letter to the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), the governing body of horse sport in the United States, has requested immediate withdrawal of funding to the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) endurance events held outside U.S. borders.

An international discipline, the sport of endurance is based on long-distance races that are completed at controlled speed, with the care and health of the horse key in riders' minds. Horses must pass veterinary inspections as specific intervals during the competition. Flat-track endurance riding has evolved in the last decade and is vastly different than endurance riding; it focuses on much faster, prolonged speeds on groomed courses. Endurance riding is held on natural terrain.

The letter states that the committee feels that riders of extreme flat-track racing “know nothing about riding their horses within their capabilities according to the weather and terrain of the day. Their objective is often ‘winning at all costs.'” The committee feels that this approach is vastly divergent from the traditional endurance competitions, where “to finish is to win...”

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