‘Cheating must be stamped out’: new endurance committee faces up to challenges

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

Eleanor Jones
17:28 - 13 December, 2018

The people tasked with cleaning up endurance say they are “under no illusions about the challenges” they face, after their first meeting.

The temporary committee set up by the FEI board in October, to “urgently review the endurance rules in order to address the issues currently affecting the discipline”, met at FEI HQ in Lausanne, Switzerland, yesterday (12 December).

Committee chairman Sarah Coombs, a British vet, said: “Today’s meeting generated really strong and productive debate and, together with input from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, we have already drawn up a list of our key focus areas. Your voices are being heard.”

Committee members had already had a “huge amount” of feedback from the endurance world, on a number of key areas.

These include: increased testing of horses for prohibited substances, increased sanctions for horse abuse, reviewing speeds, reassessment of rules on mandatory rest periods, redefinition of elimination codes (particularly catastrophic injury), qualifications, hyposensitivity screening, heart rates, over-training and over-competing, course design and crewing numbers...

Read more at https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/cheating-must-stamped-new-endurance-committee-faces-challenges-673162#2kHk5XZkwv5DKmK8.99