Proposed Endurance reforms tackle cheating, reward good horsemanship

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

April 17, 2019 Horsetalk.co.nz

Endurance cheats are likely to find the terrain ahead much more difficult if the wide-ranging proposals unveiled today by the Endurance Temporary Committee are implemented.

The committee, presenting its much-anticipated findings and recommendations to the FEI Sports Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, proposed changes which broadly reward good horsemanship and further penalise ill-disciplined riders.

Ideas include the possibility of tests on horse hair, which will be able to detect longer-term abuse of drugs such as anabolic steroids, possible out-of-competition drug testing, and mandatory post-mortem examinations where catastrophic injuries occur.

The chair of the committee, Dr Sarah Coombs, told delegates there was no future for international Endurance within the FEI if everything stayed the same.

“We have no automatic right to practice equestrian sport on an international stage, especially in these days of social media and instant news around the world. We have to bring about positive change if Endurance is to survive within the FEI...”

Read more here:
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2019/04/17/endurance-reforms-cheating-horsemanship/