In Memoriam: FEI pays tribute to former Endurance Committee Chair Brian Sheahan (1951-2021)

Inside.FEI.org - Full Article

27 January 2021

Dr Brian Sheahan (AUS), former Chair of the FEI Endurance Committee, passed away peacefully on 25 January in his hometown of Samford, Queensland in northeastern Australia. The FEI Honorary Board Member, who was a highly respected veterinarian and a well-loved figure in the international Endurance community, was 69.

He joined the FEI Endurance Committee as a member in 2008, taking over the Chair in 2012 until 2018, during which time he was a member of the FEI Board. He was highly respected for his work with the Endurance Strategic Planning Group and the Endurance Task Force. He was instrumental in creating the FEI Endurance Forum and Conferences, which provided a platform for stakeholders to exchange ideas and voice their opinions.

“The FEI family and the international veterinary community have lost, not just a passionate advocate for Endurance, but also a unique man and a real friend,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.

“Brian often described himself as a ‘humble country vet’, but he was so much more than that and his passing is being felt everywhere he left his mark. As well as his brilliant ability to work with people, and with horses, he will be remembered fondly for his legendary wit and infectious good humour. His family, and huge circle of friends and colleagues will have no shortage of entertaining anecdotes to keep his memory alive. The equestrian community is certainly better off for having known him...”

Read more here:
https://inside.fei.org/content/memoriam-fei-pays-tribute-former-endurance-committee-chair-brian-sheahan-1951-2021

Uruguayan Rider Handed Record 3-Year Ban for Controlled Meds Offence

HorseSport.com - Full Article

FEI warns riders about personal duty of care after a repeat offender fails to educate himself, despite two prior positives.

By: Pippa Cuckson | January 18, 2021

A Uruguayan endurance rider has been handed a record three-year ban for a controlled medications offence, because of his history of prior violations.

Facundo Leites could have been suspended for four years for this third violation in four years’ period, though the FEI and its independent Tribunal felt three years was appropriate. Leites, 27, will have served suspensions totalling four and half years when this latest one ends in January 2024, unless he appeals.

Leites claimed he had accepted the ride at Bou Thib, Abu Dhabi in February 19 on Calandria Noe at short notice and could not have known the mare had recently been dosed with the corticosteroid Flumetasone to treat “chronic arthrosis” in the fetlock joint. The stable vet injected her eight eight days before the scheduled race. The trainer blamed the positive sample on the ride then being brought forward.

The trainer, Ali Nasser Sultan al Yabhouni, said his stable was one of the most “respectful” in the country. He had carried out his own investigation, and found miscommunication between stable staff in recording the treatment and the entry made for the ride, for which he apologised.

However, for the Tribunal, Dianne Pitts agreed with the FEI legal department that this explanation was unsubstantiated...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/uruguayan-rider-handed-record-3-year-ban-controlled-meds-offence/

Endurance: Pointless to Strengthen FEI Rules if Loophole isn’t Closed

HorseSport.com - Full Article

The UAE can still dodge FEI rules at headlining endurance races due to the cock-eyed definition of ‘Minor’ events.

Cuckson Report
By Pippa Cuckson | January 19, 2021

Well, that UAE suspension seemed over in a flash, didn’t it? It has been business as usual at the epicentre of winter endurance from January 1 ‒ the UAE is packing loads into the next three months, racing four days out of seven.

Its first feature 120km race of 2021, the Expo Cup CEN, saw the usual pitiful completion rate: 44 finishers, 87 vetgate eliminations and 11 of those mysterious “failures to complete” (FTCs.)

Riders were drawn from 24 nations for that opening meet which ran under national rules. All perfectly legit, because demanding endurance events can count as “national” even when they would be of Olympic standard, if endurance was an Olympic sport.

Worryingly, too, so far this year the longer races have not been livestreamed. There could be Covid-related reasons for standing down the camera crews (though no one else seems too worried about social distancing) but equally the wish to reduce public scrutiny may now seem preferable to ego-feeding...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/cuckson-report-1/pointless-strengthen-fei-rules-loophole-isnt-closed/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Safety+Vests+%7C+Endurance+Loophole+%7C+Bright+Futures+Medal+Series&utm_campaign=HS-Enewsletter2021-Wednesday-Jan+20&vgo_ee=pDmBh5FOsIwBMbVGZSaGqDpxdzkQNl9LgdxZ9pnzLRY%3D

Equestrian Adventuresses Podcast Ep 84: The Great Mongolian Ride

EquestrianAdventuresses Podcast - Listen

by utetonia
January 15, 2021

On today’s episode Ute talks with Gabriella Schmidt-Corsitto, dental hygienist and horse lover from Switzerland. In July 2021 she will organise the Great Mongolian Ride, a charity ride crossing Mongolia from West to East and covering more than 3000 km in 10 weeks. She tells us all about how she arrived in Mongolia with her husband and founded her NGO Misheel Kids Foundation to help disadvantaged Mongolian children take care of their dental health and how she fell in love with the Mongolian horses and people and finally how she had the idea for her ride which is going to be the longest charity ride in history.

Listen:
https://equestrianadventuresses.com/2021/01/15/horse-podcast-ep-84-the-great-mongolian-ride/

Basha O’Reilly, adventurer and renowned Long Rider, dies at 73

HorseTalk.co.nz - Full Article

January 18, 2021
Neil Clarkson

Basha O’Reilly wasn’t born in the saddle, but it didn’t take her long to climb on a horse and begin a life filled with adventure and romance.

From the moment she climbed aboard her first pony, Mustard, she was destined to be an equestrian explorer.

Basha, who died in France on January 13 after a brief illness, found solace in the saddle, feeding what came to be an insatiable appetite to see the world on horseback.

Her obituary is not a notice about death. It is instead a lesson in love.

Born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1947, Barbara (Basha) Cornwall-Legh began riding at the age of five. She went on to ride at Olympic-level dressage, before being drawn to the adventures of equestrian travel.

After beginning her travels in Mongolia with Colonel John Blashford-Snell of the Scientific Expedition, in the summer of 1995 Basha visited the Russian Steppes.

There she fell in love with a blazing red Cossack stallion named Count Pompeii. That was the start of a 2500-mile expedition in which she beat off a would-be rapist and an attack by robbers...

Read more here:
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2021/01/18/basha-oreilly-adventurer-renowned-long-rider-dies/

Eurotunnel Price Hike Leaves UK Equestrians Reeling

HorseSport.com - Full Article

A $665 surcharge per horse catches the industry by surprise as Brexit takes effect and threatens to affect equestrian traffic both ways.

By: Pippa Cuckson | January 12, 2021

International riders in the UK are reeling at an unexpected consequence of Brexit ‒ a drastic price hike in Eurotunnel tickets for horses.

The Eurotunnel, also known as the Channel Tunnel or Chunnel, is a 50.45-km railway tunnel that runs beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover and is the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland.

Since January 1 the French-owned tunnel operator has imposed, without notice, a one-way £385 ($665 CAD) surcharge per horse, on top of the £400 ticket for the vehicle.

Last year was a transitory stage before the UK’s total withdrawal from the European Union, during which DEFRA ‒ the UK’s food and agriculture agency ‒ did an enormous amount of work to prepare horse transporters for the new documentation required by both their animals and vehicles at border control. However, many have been caught by surprise by Eurotunnel’s decision.

Henry Bullen, director of global transportation company Peden, understood the price increase was blamed on the cost of building a new inspection facility near the port at Calais. He hoped it would be swiftly reviewed...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/eurotunnel-price-hike-leaves-uk-equestrians-reeling/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Walker+Loses+Appeal+%7C+Eurotunnel+Price+Hike+%7C+Ballard+Leading+Lady&utm_campaign=HS-Enewsletter2019-Wednesday-Jan+13+2021&vgo_ee=pDmBh5FOsIwBMbVGZSaGqDpxdzkQNl9LgdxZ9pnzLRY%3D

Spain: «NOBBY» a Great Raid Horse has passed away

ElRaidBlog - Full Article

January 12, 2021
Gabriel Gamiz
[google translate]

Today I get the sad news of the death of a great horse «NOBBY» the horse that together with María Álvarez , the Double World and European Champion , who together with «Nobby» won two World Championships, two European Championships, plus another bronze in Europe.

At 26 years of age, he has galloped to the eternal skies, with that great gallop that took him to the top of the great Champions...

Read more here:
http://blogelraid.com/ha-fallecido-nobby-un-gran-caballo-de-raid/

Bahrain: Al Enzi triumphs

GDOnline.com - Full Article

09 January 2021

Victorious Team rider Isa Al Enzi clinched the Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa Endurance Championship, at the Bahrain International Endurance Village yesterday.

He won the 120km four-stage race, clocking 4 hours, 26 minutes and 1 second, followed by Sarhan Al Enzi, from Al Safinat Stables, with 4 hours, 52 minutes and 13 seconds.

Al Zaim rider Shahd Waleed finished third in the race and secured a spot on the podium, covering the distance in 4:53:35...

Read more here:
http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/912443

Polish cancer survivor all set for 120km Endurance race in Dubai tomorrow

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Equestrian athlete says riding horses is therapeutic for her

Published: January 08, 2021
Anjana Kumar, Staff Reporter

Dubai: A Polish expat living in Dubai is showing how cancer is not an excuse or an obstacle for anyone to pursue their passion.

Meet Anna Mirska-Perry, who turned an equestrian athlete after being diagnosed with skin and breast cancer.

If this were not enough, Anna is preparing for a 120km horse race on January 8, Saturday. It is the Expo 2021 Endurance Cup in Dubai International Endurance City. Needless to say, she has been preparing hard for it — riding a minimum three to four hours daily — this, despite her medical condition...

Read more here:
https://gulfnews.com/uae/watch-polish-cancer-survivor-all-set-for-120km-endurance-race-in-dubai-tomorrow-1.76335372

Interview with Christian Lozano newly elected Chair of Endurance

Endurance-world.com - Full Article

Info@endurance-world.com
4th January 2021

Christian Lozano was recently elected as Chair of Endurance at the 2020 FEI General Assembly. Endurance World was able to catch up with him. Tarbes, Thursday 30 December 2020.

Christian is a person with no conflict of interest because he doesn’t have any business in the sport of endurance. He is not a breeder or an owner, he doesn’t have relatives riding and he doesn’t work for a timing company. How did you come to be involved with endurance?

I went to the brother-in-law (Joel Marescassier) of a friend who was riding in the Bordeaux area where there is all the wine and chateaux. I didn’t know the sport at all, but it was a 90 kilometre ride, a kind of selection ride. The French chef d’equipe, Pierre Cazes, and all the French big names in endurance (Jack Begaud, Jean Noël Lafaure…) were there, but I didn’t know that at the time because it was the first time I saw an endurance ride.

And I liked it because at the time I was doing half marathons and marathons, and also I stopped playing rugby a few years before. So I did find that spirit of the marathon in the ride because people were suffering, and also the spirit of the rugby because at the end of the competition everybody was friendly and sharing a glass at the bar, having food together and as a group of people they were helping each other. I did enjoy that spirit. Later I was living in Abu Dhabi. I came with a French company because I worked for the French Ministry of Defence, and I was there with my family from 1999 to 2005. And my friend told me, you know in the UAE they have a lot of endurance riding. I really enjoy endurance...

Read more here:
https://endurance-world.com/interview-with-christian-lozano-newly-elected-chair-of-endurance/