Great Britain: An enduring partnership

SouthernReporter
26 March 2009
By Sally Gillespie
Nicky Bertham with her ‘soulmate’, Maverick. Photograph: Alastair Watson

LOCAL endurance riders are saddling up for the first outing of the season this weekend.
The rides at Harestanes cater for beginners or those starting off their horses with a pleasure ride, as well as 16-mile and a 25-mile routes.

Nicky Bertham is secretary of the Borders branch of the Scottish Endurance Riding Club.

She told TheSouthern: "Anyone can do endurance. As long as the horse is fit and sound, then anyone can try it. It is a wonderfully friendly sport, which builds a bond between you and the horse. You're able to ride in the countryside and see some breathtaking views."

There are seven dates in the club's diary this season, including a two-day event at Longnewton in June and some new rides.

The club boasts around 35 members ageing from 12 to 70 – and the 70-year-old completed a 120km (75 miles) ride last year!

Nicky said: "I like endurance because I love riding my horse. It gives me the chance of doing a competitive sport which does not cost as much as eventing.

"You don't need a specific type of horse to do endurance.

"I enjoy the friends you make from all over the country and the chance to travel and help at rides, learning from others, and being able to host an event and offer other riders so much enjoyment."

Pleasure or training rides are up to 30km and distances go up to 160km in one day.

On the day, riders are given a map with the route marked on it. There's also a 'talkround' when organisers talk riders round the route.

Vets check the horse's condition before and after the rides.

There is a grading system in operation for the competitive riders from bronze (two 30km and one 50km rides) to Diamond (completing 160 km in one day).

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Great Britain: Maggie Maguire awarded the BEF's Medal of Honour

Endurancegb.co.uk

6th January 2009

Well-deserved international acclaim for Endurance Great Britain's Maggie Maguire who has been awarded the BEFs Medal of Honour. The Medal of Honour is primarily an award designed to recognise activities connected with international endeavour. It is awarded for outstanding services to the Federation with any one or more of its constituent sporting members.

Maggie retired from the EGB Board of Directors at the AGM in November 2008.. She had been the chairman of the International Committee for some years, providing huge support to our international teams.

Great Britain: Molly Malone carries Hannah to a hat-trick

Journallive.co.uk

Dec 20 2008

HEXHAM-BASED Endurance rider Hannah Shotton has won the North Bedmax Trophy for the third year in a row on her Connemara pony, Miss Molly Malone.

The event is run by the Northumberland & Tyneside Endurance group and is open to any EGB or SERC (Scotland) member. There are ten qualifying rides with distances over 48 kilometres held across the North and Scottish Borders. Points are calculated based on the horse’s speed and final heart rate. The faster the speed and the lower the heart rate, the higher the points.

The trophy is awarded to the horse-rider combination with the highest total from four of the rides and prizes are presented to the first three places.

The Northumberland & Tyneside Endurance GB trophies were awarded at their Annual Group Meeting in the Robin Hood Inn, near Corbridge, by vet and sponsor Colin Mitchell, partner at ScottMitchell Associates, Hexham.

He made a short presentation on equine dentistry which was followed by a talk on the activities and hopes of the EGB Young Riders by Hannah Shotton.

Great Britain: Fourth place for Tennant

Herefordtimes.com

10:40am Saturday 8th November 2008

A YOUNG Herefordshire rider has been showing her endurance in some of Europe’s toughest terrain.

Abbi Tennant, with her horse Chador, was a member of the Great Britain team at the European Young Riders Endurance Championships in Northern Spain and just missed out on a medal with a fourth-place finish.

On one of the toughest courses in Europe, where the minimum speed was reduced from 12kph to 11kph, four of the five British riders completed the 120km or 76-mile course.

Riding sensibly over the mountainous and stony course, Tennant and her team-mates completed the course at an average speed of 12.8kph, taking 12 hours with compulsory vettings and rest/feed periods during the day.

Sixty-six horses from 17 nations started the event with 36 finishing. The remainder were eliminated due to lameness or high heart rates either at the finish or during the day. All the British horses returned home well and sound.

The France team won the gold medal, followed home by Belgium with Switzerland taking bronze.

Herefordtimes.com

Malaysia WEC: British Riders Leave for Malaysia WEC

Endurancegb.co.uk

15th October 2008

Chris Yeoman's horse Midday has set off on the journey to Malaysia today, the flight goes tomorrow from Amsterdam while Chris and groom Laura fly out from Heathrow to join her in Malaysia....

Midday will have plenty of time to recover from the long trip as the competition is not until November.

There was last minute excitement when the Calais ferryport closed because of a strike, fortunately the problem was resolved speedily and they are on their way.

Dom Freeman's horse Roger has to wait a few days before he travels as there has been an equine health scare in Brazil which has meant considerable negotiations to ensure that it was safe to ship both Dom's horse and the Brazilian Team. Hopefully that crisis is also resolved but it will mean that Roger doesn't have such a good recovery period.
The rest of the back-up team travel out on 29th October. We wish them all the very best of luck and hope to hear how things are going once they arrive. It will be a real achivement to get a good result in the very testing tropical conditions

Great Britain: Best result the Young Riders have had in a Major Championship for some years

Endurancegb.co.uk - Full Story

29th September 2008

Maggie Maguire reports on the Young Riders' success after her return from Oviedo

I have just had the pleasure of supporting the Young Riders Team who achieved 4th in the European Team Endurance Championship. 5 riders represented their country and four completed successfully.

This was a definitive team effort – Chefs d’Equipe from other European Nations were heard to say that 'this course should be a 6* not a 4* Championship'!!

Our horses had a very good start with Phillip Hirst’s careful transportation of the Team in his superb box.

The course was a true test of fitness, concentration and good horse-management, all three of which had to be achieved to complete this very tough mountainous course which was also pretty rough underfoot in many parts. Chris Pell [Team Farrier] has a bag of shredded pads to show why 'padding up 'for these competitions is so important and how essential a farrier is to success. It was very impressive watching our riders out on course riding carefully and sensibly, following their ride plan and extremely heart-warming to see the dedication, support and cheerfulness of their crews throughout.

Derek Grantham's input to this competition was extremely generous and contributed hugely to the horses’ well-being and ability to compete . Derek's practice facilitated at least two of his Team to be in Oviedo throughout their stay.

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