A Call to Action: Southern California Wild Fires

Donate Now to the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund

By Brian Sosby

Make a Donation

Lexington, KY—Over the last few days, the Southern California area has been engulfed in flames caused by wild fires aggravated by the Santa Ana winds. These winds that annually cross the Southern California area have been much stronger than usual, making an already dry area even more prone to catastrophe. These fires have spread quickly over the weekend and ravaged the region.



San Diego County has seen widespread evacuations as a result of the fires. Nearly one-million people have been asked to leave the area as of today. President Bush has declared the situation a Federal emergency. Many evacuees have sought shelter at local community centers and schools, but the largest number—more than 10,000 people—has made Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego their temporary housing.



The situation is particularly difficult for those with large animals. Evacuating and housing horses has its own set of concerns. According to national media reports, the fairground in San Diego County is currently boarding 2,000 horses, with many others finding refuge from the fires where any safe space can be found, including mall parking lots. Some horses have been moved several times due to the widespread fires.



In response to past disasters and in hopes of assisting in future ones, the United States Equestrian Federation established the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund and is now requesting contributions from individuals and organizations wishing to assist those in the Southern California area.

Money donated to the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund assists equines of any breed that find themselves victims of disasters, including but not restricted to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards and fires. The money will be held by USEF in an account restricted for this purpose and disbursed only upon authorization of the USEF Chief Executive Officer.

“During situations like this, it’s imperative that we gather forces to assist in any way possible,” said USEF Chief Executive Officer John Long. “Thankfully, the weather forecasts are good. However, Southern California just experienced the largest evacuation of residents in our country’s history. Of course, that has had an impact on the countless horses that call that part of the state home. The Federation wants to do what it can to assist those horses and owners.”

Donations may be made online at www.usef.org by clicking on the following hyperlink – https://www.usef.org/_AUAIFrames/DisasterRelief/DisasterRelief.aspx. If you wish to contribute to the effort by check, please make it out to the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund and mail it to: The United States Equestrian Federation, 4047 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, KY 40511.

For more information regarding the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund, contact Joanie Morris, USEF High-Performance Communications Manager, at jmorris@usef.org or (859) 225-2052.

Sultan's Cup - International Riders and Horses arrive

The 2007 Sultans Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge to be held November 9-11 in Terengganu, Malaysia will be hosting several foreign riders and horses from all parts of the world. Most of the horses have arrived by now and are stabled at the quarantine complex of the Terengganu International Endurance Park. Riders or grooms are allowed to view certain parts of the course on horseback, following strict quarantine separation rules.

Heather and Jeremy Reynolds from California, USA, have settled in and Heather has kept a diary of their first days in Terengganu:

----------Friday, October 19:
Hi everyone,
We are waiting to take our final flight to arrive in Terranganu. We left on the 14th and will arrive the 20th! It is very hot here and currently raining which happens at least once a day. We saw Kuala Lumpur, the most beautiful city we have ever seen in our lives. We also saw wild monkeys, very cute. All 4 USA horses are well. Talk soon.
Heather & Jeremy

----------Saturday, October 20:
Hello again,
Our last flight which was supposed to be a 50 min flight turned into an all day mission. We flew to Terengganu (pronounced Train- GA- nu) and as we were to land the pilot decided it was unsafe as there was little visiblity so we turned around and flew back to Kuala Lumpur. They unboarded us, gave us luch vouchers and leisurely collected the passengers again and we waited onboard for about another hour and a half and finally flew again with success. all the while our horses, who were supossed to be on a parallel flight had landed first try and were there with out us.
The quarantine barn is huge. It is all screened in. It has 56 stalls. We have 4 horses:) the weather is very sticky and hot. Today it is 89 degrees with 80% humidity.
The pool at the hotel overlooks the ocean and has a disappearing edge. Beautiful. The dining area is open and the ocean breeze comes through. Wish you were all here. Horses are still good.
Heather & Jeremy

-----------Sunday, October 21:
Hi again,
We had our first ride in Malaysia. It was very hot to say the least. Cal has requested to have fans and ice following him:) I rode for 40 min and all I did was walk jog. His body temp. was 102.2. Very disturbing. I hope that with more time adjusting and water available on trail will help this. I also rode during the day, the race will be at night.
Last night Jeremy and I spent much of our sleeping time trying to find a mouse that was in the headboard of our bed. It sounded like he was on our pillows. no luck in finding him. Jeremy even had his headlamp out to try to see him. The food here is terrific. There are many local fruits that I have never heard of that are great.
While running yesterday Jeremy and I saw a group of monkeys making a lot of noise. They were also jumping thru the tree tops. I also had a group of school girls giggling at my running outfit. The school bus was driving on the dirt trail that the horses go on. The bus was the size of a tour bus! While running we saw many local non endurance horses. Very skinny. There are a lot of cats as well, mostly feral.
We have been told that there are tigers, cobras, vipers, elephants and monkeys. But rest assured we have been told that there will be anti venom on ride day:)
Last night we went for a romantic walk on the beach out in front of the hotel. That was all fine and nice until you walked beyond the hotel and realized that the jungle borders that beach and there aren't any lights. All of the sudden we were too paranoid to enjoy the ocean breeze. We got the heebee jeebees and turned around quickly. There were neon glowing flashes in the ocean which I assume are some tropical fish.
Everyday at least once there is a tremendous downpour of rain. Hasn't come yet today, it will.
Well we are headed off into town, we have been here 3 days and John and Kathy's pallet with there clothes and all horse gear is MIA. We will go shopping with them for basics.
Heather

Updates and photos will be posted on the Endurance.Net Sultans Cup coverage site at http://www.endurance.net/international/malaysia/2007SultansCup and at the official 2008 WEC & 2007 Sultans Cup website at http://www.malaysia-wec.com .

I leave Idaho tomorrow and will travel via Los Angeles, Seoul (Korea), and Kuala Lumpur and will arrive in Terenngganu approximately 40 hours after departure! It's a long way around this globe...

Stay tuned-

Steph Teeter
Endurance.Net

NZL: Nelson Endurance Club celebrated 25 years of competition

ANNE HARDIE/Nelson Mail

FAMILY FOCUS: Phillip and Alison Higgins with one of their endurance horses, Omar, at Twynham Station.

Long days in the saddle

Nelson Endurance Club celebrated 25 years of competition at the weekend with an anniversary ride in the Eighty-eight Valley. Anne Hardie talks to a Nelson couple that devote their spare time to getting their horses fit for events that will test the stamina of both horse and rider.

Finding long rides to keep horses fit for endurance events is no problem for Alison and Phillip Higgins, who are surrounded by 1400ha of rugged countryside that forms Twynham Station.

Five kilometres of gravel track and impossible-to-avoid potholes lead away from the public eye along the road between Kawatiri Junction and St Arnaud. The track hugs scrub-covered hillsides before opening up to a long sweep of valley that holds much of the productive land for the station.
[More ...]

Australia: Equine Influenza, changing lives

Jay Randle

The current Equine Influenza epidemic is causing the entire equine industry in Australia a great deal of grief. The bug was apparently brought into the country by a 'shuttle' TB stallion, although the enquiry has not yet determined if the stallion came from Ireland or Japan. You can read about the government's inquiry into the situation at: www.equineinfluenzainquiry.gov.au

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) facility into which these stallions were taken for their 2-week arrival quarantine period has since been shown to have been extremely lax about all methods of quarantine operations!

Our government agencies who are supposed to deal with these types of problems immediately swung into action with a plan that was prepared about 10 years ago, and which was predicated on the virus being spread by direct horse to horse contact. Unfortunately, this virus decided that it would spread itself by a variety of other means, including being borne on the wind, and on people's clothing and vehicles, etc.

Also unfortunately, the spread of the virus was helped by infected horses being moved prior to the virus becoming noticed in them. (You must remember that we have NEVER had EI in Australia before, and our horses have NEVER been vaccinated against it, therefore we have an extremely open naive population.)

And this virus doesn't discriminate! All types of horses are being struck down: some end up worse off than others, some are dying, some are having long-term effects, some have a bit of a snotty nose. This is the breeding season Down Under, so we have thousands of foals on the ground or due, and they seem to be getting the worst of the virus with many foals dying or experiencing unheard-of difficulties.

The equine industry is Australia's THIRD LARGEST industry, for income, employment and associated businesses. This has hit us all really hard! The Racing Industry comprises about 30% of the overall equine industry in Australia, but it is the Racing Industry that is getting the major portion of the support and assistance from the government, including free vaccinations of their horses. Of course, the Racing Industry has a lot of clout, with taxes from gambling and huge figures paid for horses and breeding fees. Also, some of the Racing Industry's high-profile players have an inordinate amount of influence in our government.

The rest of the equine industry are getting pretty peeved about the situation, and if you want to read more about it all you should check out the EI blog page at www.horsedeals.com.au for the latest whinges and comments.

On a personal note: I am a full-time endurance horse and rider trainer, and I have been locked down since 25 August. That means I have had no income since then, apart from basic agistment fees from my clients. I have 28 horses and 1 newborn foal on my 40-acre property, with two more foals due within the month. We have been in drought conditions for years now, so there is no natural feed on the place. I am not allowed to move any of my horses to an agistment property that I lease (where I already have another 8 horses), and I am not allowed to sell any horses.

My feed bill is approximately $1600 per week, and my income has dropped to approximately $700 per week (agistment fees). My usual income is supplemented by training fees, lesson fees, and tours for international endurance riders.

I am certainly not the worst off, however! So far my horses are well, although this morning I noticed a few snotty noses starting to appear. The closest confirmed cases of EI are about 1km away from me, so I certainly expect to get the virus in the near future.

We are not allowed to vaccinate! It is illegal to privately import any vaccines into Australia. The government is limiting vaccinations to the race horses and the TB breeding stock, and certain other "high-value" horses such as police horses, entertainment horses, Olympic horses, etc. Endurance horses (even high value ones like mine :-)) are being ignored.

As of this morning the government has announced that they have purchased enough of the vaccine to start vaccinating 'pleasure' horses as well as racehorses.... far too late for some. This blanket vaccination program will take weeks, if not months, to be finalised, and we will stilll all be in lockdown until after the last horse is over any effects of the virus. The effect on our economy is going to be pretty huge by the time it's all over.

Our endurance season has been stopped in its tracks, with all rides cancelled for the rest of the year. In fact, it looks like we won't have any rides until after May 2008 at the earliest.

Anyway, enough of my whining. Just thought you'd like to know what's going on here, and what EI is doing to us. I am happy to answer any questions.

Best regards

Jay Randle
SPLENDACREST ENDURANCE TRAINING
www.freewebs.com/splendacrest

Malaysia: Sultan's Cup Invites Foreign Riders

Website Link

The 2007 Sultan's Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge will be held November 9-11 at Terengganu International Endurance Park, Terengganu, Malaysia. The second running of this prestigious 160km Endurance challenge will also be the official test event for the 2008 World Endurance Championship (November 6-9, 2008). In addition to Malaysia's best horses and riders, several competitors from around the world will be there to test the course with their own horses, and experience first hand the unique challenges of Endurance riding in the tropics.

19 riders from 9 countries have been invited to participate in this event. The Organizing Committee is covering the costs of travel and accommodation for each rider, a groom and a horse. All horses will be flown to Kuala Lumpur and than transported by van to Terengganu, where they will be housed at quarantine barns in Terengganu International Endurance Park.

The horses and riders are expected to be on site by October 20, allowing approximately 3 weeks for rest and acclimation.

The following riders have confirmed attendance at the 2007 Sultan's Cup Terengannu Endurance Challenge:

Foreign Riders

Argentina

* Mercedes Tapia - NSG Clarisasha
* Ismael Luis Pasini - Thomas

Belgium

* Leonard Liesens - Kiria

Brazil

* Mariana Cesarino Steinbruch - Kaoma KT
* Maria Vitoria Liberal Lins - Filoteu Rach
* Leo Steinbruch - EHK Cristal

France

* Stephane Chazel - Istanboul
* Jack Begaud - Idais Tobiha
* Virginie Atger - Idefix D'Aurabelle

Italy

* Chiara Rosi - Pieskal

Japan

* Seiichi Hasumi - SMR Fayette de Cameo

Qatar

* Abdul Rahman Al Sulaitin - Saruk Nasra
* Atta Mohamed Peer - Pasha
* Essa Ahmed Al Mannai - Moniqi Danilee

Spain

* Maria Mercedes Alvarez Ponton - Ipso De La Drome

USA

* Heather Reynolds - CP Magestic / Dream On
* Kathy Brunjes - Theatric
* John Crandell III - HH Saba Shams
* Margaret Mary Sleeper - Heraldic

Australia: TOM QUILTY GOLD CUP 2007

by Vicki Reid

HELD IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA @ TUMBULGUM FARM ON THE 28th 29th and 30th SEPTEMBER.


The Tom Quilty Gold Cup was started by one of Australia’s icons R.M.Williams and Tom Quilty in 1966.

In the early years the Quilty was only run in the eastern states being held in NSW. Then it was changed and it now rotates to each state so it only takes place every six year in WA.

On 29th September 2007 History was made the first West Australian to win the Tom Quilty Anton Reid with the horse he breed and trained a beautiful 10 year old chestnut mare Endurowest Kumari.
Equally special to this event is that it is the first time a USA competitor Christoph Shork who placed equal first riding Arovo Mini Harvest a handsome chestnut gelding 10 year old a horse owned and trained by Anton Reid.

Anton Reid of Endurowest Arabian also had two more of his horse that he has trained they placed in the top 10 as well.
Moultan a bay 6 year old place 3rd ridden by Gary Hutchins of WA and Gamellah a beautiful Grey mare aged 9 years old Placed 4th ridden by Sandi Brown from NSW he also had two other horse he trained competing with riders from Japan and Victoria.

To top this off Anton had also entered the team event and Endurowest Arabians team won that as well making the weekend a very successful.

Anton’s horse Endurance Kumari also was awarded the Arabian Society Trophy.



Anton has been chasing the Tom Quilty Gold Cup since 1995 his fist attempt and has finally realised his Dream.

Australia: Unique Endurance Event

HorseTalk.NZ

photo: Glenda Sutton, who is among the best camel trainer/riders in Australia.

Distance riding is a growing sport around the world, and in August 2008 a unique endurance event will take place in a sleepy Australian outback town in central western Queensland.

But this event is not for horses - it's for camels.

The 150km Great Hughenden Camel Endurance Challenge will be run over three days in the area of Porcupine Gorge, from August 22 to 24. Up for grabs is a $50,000 prize purse.

Camels played a major role in the opening up of Australia's vast and desolate interior, covering huge distances with loads that were unimaginable for other beasts of burden.

The race will highlight the Outback and its rugged beauty, those competing will experience hardship and trials as never before and for many just to finish will be a accomplishment of which they will be forever proud.

Camels will come from all over Australia, and from the UAE, America, Asia and Europe. The competition should be fast and competitive and there is potential for a reciprocal event to be held in the UAE in 2009.

Contact Paddy McHugh, 0427216720 or 07 47216720 paddy@paddymchugh.com.

www.aridlandsaustralia.org