New Zealand: Hundreds expected for endurance champs

Wairapa-Times Age
09.09.2008
By Gary Caffell

The Wairarapa Endurance and Competitive Trail Riding Club will host the national endurance championships at the Whareama Domain on Easter weekend, April 11 to 13, next year.

Entries are expected to run into the hundreds for the event which can be likened to a cross-country mega-marathon for horses with the longest "race" covering 160kms and taking at least 10 hours to complete.

Wairarapa club president Shane Dougan says Whareama offers ideal conditions for endurance riding with flat to rolling country allowing for some faster stretches but also enough hills to provide an excellent test of stamina.

He said organising the logistics for accommodating, feeding, watering and co-ordinating so many people and horses would be a huge task, and one only made possible by the generosity and support of the Whareama community.

Endurance rides are held in several loops of up to 40km each, and horses must pass rigorous vet checks for any signs of fatigue or injury after each loop before being allowed to continue.

The longer events begin in the middle of the night to avoid having to race in the heat of the day, and often riders don't finish until late the following day.

Not surprisingly, it takes years of training to develop an endurance horse to peak performance and the sport is considered the ultimate test of strength, fitness and stamina & for both horses and riders.

Some overseas competitors could be amongst the starters next Easter with the defending champion in the 160km race being Wairarapa's very own Jenny Champion.

She and her horse Freckles came with a late burst to win the title in the South Island

last year.
[More ...]

Malaysia WEC: Norlaily plans to seal her spot

By : Janet Singh

FIFTEEN men and one woman rider have been shortlisted to train for the World Endurance Championships (WEC) in Terengganu on Nov 6-9.
But four will be dropped after centralised training, and the gutsy Norlaily Buniyamin (pic) does not want to be one of them.

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin is also among those who have qualified for the WEC, and he has registered Pascha Larzac and Moonlight Pharaoh as his mounts.

"I have a good feeling that I will be able to make the final cut as my horse has been in terrific form this year," said Norlaily, who is more at home when astride her mount, Jessie James riding 160 kilometres under torturing conditions.

So, when it came to getting ready for yesterday's press conference, she found out she had no make-up available.

"I had to rush out and buy lipstick and powder for this function, and my mum gave me an earful," said Norlaily.
Which is just as well because there is no special category in the WEC, and she will be competing against rugged men from all over the world on equally tough horses. "Jessie James is from Australia and has been in Malaysia for the past five years, and we finished second in the Royal Kelantan Endurance (in August)," said Norlaily with a touch of pride.

"I believe the WEC will be better suited for 'local' horses as opposed to horses which have to be flown in and then get them to acclimatise."

National Sports Institute director general Datuk Dr Ramlan Aziz said: "In June this year, only five riders had qualified and we were worried on how to get seven more into the WEC.

"And so, it was a nice surprise when 11 more qualified via various races. Now we will have to trim the squad to meet the quota allotted."

The training squad: Datuk Kamaruddin Ghani, Datuk Shuaib Isahak, Datuk Abdullah Taib, Faizal Ismail, Rosdam Noor, Che Ahmad Yusri, Alif Sabidi, Yusran Yusof, Zainuddin Yusof, Rino Rani, Halim Alihan, Bakar Aman, Norlaily Buniyamin, Firdaus Hamid, Azizie Ismail.
[More ...]

Malaysia: King to lead nation at world meet

Nst.com

by AJITPAL SINGH

THE Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin (pic) will lead the Malaysian team in the 160km World Endurance Championships, and as hosts, will be looking to make an impact in the team event at the Terengganu International Endurance Park in Lembah Bidong, Setiu on Nov 6-9.

Among others expected to be picked are veteran rider Datuk Kamaruddin Abd Ganai and Mohd Shuaib Ishak, who together with Tuanku Mizan, are the top local qualifies after having earned four Certificate of Capability (COC) to qualify two horses each in the world meet.

In total, 16 local riders made the event's qualification cut but only 12 will be selected by the National Sports Institute (NSI) today at a function to be attended by Tuanku Mizan in Kuala Lumpur.

A total of 36 countries, including Malaysia, will be competing.

NSI director-general Datuk Dr Ramlan Aziz hopes the Malaysian riders will be in their best form for the event. "Tuanku Mizan is one of the best riders we have in the squad. For several months now, he has been undergoing serious physical and mental training for the event," said Ramlan recently.
He said the Malaysian squad have a strong chance to make an impression. "It will be quite tough to challenge the overseas riders in the individual category but there's a chance in the team event," he said.

"The local riders will also start the race with an advantage as they know the course well."

Among the top international riders competing are current World No 1 endurace rider Maria Alvarez Ponton of Spain, France's Jean Daniel Aiello and John Crandell of the US.

World championship Quispamsis man preparing for global race in Malaysia

World championship Quispamsis man preparing for global race in Malaysia


Telegraph Journal

photo: Bob Gielen of Norton and his horse, FC Galaxy, are training for a unique sporting event later this year. Gielen wil ride FC Galaxy at the World Endurance Championship in Malaysia in November.

NORTON - Bob Gielen extends his right arm as he approaches FC Galaxy, an 11-year-old Arabian gelding.Seconds later, the 58-year-old Quispamsis man is cheek-to-cheek with his horse. There's a special bond that develops from the miles they've logged and the places they've been over the years.

Gielen will ride Galaxy in the World Endurance Championship in Malaysia, where competitors from nearly 40 countries will compete in the 100-mile race on Nov. 8.

Galaxy appears up to the task. His caramel coat is like velvet wrinkled by rippling muscles and veins. His ears are pointed straight up as if he enjoys the praise coming from his owner and rider.

"You need a special horse to do 100 miles,'' Gielen said. "A lot of them will do 50 miles and then they'll quit. You need one that will keep going.

"I have another horse that is probably more athletic than Galaxy, but Galaxy has the drive and the desire to finish. You need both.''

And some serious strength helps, too. Gielen trains Galaxy on the rugged, rolling hills of Norton.

The horse weighs close to 900 pounds and carries about 200 pounds with the saddle. The 5-foot-10 Gielen weighs about 165 pounds, but he's not always applying direct pressure to the horse.

"He's carrying over 20 per cent of his body weight,'' Gielen said. "They're quite amazing beasts to actually be able to do that.''

Galaxy has owned Gielen for nearly six years. The ex-racehorse was bred in Texas and raced in Delaware.

"He was on the circuit for about two years and I bought him as a five-year-old,'' Gielen said. "He won a few races but he wasn't fast enough for that. Then it becomes a problem. When they retire race horses, quite often they don't make really good quiet saddle horses for people.

"This has been a second career for him and he's good at it. I don't know where he would have ended up. He probably wouldn't have made it as somebody's pet horse, because he is a handful and he came with a lot of fears.

"Even the first year I had him, he would always move away from you. He was afraid of everything. Now, it's amazing how much trust he has in what we do. He'll still let me know if he's not happy about something, but he's much calmer than he was when I first brought him home.''

Despite the physical demands, the 100-mile race is organized to keep horses healthy. There are several different phases that serve as rest stops.

Veterinarians are on hand to make sure that each horse's heart rate goes down to 64 beats per minute at each stop. Once that happens, the horses go into a hold of 40 minutes before continuing the race. As the race goes on, hold times increase to 50 minutes and an hour.

Gielen and Galaxy have done several 100-milers. Their best showing was in June in Montana, where the tandem finished with a time of 11 hours and 24 minutes.

"It's very comparable to a marathon,'' Gielen said. "After they've been out there for a few hours, it becomes kind of a mental thing for them. They're either happy to keep going or they might just say 'That's enough.' ''

Gielen takes comfort in knowing horses were born to run.

"If (Galaxy) grabs the bit and takes off, it's about all you can do to get him stopped again,'' the rider said. "That will happen at the beginning of the ride if there's a lot of activity around. He gets wound up just like any other horse.

"Because he's an ex-racehorse, I think they have a lot of that (excitement) bred into them. They want to run and they want to be first. It's also part of their instinct. As herd animals, the herd was their safety. The last guy gets eaten, so you never want to be last.

"They're flight animals. If you come up to them, they're natural reaction is to move away. They don't normally attack, so their nature is to flee. A good flight instinct is what is left over from their evolution, but it also makes them jumpy when you're on them.''

Gielen believes Galaxy's racing background is an asset in the endurance rides.

"If there's another horse in sight, he wants to catch up to it. Conversely, if there's one coming up from behind, he doesn't want to get passed. You can hear him flicking his ears back trying to tell me someone is coming and that it's time to pick up the pace.

"A lot of people don't realize this, but in some places in the U.S. and Canada, they race Arabian horses the same as they do thoroughbred horses. They typically go over a mile, a little bit longer than the thoroughbred racers do. They're not as fast as thoroughbreds, because they don't have the long legs to get going, but they do race Arabs and that's what these guys were bred for.''

It's Gielen's job to harness all that horsepower.

"The rider's job is to pace the horse,'' he said. "We're supposed to be the brains of the operation. When they head out for a ride, they don't necessarily know that they're going to do 100 miles. It's our job as riders to hold them back initially and encourage them when they feel tired.

"I think the best feeling of accomplishment is being able to get your horse through the ride. At the end of the ride, your horse isn't supposed to be completely spent. He's supposed to look as if he's finished 100 miles, but he's also supposed to look like he could still do some more. It's a real team effort.''

Gielen came to New Brunswick from Edmonton in 1977. He operated a nursery in Norton before going into a semi-retirement to become a substitute teacher.

When he's not in the classroom, he's riding while also trying to stay fit himself. In endurance racing, it's not uncommon for the rider to get off the horse and hoof it himself for a few miles.

"Quite often, if there's a steep hill, I'll get off and walk up the hill beside him,'' said Gielen, pointing out that endurance riders wear running shoes. "Sometimes, I run down the hills, too, just to give him a break. I used to run a lot more, but my knees are not real good anymore, so I don't run as much as I used to.

"Some (riders) run probably run five or six miles out of the 100 miles. It also helps your own knees just to get off the horse's back for a while. The better rider you are, the easier you are on the horse's back and the less work he has to do.''

Whether on the flat plains or tough terrain, Gielen finds peace in his sport.

"If I have an hour or two to myself, I can go and ride the horse and forget about everything else in the world. There's an old saying that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man, and it's true.''

[More ...]

Australia: World's highest ranked rider coming to ride in Tom Quilty

August 2008

Margaret "Meg" Wade is currently highest ranking endurance rider in the world – July 2008 and a Tom Quilty Gold Cup Champion.

Meg’s record includes three Tom Quilty wins, nine M/Wt Points National Rider of the Year and she has completed 62 endurance rides over 160 kms each time.

Meg and her husband Chris Gates run three properties on the border of Victoria and New South Wales. They live in the homestead on “Dingley Maze” in the Upper Murray Valley at Burrowye, 95km east of Albury/Wodonga.

Castlebar Endurance stud is famous in Australia and overseas for its breeding of Arabian and Arab derivative horses. Castlebar’s major client base is the Middle East.

While Meg loves breeding horses and riding (August 2nd 2008 she competed in the Canadian championships flying home in time to head for Victoria to ride the following weekend), she has another passion, thanks to noted Australian aviator Dick Smith. He introduced her to flying, helicopters in particular and after 12 months of training at Heliflite, Bankstown she received her wings. Four years later she has just taken ownership of her second helicopter, a Robertson 44.

Meg was born and bred on the land and has been riding since she was old enough to walk.
Her mother, Betty Wade now retired and living in Canberra, grew up in Broken Hill and passed on her love of horses to Meg.

Meg’s husband Chris Gates grew up in Nyngan in western NSW and was a member of
the local pony club. This was when he first heard of the famous Tom Quilty endurance ride, the largest of its type in the world. “We all wondered why riding one hundred miles in a day on the same horse was such a big deal, as we had ridden many miles in the bush out to Pony Club camps and mustering cattle” he said. This was back in 1966. “After all that was only riding from Nyngan to Dubbo.”

But that was on flat land, and in a leisurely manner. “When we first did the Quilty held in the Colo valley, north west of Sydney, up and down hills and through rough terrain, we realised just what a challenge it is,” Chris said.

Meg has her name emblazed on the Tom Quilty Gold Cup three times. This year she aims for a fourth.

The Tom Quilty Gold Cup will be held 19th, 20th, 21st September 2008 Nanango Queensland Australia

World championship Quispamsis man preparing for global race in Malaysia

Telegraph Journal

photo: Bob Gielen of Norton and his horse, FC Galaxy, are training for a unique sporting event later this year. Gielen wil ride FC Galaxy at the World Endurance Championship in Malaysia in November.

NORTON - Bob Gielen extends his right arm as he approaches FC Galaxy, an 11-year-old Arabian gelding.Seconds later, the 58-year-old Quispamsis man is cheek-to-cheek with his horse. There's a special bond that develops from the miles they've logged and the places they've been over the years.

Gielen will ride Galaxy in the World Endurance Championship in Malaysia, where competitors from nearly 40 countries will compete in the 100-mile race on Nov. 8.

Galaxy appears up to the task. His caramel coat is like velvet wrinkled by rippling muscles and veins. His ears are pointed straight up as if he enjoys the praise coming from his owner and rider.

"You need a special horse to do 100 miles,'' Gielen said. "A lot of them will do 50 miles and then they'll quit. You need one that will keep going.

"I have another horse that is probably more athletic than Galaxy, but Galaxy has the drive and the desire to finish. You need both.''

And some serious strength helps, too. Gielen trains Galaxy on the rugged, rolling hills of Norton.

The horse weighs close to 900 pounds and carries about 200 pounds with the saddle. The 5-foot-10 Gielen weighs about 165 pounds, but he's not always applying direct pressure to the horse.

"He's carrying over 20 per cent of his body weight,'' Gielen said. "They're quite amazing beasts to actually be able to do that.''

Galaxy has owned Gielen for nearly six years. The ex-racehorse was bred in Texas and raced in Delaware.

"He was on the circuit for about two years and I bought him as a five-year-old,'' Gielen said. "He won a few races but he wasn't fast enough for that. Then it becomes a problem. When they retire race horses, quite often they don't make really good quiet saddle horses for people.

"This has been a second career for him and he's good at it. I don't know where he would have ended up. He probably wouldn't have made it as somebody's pet horse, because he is a handful and he came with a lot of fears.

"Even the first year I had him, he would always move away from you. He was afraid of everything. Now, it's amazing how much trust he has in what we do. He'll still let me know if he's not happy about something, but he's much calmer than he was when I first brought him home.''

Despite the physical demands, the 100-mile race is organized to keep horses healthy. There are several different phases that serve as rest stops.

Veterinarians are on hand to make sure that each horse's heart rate goes down to 64 beats per minute at each stop. Once that happens, the horses go into a hold of 40 minutes before continuing the race. As the race goes on, hold times increase to 50 minutes and an hour.

Gielen and Galaxy have done several 100-milers. Their best showing was in June in Montana, where the tandem finished with a time of 11 hours and 24 minutes.

"It's very comparable to a marathon,'' Gielen said. "After they've been out there for a few hours, it becomes kind of a mental thing for them. They're either happy to keep going or they might just say 'That's enough.' ''

Gielen takes comfort in knowing horses were born to run.

"If (Galaxy) grabs the bit and takes off, it's about all you can do to get him stopped again,'' the rider said. "That will happen at the beginning of the ride if there's a lot of activity around. He gets wound up just like any other horse.

"Because he's an ex-racehorse, I think they have a lot of that (excitement) bred into them. They want to run and they want to be first. It's also part of their instinct. As herd animals, the herd was their safety. The last guy gets eaten, so you never want to be last.

"They're flight animals. If you come up to them, they're natural reaction is to move away. They don't normally attack, so their nature is to flee. A good flight instinct is what is left over from their evolution, but it also makes them jumpy when you're on them.''

Gielen believes Galaxy's racing background is an asset in the endurance rides.

"If there's another horse in sight, he wants to catch up to it. Conversely, if there's one coming up from behind, he doesn't want to get passed. You can hear him flicking his ears back trying to tell me someone is coming and that it's time to pick up the pace.

"A lot of people don't realize this, but in some places in the U.S. and Canada, they race Arabian horses the same as they do thoroughbred horses. They typically go over a mile, a little bit longer than the thoroughbred racers do. They're not as fast as thoroughbreds, because they don't have the long legs to get going, but they do race Arabs and that's what these guys were bred for.''

It's Gielen's job to harness all that horsepower.

"The rider's job is to pace the horse,'' he said. "We're supposed to be the brains of the operation. When they head out for a ride, they don't necessarily know that they're going to do 100 miles. It's our job as riders to hold them back initially and encourage them when they feel tired.

"I think the best feeling of accomplishment is being able to get your horse through the ride. At the end of the ride, your horse isn't supposed to be completely spent. He's supposed to look as if he's finished 100 miles, but he's also supposed to look like he could still do some more. It's a real team effort.''

Gielen came to New Brunswick from Edmonton in 1977. He operated a nursery in Norton before going into a semi-retirement to become a substitute teacher.

When he's not in the classroom, he's riding while also trying to stay fit himself. In endurance racing, it's not uncommon for the rider to get off the horse and hoof it himself for a few miles.

"Quite often, if there's a steep hill, I'll get off and walk up the hill beside him,'' said Gielen, pointing out that endurance riders wear running shoes. "Sometimes, I run down the hills, too, just to give him a break. I used to run a lot more, but my knees are not real good anymore, so I don't run as much as I used to.

"Some (riders) run probably run five or six miles out of the 100 miles. It also helps your own knees just to get off the horse's back for a while. The better rider you are, the easier you are on the horse's back and the less work he has to do.''

Whether on the flat plains or tough terrain, Gielen finds peace in his sport.

"If I have an hour or two to myself, I can go and ride the horse and forget about everything else in the world. There's an old saying that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man, and it's true.''

[More ...]

Britain: Your Horse Masterson Method video star crowned National Endurance Champion

Yourhorse.co.uk - Full Article

By Amanda Stevenson

04 September 2008

Barnowl, the equine star of Your Horse's Masterson Method web videos has been crowned National Endurance Champion. The nine-year-old Arab X Argentinian Polo Pony was ridden to victory in the 100-mile Cirencester Park Ride by his owner and breeder Sally Hall, just a week after the filming of Barnowl's treatments by Jim Masterson in June this year.

Jim Masterson commented: "Barnowl is a handsome and fit horse and when treated was without any serious issues other than some of the usual tension in the poll, neck and shoulders that we often find in competition horses. While doing the bodywork I do remember that he was somewhat suspicious and didn't really feel that he needed us messing with him. But horses that compete on his level need the same attention as human athletes, and we didn't take "no" for an answer.

"He turned out to be a pretty good star both in the video and as an athlete!"

The Cirencester Park Ride hosts three FEI CEI 3* classes over 160 km (100 mile) and 120 km (75 mile) routes. Ride conditions were extremely difficult after heavy rain the night before the major classes left deep mud in many places on the route. The humidity also took its toll on many competitors in the 160 km (100 mile) race.

The winner was Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoun from the UAE, who rode an average speed of 14.68 kph, while Sally and Barnowl were the first British combination home, earning them the title of British Champions.

More...