Great Britain: Wadebridge provides ideal setting for riders of all abilities

Thisiscornwall.co.uk

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

THE Wadebridge Ride started in the 1970s and is the first competitive endurance ride on the South West calendar.

Stevie Martin was ride organiser and received back up from a team of volunteer helpers.

Held at the Royal Cornwall Showground, the ride also benefited from generous core sponsorship from Sweet Meadow Horse Feeds.

"This ride takes in quiet lanes and forestry tracks and is perfect for a straightforward start to the season," said Jane Holden, of Endurance GB South West.

"Experienced members use it to bring on their young horses while novice riders make it their first competitive ride."
Click here for more

One rider enjoying her first experience was eight-year-old Saffron Bishop from Altarnun who partnered her pony Scarlet alongside her father Tristan.

At 18-years-old, this little Exmoor cross Arab pony taught Saffron's elder sister Rachael to ride and to compete successfully in endurance riding.

In 2002, they were among only four competitors to finish the 100-mile Golden Horseshoe Ride on Exmoor and in the same year they secured the Junior National Championship.

Three years later they clinched the coveted U21s National Championship.

For the past two years, Scarlet has been on loan to the Chisholm family, from Lydford, and has taken sisters Tess and Abby up to advanced level endurance riding but this wonderful schoolmistress has now returned back to the Bishop family to start all over again with Saffron.

More than 90 competitors and pleasure riders took part at Wadebridge, completing with a high number of Grade Ones.

The Bodmin-based company Equus Health put up generous sponsorship enabling prizes to be awarded to the best turned-out horses and riders in the various categories.

These were won by Carolyn Thomas on Midnight Mischief, Ann Jobson on Samson, and Katie Came-Johnson on Pompei.

The Sweet Meadow Horse Feeds awards for the best in class came under scrutiny by the team of vets.

These awards went to Lesley Dore on Firebird, Valerie Crocker on Prince Nadem and Vicky Mosey on Betty. The farrier's award went to Arthur Bell of Truro and Alex Prout's mare Tilly.

Non members are welcome to take part in any of the South West Group's rides. For more details visit www.endurancegbsouthwest.com

Great Britain: Celebration for Jill Thomas as she completes over 1000 Golden Horseshoe miles

Farmersguardian.com

Equestrian News - 19 May, 2009
By Angela Calvert

AT the recent Golden Horseshoe Ride, Jill Thomas, champion endurance rider achieved a Gold Award on her Akhal Teke horse, Pompeii in the Exmoor Experience (two-day 80K) Class.

Jill has competed at Golden Horseshoe for many years and last week’s success meant that she has clocked up 1025 Golden Horseshoe miles since her first competition in 1986.

Pompeii is relatively new to Jill, who has recently moved from riding Arabian horses to Russian-bred Akhal Tekes.

Jill now hopes that Pompeii is going to be her future international star.

Jill broke British and European speed records at the 1993 European Endurance Championships at Southwell.

Since then she has worked with equestrian companies to produce informative books and specific endurance products, helping to raise the profile of this fast growing equestrian sport.

Malaysia: 2009 Edaran Endurance Classic

Terengganu International Endurance Park, Lembah Bidong,
Terengganu

22 - 24 May 2009

The Edaran Endurance Classic is back with its 7th edition of the
Championship. EDARAN ENDURANCE CLASSIC 2009 will be held from 22 til
24 May at the Terengganu International Endurance Park (TIEP) in
Lembah Bidong, Setiu, Terengganu, the venue of the World Endurance
Championship 2008 (WEC 2008).

Ride Categories

FEI 3* 160 KM Sanctioned as Qualifying Ride for WEG 2010

This year's Classic will feature 4 competition categories namely the
FEI-CEI 3* 160 KM, the FEI-CEI 2* 120 KM, the 80 KM and the 40 KM
categories.

The main 160 KM ride will likely see the participation of riders
vying to compete in the forthcoming World Equestrian Games (WEG) in
Kentucky, USA, next yaer as the ride is sanctioned as a qualifying
ride for WEG 2010. Similarly the 120 KM ride will see those who are
attempting to qualify for the World Junior Endurance Championship to
be held later this year in Hungary.

The 6-phased 160 KM and 5-phased 120 KM rides will be flagged off on
23rd May at 4:00 PM followed by the 80 KM and 40 KM at 5:00
PM. Participants in both the 160 M and 120 KM rides are expected to
complete the rides by 11 am the following day.

The Event anticipates once again the participation of His Majesty
the Yang De-Pertuan Agong who has been a regular and committed rider
in the Edaran Endurance Classic series.

This year's Championship will also feature a novelty VIP Ride of 20
KM.

More Information...

2009 Edaran Classic on Endurance.net

Great Britain: Scottish Champs 26th - 28th June 2009

26th - 28th June 2009

For the first time, the SERC Scottish Championships are combined with the only FEI ride north of the border to create a 3 day festival of endurance riding based at historic Scone Palace Park.

Day 1 features a 90km FEI 1* and a 120km FEI 2* class, with days 2 and 3 featuring the full range of one and two day classes from Pleasure Ride up to the flagship 2 day 160km ER. In 2008 the 80km class had a 100% completion rate with an average speed of 12.8km/h

The event builds on the long term success of the SERC Scone ride, a popular part of the calendar for a decade.

The Course

The route is tried and tested, having hosted a 2 day 160km ER in 2008. It features a wide range of terrain, from estate tracks, river bank and field edges to forestry and open hill. Though on the face of it there are no major climbs, the route is deceptively challenging with very little flat ground apart from the Palace grounds at the very start and finish. Many parts of the course offer spectacular views north to the Highlands or south over the River Tay to Fife and the Lomond Hills.

Perth Racecourse, within the grounds of Scone Palace, provides the venue for the Festival. Excellent facilities are available, including hard standing for vehicle parking and space on site for camping and corralling.

History

This part of the world is steeped in history. Scone is the historic crowning place of Scottish Kings, and the home of the Stone of Destiny - some say the real Stone is hidden near here still. Scone was capital of the Pictish kingdom from around 500AD, and Kenneth MacAlpin, first King of Scots, was crowned here within sight of our start line in 847, as was every subsequent Scottish King until James I in 1406. The last King to be crowned here was Charles II in 1651.

A key part of the ride route is the Coronation Road, one of the oldest documented bridleways in Britain. For over 800 years this path has been in recorded use by Kings and their retinues; it was the original road from Falkland Palace to Scone. Falkland was seat of the Earls of Fife and home of the MacDuff clan. Since 1095 the hereditary right to crown the King of Scots has belonged to the Earls of Fife, making a horseback procession along the Coronation Road a precursor to every Monarch’s crowning. The Road is thought to follow a much earlier path and to have been in use for at least 1500 years.

A little further on the route passes under Dunsinane Hill, as a hill fort a strategic location since the Iron Age, but a major seat of power in the early history of Scotland, not least as the stronghold of MacBeth. The decisive battle in 654 AD between MacBeth and the forces of the Earl of Northumberland was fought within sight of Dunsinane, and Shakespeare subsequently immortalised the location in his Scottish Play. Birnam Wood at that time may well have extended south to encompass some of our route, and the Witches Stane, a standing stone of Megalithic origin at St Martins, is reputed to have been the setting for Shakespeare's Witches scene.

More information at www.perthendurance.co.uk

Great Britain: Record completions at Britain's Golden Horseshoe endurance ride

Horsetalk.co.nz

May 15, 2009

Strong winds, sunshine and moderate temperatures gave almost perfect conditions for this year's Golden Horseshoe Ride over Exmoor - and it resulted in a record Gold tally of 20 over the four classes.

But in spite of some superb riding and on-course judgement, biggest cheer of the final day went to the diminutive Kingsby Nutmeg, the first Exmoor pony to take part in one of the competitive classes in the ride.

Owned and ridden by vet's receptionist Mary Hannah, from Brompton Regis, the pony finished the first day and 25 miles of the 50-mile Exmoor Experience class in Silver position and then completed the second day with a Bronze award, losing the one place on time only.

The 65 riders competing in the four classes - the 100-mile Golden Horseshoe, the 75-mile Exmoor Stag, 50-mile Exmoor Experience and one-day, 50-mile Exmoor 80 - netted a total of 20 Gold awards, 20 Silver and 10 Bronze.

Barbara Wigley, who heads the organising committee, said: "It really was one of the best rides yet. Exmoor is very tough and can be hard on both horses and riders, but each year we see an improvement and this time everyone was impressed with the way the horses responded to the demands made on them and their fitness and condition at the end."

In the 100-mile class, David Yeoman and Haszar were particular impressive, pressing ahead of the field for most of the day, closely followed by Lorna Hogg on De Marco and Carol Jones with Ptolemaeus.

Full Results

UAE: Sheikh Mohammed demands answers from FEI over dope case

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

H&H news desk

14 May, 2009

Sheikh Mohammed has demanded to know why the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) — an organisation headed by his wife, Princess Haya — delayed notifying him of a positive dope test on his horse, Tahhan.

On 6 April, Sheikh Mohammed suspended himself from competition and began an internal investigation after his own team discovered traces of two potentially performance-enhancing drugs in Tahhan. He competed the horse in CEI2* 120km endurance races in Bahrain and Dubai in January and February this year.

But has emerged that Tahhan was also tested by the FEI during the rides. The horse's positive results were passed to the FEI legal team on 19 March — nearly three weeks before Sheikh Mohammed's well-publicised statement that it was he who had volunteered the results.

A spokesman for the Sheikh said: "HH Sheikh Mohammed notified the FEI on 3 April 2009.

"The FEI notification to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) federation was on 6 April, 2009. HH Sheikh Mohammed received no communication from the FEI or from any other party, prior to 6 April.

More...

Riding Around The World

The World Ride

CuChullaine and Basha O’Reilly are setting off on the first continuous, around-the-world equestrian expedition. The journey will cover 12,000 miles, cross eleven countries, last two years and be the most highly developed diplomatic and scientific equestrian mission ever undertaken.

The World Ride represents the merging of the Bronze Age activity of equestrian travel with cutting-edge twenty-first century technology. This will result in a “Genghis Khan meets the Matrix” combination wherein state-of-the-art electronics will allow reader/riders to participate from afar, thereby creating humanity’s first inter-active equestrian epic.

This is a journey with a difference. Even if they succeed in riding around the world, that will not be the primary goal. En route Basha will be working with scientists and horse owners to collect hair samples from every known horse breed, thus creating the first complete equine DNA chain. CuChullaine will be using GPS technology to create a unique Long Rider map of the entire route, a project designed to highlight geography to school children around the world and encourage others to undertake their own World Ride.

Ultimately, the World Ride is designed to link humans and horses via the saddle and the internet, with the goal being to demonstrate that all humans share a common mother-tongue, “horse.” This is a journey about courage, not records, and you are invited to explore this website, to follow the World Riders and participate in this unprecedented equestrian event.

[More ...]