All Woman Team Sweeps 39th Ride & Tie World Championship

Photo by Peter Ramsing

Andreotti Sisters Make History and Take Overall Champs Title

June 25 2009 - Humboldt County, California - Michelle Andreotti of Granite Bay, California, and her sister Susanne Rowland of Rocklin, California, put the family name on a new chapter of Andreotti history in the sport of Ride & Tie and at the same time finally realized the prediction of Bud Johns, inventor of the sport: that a woman/woman team would out-race the men and snatch the World Championship title. Adding glitter to their crowns, their race horse, Over Amile, was deemed Best of Condition.

"There have been so many remarkable women who have been competitive in the sport since the start that it was inevitable that the right two would team up to win the whole shebang," says Johns. "Women can be excellent runners at distances, can be superb horse (wo)men and often are lighter on the horse which helps the equine member of the team," he continues.

Most recently competing at the World Championship level in the mid-1990s, the sisters had drifted away from the sport. Then, last year, the family was asked to attend the 2008 World Championship Event to witness the induction of their father Dave Andreotti's horse Scooter into the Ride & Tie Hall of Fame. They were re-bitten by the bug: by July they bought "Over Amile" and were training for this year’s race. The sisters live about ten minutes apart, and the horse is stabled between the two.

Rowland says she's pretty competitive and it was her idea to try the Championship race this year. They hoped to finish in the top five. "The course worked to our advantage; I like to run the uphills". Simultaneously, Andreotti would ride up the hill catching Rowland at or near the top, where they would switch. Converse to her sister, Andreotti likes to run the downhills. They let the horse pick its own pace, which on this course was usually a canter.

Defending Champions Jim and daughter Sara Howard of Applegate, California, finished in second place, first man/woman team, three minutes behind the winning team. The highest placement by a man/man team, and youngest competitor on the Championship course, was the seventh place team, with junior Lucas King, age 15, of Trout Lake, Washington.

Returning to the location of the 2007 Ride & Tie World Championship, the 39th annual event took place June 20th 2009 at Cuneo Creek, in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, adjacent to the Avenue of the Giants. At approximately thirty-four miles in length the winning time was three hours, fifty seven minutes.

The Ride and Tie Association will be celebrating forty years of riding and tying throughout the week of June 12-20, 2010 at Mount Adams, WA. The 40th Annual World Championship Ride & Tie, open to all comers, will be raced on location Saturday June 19, 2010.

About the Sport of Ride & Tie
The sport of Ride & Tie combines trail running, endurance riding, and strategy. The goal is to get all three team members, two humans and one horse, across a 20 to 100 mile cross-country course by alternating riding and running. Everyone starts out together. The rider, being faster, rides ahead and ties the horse to a tree, and then continues down the trail on foot. The team member who started out on foot gets to the horse, unties, mounts up and rides past the runner, ties the horse … and this leapfrog continues the entire course. When, where, and how a team exchanges riding for running is almost entirely up to each team to develop their own strategy.


About The Ride and Tie Association

The Ride and Tie Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of the sport of Ride & Tie and safe endurance horse management. Over 150 years old, Ride & Tie originated in the old West, where frontiersmen discovered two men could travel great distances at a fast pace without wearing down the horse if they traded off. Ride & Tie was invented as a sport and gained national attention in 1971 when Levi Strauss sponsored the first Levi's Ride & Tie. The Association offers a mentor program, partner matching, training videos, hosts practice Ride & Ties, and sanctions regional and national events. For more information about Ride & Tie, visit the web site at www.rideandtie.org.

Contacts:

Carol Ruprecht
Ride and Tie Association, publicity
media@rideandtie.org
(949) 263-1772

Don Betts
Ride and Tie Association, president
rideandtiedon@aol.com
(360) 681-5218

Chris Amaral
2009 Ride & Tie World Championship race director
Trots4long@yahoo.com
(707) 839-5624

Canada: Endurance riders benefit from funds

BCLocalNews.com - Full article

By Bobbi-Sue Menard - Kelowna Capital News

Published: June 27, 2009 12:00 PM

Endurance riding has a devoted group of athletes in the Central Okanagan coming together under the auspices of the Endurance Riders of BC to raise money for the long term. Endurance riding events are held across North America and transporting both people and horses is an expensive proposition.

With major world championships coming to North America for the first time in 2010, the local group has established The Equine Endurance Trust and is hoping to raise enough funds to build up members' competition experience to qualify for the International finals.

Elroy Karius and Gail Jewell have been involved in endurance riding for years. Karius is well aware of how the costs add up. With upcoming events in Ontario, Idaho and Indiana, the gas, hotel and food bills are high.

Add the entry fees which must cover the operation of events with a full complement of onsite veterinarians and race officials and the costs jump ever higher.

"We can't do as many events in Western Canada because there just isn't the money available to stage the events," explained Karius. "One of the areas we are hoping to raise funds for is to bring more events to Western Canada."

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Kuwait: Endurance races need patience, experience -- Kuwaiti horse rider

kuna.net.kw

Sport 6/27/2009 5:41:00 PM

KUWAIT, June 27 (KUNA) -- Endurance riding races need patience and experience in dealing with the horse throughout the race, Kuwaiti horse rider Turki Al-Muteiri said Saturday.

In a statement to KUNA upon departing the country, Al-Muteiri hoped to achieve good results in the endurance riding tournament that kicked off in Jordan earlier today under the patronage of Her Highness Princess Alia Bint Al-Hussein. Princess Alia is Chairwoman of the Jordanian Equestrian Federation.

The qualification trails of the race are 60 and 80 kilometers long, and see the participation of 87 riders of both genders.

Endurance horses must have special qualifications and go under specific exercises.
In an endurance ride, the winning horse is the first to cross the finish line while stopping periodically to pass a veterinary check that deems the animal in good health and "fit to continue".

Any breed can compete, but the Arabian generally dominates the top levels because of the breed's stamina and natural endurance abilities.

Bahrain: Bahrain gear up for London race

Gulf-daily-news.com

Friday, June 26, 2009

BAHRAIN'S Royal Endurance Team arrived in London yesterday ahead of this year's Thetford Endurance Ride scheduled for tomorrow at Euston Park, Norfolk.

Team captain and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa are to join the team later.

This year's event will feature two rides over 120 and 160 kms and seven Bahraini riders are in the fray.

Shaikh Nasser is in the fray in the 160-km along with Shaikh Khalid, Abdulrahman Al Saad, Abdulrahman Al Zayed and Ahmed Abdulsamad

The remaining three team members - Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa, Yousef Taher and Shereen Fayez - will take part in the 120km event.

Other officials in the delegation include team manager and Breef assistant general secretary Dr Khalid Ahmed Hassan, Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad's media office director Tawfeeq Salehi and administrator Khalid Al Ruwaie.

Top riders from the UAE, Qatar, the UK, France, India and Saudi Arabia are taking part in this prestigious event.

This event is part of the team's preparations for the European Championship in Italy and the World Championship in the US to be held next year.

Bahrain's first race was in France last month when they competed in Compiegne Ride championship held at the Compiegne Endurance Village near Paris. Bahraini finished third overall.

Colusa Sun Herald
June 19
photo: Riders saddle up May 16 for a 25-mile or 50-mile endurance race in the Cache Creek Recreation Area, near Williams.

More than 100 horses and riders endured a 25- or 50-mile course in the Bureau of Land Management’s Cache Creek Recreation Area, 18 miles west of Williams.

The race, held May 16, was hosted by the Stalley family of Williams with close to 50 volunteers, many residents of Williams and students from Williams High School.

Four veterinarians monitored the horses throughout the day, where temperatures reached 97 degrees. Horses that did not pass the vets’ criteria were pulled from the race and trailered back to camp. Water troughs along the trail were continually refilled by four water trucks with more than 10,000 gallons of water.

The day ended with 69 finishers in the 50-mile course and 10 in the 25-mile competition. First place on the 50- mile resulted in a three-way tie between Heather and Jeremy Reynolds of Los Gatos and Megan Doyle of San Jose, who completed the course in 6 hours and 18 minutes. Heather Reynolds took the “Best Conditioned” award. Beth Van Wicklin of Foresthill won the 25-mile course and Cindy Brown of Santa Rosa took the “Best Condition” award for that distance. Some of the awards were donated by Griff's Feed and Seed in Colusa, Bar Ale of Williams, and Echo Valley Ranch of Auburn. The riders camped in the “Cowboy Camp” parking area near the junction of highways 20 and 16, an area which is open to the public throughout the year for hiking, horseback riding, biking, camping, and hunting.

For more information about the course or to volunteer for next year, visit www.cachecreekridgeride.com.

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Namibia: Endurance riders excel

Namibia Sport
June 19

Namibia’s endurance horse riding teams excelled at the South African International FEI Challenge which recently took place in Beaufort West, South Africa, winning both the Senior Standard Weight and Heavy Weight divisions. Namibia’s individual riders also excelled in their various categories, with several riders winning medals. Namibia competed against the national teams of South Africa, France and Great Britain as well as provincial South African teams.

Namibia had by far the superior team in the Heavy Weight division with all its riders putting in consistently good rides. The Namibian team’s strategy was to ride competitively yet safely and let the other teams ride themselves out of the race.
The plan was successful when three of the South African riders were eliminated after the first loop and a fourth rider was eliminated after the second loop.

The only two South Africans finishers came first and 12th overall, while all but one of Namibia’s riders finished amongst the top 12 positions. They were Rudolf Oosthuizen (third), Gawie Viljoen (fourth), Shanie Bosch (seventh), Danie Delport (tenth) and Kallie Grunschlos (11th). The only Namibian withdrawal was Johan van der Walt, whose horse pulled up lame after the second loop.

Namibia dominated the Standard Weight category and took the lead after 30 minutes of the first loop. After the second loop the lead increased to 48 minutes and one of the South African team members was eliminated. After the third loop two more South African team members were eliminated because they could not keep up with the high speed of the Namibian riders. Victory was sweet when the Namibian team finished ahead of South Africa, France and Great Britian.

Jeremia Goagoseb came second, Bredell Wessels came fourth, Frans Saubek sixth, Collin Tjanda seventh, Sam Kriel 16th, Simon Hangura 28th and Hannelie Coetzee 40th. Stefanus Pienaar was eliminated at the final inspection.

Namibia nearly also won the Young Riders category, but were eliminated when three of their horses failed to complete the course. Namibia was leading until the final inspection when Anna Wucher’s horse, Mubarak was eliminated due to lameness. If Mubarak had finished, Namibia would have beaten the eventual winners, South Africa, by more than 1 hour 40 minutes.
Chante Nell came first, Christine van Zyl fourth, Conrad van der Walt 16th, Recht Burger 17th, Schalk Burger 18th and Kabous Rossouw.

In the individual competitions, Namibian riders performed well and ended in the following positions:
In the Senior Standard Weight division over 120,7 km, Izolde von Schauroth came third and Adri van Zyl 27th.
In the Young Riders’ category over 120,7km Fritz Konjak came third, Wilhelm Loubscher 15th and Cherne de Meyer 18th.
Marlene van Rensburg came seventh in the Erasa 120km category, while Johan Bredenkamp came first overall in the I Young Rider category over 81,09km.

Of the 15 horses that were nominated for the Best Conditioned competition in the three categories in which Namibia competed, eight were Namibian horses. Namibia won two of the three awards, with Chante Nell on Henham Zahara winning in the Young riders category and Izolde von Schauroth on Zabubega Tushiya in the senior category.

[full article]

FEI checks 2nd horse doping case

Bleacher Report

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer

LAUSANNE, Switzerland(AP)—The International Equestrian Federation is investigating a second member of its president’s family for alleged horse doping.

The governing body said Friday that Princess Haya of Jordan will step aside from her presidential duties when it considers the case against Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the son of her husband, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.

Sheik Hamdan rode his horse Eo Fawati in a 74 1/2-mile endurance race at Bahrain in January. The horse tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

Sheik Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, rode his horse, Tahhan, when it tested positive for stanozolol metabolites in Bahrain. It also had traces of the banned substance guanabenz in Bahrain and after racing in Dubai in February.

Both men’s cases are expected to go before the FEI’s seven-member tribunal, which can suspend riders from endurance races.

As a member of the International Olympic Committee, Princess Haya informed the organization about the cases. Endurance racing is not an Olympic discipline.

Since becoming FEI president in 2006, the princess has campaigned to clean up equestrian’s doping and medication problems.

She publicized details when six horses failed doping tests at last year’s Beijing Olympics, and has commissioned IOC adviser Arne Ljungqvist to lead a review of the sport’s methods of treating horses and educating riders. His report is due in the next few months.

Full article