From World Games to World Stage: Equestrian-Friendly Royal Families and Turmoil in the Middle East

Equisearch - Fran Jurga Blog
February 18 2011

Maybe you’re not a newshound like me. All this Middle Eastern political news might leave you cold. You don’t know these people, you think. And you never will. Does it matter?

I think it does matter. It matters in the big picture of the world, of course. The unrest is disturbing, and violence distressing.

But on a much more personal level, there’s a lot to be said for some high stakes in horse sports riding in the balance, as political unrest in the region spills into the Gulf states with the violence in Bahrain. The high stakes cover four areas that I can think of immediately: the breeding of Arabian horses, the breeding and racing of Thoroughbreds, the sport of endurance and the executive office of the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI).

Take the current crisis in Bahrain, for instance; for the past year or so, I have been following an outbreak of the disease called glanders in that island nation. That research led me to learn about the horse breeding program there, and the endurance team. As this political crisis took over the news, veterinary authorities were set to inspect every horse in the kingdom in order to declare the country free of glanders. No horses have been allowed off the islands during a long quarantine...

Read more here:
http://blogs.equisearch.com/horsehealth/2011/02/18/endurance-equestrian-bahrain-royal-nasser/

Junior/Young Riders World Championship Ride to Abu Dhabi

FEI.org

14 Feb 2011

The FEI Endurance Young Riders/Juniors Championships™ 2011 has been allocated to Abu Dhabi (UAE), following the resignation of Brazil as host country. The championships will be held in December this year, but an exact date has not yet been finalised.

Chris Yeoman's President's Cup Adventure - Part I

EnduranceGB.co.uk - Full Story

8th February 2011

Chris is riding in the President’s Cup in Abu Dhabi this weekend on ZT Richshakfy otherwise known as “Ricky”, her talented grey Argentinian gelding who completed his first FEI 160km last year. After months of preparation, Chris, Ricky and the crewing team, headed up by husband John, have now arrived in Abu Dhabi and Chris has sent us this report back.

“We started our journey well. The flights were ok except I was sat opposite a guy that was ill and sick for a lot of the time - yuk yuk yuk!!! That kept me from eating too much on the flight I can tell you! Anyway John and I met up at the airport as planned and made our way to the hotel. We were supposed to be picked up by the hotel but they never turned up so we got a taxi.

We arrived at the hotel at 2am UAE time on Sunday morning the 6th and they were expecting us (that was a relief… bearing in mind their failure to collect us from the airport!)

However, the hotel is undergoing a major makeover and they are building a whole new wing so peaceful it is not! Drills and hammers are going all day every day.
Day one for 3 hours during the afternoon they even turn the water off - great!!

On the evening of the 6th Nikki (Malcolm) and Philip (Hirst) arrived, having been held up in London due to bad winds in Germany!...

Read more here:
http://www.endurancegb.co.uk/html/item.asp?ItemId=2282

Winner of the NED Festive Photo competition

NEDonline.co.uk

National Equine Database’s winter 2010 photo competition winners Dominick and Jan Atkinson from Kendal in Cumbria are looking forward to their year’s free subscription to Horse and Hound, generously donated by IPC Media.

“We are absolutely thrilled” said Dominick, whose wife Jan took the winning photograph of grey Arab stallion Halal against the snowy backdrop of Whiteside End and the Kentmere Fells at their stud farm located at over 1000 feet above sea level in Cumbria.

“It was minus 12 celsius on the day the photo was taken” said Jan “it’s no wonder we hadn’t bathed him first!”

Halal is full brother to Dominick and Jan’s stallion Hanson who died tragically in 2009, leading to Halal’s owner Ali Cox immediately offering them the loan of Halal to complete their breeding season. Following Halal’s trip over from Ireland, the loan has been so successful, Halal has remained at the Atkinsons’ Seren Arabians stud for a further two seasons.

Dominick and Jan are supporters of the BEF Futurity series which assesses young sport horses from foals to three years for their potential as dressage horses, endurance horses, eventers or showjumpers. A three year old son of Hanson, Seren Procyon, was the 2010 Futurity season’s endurance high scorer. “We are even happier about having the winning photograph” says Dominick “because the featured stallion is closely linked to our 2010 and forthcoming 2011 BEF Futurity entries.”

To view the winning photo “Snow Motion”, visit www.nedonline.co.uk

***

NED is the UK’s National Equine Database www.nedonline.co.uk where information on
every horse in the UK with a passport is stored. Horse information is available for the public to view.

The winning photo is of Halal who is a 100% Crabbett Arab stallion foaled 1989 (Hanif x Sherilla by Bright Shadow) Copyright Jan Atkinson, Seren Arabians www.arabianhorse.co.uk

Horse and Hound www.horseandhound.co.uk, the UK’s leading weekly equestrian publication is published by IPC Media www.ipcmedia.com

Information on the Baileys Horse Feeds/BEF Futurity is at www.bef.co.uk/British_Breeding/BEF_Futurity.html

To see a larger sized high resolution image of Snow Motion, click
http://www.nedonline.co.uk/public/551.aspx

UAE: Presidents Cup Results

12 February 2011

UAE rider swept the first 9 positions of the 160-km race, with Sultan Ahmed Al Baloushi, riding Cronus (Set Sail) in first, in 6:25.13, with Omair Husain Abdulla Al Bloushi riding Marlicia Walter second by 7 seconds. Both are from Al Reef Stables.

France's Sarah Chakil, riding Bahia De Piboul finished 10th followed by fellow countrywoman Cecile Miletto riding Easy Fontnoire.
Americans Cici Butler-Stasiuk finished 20th on DJB Cytron Kon, in 8:19.43, and Deborah Reich and DJB Juniper finished 32nd, in 10:06.08.

Valerie Kanavy and Spectacular Gold were eliminated at the finish on metabolics. Leaving gate 5, she'd been in 13th place, 40 minutes behind the leader.

99 horses started and 32 finished.

Complete results and more stories at:
http://www.endurance.net/international/UAE/2011PresidentsCup/

UAE: Presidents Cup - Al Beloushi scores repeat victory

Emirati rider wins second successive president's cup in Abu dhabi
By Leslie Wilson Jr, Racing & Special Features Writer
February 13, 2011
Gulf News -http://gulfnews.com/sport/other-sports/al-beloushi-scores-repeat-victory-1.761120

Dubai: The Al Reef Stables' Sultan Ahmad Al Baloushi won the HH The President of the UAE Endurance Cup for the second year in a row as he led a sensational UAE sweep of the top nine positions in the CEI three star ride at Abu Dhabi's Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba yesterday.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and other Shaikhs and officials attended the ride.

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, participated in the event which saw a total of 90 riders in action.

Al Beloushi, who was aboard the bay gelding Cronus, held off a strong challenge from fellow Al Reef rider Omair Hussain Abdullah Al Bloushi to win the gruelling 160km event in a time of 6 hours 25.13 minutes. Al Bloushi, riding the grey Marlicia Walter, finished just seven seconds behind the winner.

Third place went to Majid Mohammad Salman Al Sabri who clocked a time of 06:30.35 aboard the 10-year-old chestnut Armin s Zulu. Al Sabri rides out of the Emaar Stables who also supplied the fourth place finisher, Ahmad Mohammad Al Jaber Al Marri who finished in 06:38.27.

Mohammad Ali Al Shafar, from the Al Reeh Endurance Stables was fifth aboard Dalyn Man, while another Emaar Stables rider, Buti Ali Saif Ali Al Nuaimi took the sixth place with Laziz du Barthas. Al Shafar set a time of 06:46.42 while Al Nuaimi clocked 06:52.15.

Emirates Stables' Ahmad Mohammad Yafour Al Sabusi finished seventh, Thani Mohammad Al Muhairi of the Seeh Al Salam Endurance Stables eighth and Mansour Ebrahim Al Salman from the Fazaa Endurance Team in ninth place.

French endurance rider Sarah Chakil finished best among the international riders in 10th place.

UAE: Al Baloushi brothers and fellow Emiratis take on the world in 160km President's Cup endurance race at Al Wathba

http://www.thenational.ae/featured-content/channel-page/sport/uae-sport/al-baloushi-brothers-and-fellow-emiratis-take-on-the-world-in-160km-presidents-cup-endurance-race-at-al-wathba
Amith Passela
Feb 12, 2011

photo:Maria Alvarez Ponton (1) leads Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (7) at the 2010 World Endurance Championship. John Sommers / Reuters

ABU DHABI
The reigning world champion Maria Alvarez Ponton of Spain and Valerie Kanavy, the two-time world champion from the United States, are among the top riders in today's President's Cup endurance race at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba.

Ponton, who trains endurance horses in Dubai with her husband, Juma Punti Dachs, won the world title from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, in the US last September.

Today, Ponton will compete aboard Iska, a 15-year-old Anglo-Arab. When she rode at the world championship in Lexington, Kentucky last year, she was on Nobby, a purebred Arabian of the same age.

Kanavy, the winner of the world title in 1994 and 1998, is one of the five riders from the US who will compete in today's 160km race. She rides Spectacular Gold, a nine-year-old bay gelding.

She won on Gold Raven over the same distance at the Dupuis Equestrian Centre near Indiantow, Florida, at the first US endurance meeting of the season in January. The Al Reef Stables' al Baloushi brothers, Yousef Ahmed and Sultan Ahmed, have won the last two runnings of the race and they post the biggest challenge in a field that also include past winners Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, the Crown Prince of Dubai; Hassan bin Ali and Abdulla Khamis Ali Saeed.

"The President's Cup is the biggest endurance prize in Abu Dhabi and is the dream of every rider to win it," said Yousef Ahmed al Baloushi, who trained and rode the 2008 winner Charlendre El Sharif, who repeated that success under Sultan Ahmed, the younger brother, last year.

Yousef has been the most successful trainer/rider in the domestic season for the past five years and he is riding Elphyn Silverlight, a nine-year-old grey gelding.

He also trained OH-Jay, the winner of the Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed Cup, another 160km race in Dubai in January, ridden by his cousin Omair Hussain al Baloushi.

"We have had a lot of success because we have prepared the horses well, and we also are quite fortunate to have some good horses in training," he said. "A 160km race will test the best of the horses but we are hopeful."

It was announced yesterday the Netherlands will host the second World Arabian Horse Racing Conference from June 16-18 following the success of the inaugural conference in Abu Dhabi last September.