New Zealand: South Island Endurance Championships 2011

NZEquestrian.org.nz - Full Article

24/02/2011 11:26:09 a.m.

The Mt Nimrod Endurance Club put on a brilliant weekend for the South Island Endurance Champs, 18-20 February, based at Cannington, Cave in South Canterbury, but the glory well and truly belonged to father and daughter, Philip and Helen Graham.
The CEI 3* 160km ride started at 3am with the 40km loop. The first rider into the vet ring (in 2.41.10) was Philip Graham with Wolf Gang Amadeus, followed closely by several other riders including the five starters from the North Island who had made the long trip down.

The 160km riders rode all four loops with loops 2 and 4 being repeated before the final loop of 20km. Graham had fellow Canterbury rider, Kylie Avery and Silands Mia Bella, hot on his heels all day so it was no surprise that the two decided to fight out the title with a gallop through the last paddock – around 500m in length. Some said the finish was too close to call with Graham and Avery riding neck in neck over the line, but sadly for Avery, who vetted out lame, the final line honours were made in the vet ring, Graham’s horse going through to take the trophy in a time of 9.33.43. North Islander Sean Trafford, on Sayfwood Rolling Stone, crossed the line over an hour after Graham to take second place and was followed sometime later by wife Alexandra Rogers, riding Supre Nickel; seven out of 12 starters completing this track that had a good mixture of rolling hills, flat farm land and tracks, metal and tar seal road verges and plenty of challenges along the way.

Best Conditioned horse for the 3* was judged the following day with “Wolfie” uncontested and looking fit and sound, to claim this prize also...

Read more here:
http://www.nzequestrian.org.nz/Article.aspx?Mode=1&ID=727&ESID=4779

New Zealand: Solid results for endurance riders

Stuff.co.nz - Full Article

24/2/2011

Just three Marlborough riders made the long trip down to Cannington, Cave, last weekend to compete in the South Island Endurance Championships.

Rides were contested on Saturday (160km and 90km) and Sunday (120km and 80km) in perfect conditions.

The CEI 3* 160km ride started at 3am on Saturday and the last riders home finished around 7pm, their ride times around 12 1/2 hours.

The winner was former Marlborough rider Phillip Graham (now Cheviot-based), on seasoned campaigner Wolf Gang Amadeus, his time 9hr 33min.

Also starting in the dark, at 5am, was the CEI 1* 90km Senior and Junior rides.

The winners of these classes finished in exactly six hours, with six horses (four senior and two junior) all galloping for the finish line together...

Read more here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/sport/4698587/Solid-results-for-endurance-riders

Great Britain: BEF Futurity Evaluations seeking world champions

Letstalkhorses.co.uk - Full Article

The BEF Futurity Evaluation series aims to identify British bred young potential sport horses and ponies destined for careers in endurance, dressage, eventing, or show-jumping, with the intention of finding the world champions of the future.

Endurance has been a popular category with breeders in the Futurity since its introduction in 2009. Entries in this section are on the up as endurance breeders increasingly value the chance to gain an informed opinion on the performance potential of their youngstock.

Entries for the Futurity are categorised by discipline with age groups for foals, yearlings, two and three-year-olds. Each horse is evaluated in hand and loose in an indoor school as well as undergoing a vet’s assessment. It is equally as valuable to amateur as professional breeders because the evaluators are purely assessing the horse and not the ‘name’ of the person accompanying it!

The BEF Futurity Evaluations highlight the importance of a planned breeding programme in order to attain youngsters which will be able to successfully compete on the world stage. If the aim of the breeder is to breed a top class endurance horse, looking at the results of the Futurity (both the stallions and the offspring) is increasingly important. One strong advocate of this approach is Dominick Atkinson, the breeder of Seren Procynon (pictured), last year’s highest scoring endurance entry. He believes there is great importance of looking both at individual stallions and at successful lines.

“Seren Procyon is just one of Hanson’s sons. We also have two colts/future stallions by him here. They also follow the consistent stamp that Hanson put on his offspring with our type of mare, in both male and female progeny.” Sadly Hanson died in 2009...

Read more here:
http://www.letstalkhorses.co.uk/latest-news/bef-futurity-evaluations-seeking-world-champions.html

Chile: It is the Endurance Grand Prix Lago Escondido

Anbariloche.com.ar

February 13 2011

The weekend of 26 and 27 next February is a new edition of Endurance Lake Escondido, a classic event that traverses the geography of a magnificent area of Patagonia on horseback, as competition will be missed.

The slogan of this sport is to prioritize the health and welfare of the horse, which was withdrawn by the Veterinary Service of the race before any health problem.

There are already people registered from different parts of the country. Is that this traditional competition is gaining momentum year after year.

For those who wish to participate, include the receipt of horses will be from Wednesday 23 until 16 pm on Saturday, February 26, as from the 17 on Saturday will be the Veterinary Review. On Sunday morning will be the technical talk and then the race.

A date Federal Championship, and also run Novice distances are: 25, 40 and 80 kilometers. Among the activities to be undertaken within the framework of the event, meaning that on Saturday during the day there will be a veterinary clinic and a Herrado and the next day there will be a demonstration of Amanse.

There will also be available, as every year, a camping area for those who wish to do so. The night before the competition will be held a barbecue at the basket among the campers. There will be musical numbers to generate a fun time and where all present participate.

A Test of Endurance is a competition against time to evaluate not only the strength of the horse over large distances to travel, but also the strategic pose the race for the rider.

The horse's performance on various types of terrain and natural obstacles is significant to determine the knowledge equestrian rider and horse training and status. Both horse and rider must possess excellent physical condition, there is nothing worse for a tired horse a rider tired.

Endurance competition is organized in a number of phases. At the end of each phase (in principle every 40 kiloómetros) is a veterinary veterinary organized as a door with a retention time (retention pulse begins when the horse is in the 64 or so, until now the time race continues).

The importance of this discipline is the environment that occurs in each test, where participants not only gather but also their relatives, friends, horse owners, buyers and the general public.

There is no age limit for jockeys, horse races or limitation for this sport, any horse in normal health and with proper training can practice Endurance.

The slogan of this sport is to prioritize the health and welfare of the horse, which was withdrawn by the Veterinary Service of the race before any health problem.

For more information, contact email is: endurance@lago-escondido.com

Qatar: Pact signed for use of ICT in equine sports

Gulf-times.com - Full Article

20 February 2011

agreement
Qatar Science and Technology Park and Al Shaqab have signed a memorandum of understanding for the launch of an ICT solution platform called Rasad monitors that can be used in equine sports.
QSTP chairman, who is also the Science and Technology adviser Dr Tidu Maini and Al Shaqab director Fahad Saad al-Qahtani signed the agreement.
Rasad uses a variety of sensors to collect data and transmit over wireless or wired networks to a central server that processes the data, providing real time customised graphical interfaces and services.
It can be used in several industries, but when used in the equine sports, it provides several benefits such as: the optimisation and personalisation of horse training sessions, a more effective management of performance during endurance competitions...

Read more here:
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=417190&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

Abu Dhabi: Ali Al Muhairi wins Rashid Festival ride

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Completes 120-km event in 4:27:36

* By M. Satya Narayan, Chief Sports Reporter
* Published: 00:00 February 20, 2011

Abu Dhabi: The two horses that Ali Mohammad Al Muhairi prepared for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky last year have obliged the endurance rider with two successive wins this season.

Yesterday, Al Muhairi, a member of the UAE team which won a team gold and an individual silver at the WEG, rode 13-year-old Fenwick Cadenza to victory in the Shaikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Challenge Festival 2011 120-km Endurance Ride.

He won in a time of 4hrs 27min and 36secs.

It followed Al Muahiri's win on Karabil Kalya Hai in the Shaikh Maktoum Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Challenge last month...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/ali-al-muhairi-wins-rashid-festival-ride-1.764530

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/