UAE: Al Merri gallops to 100km Endurance Cup victory

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Teenager wins the race on nine-year-old Highland View Dolly

By M. Satya Narayan, Chief Sports ReporterPublished: 00:00 January 7, 2012

Abu Dhabi: Ahmad Mohammad Al Jaber Al Merri won the 100km Shaikh Zayed Bin Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Endurance Cup for the second consecutive year to drive away with the car which was the winner's prize at yesterday's event.

Al Merri rode nine-year-old Anglo-Arab chestnut Highland View Dolly to a superb win at the Emirates International Endurance Village to once again top the event, which is open only to privately-owned horses.

The university student had last season won this 100km UAE national ride on Shardell Sharana Golden and yesterday he repeated that feat, this time finishing on top of a 78-strong field.

The 18-year-old Al Merri started on a very strong note in the very first loop, finishing second, and he never fell below that position in the four-stage race, which he won in a time of three hours, 46 minutes and 19 seconds...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/al-merri-gallops-to-100km-endurance-cup-victory-1.962467

UAE: Private owners to compete at Al Wathba

Gulfnews.com

Open rides for UAE nationals to mark meeting
Staff ReportPublished: 00:00 January 6, 2012

Abu Dhabi: The Shaikh Zayed Bin Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Endurance Cup for horses owned by private owners and the Al Wathba Challenge open ride will be held today and tomorrow respectively at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba.

The rides are organised by the Emirates International Endurance Village and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, while SAS Investment Co LLC, Al Wathba Stables and Samawi Neon are the sponsors of the event.

Today's 100km Shaikh Zayed Bin Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Endurance Cup for horses owned by private owners is a UAE national ride and will start at 6.30am.
The ride will be run in four stages of 33km, 27km, 24km and 16km.

A large number of riders are expected to start in this event, which is being organised to encourage small and private stables to compete against each other and give them a better chance.
Tomorrow's Al Wathba Challenge will be run over a distance of 120km.

The event is an FEI two- star ride. It is supported by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, SAS Investment Co LLC, Al Wathba Stables and Samawi Neon.

The ride is an open event which will start at 6.30am and will be run in five stages of 33km, 27km, 24km, 20km and 16 km.

Attractive prizes are on offer for the winners of the two rides.

Bahrain: Endurance team championship set

Gulf-daily-news.com

January 06, 2012

THE Breef Endurance Ride Team Championship, is scheduled for tomorrow at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir.

Organised by the Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef), the ride is the third event in the 2011/12 season and will feature a team competition.

It will feature two rides, the first of which is the main ride and will cover 120km. An 80km qualifier will also take place on the sidelines of the main event.

Tomorrow's rides will be held under the patronage of federation president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The 120km ride, which begins at 6am, is open for horses aged six and above, with a minimum weight of 75kg and a maximum heat rate of 64 beats per minute, while minimum speed should be 12km per hour.

It's been divided into five stages - 30km each for the first and second, 20km for the third, 20km for the fourth and 20km for the fifth.

In the 80km event, due to commence at 6.15am, the organisers approved three stages. The first stage is over 30km, to be followed by another 30km for the second, while the third and final stage will cover 20km distance.

Riders should be at least 14 years old to participate. The maximum heat rate is 64bmp with a minimum allowed is 70kg and also 12km minimum speed average required.

The veterinary examination for both rides are scheduled for today from 3pm to 5pm at the veterinary area in the village.

The awarding ceremony will be held at 1.30pm on a purpose-built stage at the village, where the top three teams will be honoured.

Following this weekend's ride, the federation will continue preparations for His Majesty the King's Cup ride, the main event of the endurance season, that will take place on February 4.

It will be followed by the Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa Ride on February 18. The Breef Championship will then take place on March 2.

The following event on the Breef calendar will be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Cup night ride on April 6, while the End of the Season Ride will be held on April 5.

Dear Sir/Madam,

i'm writing you in order to invite you to the inauguration of ''LA CORONA - Land
of Horses'' in Punta del Este, Uruguay this 14th of January of 2012,
it will be a pleasure for us to count with you presence in our opening ceremony.
The programming of will have an endurance race of 8kms(for amateur children
under 12 years old), and a promotional race of 40kms and 60kms. Also there are
going to be different equestrian activities, like indian dressage in charge on
Martin Ochoteco, a world well known horse trainer, and more.
Also there are going to be entertainment for all ages with wineries, food,
children area, and endurance education.
The ceremony will end with the awards for the Uruguay national Endurance Team
for their 1st Place Champions in the Endurance World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
As i said before, it will be a pleasure to count with the presence of people
that love horses as we do,
Hope to hearing from you soon,
Best regards and Happy new year!

--
Luis María Juan Pomés León
LA CORONA - Tierra de Caballos
Jose Ignacio, Maldonado, Uruguay
cel. 095562666
www.lacorona.com.uy

Round-the-world horseback ride bid by Colchester aid worker

BBC.co.uk - Full Article

25 December 2011

A charity aid worker from Essex is preparing an attempt to travel across four continents on horseback.

Anna Halford, from Colchester, will begin the ride in Chile in February along with her boyfriend Gilles Favier and their dog Delta.

The couple flew to Chile on Saturday to begin training with their packhorses.

The Médecins sans Frontières logisticians plan to then ride up to North America, Russia, Central Asia and Europe over the next three years.

Miss Halford, a project co-ordinator with the emergency relief charity, said she did not think anything like this had been attempted before.
'Long distance'

She said: "There is a guy who has ridden across most of the continents, but he does them one or a couple at a time...

Read more here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-16303757

Bahrain: Shaikha Maryam in fine victory

Gulf-daily-news.com

Sunday, December 25, 2011

SHAIKHA Maryam bint Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa raced to victory in the National Day Endurance Horse Ride held yesterday.

Riding Kattar, the Royal Endurance team member completed this challenging 120-km ride on top with a total ride time of four hours, 52 minutes and 22 seconds with an average speed of 24.627-km per hour.

Behind her was Al Khaldiya Stable captain Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa (5:11:10) in second place while Al Fateh Stable's Nasser Khalifa Abdulla (5:32:26) came third on Prince.

More than 50 riders competed in the second event of the season, which took place at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir.

Open for senior riders, the ride was closely contested with some of Bahrain's top riders from various stables in the fray.

The five-stage ride got underway with Shaikh Khalid, the Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation president, taking the lead after the 30-km first stage in 1:11:50.

He was followed by Shaikha Maryam (1:12:45) and Abdulla (1:21:34) who were second and third, respectively.

No changes on overall positions were witnessed after the second stage, which was also over 30 kms, as Shaikh Khalid held on to his lead after completing the stage in 1:11:35 and an average speed of 24.150-km per hour.

Shaikha Maryam (1:12:15) maintained composure to stay in second place, and Abdulla (1:21:57) remained third.

Shaikh Khalid managed to keep his lead after the 25-km third stage, clocking 1:01:18 and ahead of Shaikha Maryam (1:01:23) and Abdulla (1:11:31) who were respectively second and third.

Superb

But in the fourth stage, which was over 20 kms, Shaikha Maryam put on a superb show to take over the lead from Shaikh Khalid and finished the stage in 53 minutes and 36 seconds. Shaikh Khalid, who timed 1:01:16, slipped to second for the first time.

An additional 85-km qualifier for inexperienced riders was also held yesterday.

It was won by Royal Endurance Team member Abdulla Mohammed Al Arjani in three hours, 57 minutes and 15 seconds with an average speed of 21.496-km per hour. Second was Mohammed Abdulnabi Ramadan (3:59:20) of Al Fateh Stable while Nehat Singh (4:09:26) of Al Muntaser Stable rounded off the podium.

The rides were followed by an awarding ceremony which was attended by Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and president of the Bahrain Olympic Committee Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khaifa who honoured the top three riders in each event.

The honouring ceremony was also attended by Breef Endurance Committee chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa who congratulated the winners and wished other riders success in future championships.


Photos by Osama Mohammed here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/112590388649341553131/BahrainNationalDayEndurance122411

Great Britain: Katie is on the winning trail in endurance riding

Westsussextoday.co.uk

Published on Friday 23 December 2011 10:12

A RUDGWICK teenager has had such outstanding success in her chosen equestrian discipline of endurance riding, that from 2012 she is likely to ride for Great Britain abroad.

Katie Bedwin (13), who is a pupil at Farlington School, started on the winning trail in September when she won the Pony Club’s Intermediate Championship in Bedfordshire with her five-year-old Arab mare, Elayla.

On the first weekend in October she competed in Wales in the home international team with her grandmother, Rosemary Attfield’s part-bred Arab, Burfield Red Dragon.

There she rode 130km over two days and won a cluster of awards- Top Junior, Top Competitive Horse and the Golden Dragon Award, in the face of tough opposition from adults.

Katie, who is a member of Endurance GB, the national body for the sport, is still at junior level in endurance, but her prowess against adults continued in the middle of October when she took Elayla to Braemore in Wiltshire and won the Southern Novice Championship against strong competiton from adult riders.

This was just the start of an impressive winning trail of championships won before Christmas.

To read about them, and for more equestrian news see Equestrian, West Sussex Gazette, December 21 2012