Longines named as title sponsor for FEI World Endurance Championships 2012

DATE: 7th June 2012

Swiss watchmaker Longines has become the title sponsor and official timekeeper of the 2012 Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Endurance Championships (25th August 2012) at Euston Park, near Newmarket, Suffolk, UK.

The FEI CEI 4* competition over 160km, organised by Janah Management, will officially be known as the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships.

The 14th running of the FEI World Endurance Championships will see around 160 riders from up to 40 countries lining up for the contest around the undulating Euston Park track.

Reigning world champions, Spain’s Maria Alvarez and Nobby hold the record as the only combination to have claimed two world titles in succession and Spain will be hoping that Ms Alvarez is again among their line-up. The UAE currently holds the team world title. Alvarez’s winning time of 7hr:35min.44sec at the Alltech Kentucky World Equestrian Games in 2010 will be a target for the winning rider at this summer’s World Endurance Championships.

Walter von Känel, President of Longines said: “Longines is proud to be title sponsor and official timekeeper of the FEI World Endurance Championships. Thanks to its long dedication as official timekeeper of equestrian sports since 1881, Longines is considered as an essential partner to a sport which embodies the brand’s values.”

The Swiss watchmaker is a significant partner of the sport of endurance – the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Cup presented by Longines is now in its fifth year.

Ian Williams, FEI Non-Olympic Sports Director, said: “The Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2012 will be an event of the highest sporting quality and we are grateful to the title sponsor for their support.”

Championship organiser James MacEwan said: “We are fortunate to have the support of such a prestigious company at such a high level. We are looking forward to producing a memorable championship in a great year for sport in this part of the world.”

Alongside title sponsor Longines, organisers welcomed two Dubai industry giants, Meydan and Emaar Properties as additional supporters of the championships.

Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Managing Director, Emaar Properties, said: “Equestrian events are part of the Arab world’s heritage, and Emaar has a strong history of supporting such noble initiatives.

“We are honoured to support the FEI World Endurance Championships, which brings together participants from over 40 countries, underlining the strong global interest in the event.”

Saeed H. Al Tayer, Chairman of Meydan Group said: ““The opportunity to support the 2012 World Endurance Championships compliments the focus of the Meydan Group, as the sport of Endurance riding is a great part of the equestrian legacy of the UAE and Dubai.

“We are pleased to serve as one of the event’s sponsors and welcome the opportunity to promote the great sport of Endurance riding in Dubai and across the world.”

With around 1000 participants, riders, crew and officials, the championship will have a significant economic impact on the area around Euston Park and the Newmarket area during the build-up and immediately post competition.

For media information, accreditation or images, please contact Longines FEI World Endurance Championships PR, Elizabeth Peplow;
Tel: +44 07917 647663, Email: wec2012media@gmail.com

Spain: Alex Luque and Louteiro de Eo are National Champions

Alex Luque and Louteiro Eo won the Spanish National Championship at Mount Casarrubios, Toldedo, Spain, on June 9 2012. Time for the 160 km race was 8:34.58, for an average of 18.64 km/h. Louteiro Eo also won Best Condition. Second place went to Alejandra Dachs riding Yesmane in 8:37. Nuria Serrabassa followed 39 seconds later to earn third place on Dakila Pascale

17 of 45 riders completed the race.

For more results, see
http://ggjineteraid.blogspot.com/2012/06/resultados-provisionales-del-campeonato.html

Saudi Arabia: Discovery at al-Magar

Saudiaramcoworld.com - Full Article

by Peter Harrigan
photo courtesy of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities

When Mutlaq ibn Gublan decided to dig a birka (pond) to keep his camels watered, he arranged for a backhoe and drums of diesel fuel to be driven from the road to the site on his ancestral grazing lands in southwest Saudi Arabia. The spot he had chosen, amid finger-like valleys that cut through low sandstone hills, was near traces of an ancient waterfall, which hinted that, in millennia past, nature itself supplied more than a mere birka.

His pond was never completed. As he supervised the excavation, he says, "I spotted a smooth, shaped stone sticking out of the ground. I recognized it was an old and important object." He could tell at once it was a statue of an animal. It was buried upright, head toward the surface, he says. "I paid off the operator and told him to follow his tracks back to the road."

Over the next few years, Ibn Gublan unearthed some 300 objects there. Though none was as large as the first, his finds included a small stone menagerie: ostrich, sheep and goats; what may be fish and birds; a cow-like bovid (Bovidae); and an elegant canine profile that resembles one of the oldest known domesticated breeds, the desert saluki. In addition, he found mortars and pestles, grain grinders, a soapstone pot ornamented with looping and hatched geometric motifs, weights likely used in weaving and stone tools that may have been used in leather processing, as well as scrapers, arrowheads and blades—including an exquisitely decorated stone knife in the unmistakable curved design of the traditional Arabian dagger.

Two years ago, he loaded it all up in his Jeep, drove it to Riyadh and donated it to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (scta).

"When I first saw the pieces, I just could not believe it. It was, how can I say, incroyable," recalls Ali al-Ghabban, head of antiquities at the scta, his French-accented English giving away his years at the University of Provence. "This is Neolithic material," he states, from "a sophisticated society possessing a high level of art and craftsmanship that we have not previously seen." Al-Ghabban had a laboratory run a radiocarbon analysis on trace organic remains found later alongside some of the objects. That dated the material to between 6590 and 7250 bce, he says...

Read more here:
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201203/discovery.at.al-magar.htm

South African Horse Exports Could Surge As Controls Recognized

Bloomberg.com - Full Article

By Tshepiso Mokhema - Jun 8, 2012

South Africa’s horse exports could rise fourfold if the recognition of the country’s controls on African Horse Sickness by the World Organization for Animal Health eases shipments, Racing South Africa said.

The controls were recognized late last month, South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries said on June 6. The country has the immediate potential to export 300 horses annually, Peter Gibson, the chief executive officer of Durban-based Racing South Africa, said in an e-mailed response to questions late yesterday.

“With improved protocols, this figure could double within 24 months,” Gibson said of the country’s potential exports.
Before 1950 South Africa exported a total of about 300,000 horses, according to Racing South Africa. The continent was declared endemic for African Horse Sickness in the late 1950s meaning that South African horses had to be quarantined before if they were sold to buyers in the U.S, boosting costs. The first exports from South Africa took place in 1788.
An outbreak of the disease near the town of Stellenbosch in 2004 halted all exports for two years and horses sent to Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates were subjected to lengthier quarantine periods.

South African horses are prized for sporting use, most notably endurance races and thoroughbred racing, Gibson said. They are also used for polo...

Read more here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-08/south-african-horse-exports-could-surge-as-controls-recognized.html

Serbia: Endurance Horse Race

ENDURANCE HORSE RACE “WHITE HORSE”, Krčedin, 16 June 2012

The competition is organized in accordance with the “Rulebook on Organization and Implementation of Distance Racing” published by the Serbian Association for Equestrian Sport for the Olympic Games and FEI disciplines for horse welfare.

The race is organized by:

1. Equestrian Club “Kremen”, Pančevo; 060/037-1613, Višnja Andrić, hipodrom.pa@gmail.com

2. Equestrian Club “Arandjelovac”; Arandjelovac, Jelena Obradović 060/6711-7057, kkarandjelovac@gmail.com

The race is hosted by Rabbit Burrow Homestead, Krčedin, Uče Zekovića 7, www.zekinsalas.com, e mail office@zekinsalas.com, Radica Gligorić

The endurance race on White Horse Track in Krčedin is run alongside the site of the same name at which the Celtic tribe Skordisci created a huge profile of a horse in white stone, in the manner it used to mark its territory throughout Europe. The WHITE HORSE in Krčedin was still visible at the beginning of the 20th century.

One lap of WHITE HORSE Track in Krčedin is 21km

Recreational riding is available on WHITE HORSE Track on the same day after 4 pm, as well as on every first Saturday of a month, requiring previous booking at 064 641 5572, Slaven Živković, Manager, Rabbit Burrow Homestead, or by e-mail at office@zekinsalas.com

Australia: Short List for 2012 World Endurance Championship

May 26 2012

I am very pleased to have today endorsement from the Equestrian Australia High Performance Manager Brett Mace, on behalf of EA, of the selections of rider and horse combinations made by the panel for the World Senior Endurance Championships, 2012. We are also grateful for EA’s support in administering the processes required to ensure all the official deadlines are met, and in supplying member services to these riders so that they can represent Australia at this event.

So, I am delighted to announce, on behalf of the selection panel of Barb McDonald, Trish Mackay and myself, the short list, in alphabetical order:

Talea Haskow-Stewart and Blake’s Heaven Bombora

Andrea Laws King and Razorback Love Song

Norbert Radny and West Coast Acharon

Matthew Sample and Brookleigh Ricardo

Alexandra Toft and Emily Jones te; reserve horses Travina (and Rupert te, pending final qualification)

Penelope Toft and Travina; reserve horse High Society

All riders and horses have done a wonderful job so far, achieving the stringent qualification standards, engaging with the selection process, and aspiring to represent Australia. We know the team will be in excellent hands, with Chef d’Equipe Peter Toft and team vet Dr Narelle Cribb, and hope that we are all able to support them, in whatever way possible, to achieve their very best.

FEI, OIE Unite to Improve High Performance Horse Transport

Thehorse.com - Full Article

by: Christa Lesté-Lasserre
May 31 2012, Article # 20097

In a major step towards worldwide policy change, the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) has announced its solidarity with the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) in seeking to improve the international movement of high-level performance horses.

Speaking at the opening of the OIE's annual assembly in Paris last week (May 20-25), director general Bernard Vallat, DVM, said his organization recognized "important constraints to the movement of horses" that have come to their attention as international equestrian sport--which has grown 34% over the past three years--continues to expand.

"It is clear that there is a need to define the criteria for healthy, high performance horses as a subpopulation, which reflects the low level of disease risk involved in their movement," Vallat said.

At the 2012 FEI Sports Forum, which took place in early May in Lausanne, Switzerland, the international movement of high performance horses was a hot topic of discussion. It was concluded that having globally standardized testing and quarantine requirements--which currently is not the case--for this particular group of horses, which by necessity must be in impeccable health, would facilitate easier and more streamline international movement...

Read more here:
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=20097