Australia: Gingin endurance ride is family friendly

Centraladvocate.com.au - Full Article

By Jan Millsteed April 3, 2013

IT may seem that endurance riding is a crazy group of riders who spend all day out in the bush on their horse's back but in fact this is not the case at all.

We are a family friendly group of riders who like to camp, ride and use the opportunities provided to ride some of the best countryside WA has to offer.

We can even share the camp with our other four-footed friends as in most cases dogs are welcome at rides so long as they are on leads. Believe it or not you don't need to have a lot of experience in the sport, or a certain type of horse to enter into a ride.

In fact, endurance is a sport that encourages people of any age and horses of any type to join - we have even had a mule.

The only pre-requisite is that you and your horse are fit enough to pass the vet check before you commence.

Not all the rides are really long.There are a range of distance options to suit the most cautious or nervous riders (10 or 20km) through to those that better suit the more ambitious, including a 160km ride or a three-day marathon...

Read more here:
http://www.centraladvocate.com.au/story/1404612/gingin-endurance-ride-is-family-friendly/?cs=1566

Great Britain: Sainsbury competes in the most prestigious endurance ride in the world

Exmouthjournal.co.uk - Full Story

April 4 2013

Dace Sainsbury who hails from Lyme Regis travelled recently to the Middle East with her horse Lottie for the United Arab Emirates Cup – this is her story.

In November 2012 myself and my horse Ballota were invited to ride in the most prestigious endurance ride in the world, HH The President of the United Arab Emirates Cup that was held in Abu Dhabi. This invite included all costs to and from Abu Dhabi and all accommodation for both horse rider and crew. The invite came off the back of doing so well in Belgium in the European Championships. It was a moment to remember opening the letter with the invite! My beautiful little mare is always surprising me with what her and I could do and now we were going to both go on an aeroplane and fly to the desert!

The travelling to Abu Dhabi went very smoothly, an unexpected surprise I must say. We were taken to a handsome hotel near Maastricht where we stayed for one night before travelling to Dusseldorf for our own flight. The transport stables were okay, could have done with bigger boxes but the grooms and the transporters were very friendly and were very obliging when I repeated instructions for the care of Lottie both before the flight and in travel. I think by the end of my lecture on ‘How and when to feed a horse a carrot’ they referred to me in Dutch as the crazy English girl. Nevertheless they must have done a good job as Lottie arrived in Abu Dhabi very settled, stabled next to a Swedish horse.

So, we arrived at 6.30am on the morning of the 12th and were picked up and taken to the Eastern Mangroves hotel. First word that springs to mind. Wow! The hotel looked like an Arabic postcard, not only was it huge but it had a real traditional Arabic feel, Frankincense burning, Arabic coffee freely available and the most enormous dish of dates piled so precariously that I was pretty dubious about taking one at risk of sending the whole lot flying. That was just the lobby. The hotel rooms were absolutely gargantuan, with beds that could fit about ten of James in!

Lottie wasn’t due to arrive until 7pm that evening. The hours in-between napping and collecting Lottie were jam packed with collecting hire cars, driving to Dubai to visit my family and friends and eating at the hotel restaurant which did not disappoint all week! We had a call at about 4pm to tell us that the horses now wouldn’t be arriving until closer to midnight so we had a long wait at the quarantine stables!...

Read more here:
http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/sport/sainsbury_competes_in_the_most_prestigious_endurance_ride_in_the_world_1_2001619

Australia: Wilga endurance ride proves popular

Donnybrookmail.com.au - Full Article

By LYN WILLETT April 1, 2013

SEVENTY-four horses entered the Wilga endurance ride at the weekend.

With grey skies and cool wind, it was perfect weather for the first ride of the season.

Entrants came from GinGin, Albany, Denmark, Margaret River and everywhere in between.

The friendly, laid-back atmosphere at Wilga is always enjoyable and the beautiful wooden trophies created by Collie wood turners were well received by the riders.

Course markers Mario Martin and Jim Poole did a great job with no one getting lost...

Read more here:
http://www.donnybrookmail.com.au/story/1401806/wilga-endurance-ride-proves-popular/?cs=1193

Free With Every Horse - New Zealand Trek Part I

Easycare Blog - Full Story

Monday, April 1, 2013 by Alayna Wiley

One man, two horses, 3,000 km.

On November 1, 2012 Pete Langford embarked on a 3,000 km (1,800 mile) trek across the length of New Zealand. What inspired Pete to undertake such a challenging journey? His love of horses and nature were the main catalysts, along with a desire to raise money for Air Rescue Services in New Zealand. EasyCare and our New Zealand distributor, the Institute for Barefoot Equine Management (IBEM), are proud to sponsor Pete on this journey. Pete's horses, Two-Shoes and Cloud, are barefoot off the track standardbreds and they are traveling over the varied New Zealand terrain wearing Easyboot Gloves. The trip started at the bottom of the South Island in Bluff and will end at Cape Reinga on the North Island (you can follow their progress on this SPOT Adventure page). Pete and his horses are just finishing their route on the South Island and are currently near Picton.

How are the Easyboot Gloves holding up to such a demanding journey?

Read more here:
http://blog.easycareinc.com/blog/hoofoholic/free-with-every-horse-new-zealand-trek-part-i

Great Britain: Local author gives illustrated talk

Brechinadvertiser.co.uk - Full Article

Monday 1 April 2013

Brechin author John Tytler Thomson took to the limelight on Saturday when he gave a presentation to around 40 people who attended an event, hosted by the Edzell Library Action Group (ELAG), at Inglis Memorial Hall.

The presentation focused on his book “Drinking the Wind - At The Limits of Endurance” with audience members coming from Edzell, Brechin, Fettercairn and Menmuir.

Following his illustrated talk Mr Thomson signed copies of his book.

Drinking the Wind- At the Limits of Endurance is an inspirational true story of John’s miraculous journey from paralysis to recovery thanks to the powerful spiritual bond between man and horse.

John Tytler Thomson reveals his awe-inspiring struggle to recover from a debilitating stroke, revealing the radical benefits that horse-riding brought him as a potent form of rehabilitation...

Read more here:
http://www.brechinadvertiser.co.uk/community/local-businesses/local-author-gives-illustrated-talk-1-2858377

Abu Dhabi: Shaikha Najla claims Ladies endurance ride

Gulf-daily-news.com - Full Article

March 30, 2013

BAHRAIN'S Shaikha Najla bint Salman Al Khalifa yesterday raced to victory in the 100-km Ladies Endurance Ride in Abu Dhabi.

The Ahmed Al Fateh Stable rider extended her impressive form to finish the race on top amidst a significant turn up of more than 80 riders from the UAE and other GCC countries.

Shaikha Najla was dominant in the race recording an average speed of 29-km per hour.

She was followed by Dana Mattar of Seeh Al Sallam of the UAE, while Ammar Stables rider Layla Josi rounded off the top three.

The event was divided into four stages of 33kms, 27kms, 24kms and 16kms each.

The Bahraini winner was congratulated after the race by Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation president Shaikh Faisal bin Rashid Al Khalifa.

Performance

Shaikh Faisal lauded the performance of Shaikha Najla and wished her further progress...

Read more here:
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=350478

India: Dope alert: Hold your horse, stables being cleaned

Newindianexpress.com - Full Article

By Pratul Sharma - NEW DELHI
Published: 31st Mar 2013 11:27:27 AM

The government has decided to clean the Augean stables. Well, quite literally. To bring more accountability into equestrian sports, it has decided to acquire dope testing facility in the country for horses. The Delhi-based National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab to check human samples, would soon start testing urine and blood samples of horses participating in various competitions to check for the possible use of banned drugs.

The NDTL will soon join the league of select labs across the world which will test horse doping samples. The sports ministry sources said NDTL in its last board meeting in January had decided that the method that uses liquid chromatography–a mass spectrometry analysis method—would be obtained. A `2.5-crore machine will be acquired for this purpose. “We intend to start testing in the next few months,” officials told The Sunday Standard.

To make the facility pass the stringent rules, NDTL has acquired accreditation from the Association of Official Racing Chemists, a US-based body. The new testing facility in India will be able to provide services for various horse sporting events that otherwise have to send samples to Dubai, England or Hong Kong-based labs.

Equine sports are not a common man’s game. Patronised by Maharajas, business tycoons and the army, the sport—be it equestrian or racing—raises its celebrity quotient several notches higher than other sporting events.

But the sport has its share of taint too...

Read more here:
http://newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/article1523566.ece