Bahrain's Royal Endurance Team is supporting a 120km Endurance Horse Ride

BNA.bh - Full Article

23/05/2013

Manama, May 23 (BNA) -- Bahrain's Royal Endurance Team is supporting a 120km Endurance Horse Ride, part of the Compiegne Festival Mondial d’Endurance, to be held on Sunday at Compiegne near Paris, in France.

Team captain Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa will lead a group of prominent Bahraini riders in this two-day festival, which also includes a 160km ride, set to take place today.

Shaikh Nasser will be racing alongside Yaqoub Al Hammadi, Raed Mahmood, Mohammed Abdulsamad and Abdulrahman Al Saad this weekend.

Fresh from their participation in the recently-concluded Windsor Show in the UK, the Bahrain delegation moved to Compiegne, a commune in the Oise department in northern France, ahead of today’s event, which is sponsored by Shaikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE.

Bahrain team manager Dr Khalid Ahmed Hassan had reached the French capital ahead of the team delegation arrival to ensure the completion of all matters related to the team participation and ensure smooth organization of the 120km ride...

Read more here:
http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/562094

Australia: Tenterfield hosts huge endurance ride

Tenterfieldstar.com.au - Full Article

May 22 2013

FOR the Tenterfield Endurance Riders Club, the weekend of May 4-5 was a big one.

It was the 27th consecutive ride the club has staged.

The 210 horses, riders and supporters crammed into our Girard State Forest base and tested our resources, not to mention our plumbing and water supplies, and our ability to organise and manage a ride of this magnitude

It was the second biggest endurance ride held in Australia this year.

Despite several campers managing to spear the underground water pipes with star droppers, and the huge demand on the hot water boiler and our plumbing, the “maintenance crew” managed it all with quiet aplomb.

Then there was the matter of finding, five or six veterinarians and technical support people required for a ride of this magnitude.

The administrative and technical people who kept track of the progress of each horse and rider from 3am to the last rider later in the day...

Read more here:
http://www.tenterfieldstar.com.au/story/1516952/tenterfield-hosts-huge-endurance-ride/?cs=1640

Léonard Liesens Chef d’Equipe for Norway Endurance

Horsereporter.com - Full Article

May 14, 2013
By Pamela@horsereporter

May 12, 2013, Belgium ~ Leonard Liesens is the new Chef d’Equipe for Norway Léonard Liesens, Chef d’Equipe de la Norvège

Leonard Liesens has accepted the position of Chef d’Equipe of Norway, a country that is small on the international endurance scene, but has some very competitive horses and riders. “I have just come from my first clinic in Borway, and all the lakes were still frozen. In spite of the ice and snow, the horses almost never stop training and conditioning and I was very impressed. The riders and horse are quite accustomed to the harsh conditions. The first competition will be the Baltique Championship in Estonia at Kurgjarve on May 24...

Read more here:
http://www.horsereporter.com/?p=6853

2013 Dutch Championship

19 May 2013

65-year-old Marly van Ditzhuijzen and Eenhoorn's Dahman are the 2013 Dutch Champions after the 160-km*** Dutch Championship at Ermelo, Netherlands, on 18 May 2013. Eenhoorn's Dahman, an 11-year-old stallion, was bred by Van Ditzhuijzen. The pair had been reserve Dutch Champions in 2008 and 2012.

Defending Dutch champion Carmen Römer was 2nd (3rd overall) on Oceane D'havenne. This was her 8-year-old mare's first 160-km race.

Both riders are hoping to make the Dutch team for the 2013 European Championships that will be held in Most, Czech Republic.

Norwegian rider Olaug Espeli Carstensen, riding Al Thaka Mellemgaard, won the competition by 40 seconds over Ditzhuijzen.

The 120 km** ride was won by Marjike Visser riding Eomer.

Australia: 2013 Shahzada - The Ultimate Test in Horsemanship

19 May 2013

If you are 16 or 60, Shahzada is something you HAVE to do……whether it is on your “bucket list” or you just need a benchmark to set all your future goals, this is the challenge for you.  If you love your horse and wish you could spend day after day riding in the best country…..this is definitely for you!!!!!

 Come join us in St Albans from August 25 – 29 for the running of the 33rd Shahzada and try the ultimate test of 400km over five days or if you just want to come and have some fun and get a taste of real endurance riding, the mini marathon of 120km over three days is for you.   The ride covers 80kms each day over legendary tracks like Prestons, McKechnie’s, The Steps, Jack’s Track, Boyd’s, Short Wellums, Blue Hill but this year we are hoping to bring back some of the old course like Word of Life, Lyndrian Hill, Derwent’s Track and Baker’s and we will be conducting track clearing weekends which will be announced on Aussie Endurance so come along and help and get a taste of what to expect in August.   

Heaps of entertainment during the week from Trivia and Poetry nights, Shahzada Idol and the famous dog races…..a great canteen and perfect weather.   We like to think of all Shahzada entrants and helpers as part of the Shahzada Family……..everyone helps each other and genuinely wants everyone to succeed and earn that much sought after Shahzada buckle…..so come and give it a go!!!

Start planning now – best to be there at least the Saturday before the start at 4am on Monday, 25th and go to the Shahzada website www.shahzadaresults.org and read some of the stories from other riders who took up the challenge. 

Pre-nom forms and campsite request forms are on the website and please contact Shahzada secretary, Sue Todd on suetodd@activ8.net.au or 0263 79 7218 for any further information.

Great Britain: Set Back for Team Omar

Brechinadvertiser.co.uk - Full Article

Published on 18/05/2013 06:01

RAF Cranwell, normally home to aircrafts, played host to Endurance Great Britain’s third major national ride last weekend.

The event attracted hundreds of riders and horses from across the UK for a competition spread over three days.

Brechin based rider John Thomson and his pure bred Arabian gelding Prince Omar made the journey south to join some of his N&T Group team mates, all of whom were scheduled for the big distance race rides of 160kms over two days, one day 80kms and John and Omar in the 100kms CER one day class.

In a cloudless early morning the mass start went over the line at 07.31 a.m.

For a race ride it was a fairly sedate start due to a short section of tarmac that led into heavily rutted and root laden forest tracks but within a couple of kilometres, nerves had passed and the riders had settled down to a steady but quick endurance trot before the pace shifted up a gear...

Read more here:
http://www.brechinadvertiser.co.uk/sport/local-sport/set-back-for-team-omar-1-2931151

UAE: Guilty racehorse trainer’s endurance links put spotlight on Arab doping record

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

May 6 2013

Concerns about equine doping and severe injuries in the Middle East are already the worst-kept secrets in FEI endurance. But this niche discipline seems set for wider scrutiny following the Godolphin steroids scandal that rocked the racing world.

Mahmood al Zarooni, who trained for Sheikh Mohammed’s elite Godolphin operation at Moulton Paddocks, Newmarket, was banned for a record eight years after 11 racehorses tested positive to anabolic steroids, following a spot-check by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) last month.

Al Zarooni also admitted giving steroids to four other horses.

Sheikh Mohammed is the ruler of Dubai, one of the seven principalities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He personally underpins the global racing economy with worldwide bloodstock investments worth billions and owns an estimated 5,000 racehorses.

His junior wife, Princess Haya of Jordan, is president of the FEI, the body that governs global horse sport, and has actively campaigned for clean sport...

Read more here:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/guilty-racehorse-trainers-endurance-links-put-spotlight-on-arab-doping-record/