FEI Endurance Strategic Planning Group meets in Lausanne

Oct 2013

The FEI Endurance Strategic Planning Group (ESPG) held its second meeting this week as part of the ongoing process of strategic planning to meet the needs of the FEI’s second biggest discipline.

The Group, which is chaired by Andrew Finding (GBR), spent a full day working on the development of a proposed strategic plan for Endurance that will address all of the challenges faced by the sport, and continued its work on the four key areas already identified that the Group believes require specific review to ensure that the discipline continues to grow in the correct direction - Governance and Structure; Culture and Responsibility; Communication; and Foundation for Growth.
During the meeting, which was held at FEI Headquarters in Lausanne (SUI), ESPG members were also briefed by FEI Directors from the Veterinary and Endurance Departments on progress already made following the round table session in July, including the imminent implementation of the Injury Surveillance System, the ongoing management and assessment of FEI Endurance Officials, and Rule changes for approval at the GA.

“The issues are complex and wide ranging but the core challenge is to put in place a plan that will promote substantially reduced malpractice while ensuring the levels of supervision, management and regulation are right for a global sport. At its heart will be a call for cultural change, for good governance and self discipline”, ESPG Chair Andrew Finding said. 
“We are working to present a clear strategy for consideration by all National Federations as well as the FEI Bureau. We are acutely aware of the importance of this work, but no committee can resolve all the challenges. Ultimately, it will be the quality of leadership in all National Federations that will resolve the issues we face.”  

The Group will hold a further in-person meeting prior to the dedicated Endurance session at the FEI General Assembly in November. The ESPG will then produce a detailed strategic plan for consultation early next year.

Notes to Editors:
The FEI Endurance Strategic Planning Group (ESPG) is chaired by Andrew Finding, European Equestrian Federation Board Member and CEO of the British Equestrian Federation.

The members of the Group are veterinarian Brian Sheahan (AUS), chair of the FEI Endurance Committee; Joe Mattingley (USA), international Endurance rider; Saeed H Al Tayer (UAE), Vice President of the Dubai Equestrian Club and organiser of FEI World Endurance Championships; and veterinarian Jean-Louis Leclerc (FRA), an internationally respected and very successful chef d’équipe and team manager within the discipline.

Uruguay dominates Pan-American endurance champs

Horsetalk.co.uz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Oct 03, 2013 in Just Briefly

Uruguay made a clean sweep of the FEI Pan-American Endurance Championships for Seniors, Young Riders & Juniors for the second year running last weekend

They took Team and Individual gold on home turf at the hippodrome in Trinidad, the capital city of Flores in southern Uruguay...

Read more here:
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/10/03/uruguay-dominates-pan-american-endurance-champs/#axzz2gxDgGhMV

Malaysia: Month of Global Events

NST.com.my

3 October 2013

1. Sultan Mizan Cup 2013
Terengganu International Endurance Park, Setiu (Oct 4-6)

After its rebranding two years ago, the Sultan Mizan Cup 2013 has gained reputation as a world-class premier endurance event with past riders coming from France, Australia, Slovakia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
Formerly known as the Sultan’s Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge, which has been ongoing since 2007, the annual event is fast gaining interest from locals especially the younger generation who are interested in equestrian, recreational horse riding and endurance racing.

The 120km race is held at the Terengganu International Endurance Park in Lembah Bidong in the district of Setiu, 50km north of Kuala Terengganu. Regarded as one of the world’s top notch endurance riding village, the park offers visitors and competitors the best of Malaysia’s hospitality.

During the race, riders are expected to have an arduous journey through an oil palm plantation, along the coastline and canal banks as well as through forests to get to the finishing line.

The last two races were won by Thailand’s Wipawan Pawitayalarp, who was also the first woman rider to win the Sultan Mizan Cup.

Read more here:
http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/holiday/month-of-global-events-1.367102

The First Italian World Championships Was A Brilliant Success

Horsereporter.com - Full Article

By Pamela@horsereporter
September 30, 2013

The World Championships Young Horses held for the first time in our country ended last night with the closing ceremony and with the awards officialized by the FEI president Ian Williams. The World Champion title went to the French Aurelien Rocchia who rode Secret de mon Coeur. The second was the Spanish Silvia Yebra Altimiras, while the third was another French, Laurent Mosti.

There has been a strong urge and desire to impress and to leave the mark in occasion of the first World Championships Young Horses held in Italy. The dream of the organizing Committee of Garda Endurance Cup, the company which hosted the sporting event at the feet of the picturesque castle in Valeggio sul Mincio, has largely come true.

The special edition of the FEI World Championships Young Horses 2013 gave the thousands of people who rushed to the splendid Parco Giardino Sigurtà from Thursday to Saturday authentic, electrifying emotions...

Read more here:
http://www.horsereporter.com/?p=8009

Sheikh Mohammed: Swiss Federation questions inquiry

A leading equestrian federation has questioned the independence of a probe into Sheikh Mohammed's equine business.

Former London police chief Lord Stevens was called in by the sheikh's wife to oversee an internal inquiry after illegal veterinary drugs were seized from a stables and private jet.

Sheikh Mohammed is the world's biggest owner of racehorses, but the latest questions focus on endurance racing.

The Swiss federation's Claude Nordmann would prefer an external investigation.

[More ...]

International Equestrian Federation to introduce injury surveillance system over allegations of horse deaths

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

The governing body of equestrian sport has pledged to introduce an injury surveillance system (ISS) this autumn in response to allegations that dozens of horses die each season while competing in Middle East endurance racing.

By Pippa Cuckson
10:00PM BST 01 Oct 2013

Following lobbying from European federations, who have observed a link between endurance racing in the Middle East and stress fractures, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) has decided to monitor injuries more closely.
In Europe and North America, endurance racing is slower paced but the Middle Eastern sport often produces average speeds of 26kph on 160 kilometre (100 mile) championship tier rides.

Last year, a study in the British Veterinary Journal highlighted injury-inducing averages of 35kph in the last 15-20km of the straighter, flatter desert tracks.

Two recent seizures of unlicensed drugs – one in Newmarket in August and the other on a private jet at Stansted in May – were both linked to Sheikh Mohammed, the world’s ­leading racehorse owner and current endurance world champion.
They included extensive anti-inflammatories and analgesics which Swiss equestrian federation president Charles Trolliet, also a vet, described as the “classic endurance cocktail”...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/10348317/International-Equestrian-Federation-to-introduce-injury-surveillance-system-over-allegations-of-horse-deaths.html

Sheikh Mohammed under further scrutiny as trainer banned for doping continues to work in his Dubai stables

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

Sheikh Mohammed has opened himself up to further embarrassment following news that a former trainer who was banned for doping continues to work at Dubai stables owned by the Godolphin boss.

By Telegraph Sport
5:30PM BST 01 Oct 2013

Mubarak bin-Shafya was banned from endurance racing for two years in 2011 after several of his horses tested positive for stanozolol.

However, that has not prevented him from training thoroughbreds from the Al Aasfa Stables, owned by the Sheikh, near Dubai City.

And while there is no suggestion Sheikh Mohammed is involved in wrongdoing, the ongoing link with Bin Shafya, who is also a former colleague of disgraced Godolphin trainer Mahmood al-Zarooni, will cast yet further suspicion on the endurance horse operation.

More than 20 endurance horses trained in Dubai at stables owned variously by Sheikh Mohammed and other senior members of the Maktoum family have been involved in doping cases since 2005.

According to publicly available archives, 16 of the horses tested positive in competition to natural or manufactured steroids...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/10346444/Sheikh-Mohammed-under-further-scrutiny-as-trainer-banned-for-doping-continues-to-work-in-his-Dubai-stables.html