Mont Saint Michel & Haras du Pin gear up for Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games

Examiner.com - Full Article

October 11, 2013

The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy takes place August 23-September 7 in France. A group of journalists headed there October 9-12 to check things out. For three days they immersed themselves in the culture, savored the food and viewed the venues where the eight disciplines will be showcased.

Those eight disciplines include Dressage, Show Jumping, Reining, Vaulting, Para Equestrian, Driving, Endurance and Eventing. For the most part the first five will be taking place in the region of Caen. The close proximity of the venues one from the other makes it easier to get from venue to venue via the media shuttles.

If your accommodations are within the city of Caen, the time spent in shuttles will be less. However, for the Eventing and Endurance there will be a bit of a drive to get to the venues where those two events will be held.

Endurance will take place in the vicinity of Mont Saint Michel, a spectacular island commune whose central focus is its church which dates back to the eighth century. The church is surrounded by water which disappears when the tide is low but appears like a moat around this antique building during high tide...

Read more here:
http://www.examiner.com/article/mont-saint-michel-haras-du-pin-gear-up-for-alltech-fei-world-equestrian-games

Nightline 10/08: Mongol Derby: World's Longest, Toughest Horse Race

ABCNews.co.com

ABC's Nightline 10/08/2013, episode 210, features the Mongol Derby, the world's longest, toughest horse race.

FEI clamps down on unauthorised medicating of horses during competition

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) is clamping down on unauthorised medicating of horses during competition as the crisis over doping and horse injuries in endurance racing deepens.

By Pippa Cuckson
04 Oct 2013

Just three days after revealing the FEI is rolling out a new injuries surveillance system (ISS), Telegraph Sport has learnt the FEI is banning ammonium chloride – a substance primarily associated with controversial analgesic technique of “nerve-blocking” – and proposing to limit crew numbers so that horses cannot be concealed from officiating vets.

The Swiss, Belgian and French equestrian federations were lobbying the FEI about “inequities” in Middle Eastern endurance before the drugs raids in May and August on properties owned by Sheikh Mohammed, the reigning endurance world champion and the most powerful owner in thoroughbred horseracing.

The source of the illegal drugs is now being investigated on Sheikh Mohammed’s behalf by his wife, Princess Haya of Jordan, president of the FEI, and Lord Stevens’ intelligence company Quest.

Endurance, which involves races up to 160km, is the only equestrian sport applying vet checks on the field of play during the event. Critics have cited the large size of “crews” – grooms and physios – employed by teams, sometimes as many as 12 per horse, for effectively obscuring it from view.

FEI judge Juliette Mallison told the leading German equestrianism magazine Reiten St Georg that when she was officiating in Dubai in February, two members of her veterinary team saw “a horse surrounded by numerous grooms, the neck covered with a towel, and a further groom inserted the catheter into the [jugular] vein for the infusion disguised in his jacket sleeve.” The horse was disqualified, the officials receiving “ the trainer’s angry abuse”...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/10357456/FEI-clamps-down-on-unauthorised-medicating-of-horses-during-competition.html

Scandal-hit racehorse owner Sheikh Mohammed orders 'junior wife' to head probe into banned equine drugs found on board Dubai government private jet

Dailymail.co.uk - Full Article

• Banned equine drugs discovered at Stansted on flight from Dubai
• Sheikh Mohammed has now ordered an investigation into the seizure
• His wife Princess Haya is to carry out the investigation
• British Horseracing Authority confident drugs were not for racehorses

By JAMES RUSH
PUBLISHED: 05:25 EST, 30 September 2013

The owner of the scandal-hit Godolphin stable has ordered a new investigation after banned equine drugs were discovered on a Dubai government private jet when it was searched at Stansted airport.

Officers from the UK Border Agency, along with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, seized the unlicensed products from a Dubai Royal Air Wing flight earlier this year, it has been reported.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, monarch of the gulf emirate, has now ordered his junior wife Her Highness Princess Haya, president of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, to carry out an investigation into the incident.

Read more here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2438560/Scandal-hit-racehorse-owner-Sheikh-Mohammed-orders-probe-banned-equine-drugs-board-Dubai-government-private-jet.html

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