Scotland’s endurance riding manager back for another year

Thesouthernreporter.co.uk - Full Article

by Sally Gillespie
sally.gillespie@jpress.co.uk @SReporterSally

Newtown St Boswells’ Nicky Bertham has completed her first year as Chef d’Equipe of the Scottish endurance horse riding team.

The team manager moved into the role after several years as a team selector for the sport which sees horses, monitored regularly by vets, and riders cover distances of up to 160km.

The 37-year-old said: “I’m incredibly proud of my whole team, they all came together and there was true team spirit.”

The Scots were second in the Home International earlier this year, beaten by Ireland by minutes, and fourth in the Celtic Challenge after one of the team’s high-mileage horses (now recovered) was ‘vetted’ out. The Scottish riders also won the best turned-out award.

Nicky has been asked to stay on as Chef next year when Kelso will host the Home International and Celtic Challenge, as well as the Scottish Championships...

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http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/lifestyle-leisure/outdoors/scotland-s-endurance-riding-manager-back-for-another-year-1-3154783

UAE: Endurance racing left reeling as Mohammed Ali Al Shafar is banned after latest positive doping test

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

Rider is banned as prohibited steroid is found in the horse he rode to win one of the most prestigious races in the United Arab Emirates

By Pippa Cuckson
9:44AM BST 26 Oct 2013

Attempts by the United Arab Emirates to show it is combating doping in endurance racing have suffered a major setback with news that Mohammed Ali Al Shafar has been banned for two years after the horse he rode to win one of the most prestigious races in the Gulf had been given banned steroids.

Al Shafar’s horse, Orman de Cardonne, tested positive for the prohibited substance 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone hexanoate after winning the 100-mile UAE Presidents Cup in Abu Dhabi on Feb 16. It is the 34th doping case from a prominent UAE stable heard by the tribunal of the sport’s governing body, the FEI, since 2005, although a first from Al Shafar’s Al Reeh Stables in Dubai.

Earlier this week, delegates from around the world attended the annual endurance conference in Abu Dhabi, where the escalating crisis about doping and horse injury rates dominated debate. Afterwards, the German Equestrian Federation issued a statement that said endurance had fallen into “discredit, especially in the Arab world through accidents, tampering and doping”...

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/equestrianism/10406385/Endurance-racing-left-reeling-as-Mohammed-Ali-Al-Shafar-is-banned-after-latest-positive-doping-test.html

Is the sport of endurance in crisis?

Horseandcountry.tv - Full Article

By Charlotte Ricca-Smith on 23rd-Oct-2013

Pierre Arnould, the Belgian national coach and a member of the FEI endurance committee, has spoken out about his sport’s doping scandals and the rising number of deaths in horses taking part.

Shame on the sport
According to Arnould, dozens of horses died during the 2011-2012 season in the Middle East.

Further to this, a total of 33 FEI tribunal hearings concerned the doping of endurance horses from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). More than 20 of those were trained at stables owned by Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, and other members of his family. Qatar and Bahrain have also been implicated in doping.

“Everything would be idyllic but for three federations who cast shame on the sport,” Arnould said in the Telegraph. “Because of this infamous trio, endurance is now in the front pages of the world press who, truly, denounce serial scandals: cheating, doping, corruption, conflicts of interest.”

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http://www.horseandcountry.tv/news/2013/10/23/sport-endurance-crisis

FEI Controversy: Sport is not about driving horses to their deaths

Dailymail.co.uk - Full Article

By MARTIN SAMUEL
PUBLISHED: 17:55 EST, 22 October 2013

It is hard to nail down the official number of equine deaths in the 2011-12 endurance racing season, but unofficial estimates suggest around 80. That means there were probably more.

The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) recorded nine deaths in international events alone in the Group VII area that embraces the Middle East and North Africa.

The following season, 13 horses died in Group VII international competition. There are nine regions that hold endurance races worldwide, so the general pattern is a worrying one.

And these figures govern international, not domestic events, remember. The FEI’s statistics are limited. Horses that are put down as a result of injuries after returning home are rarely included in the figures, meaning the FEI is reliant only on information from national organisations at events.

The statistics would be troubling enough without national bodies choosing to volunteer further bad news.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2472492/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Sport-driving-horses-deaths.html

Mercury rising: The show must go on in Montreux

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Neil Clarkson on Oct 22, 2013

Hipsters from the world’s national equestrian federations, about to pack their bags and head for Montreux for the FEI General Assembly, will no doubt be disappointed to have missed the Swiss town’s annual Freddie Mercury Memorial Day.

Montreux celebrates the late and great lead singer of British rock band Queen in the first week in September, with fans flocking to the shores of Lake Geneva to take part in festivities and admire the three-metre tall statue of Mercury on the waterfront.

Delegates to the November 4-7 gathering will instead be left to ponder the mercurial goings-on in recent weeks around the FEI’s troubles with endurance and the need to find a new president in 2014...

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http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/10/22/mercury-rising-show-montreux/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mercury-rising-show-montreux#axzz2iMpGR9UL

FEI will sort out endurance problems – Haya

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Oct 21, 2013 in News

FEI president Princess Haya has moved to assure national federations that the world governing body is working hard to sort out the problems within the sport of endurance.

Haya was commenting following a report in The Telegraph in Britain in which Belgian official Pierre Arnould voiced his fears for the future of endurance unless the FEI reined in what he viewed as the excesses of a clutch of Middle Eastern countries...

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http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/10/21/fei-endurance-problems-haya/#axzz2iMpGR9UL

Italy: UAE horse dies in 120km endurance race

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

21 October 2013

A prominent Italian horse welfare charity is continuing to demand an official investigation into the death of UAE horse after an international endurance ride in Sardinia — despite being ignored by Italian authorities.

Django De Vere was rushed to a veterinary hospital, where he died after finishing 3rd in the 120km “Endurance Lifestyle” ride on the island of Sardinia on 31 August.

Sonny Richichi of the mainland-based Italian Horse Protection Association (IHP) demanded the provincial public prosecutor seize the body for post mortem, and that the Italian equestrian federation (FISE) investigate. Richichi says both bodies ignored his repeated requests.

On 8 October he asked the FEI to intervene. 2 days later he received a short reply, stating: “We have now forwarded your note to FISE and asked them to follow up. The FEI is monitoring closely.”

Richichi was concerned about Django’s extreme heart rates — recorded as returning to normal in 37 and 52 secs respectively at the first two vet-gates but taking 30 minutes, significantly longer than any other horse, at the last.

“Is it possible that a horse that has just covered 30 kilometers at 29kph can return to a normal heart rate in just 37 seconds?” asked Richichi...

Read more here:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/uae-horse-dies-in-120km-race/