Current FEI Endurance Rules "fraught with pretenses of equine welfare": John Crandell

November 4 2013

"Our current FEI [endurance] rules are founded on ethical compromise, bias, and the warped sense of reality of powerful people that do not represent the perspective of the endurance community worldwide," says John Crandell III, in part of his letter to the AERC Board of Directors last week.

AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) is the National Affiliate of USEF (United States Equestrian Federation), the National Governing body of endurance in America.

Crandell, a long-time successful USA national and international endurance rider - accomplishments which include 2006 Tevis and Haggin Cup winner on Heraldic, and 2008 and 2012 USA Endurance Team member - spoke out regarding international endurance horse welfare, after a number of horse drugging and death scandals on the international scene began sparking worldwide outrage this summer.

In his letter, Crandell points to a deeply flawed qualification system for FEI endurance horses, which is "entirely focused on simple speeds… and quantity of completion."

"…something is deeply, and fundamentally wrong with the system," Crandell states, which has resulted in "fundamental rules and qualification constructs that are only thinly veiled as protections for the horse."

Crandell calls for changes in the international FEI organization "with the integrity to uphold competitive standards, justice and elemental respects for life." He calls for an entire re-invention of the endurance qualification rules that "will be an integral and essential part of any effort by the FEI to genuinely restore its integrity and respectability.

"The challenge before the FEI is more than just a matter of controlling some forms of injustice and enforcing the rules it now has. "

Crandell's entire letter can be read here:
http://www.endurance.net/international/UAE/2013FEIControversy/Crandell.html

FEI Controversy: Supporting the Endurance Sport

November 3 2013

Jean-Pierre Allegret and Gilles Carbardos of France have added their voices and support to the push for immediate action and reform by the FEI regarding the recent worldwide uproar concerning the allegations of cheating, doping, and horse abuse and deaths in the sport of endurance racing.

Allegret, a 4* President of jury in France and abroad, stated, in part:
"My support may look a bit late. It is not because I'm denying all cheating and doping issues which are making our sport so dirty. I have been witnessing (and victim also) as a judge and as organizer...
"The message of the Belgian federation goes completely in the same way as my thinking. I wish the French federation would make the same move…"

Carbardos, President of France's Fontainebleau CEI*** event, and member of the ADOCEE (the association of Endurance Organizers of France), said, in part, regarding Pierre Arnould's letter to FEI: "I salute Pierre Arnould for not only denounce doping practices and horse abuse, but also for proposing short-term actions." Acknowledging FEI has a unifying role, he continues, "To my mind, the global action must forget about division of opinion or attempts to denounce some riders or countries. The problem is global and could only be raised by a collective consciousness and global actions. I'm ready to take part."

The complete statements by Allegret and Carbardos can be read at
http://endurance-belgium.com/

Endurance horses may be monitored in training

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Nov 01, 2013 in Focus

Horses could be monitored during training as part of efforts to reduce worrying welfare issues in endurance, centred in the Middle East.

Proposals include higher qualification demands for riders and horses in long-distance events and extended recovery periods for mounts, the European Equestrian Federation (EEF) says.

Endurance has been in the spotlight in recent months over high fracture rates and doping infractions centred on the United Arab Emirates (UAE)...

Read more here:
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/11/01/endurance-horsesmonitored-training/#axzz2jP4liT8F

Drastic action planned to protect horses and crack down on crisis in endurance racing

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

eminar proposes monitoring of horses in training and longer post-ride recovery periods to resolve horse welfare crisis in endurance

By Pippa Cuckson
7:31PM GMT 30 Oct 2013

The monitoring of horses in training and longer post-ride recovery periods were among drastic proposals targeting the horse welfare crisis in endurance discussed at a seminar in Abu Dhabi.

The seminar came days before the annual General Assembly of the International Equestrian Federation in Montreux, Switzerland, from Nov 5-7.

Endurance will inevitably dominate debate there too, with FEI president Princess Haya likely to face further allegations of “conflict of interest” as the wife of Sheikh Mohammed, the biggest global player in both racing and endurance stables...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/equestrianism/10415930/Drastic-action-planned-to-protect-horses-and-crack-down-on-crisis-in-endurance-racing.html

FEI Eff-up: 2014 WEG poster features doping posterchild

Horsenationa.com - Full Article

by Wylie

The poster surfaced on the Normandy WEG Facebook page and vanished shortly thereafter… but not before Endurance Belgium captured it via a screenshot.

The screenshot, taken Friday afternoon (if you click on this link to the page it no longer works).

Seems pretty innocuous, right? But, as reported by The Daily Telegraph, the poster was “hastily pulled” when people began noticing that the front-and-center rider was Ali Al Muhairi, an United Arab Emerates endurance competitor who is currently serving a record four-year ban for doping. So... kind of like featuring Lance Armstrong on a poster for the Tour de France.

Al Muhairi has been banned for doping twice–he got 10 months for etorphine in 2009 and four years for steroids in 2011. Etorphine is an opioid analgesic over 1,000 times more potent than morphine. In its 2009 decision notice, the usually restrained FEI Tribunal recorded its “abhorrence” that Al Muhairi had ridden a horse for 160 kilometers after administering this substance...

Read more here:
http://www.horsenation.com/2013/10/30/fei-eff-up-posterchild-for-endurance-doping-featured-on-weg-poster/

FEI Controversy: Equestrian bodies under attack for failing to respond quickly enough over horse welfare

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

Concerns that equestrian bodies are not reacting fast enough to public outcry about horse welfare in the sport of endurance racing have heightened.

By Pippa Cuckson
9:00PM GMT 28 Oct 2013

It emerged on Monday that the International Equestrian Federation had only recently inquired about two United Arab Emirates fatalities from the summer, and that a rider twice banned for doping featured in promotional material for the World Equestrian Games.

The FEI’s slow response to the euthanasia of Eclipse and Django de Vere in July and August has raged on endurance forums for months. Both are registered as owned by the Maktoum family’s Fazaa stables and were ridden by Saeed Ahmed Jaber Al Harbi, who, though only 16, is already the world No  6-ranked rider.

But the FEI admitted to The Daily Telegraph that it approached the UAE only last week after learning of the deaths “from third parties” and needs responses before deciding how to proceed. Eclipse was eliminated for lameness at the fourth vet check of the World Young Riders 120km (75-mile) championship at Tarbes, France. Al Harbi completed the previous loop at 17.7mph . Under FEI rules, deaths after championships must be investigated. International rider Leonard Liesens, who runs the Endurance-Belgium website, said: “It is well known in the endurance community that Eclipse was euthanised within days, yet we hear nothing about an investigation”...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/equestrianism/10410319/Equestrian-bodies-under-attack-for-failing-to-respond-quickly-enough-over-horse-welfare.html

UAE: Endurance rider banned over steroid breach

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Oct 28, 2013 in News

An endurance rider from the United Arab Emirates has received a two-year ban from the FEI for a doping infraction, adding another case to the Middle East’s sorry record of endurance drug breaches in recent years.

The case, involving Mohd Ali Al Shafar, is sure to add fuel further to the controversy around fracture rates and doping breaches centred on the Middle East...

Read more here:
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/10/28/endurance-rider-banned-steroid-breach/#axzz2j1hpLdOI