2014 France WEG Update from Meg Sleeper

USA Endurance Team member Meg Sleeper (and Syrocco Reveille) has kindly agreed to share her 2014 World Equestrian Games adventure with us:




August 19, 2014

Thank you to everyone sending well wishes and suggestions. I feel like a heel because I realized today I missed at least one company I should have thanked in that previous email. Animal Health Options has supplied us with Promotion eq for several years now and I can’t believe I forgot them!! They have been super supportive and I love their product. I realized my forgetfulness as I was measuring out this morning’s scoop. Hopefully there aren’t many others I forgot!!

The day started out absolutely beautiful but by 11am a new front had come in and the off and on rain settled in again. I had planned on riding on the beach, but was only going to walk anyway, so I decided to change my plan and put Reveille on the walker for a few hours instead. Caroline, the woman we had visited who lives on the trail near the start, stopped by to tell us her friend (who also lives on the trail) was visited by the Spanish team evaluating the trail, and they had a map (argh!!?!). Not to be outdone, we also went to look at that small section of the trail. Her friend told us the organizing committee was redirecting some of the planned WEG trail because conditions were so wet and muddy. Bad trail conditions will make the trail trickier, but hopefully that will be to our advantage.

This afternoon we went to Mont St. Michel. It was a quick trip because there is only so much time I feel comfortable leaving Rev, however it was absolutely amazing. It may have been a short trip, but we saw a lot of the parts of the island because our tour guide was Emilio, the Paraguayan masochist. He is amazingly adept at navigating his way through crowds, so the rest of us were left trotting to keep up and after power walking up to the top and realizing the wait for the Abbey
tour would require at least 45 minutes…he hiked us right back down and then started up again by another route. We finally convinced him a more leisurely trek back down to the exit, with some exploration along the way, would be better :). There are 41 monks that currently live on the island. The pictures really don’t do it justice...

Read more here:
http://www.endurance.net/international/France/2014WEG/MegDiary.html


You can follow Meg's adventures, get to know the USA team members, keep up with the US quest for a podium medal, and keep up with the World Endurance Championship at the WEG on August 28th here:
http://www.endurance.net/international/France/2014WEG/

Definite entries for Endurance Championship at the WEG in Normandy

Definite entries for the Alltech FEI Wrld Equestrian Games Endurance Championship to be held in Normandy, France on August 28, have been up since August 15th. Each National Federation could enter a maximum of 5 athletes and 7 horses.

• Total National Federations (NFs): 47
• NFs with teams: 33
• NFs with individuals only: 14
• 173 athletes, 198 horses

Previous record: 159 participants from 42 nations in Aachen in 2006.

To see a list of definite entries, see
http://www.normandy2014.com/2014-games/nominated-entries/5/endurance

Australia: Shahzada

Less than a week to go to the running of Shahzada in St Albans from Monday, 25th – Friday, 29th August.  The ultimate test of 400km over five days or for those who want all the fun with a little challenge,  try the mini marathon of 120km over three days from Tuesday, 26th to Thursday, 28th August.   Time to get your pre-noms, campsite requests and number reservations in and some serious planning for the best experience you will ever have in endurance riding - all available on the Shahzada website.
Heaps of entertainment during the week of Shahzada which will be announced as we get closer.

Belinda Hopley is running a TPR school at Shahzada this year on Saturday, 23rd August at 10 am - contact Belinda on 0262382293 or belinda.brian@netspeed.com.au.  This is your chance to be a real help in the sport.....a few hours of tpr'ing here or there at a ride can really make a difference.

There will be a track clearing weekend on Saturday, 26th and Sunday, 27th July....if you would like to help on this weekend please contact Haydn Fisher on 0428 324 449 or volunteer to help during Shahzada, please email me.   
There will be lots of updates through the website, various State websites and facebook pages as well as the chat pages regarding Shahzada and the lead up to it but for now, go to the Shahzada website www.shahzadaresults.org for all the stories and pre and post ride books from previous years.   There is now a 2014 Shahzada 400 Endurance Ride Facebook Event Page with lots of updates for the event as well as photos from 2013. 

Please contact Shahzada secretary, Sue Todd on suetodd@activ8.net.au   or phone 0263 797218 with any other inquiries.   
http://www.shahzadaresults.org/14entry.htm

2014 USA Endurance Team Member: Meg Sleeper and Syrocco Reveille

August 18 2014
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

To truly understand the definition of a classy endurance competitor who successfully embraces not only the challenges of high level international competition, but the epitome of the laudable AERC endurance attribute of career longevity, one needs look no further than Meg Sleeper and Syrocco Reveille.

Veterans of both USA endurance rides and numerous World Endurance Championships, both rider and horse bring a bounty of experience to the USA team for the Endurance Championship at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in France on August 28th.

With AERC statistics of 27 completions in 28 starts, 11 of 12 100-mile completions, 5 wins, twenty Top 10 finishes, almost 2000 miles, and 8 Best Condition awards over 10 seasons, 14-year-old Syrocco Reveille (a purebred Arabian by Rimmon - Edgewood Schelite by Blackburne Charal) has a record any USA endurance horse would envy. However, her success goes far beyond resilience and good management. Reveille carries her durability and toughness to the highest level of competition on the world stage for the third time in her storied career.

Reveille and Meg first competed together in a World Endurance Championship in Malaysia in 2008 when Reveille was 8 years old. The pair was riding with fellow team members Jan Worthington and Golden Lightning when, near the end of loop 2, the foursome was nearly struck by lightning on course. "I saw the bolt of light and sparks all around us," Meg later wrote. "The thunder clap was immediately after and both horses bolted. Unfortunately, Leon bolted into Rev and pushed both horses out into the jungle. We hit a tree, and both horses went down and rolled." Due to the wreck, Reveille was pulled for lameness at the next to last vet gate. (Jan and Golden Lightning completed the race but were pulled at the finish line for lameness.) The hardy mare bounced back, returning to her winning form next season, winning the 2009 AHA 100-mile championship with Meg in Oklahoma.


Flash forward to the 2012 World Endurance Championship in Great Britain, and you'll find Meg and Syrocco Reveille finished 11th (just one second behind 10th place), the highest finish for a USA rider since 2000, (when Connie Walker finished 11th at Compiegne on DML Smoke Silver), with a completion time of 7:49.11. Reveille shows another sub-8-hour 100 miler on her record, a win and Best Condition in the March 2010 FITS ride in Florida, in 7:44.

With over 12,000 AERC miles, and having ridden in 76 AERC 100-mile rides (with 66 completions), 46-year-old Meg Sleeper of Frenchtown, New Jersey, is not only a seasoned endurance rider, but with making the USA team for the 7th time - all on home-breds - she's a top class international competitor. Meg was an alternate for the USA team in 2002 in Spain, made the team for Dubai in 2004 (although she didn't ride), finished 22nd in Germany in 2006 on Shyrocco Troilus, rode Reveille in Malaysia in 2008, competed on Syrocco Harmony in Kentucky in 2010, and finished 11th on Reveille in Great Britain in 2012.

"It's a really special bond you get with the horse that's different than any other," Meg says about riding endurance. "One of the things I love about endurance is it's not just about just going as fast as you can… It's about actually figuring out the trail and the weather environment and everything that you get that particular day, and then making your best effort for those hurdles you have that day."

That Meg and her husband Dave Augustin bred, raised and trained Syrocco Reveille makes the experience all the sweeter. They've been breeding their own horses for close to 25 years; Shyrocco Troilus was the first homebred Meg competed on in a World Endurance Championship. He's 22 now: "We don't sell many; they do kind of become family members," Meg says. It's a testament to her riding experience, and her profession as a veterinary cardiologist, that she's had long careers with her home-bred horses, even at the highest level of competition.


Meg is confident of the USA's goal of a Team Medal, and of Reveille's potential in France. "She's done several rides in under 8 hours, so I think, assuming everything goes well and she's on, she's done that speed before, and if she can just do it again, it'll be one of the times we need to hopefully get that gold medal."

Above photos are of Meg and Syrocco Reveille in the 2012 World Endurance Championship in Great Britain

For more coverage of the Endurance Championship at the World Equestrian Games, see:
http://www.endurance.net/international/France/2014WEG/

The hi-tech, high-stakes race for endurance gold

By Neil Clarkson on Aug 14, 2014 in Featured, News, WEG 2014

The endurance race to decide the world champion at WEG is sure to be most scrutinised event in the sport’s history. Welfare concerns arising from the Middle East drove reforms which are now in place for the Games, but will they go far enough to rein in excesses in the sport? We talk with FEI 1st vice-president John McEwen about the issues facing endurance, the fallout from Compiègne, and the prospects for WEG.

High-definition video cameras, tamper-proof GPS devices, an approved heart-rate system, and a specialist timing system. Such hi-tech gear sounds more like the domain of Q, James Bond’s famed gadgetry specialist.

Welcome, instead, to the pinnacle of world endurance where a raft of surveillance measures and advanced monitoring protocols means little will escape officials.

There will be 24/7 video surveillance of the stables. Cameras will also monitor the cooling area and rest areas, not to mention the entire vetting area. A new FEI vet gate timing system will send horses to vet lanes in strict order of arrival time, automatically diverting horses away from their own nation’s veterinary officials.

[Read more ...]

Mongolia: WA rider triumphs in world's toughest race

Au.news.yahoo.com - Full Article

NATALIE BROWN The West Australian
August 14, 2014, 2:01 am

As horse rider Sam Jones headed for the remote Mongolian savanna for the endurance ride of her life, her mentor gave her some words of advice - look out for yourself and hope for good luck.

Kirsten Melis said she knew Jones, 40, had the riding skills to finish the world's longest horse race, but as she became the first Australian to win the Mongol Derby, Melis said Jones also "had lady luck on her side".

Yesterday an exhilarated Jones beat 47 other international competitors in the 1000km endurance race - said to be the toughest course in the world - in which riders race semi-wild horses picked up from remote stations along the route...

Read more here:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24710479/wa-rider-triumphs-in-worlds-toughest-race/

US names endurance team, Aust makes substitute

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Aug 13, 2014 in WEG 2014

Former world endurance champion Valerie Kanavy has been named as second alternate on the US team for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, but her anglo-arab mare My Wild Irish Gold will carry the Kanavy flag under rider Kelsey Russell.

Kanavy, 68, who won individual world championship titles in1994 and 1998, has been named among the US team’s four alternates...

Read more here:
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2014/08/13/us-names-endurance-team-aust-substitute/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=us-names-endurance-team-aust-substitute#axzz3AHQ13QSa