2014 WEG: Jeremy Olson and Wallace Hill Shade Lone USA Finishers

August 28 2014

In a WEG with difficult weather and footing, the USA was only able to finish one horse and rider in the Endurance Championship. Jeremy Olson and Wallace Hill Shade - the Team Alternate who was moved up to starting position the day before the race, due to Meg Sleeper's Syrocco Reveille being a little off during the trot out - finished 31st in 10:46:16.

US Equine Athletes Association released this statement: "Sadly we must report that the US Team was unable to deliver the performance it had worked so hard to achieve at the WEG 2014. Disappointment is an understatement. A full analysis will be forthcoming in a few days. In short the trail was slippery, challenging to say the least…

"Chances ridden by Heather Reynolds, Gold Dust Rising ridden by Jeremy Reynolds, and Hot Desert Knight ridden by Ellen Rapp Olson, were pulled for metabolic issues. All three are fine post ride, with no serious after effects. Kelsey Russell’s mount, My Wild Irish Gold was slightly off at the trot out after loop two and did not pass the vet gate. We thank our riders, horse owners, supporters and our Chef d’Quippe for their continued support and commitment to US Endurance."

2014 WEG: Dutch investment in Endurance pays off

Normandy2014.com



Thursday 28 August 2014 - 20h21

For the first time Dutch riders formed a team for Endurance at the Word Equestrian Games and the harvest looks promising in form of  the country’s first individual silver.

“Endurance is a very small discipline in Holland and we have spent a lot of time and investment on the sport”, said Theo Ploegmakers, president of the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation when watching his riders briefly resting before going onto the final loop to complete the 160 kilometer ride.

Ploegmakers described the Dutch investment as “taking care of the right promotion for the sport to win over more young riders and making sure they find good trainers and good horses.”

At Sartilly Dutch Marijke Visser showed what happens when the classical way of riding meets Arab horses. Her grey mare Laiza de Jalima flew over Normandy soil like an eventing horse. The ten year old mare is owned by Dubai’s sheik Abdulla Bin Faisal Bin Saqr Al Qassimi and trained in Holland. Ploegmakers is pleased abut this Europe-meets-Arabia combination: “That is the future of the sport, having good riders looking for good horses.” Twenty-one year old Marijke Visser won a young riders’ endurance world championship 2013 and rides dressage. “That is why she is such a good role model for us”, Ploegmakers said. Visser is a student, but at the moment focussing on her riding. To get ready for the World Equestrian Games she and mare Laiza moved to the Belgian Ardennes to train with the Belgian chef of the Dutch Equipe, Emile Docquier. 

Endurance at WEG 2014 played right in Ploegmakers cards. He thinks the pictures transmitted via TV of endurance riders on the beach with Normandy’s icon of Mt St. Michel in the background were “exceptional promotion for the sport.”

2014 WEG: Endurance team gold for Spain

Normandy2014.com



Thursday 28 August 2014 - 22h05

The Endurance team decision at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 was a story of endurance, indeed. Over very heavy footing Spain won gold with three riders left in contention after a total riding time of 28:56:02. France rode to silver in 29:08:44. Three riders defended the medal from Lexington 2014, following 12:42 minutes behind Spain and overtaking Switzerland on 29:42.54.

Veteran Jaume Punti Dachs (45), endurance trainer for the Newmarket based stable of Sheik Mohammed’s Darley stud,  led the Spanish team riders Jordi Arboix Santacreu and Javier Cervera Sanchez-Arnedo. Punti Dachs’s wife Maria Alvarez Ponton could not defend her individual title from Lexington 2010. She retired on the course.

Experienced Jean-Philippe Frances, riding the youngest horse on the French team showed the way to Denis Le Guillou and Robin Cornely.  He rode the course in 8:12:37.  

The Swiss team’s bronze is the second team success after silver in Aachen 2006.  Claude Nordmann, Chef de Mission for the Swiss Team, gave all the credit to Barbara Lissarrague, finishing fourth individually. “She has done her utmost for the team. They all rode together after we had lost the first two riders of five rather early on the course.” Lissarrague led team mates Sonja Fritschi and Andrea Amacher towards the finish line in Sartilly.

Due to very difficult footing following heavy rains the attrition rate of the Normandy 2014 competition was high, leaving only three teams with three riders in contention.

The individual medals went to Sheik Hamdan bin Mohamed Al Maktoum, who rode his mare Yamamah over 160 kilometres in a total riding time of 8:08:28. He achieved an average speed of 19.678, way over the minimum average that had been lowered to 14 km/h. Twenty-one year old Marijke Visser and Laiza de Jalima fetched the first ever Dutch Endurance medal in a riding time of 19.258. Bronze went to Qatari Abdulrahman Saad A.S.Al Sulaiteen, riding Koheilan Kincso 37:16 minutes behind the winner.

If possible, an extra gold medal could have gone to the public, following the riders all the way along the 160 kilometres around the Bay of the Normanic icon Mont St.Michel. Many riders commented on the positive reactions and support they had received on their enduring test.

2014 WEG Endurance: UAE wins individual Gold; Spain wins Team Gold

August 28 2014

UAE's HE Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum won the Endurance CHampionship at the 2014 WOrld Equestrian Games in Normandy, France. He rode 15-year-ld Yamamah to an 8:08.28 finish time for the 160-km challenging, slippery course. Rider Jean Phillippe Frances (who finished XX) said, "The first two loops were terrible."

The Netherlands' Marijke Visser surprised almost everybody with her 2nd place finish, barely 11 minutes behind the winner, earning the Dutch their first Silver medal in endurance. Visser rode Laiza de Jalima, a 10-year-old mare owned by Dubai’s Sheik Abdulla Bin Faisal Bin Saqr Al Qassimi and trained in Holland.

Qatar's Abdulrahman Saad A.S. Al Sulaiteen, riding Koheilan Kincso finished 3rd in 8:56.23.

Spain won Team Gold, the French won Team Silver, and Switzerland won Team Bronze. Due to the difficult course conditions, only 3 teams had 3 riders in contention for team medals.

The pull rate was rather dismal: 38 finishers/166 starters = 22.8%.

2014 WEG: Conditions Improve during Endurance Race

Normandy2014.com



Thursday 28 August 2014 - 16h58

Halfway during the day ground conditions on the Endurance track of the World Equestrian Games championship in Sartilly/ France were improving. 

“It is getting better,” reported Jean-Philippe Frances after passing the third loop, getting ready for two more to go. “The first two loops were terrible”, the most experienced French rider said. Frances came fourth in the individual ranking at Lexington 2010, winning the best condition award. For Normandy2014 he is putting faith in his anglo arab gelding Secret De Mon Coeur, who is the youngest horse in the French team.

2014 WEG Live Endurance Update: Bronze title defenders Germany out of the race

Sartilly, France--Aug. 28


Thursday 28 August 2014 - 14h50

That was a short hundred miles for the defending bronze title holders from Germany at the Endurance race of the World Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy. After completing 73 kilometres the team was already destroyed, leaving only one of the five riders in competition.

Sabrina Arnold, vice European champion, was the first victim. Her horse Saltan developed metabolic problems and she decided to go straight to her own veterinary doctor  instead of presenting for official inspection. Jenny Stemmler’s horse Radja D’Aurabelle took a wrong step on the road and fell lame while Nabab La Majorie for Belinda Hitzler had too high a pulse. Senior team rider Dr. Gabriela Förster (56) withdrew Priceless Gold voluntarily. “I knew that it would be difficult and tough. It is better not to continue.” Sabrina Arnold’s older sister Melanie is the last one standing from the team at Lexington 2010. Heavy rainfall over days before the competition had influenced the footing, forcing the horses through deep mud. The organizers responded by lowering the average speed from 15 to 14 kilometres per hour.

2014 WEG Live Endurance Update: Costa Rican horse and rider suffer fall

Sartilly, France--Aug. 28 - 10h43

Costa Rican combination Claudia Romero Chacon and Dorado suffered a fall during the first loop of the endurance competition of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games shortly after 8:30 a.m. local time. The pair fell 400 meters before the first checkpoint on course, and the horse was fatally injured in the fall. The rider was also injured but was conscious when she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

An update on Romero's condition will be provided as soon as it's available.

The Fédération Equestre Internationale released the following statement:
"The FEI has conducted an immediate investigation into the circumstances of this tragic accident and the investigation shows that the horse struck a tree at the side of the track in a forested area. The horse sustained a head injury and died instantly. There are no signs that the horse slipped prior to the impact."

Conditions in Sartilly are muddy thanks to wet weather over the last week.

Romero and Dorado finished third in April at the Canas CEI*** (Costa Rica). Dorado (Siroko--Catrina, Rey Mago), owned by Jorge Eduardo Vargas Jenkins, was 12.