Croatia steals the show at FEI Balkan Endurance Championships 2014

Aroundtherings.com - Full Article

09/25/14
The FEI Balkan Endurance Championships 2014 took place on 20 September in Meljak in the Barajevo municipality of the Serbian capital Belgrade. Seven National Federations were represented with Croatia stealing the show and scooping two of the three individual medals as well as team gold.

The Championship was run over an 80km course made up of four loops consisting of 28km, 20km, 16km and a final 16km. The area of Meljak lies south of the city of Belgrade and is nestled between the two major mountains of the region: the Avala Mountain found to the south east of Belgrade and the Kosmaj Mountain to the south west. The beautiful backdrop of rolling, rural hills provided a technical and testing course for this relatively new FEI Endurance event.

In line with the ever-increasing popularity of the Endurance discipline, this Championship has seen a huge growth in numbers since its inception in 2008. The first official FEI Balkan Endurance Championships took place in Sancrai (ROU) and had a total of 19 entrants, from which 10 successfully completed the 60km course. 2011 saw the event move to Koprivstitsa (BUL) with a similar starting field but a higher completion rate across the 90km course. Finally this year the starting field grew by 50% with 30 starters representing Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, Turkey and, of course, the home nation of Serbia. Alongside a higher number of entrants, this year also saw the event’s highest ever completion rate of nearly 65% indicating the much more advanced level of competition now seen in this part of Europe...

Read mre here:
http://www.aroundtherings.com/site/A__48483/Title__Croatia-steals-the-show-at-FEI-Balkan-Endurance-Championships-2014/292/Articles

2014 FEI Balkan Endurance Championships

Horse-canada.com - Full article

HORSE SPORT SEPTEMBER 25, 2014
BY: EQUINE CANADA

The 2014 FEI Balkan Endurance Championships took place on September 20th in Meljak in the Barajevo municipality of the Serbian capital Belgrade. Seven National Federations were represented with Croatia stealing the show and scooping two of the three individual medals as well as team gold.

The Championship was run over an 80km course made up of four loops consisting of 28km, 20km, 16km and a final 16km. The area of Meljak lies south of the city of Belgrade and is nestled between the two major mountains of the region: the Avala Mountain found to the south east of Belgrade and the Kosmaj Mountain to the south west. The beautiful backdrop of rolling, rural hills provided a technical and testing course for this relatively new FEI Endurance event...

Read more here:
http://www.horse-canada.com/horse-news/2014-fei-balkan-endurance-championships/

Afra Al Suwaidi sets sights on FEI title in Bratislava

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Preview: Emirati rider seeks to bolster her fine season with an eye on Samorin championships

By Leslie Wilson Jr., Racing & Special Features Writer
Published: 02:56 September 27, 2014

Bratislava, Slovakia: Female Emirati horse rider Afra Khalifa Al Suwaidi hopes to bolster what has been a fine season by giving a good account of herself in the FEI World Endurance Championship for Young Horses 2014 at Samorin, Slovakia on Saturday.
The event is sponsored by the HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, in keeping with the strategy to promote equestrian events around the world.

Italian success

Al Suwaidi led the UAE ladies endurance team to a double gold medal winning success in the Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Endurance Cup in Verona, Italy in July and is now targeting the 120km CEI 4* star ride to help establish her credentials...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/afra-al-suwaidi-sets-sights-on-fei-title-in-bratislava-1.1390616

Shaikh Mansour Festival in Slovakia

Khaleejtimes.com - Full Article

27 September 2014

A competitive field of 48 riders, including five hopefuls from the UAE, will compete for top honours in the 120km ride for seven-year-old horses.

Bratislava — The HH Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival will cross a new frontier in its worldwide patronage of equestrian sports. It lends its support to the FEI World Endurance Championship for Young Horses 2014 at Samorin, Slovakia, on Saturday, a Press release said. A competitive field of 48 riders, including five hopefuls from the UAE, will compete for top honours in the 120km ride for seven-year-old horses.

The UAE challenge is spearheaded by Al Ain’s Afra Khalifa Al Suwaidi, who led the UAE ladies endurance team to a double gold medal winning success in the Her Highness Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Endurance Cup in Verona, Italy, in July.

Afra will partner the Hassan Rakhan Al Mansoori-owned gelding Ainhoa Tidjor, a horse which helped her qualify for the Slovakia ride. World Endurance champion trainer Ismail Mohammad has entered a four-strong field of horses with Shaikh Hamed Dalmook Al Maktoum, likely to partner the highly-regarded Normandy.

Mansoor Saeed Mohammed Al Faresi will team up with Tiswan Fageole while Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Al Faresi rides Caramel Do Silva. Saeed Mohammed Saeed Al Khayari completes the UAE quintet aboard the UAE-bred gelding Ostro Di Chai.

The Emirati riders will come up against strong riders representing Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden. France is well represented with a potential 11-strong field while hosts Slovakia have entered four horses...

Read more here:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/sport/inside_sport.asp?xfile=/data/horseracing/2014/September/horseracing_September8.xml§ion=horseracing

Qatar's Al Shaqab dominates in Florac Endurance Championship

Gulf-times.com - Full Article

September 18 2014

Al Shaqab’s Endurance team celebrates it's victory in the podium at the Florac championship in Monpazier, France last weekend. The Qatar team was its dominating best in the event.

Agencies/Paris

Al Shaqab is the name of the moment in endurance world after three weekends in a row wins. Since August, Al Shaqab hasn’t given a chance for other teams to reach the podium and confirmed a successful season in Europe.

In an atmosphere perfect for achieving good results, the endurance team went to Florac to participate in three competitions: CEI3 160 Km, CEI3 140 Km Young Horses 8 years and CEI2 130 Km. The team were ready to compete with the best riders and horses from Europe, in a really traditional competition in France.

Florac is known for the particular characteristics. It’s very tough track with mountain climbing and downward tracks, making it very hard and difficult race. But Al Shaqab endurance team overcame the challenges and showed it’s qualities, confirming the professionalism in the team.

A total of 430 Km was run on September 11, when 4 riders from Al Shaqab finalised the two races 130 Km and 140 Km: Faleh Bughenaim, Nasser Almohannadi, Mohamed al-Sowaidi and Khalid Sanadi...

Read more here:
http://www.gulf-times.com/sport/192/details/408747/qatar's-al-shaqab-dominates-in-florac-endurance-championship

HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival Supports International Endurance Season

Horsereporter.com - Full Article

September 12, 2014
by Pamela Burton

12 September 2014, Abu Dhabi ~ The sponsorship of International Endurance Championships was the subject of an international news conference at the opening of the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (ADIHEX). Now the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival has stepped up to sponsor endurance events in the five continents from the upcoming 2015 season.

Conclusion of 2014 season in Slovakia

25-28 September ~ The current endurance season will be concluded with the FEI World Endurance Championship for Young Horses in Samorin, Slovakia, from 25 – 27 September 2014, according to Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival and Chairman of Ladies Racing Committee in International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR)

“The HH Sheikh Mansoor festival will be represented in Slovakia by the Gold medalist, Afra Khalifa Al Suwaidi, winner of the HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Endurance Cup in Verona, Italy, in July 2014,” Sawaya confirmed...

Read more here:
http://www.horsereporter.com/2014/09/12/hh-sheikh-mansoor-festival-supports-international-endurance-season/

Bahrain: Animal abuse rider stripped of medals

Gulf-daily-news.com - Full Article

By AHMED AL OMARI , Posted on » Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A TOP Bahraini rider has been stripped of his medals by the international governing body for horse-riding sports due to animal abuse.

The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) said on Monday that the winner of His Majesty The King's Cup 120km endurance race in February will have to relinquish his awards.

Two British journalists filed a complaint against the winner, Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, and his groom over an alleged horse-beating incident.

It related to online video footage showing the horse, Tarabic Carl, beginning to slow before being beaten by two men who appeared from a nearby pickup truck.

The journalists, Pippa Cuckson and Lucy Higginson - both formerly of Horse and Hound magazine, also cited a second video that appeared to show the rider hitting the horse with a lash...

Read more here:
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=386024