Great Britain: The ‘Rogate Rabble’ ride again - in style

Bognor.co.uk - Full Article

November 18 2014

Rogate and District Riding Club have again qualified for the Red Dragon endurance championship.

They are a relatively-new club who took up endurance riding only two years ago. It was in 2012 that member Dawn Knee entered her first EGB ride and this was the catalyst for the club’s passion for endurance competitions.

Knee became team manager and organiser and the response from members was overwhelming.

They qualified in 2013 for the Red Dragon Festival of Endurance in Wales, finishing on a score of 104 and coming second in one of the most enduring and challenging rides in the country.

This year was equally successful and buoyed that success the club have been encouraging more members to participate in shorter-distance rides in the hope they would also get the endurance bug and join the teams...

Read more here:
http://www.bognor.co.uk/sport/other-sports/the-rogate-rabble-ride-again-in-style-1-6418133

New Zealand: Junior Team Announced

NZEquestrian.org.nz
18 NOVEMBER 2014

Junior Team for Southern Cross Challenge

The selectors have much pleasure in announcing the team to compete in the Southern Cross Challenge against the QERA Juniors on the 14th December at Kuratau.


Team members are:

Aaron Wakeling & Alshar Blue Chief

Brigitte Smith & Glenmore Titan

Charlotte Berrett & Kava

Patricia Ireland & Phoenix Alshar



First reserve

Hanna Whitehead & Craig Royston Sonatina



Second reserve

Ana Whitehead & Dundevale Nazecca



Congratulations to these riders and we wish them all the best for the upcoming competition

UAE: Mansour wins Al Wathba Challenge endurance ride

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

UAE riders complete 1-2-3 sweep in five-stage race

Staff ReportPublished: 17:27 November 16, 2014

Abu Dhabi: Mansour Saeed Mohammad Al Faresi on Fenwick Sunset Tryst, a 10-year-old chestnut gelding, won the Al Wathba Challenge, a CEN 120-km endurance ride at the Emirates International Endurance Village, Al Wathba in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

A total number of 153 riders started the five-stage race with 58 completing the race.

Al Faresi completed the course in four hours 12 minutes and 54 seconds.

Shaikh Hamed Dalmouk Juma Al Maktoum on Printemps De Marot finished second in 04:15:25 while Rashid Ahmad Al Beloushi on Rivergum Drifter was third in a time of 04:16:06.

After the 1-2-3 sweep by UAE riders, India’s Shiv Singh Swaroop Singh on Quersick Niellans and the UAE’s Ahmad Mohammad Ahmad Belqaizi Al Falasi on Castlebar Tornedo finished fourth and fifth respectively...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/mansour-wins-al-wathba-challenge-endurance-ride-1.1413295

Great Britain: Bring your Ponies to the Golden Horseshoe

Endurancegb.co.uk - Full Story

by Nesta Oliver - (Published:10 November 2014)

When you decided to go into Endurance riding and started to think of what kind of horse to have, was your first thought, ‘I need an Arab’? or was it, ‘My cob/pony/hunter/shire or anything else I’ve got can do that’?

Back in the nineteen-eighties ‘my cob (etc) can do that’ is what most of us thought. The Arab as the ideal endurance horse had not been thought of. And those who thought ‘my cob can do that’ were right. In those days the Golden Horseshoe Ride was what everyone aimed for there was only one class, the one that is now called the Exmoor Stag: eighty/forty kilometers over two days. We worked in miles in those days so it was fifty/twenty five: it sounded easier with smaller numbers. In the eighties there were consistently between eighty and a hundred starters for that one class and everyone rode whatever horse or pony they had and knew how to get them fit.


So what happened? How did we get to entries of four or five horses for a competition that used to be thought of as the pinnacle of Endurance riding, available to all riders and all horses, not just the super brave and the elite? A lot has changed between then and now. There are far more competitions available nowadays so that is one reason perhaps, but here are a few others, and perhaps I can show you some reasons to come instead of not.


In the early nineteen-eighties, the minimum qualification for the Horseshoe was to complete one forty mile ride (sixty-four kilometers) and that was it. Nowadays we have to do more than just one ride to qualify, and sensibly so, because that makes sure that horses are fit enough by proving it in competition instead of just putting the miles in training on our own. But there is a difference in how we think of it. Now we call it ‘upgrading from Novice to Advanced’, and ‘Advanced’ sounds like something only the top people do: those with racing or international competition in mind. Remember those eighties? When anyone with any pony aspired to do the Horseshoe? Let’s look at the reality of upgrading because it’s not really so awesome. To get to Open you need three Novice completions; to get to advanced you only have to do two more rides, one of over sixty-four kilometers and one of eighty or more. That progression to advanced doesn’t sound huge when put like that, but we get frightened by that word ‘Advanced’, and we think it is...

Read more here:
http://endurancegb.co.uk/main/news#2014111001

Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad hails endurance young riders

Manama, Nov 8 (BNA) -- Ahmed Al Dossary won the Qualifying Endurance Race for 80km held yesterday at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Zallaq.
The event was the opening round of the national endurance racing season, and it was held in the presence of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman, Bahrain Olympic Committee President and Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (BREEF) Honorary President Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who followed all the three stages of the race.

Rashid Al Rowaie came second overall, while Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa finished in third place.

In the first stage which covered a distance of 30km, Al Ruwaie on his horse Jamal from Al Zaeem Stables came first with a total time of 1h 12m 26s in an average speed of 24kph.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak on his horse Happy from Al Zaeem Stables came second with a total time of 1h 13m 12s with an average speed of 24kph, while Al Dossary on his horse Khamon from Al Zaeem Stables came third with a total time of 1h 13m 52s with an average speed of 24kph.

The second stage was also with a distance of 30km, and Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak came first with a total time of 1h 14m 06s with an average speed of 24kph.

Al Rowaie came second with a total time of 1h 15m 11s with an average speed of 23kph, while Al Dossary came third with a total time of 1h 14m 10s with an average speed of 24kph.

The third and last stage of the race was over a 20km distance, and Al Dossary came first with a total time of 41m 03s with an average speed of 25kph. Al Rowaie came second with a total time of 41m 29s and an average speed of 25kph, while Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak came third with a total time of 41m 50s with an average speed of 25kph.

On this occasion, Shaikh Nasser assured that the opening endurance ride of the season was very strong in all stages, and what made it strong was the participation of Bahrain’s finest riders from start to finish.

Shaikh Nasser expressed his delight with the entry of many young riders, which confirms that endurance riding in the kingdom is capable of producing a fine field of stars, riders who will be able to continue their march of progress.

Shaikh Nasser noted that BREEF has planned for years to ensure the entry of young participants in endurance races.

He said that the next races will see stronger competition from the stables.

He expressed his satisfaction with the results achieved by the participants at the opening race of the season.

Al Dossary explained that taking the win in the season’s opening race makes him proud, especially since all the other stables and riders were seeking to win as well. He praised the significant role of each member of his team management in helping him to claim his win.


MJ
BNA Article

New Zealand: Latta intent on returning to world endurance champs

ODT.co.nz - Full Article

By Steve Hepburn on Wed, 5 Nov 2014

Susie Latta admits it was a long way to go to not even complete the event but she says she enjoyed every moment of it.
And the Nenthorn Valley horsewoman is determined to return in four years' time.

Latta and her horse, Tkiwa, were reunited on the Latta farm last week after the mare came out of quarantine following her return from the World Equestrian Games in France in late August.

The duo competed in the endurance race at the World Equestrian Games near Normandy but did not finish the 160km event.

But Latta was far from disgraced in not finishing - only 37 out of 170 competitors managed to reach the finish line, in what was a race of attrition...

Read more here:
http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/equestrian/322316/equestrian-latta-intent-returning-world-endurance-champs

Qatar: WAHO 14 Conference Speakers Announced

Horsereporter.com - Full Article

by Pamela Burton
October 21 2014

Under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani, special advisor to H.H. Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, a team of internationally renowned experts with specialist knowledge in a wide range of subjects including equine welfare and behavioral studies, and genetics and cultural heritage, will assemble in Qatar for the 2014 World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO) conference which begins on Monday, 10 November.

The Qatar Foundation and the Qatar National Research Fund are supporting two presentations to be delivered by Prof. Tadeusz Majda and Dr. Doug Antczak attending from Poland and the USA respectively, who will be joined by speakers from France and the United Kingdom...

Read more here:
http://www.horsereporter.com/2014/10/21/waho-14-conference-speakers-announced/