HH President’s Cup CEI 3*160km Endurance Takes Off on Saturday in Abu Dhabi

Horsereporter.com - Full Article

February 12, 2015

180 riders contest for awards including 11 4WD vehicles

Abu Dhabi, UAE ~ Endurance riders from around the world will battle for top honors in the prestigious His Highness The President of the United Arab Emirates Endurance Cup, a 160-km event organized by the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival at the Emirates International Endurance Village near Abu Dhabi on Saturday, 14 February.

Addressing a press conference at the Eastern Mangroves hotel on Thursday, Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club said the event was being held under the supervision of HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

“Around 180 riders representing the UAE, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia will be part of the starting line-up and the riders will be competing for both individual as well as team honors,” he said.“Teams of four riders each will vie for the team championship for which a 4WD vehicle is the winning prize. The top ten riders in the individual competition will each receive a 4WD car while all those who complete the ride will get a slice of the Dh 60,000 ($16,335) on offer,” said Al Nuaimi...

Read more here:
http://www.horsereporter.com/2015/02/12/hh-presidents-cup-cei-3160km-endurance-takes-off-on-saturday-in-abu-dhabi/

Great Britain: Outgoing chairman Ellie Head honoured by Iceni members

EDP24.co.uk - Full Article

Vanessa Britton
Thursday, February 12, 2015

Over 80 Iceni members and supporters attended Santon Downham Village Hall on the last day of January to enjoy a celebratory evening.

Endurance GB chairman John Hudson (originally from Woodbridge) was, with his wife Jane, a special guest and was pleased to make the presentation of awards.

Many special awards were made on the night including one to Ellie Head, outgoing chair, who after six years in the role received, as part of her presentation, a Peter Beales rose named ‘Simply the Best’. Ellie will continue on the Iceni Committee as Secretary in 2015...

Read more here:
http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/other-sport/norfolk-horse-racing-norfolk-equestrian/outgoing_chairman_ellie_head_honoured_by_iceni_members_1_3953078?usurv=skip

American Endurance Ride Conference Board Expresses "Anger and Disgust" After Horse Fatalities in Abu Dhabi

Equusmagazine.com Blog - Full Article

AERC CONDEMNS RULE VIOLATIONS AND RACING OF HORSES AT BLISTERING SPEEDS, LEADING TO CHRONIC INJURIES, FRACTURES AND DEATH

By Fran Jurga | Feb 11, 2015

An international outcry is echoing around the world this week in protest to reports of the death of at least three horses in a non-FEI endurance event in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Particularly provoking have been photos said to show an Australian-bred mount with two broken front legs that did not receive immediate veterinary attention. The race had a low completion rate, and critics complain that there is no way to know how many horses that are removed from the event location die later off premises.

The FEI's response to critics demanding action has been that this particular event was not an FEI-sanctioned event but rather one governed by national rules that are not required to comply with FEI international standards of equine welfare.

The Board of Directors of the American Endurance Ride Conference published the following news release today. It is published here as issued by the AERC...

- See more at: http://equusmagazine.com/blog/american-endurance-ride-conference-aerc-protest-region-vii-horse-deaths-27394#sthash.zh2awsLt.dpuf

FEI must tackle endurance problems, say US officials

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Feb 12, 2015 in News

The governing body for long-distance riding in the United States wants the FEI and US Equestrian Federation (USEF) to show their commitment to endurance reform, following the distressing demise of a competition horse in Abu Dhabi with two broken front legs.

The harrowing image of 12-year-old Australian-bred Splitters Creek Bundy, circulated widely in social media and published by Britain’s Daily Telegraph, shows the horse standing helplessly, having snapped both his cannon bones in the Al Reef Cup, staged in Abu Dhabi on January 31...

Read more: http://horsetalk.co.nz/2015/02/12/fei-tackle-endurance-problems-us-officials/#ixzz3RXsspZ4c

The Silence of the Lambs

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

by Pippa Cuckson
February 10 2015

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s just as well, because the greater the scandal, the briefer the utterance we get out of the FEI.

I refer of course, to the hideous image of Splitters Creek Bundy perched on his shattered forelegs at the CEN in Abu Dhabi on January 31st, which the FEI said it could do nothing about because the Al Reef Cup was a national event.

Disgust on social media at the FEI’s inertia is still running a close second to the outcry at the grotesque fate of Bundy as the battalion of following vehicles ploughed on regardless, no doubt horns blaring and with one eye on the speedometer to see just how fast the remaining cannon-fodder could be hazed into running. No one has denied reports that it took a veterinarian 20 minutes to arrive...

Read more here:
http://www.horse-canada.com/cuckson-report/the-silence-of-the-lambs/

India: City girl shines at equine endurance race

TimesofIndia.com - Full Article

February 9 2015

VADODARA: City girl Arundhatee Sarvaiya has bagged second position at the Equine Endurance Competition that was recently held at the equine festival organized by the Equestrian Federation of India in Ambod village near Gandhinagar.

The Ambod Equine Festival is one of the few endurance races that are organized in the country. In an endurance race, the winning horse is the first to cross the finish line while stopping periodically to pass a veterinary check that deems the animal fit to continue.

Nineteen-year-old Sarvaiya participated in the open category race that was spread over a length of 20 km.

A horse-riding enthusiast since she was six years old, the fest was a comeback for Sarvaiya who had been advised to take a break following an injury two years back. Sarvaiya had competed against 19 amateurs and professionals in a race through ravines and village plains along the Sabarmati river passing through Ambod...

Read more here:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/City-girl-shines-at-equine-endurance-race/articleshow/46171135.cms

FEI plays get-out-of-jail-free card in latest endurance controversy

HorseTalk.co.nz

It is hard to escape the conclusion that the FEI has chosen to play a get-out-of-jail-free card over the harrowing demise of an Australian-bred endurance horse in a race in Abu Dhabi.

An image which has circulated in social media, and was published by Britain’s Daily Telegraph on Friday, shows Splitters Creek Bundy standing helplessly, having snapped both his cannon bones in the Al Reef Cup, staged a week ago.

The problem? The race over 120km was not an FEI-sanctioned event. It was run under less stringent rules adopted by the United Arab Emirates’ equestrian federation for some domestic endurance races. On that basis, the FEI has no jurisdiction, or, as the Telegraph reported, the world governing body asserted it was “powerless to act”.

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