Canadian Endurance Team Named for 2015 NAJRYC

Horse-canada.com

July 9, 2015
by: Equine Canada

Equine Canada and Endurance Canada are pleased to announce the two young athletes who will represent Canada at the 2015 Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championship (NAJYRC), set to take place July 14-19, 2015 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY.

Savanah Wilson of Kemptville, ON and Solstice Pecile of Bailieboro, ON, have been named to represent Canada in Endurance, which will be held on July 16, 2015. This is an FEI CEI 4*, 120 km ride.

Wilson will be riding Hoover the Mover, Cheryl Van Deusen’s 11 year old gelding while Pecile’s partner is her current mount, Glorious Song IA, a 19-year old Arabian mare.

The team will have support from veterinarian, Dr. Glenn Sinclair and Chef d’Équipe, Bob Gielen.

The following Endurance riders will compete at the NAJYRC Championships:

Team: Canada
Rider / Hometown / Horse / Owner
Savanah Wilson / Kemptville, ON / Hoover the Mover / Cheryl Van Deusen
Solstice Pecile / Bailieboro, ON / Glorious Song IA / Solstice Pecile

Veterinarian: Dr. Glenn Sinclair
Chef d’Équipe: Bob Gielen

For more information on NAJYRC 2015, visit www.youngriders.org.

Mongol Derby Prep: A Bad Break

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

Desk to Derby Blog - Liz Brown
July 7 2015

While training for the Mongol Derby I’ve continuously tried to find the balance between pushing myself and keeping my body intact so I arrive at the start line as healthy and fit as can be. All that went to hell last week as I had a minor accident that left me with an injury that’s going to hinder me in Mongolia and is making my training in Utah significantly more painful and difficult.

On Wednesday, Christoph, Meryl (the French intern) and I trailered three horses to the mountains to do some altitude and incline training to get these horses ready for Tevis (a famous 100-mile endurance ride in the southwest U.S.). It was meant to be a fast 40 kilometre ride, snaking up a mountain and back down again.

I was riding Dunny, a Quarter Horse Arab mare with lots of go who likes to pull. We had just started, only three kilometers in, and were trotting along a rocky incline. Dunny was focused on the horses ahead of her and was pulling a little. I was just about to half halt her back when she tripped over a rock and almost did a face plant on the trail. As she lurched forward, I instinctively put out my left hand to prevent myself from flying over her head, but at the moment I stuck my hand out, she regained her footing and shot back up, her neck flying back into my outstretched hand. I heard a pop and then felt the pain. She’d jammed my baby finger back...

Read more here:
http://www.horse-canada.com/desk-to-derby/a-bad-break/

Enduring Observations

Equinerescuefrance.org - Full Article

Posted by ERF on Jul 4, 2015

ERF is very grateful to Australian Vet and Endurance Rider, Anna Erickson, for allowing us to reproduce her comment on Endurance riding from her perspective.

This is even more significant as news is filtering through from the Middle East that various UAE Endurance Stables are insisting that the FEI has lifted the ban. Which of course is entirely untrue.

“After yet another scary looking pic and yet another argument about how to interpret it along with the usual comments that we “weren’t there so we don’t know” and “it’s rare” and “I’ve seen horses as bad as that in Australia” I feel compelled to write. As a vet who also rides endurance (which many of my clients know) I just want to say “the (horse) world is watching”! Many of my clients who don’t ride endurance have asked me:

1. Have you seen that picture? (Splitters Creek Bundy)
2. What in the hell is going on in endurance?
3. Have you seen anything like this here?
4. How do people justify still selling horses to the UAE?

To which my answers are:

1. Yes
2. I don’t really know but clearly we have a problem in the Middle Eastern countries and we need to sort it out
3. No
4. I have no idea.

These are not endurance people, but they are concerned horse people...

Read more here:
http://www.equinerescuefrance.org/2015/07/enduring-observations/

FEI Tribunal Exposing Truth and Lies in Endurance

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

Cuckson Report | July 6, 2015

The 27-month FEI suspension on a virtually unknown Qatari endurance rider Nasser Khalifa NJ Al Thani received a lot of media coverage recently.

There is nothing new, of course, about an endurance rider from Group 7 (Middle East) being banned for doping, but the reason it is now News with a capital N is simple: the FEI has a new policy of issuing press releases about Tribunal decisions. To date, they have only issued statements about cases with an Olympic or World Equestrian Games connection – with the obvious exception of the Jock Paget case, the subject of media frenzy.

This welcome initiative means those interested no longer have to consult the Tribunal database every other day, waiting for something new to pop up. In future, every media outlet will receive a ready-to-use story. If this spurs more colleagues to then read the much juicier, full decision notice I am all for it. The detailed evidence therein provides a snap-shot of the some very strange goings-on.

I am only sad this publicity drive didn’t happen much, much sooner, and that large numbers of people were not reading and thus reacting to these serial endurance horror stories decades ago...

Read more here:
http://www.horse-canada.com/cuckson-report/fei-tribunal-exposing-truth-and-lies-in-endurance/

Judges and officials to ‘police’ equestrian events

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

Pippa Cuckson
4 July, 2015

Judges and officials at international shows and events are being encouraged to become “amateur policemen” in the fight against cheating, with the distribution of new “evidence-gathering guidelines” by the FEI.

The FEI ramped up its fight against doping and rule-breaking with a review of legal procedures to close loopholes following the collapse last year of the Sheikh Hamdan/Marmoog horse swap enquiry on a legal technicality.

In a further step, the guidelines emphasise the importance of officials minutely recording dates and times of witnessed incidents.

They recommend carrying resealable plastic bags and labels, a digital camera and disposable gloves, to prevent contamination or accusations of “tampering”...

Read more at http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/fei-rule-breaking-500662#jUaeLf6gE9oiwjBj.99

USA Squad Named for the 2015 FEI World Endurance Championship for Young Riders & Juniors

Following the conclusion of the USEF Selection Trials for the U.S. Endurance Young Rider Team, the USEF has named the athlete/horse combinations to the Squad for the 2015 World Endurance Championship for Young Riders & Juniors.

The following combinations have been named (in alphabetical order):

Katie Baldino (Marietta, GA) with Mary Kathryn Clark's Questafir
Questafir is a 2004 Arabian Gelding

Mallory Capps (Cumming, GA) with Lori Shifflett's Mi Kalypso and Magical Mikada
Mi Kalypso is a 2005 Half-Arabian Gelding
Magical Mikada is 2003 Arabian Gelding

Mary Kathryn Clark (Eatonton, GA) and her own Kalilas Legacy
Kalilas Legacy is a 2006 Arabian Gelding

McCamey Kimbler (Aberdeen, SD) with Justin Nelzen's Faheem Star O Jaaz
Faheem Star O Jaaz is a 2006 Arabian Mare

Christina Kimery (Bixby, OK) with Ellen Olson's Sand Dancer and Kathryn Downs' Bey Gibby
Sand Dancer is a 2006 Arabian Mare
Bey Gibby is a 2001 Arabian Gelding

Maria Muzzio (Clifton, VA) with Natalie Muzzio's Laconic
Laconic is a 2002 Arabian Gelding

Kesley Russell (Williston, FL) with Valerie Kanavy's Colin For Gold and Just Gold
Colin For Gold is a 2006 Arabian Gelding
Just Gold is a 2005 Arabian Gelding

In order to remain in consideration for the U.S. Endurance Young Rider Team, the athlete/horse combinations are required to demonstrate continued preparation, soundness, and ability. Following the completion of any additional assessments, twelve athlete/horse combinations may be named to the FEI Nominated Entries for the Event.

The 2015 FEI World Endurance Championship for Young Riders & Juniors is to be held October 23-25, 2015 in Santo Domingo, Chile.

Kristen E. Brett | Director, Dressage Programs & Endurance
| t 859-225-6919 | f 859-231-6662| w usef.org
| United States Equestrian Federation

New Zealand: Cambridge horsemen to ride Derby

Stuff.co.nz - Full Article

EMMA JAMES
Last updated 14:25, June 30 2015

The Mongol Derby is the longest and most dangerous horse race in the world, and two Cambridge men are preparing to take it on.

In August, Maxim van Lierde and Patrick Sells are taking on the challenge that will see them cover 1000km in 10 days on the backs of half wild mongolian steppe ponies.

The event, organised by a group called The Adventurists, doubles as a fundraiser for charity.

Each competitor must raise at least $1000 for a charity of their choice and another $1000 for Cool Earth, a charity that works with villages to stop rainforest destruction.

Van Lierde has chosen to raise money for the Waikato branch of Riding for the Disabled because he had seen first-hand the joy it give people.

He was looking forward to the challenge, and said: "Every 40km we get a new horse, so that keeps the horses fresh and they have to pass a vet check at each station..."

Read more here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/69735989/Cambridge-horsemen-to-ride-Derby