10 Days, 1,000 Kilometers: The Mongol Derby

ThoroughbredDailyNews.com - Full Story

November 28 2017
By Kelsey Riley

Editor’s Note: Kelsey Riley will be riding in the Mongol Derby in August, 2018, and will be regularly blogging about her preparations and ultimately, her 1000-kilometer, 10-day ride across Outer Mongolia. Every rider chooses a charity for which they raise money as part of the process. Kelsey has chosen the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Blackburn Correctional Facility in Lexington, Ky. To learn more about Blackburn, click here.

I have done some weird and adventurous things in my life, but this one is by far the craziest.

Next August, I will be one of 40 riders participating in the Mongol Derby, which is the world’s longest and toughest horse race and is contested on the backs of half-broke Mongolian horses across 1000 km of the Outer Mongolian steppe. Over 10 days, we riders will have to navigate our way through 25 horse stations using GPS, maps and our wits (there is no marked path) in a course that is a recreation of Chinggis Khaan’s world-first long-distance postal system set up in 1224. We are likely to encounter all types of terrain and weather–open valleys, river crossings, rolling hills, heat, cold, rain, hail–not to mention being bucked off, extreme chafing from 13-hour days in the saddle, and being chased by wild dogs. We will carry just 11 pounds of kit with us and won’t have access to showers while out on the course...

Read more here:
http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/10-days-1000-kilometers-the-mongol-derby/

FEI: New Endurance Rules Lost in Translation

Horse-Canada.com - Full Article

Cuckson Report | December 1, 2017

British people, certainly my generation, can be very lazy about other languages. Much of the world has English as its first or second tongue, so we think we don’t have to bother. I was taught French in a very academic way in the 1970s, equipping me read Sartre without having to consult a dictionary too much, but not confident enough to chat for hours with an actual person.

I lost my nerve on a trip to Berlin years ago, when trying to give directions to a fellow tourist. After establishing we had a smattering of French in common I proudly escorted him to a watch shop a couple of blocks away. But he wasn’t saying he wanted a horlogerie. He was trying to find the Hard Rock Café.

Clumsy misunderstandings are not always a cause for levity. I have often felt that rules for horse sport drafted in English by someone who is not a native English speaker and then debated by people for whom English is also only a second or third language is a major handicap for the FEI. A number of FEI regulations do not actually say what people think they say.

All this came to a head at the FEI General Assembly in Uruguay last week where new endurance rules proposals were so incomprehensible, several delegates tell me, that after a closed debate they were all shelved till 2019 pending further discussions.

The official reason for delaying them is that it wasn’t fair on riders to introduce new rules part way through the qualifying period for the 2018 WEG. I don’t recall that ever being advanced as a reason for suspending new rules in other sports, even though jumping, dressage and eventing also have an Olympic qualifying cycle to cope with, unlike endurance.

The greater likelihood that the new endurance rules were shelved because they were not understood (also, I suspect, opening the door for a bit of brinkmanship from the UAE and others targeted by the welfare aspects.) This is evident in the final day’s debate that was held in public. If you have a spare half hour you can see the shambles in all its glory in this extract from the official livestream. I have watched it several times since and am still not sure what the hell was going on...

Read more/see video here:
https://www.horse-canada.com/cuckson-report/new-endurance-rules-lost/

UAE: Boudheib Endurance Season Opener Puts the Welfare of the Horse First

HorseReporter.com - Full Article

by Pamela Burton

The Boudheib Initiative - Driving the Future of Endurance

26 November 2017, Boudheib, UAE ~ The first event of the 2017-2018 endurance season incorporating the Boudheib Initiative got underway at the Boudheib International Endurance Village outside of Abu Dhabi from 23-24 November 2017 with over 101 horses starting in the day one, 120km Open CEI** Al Ain Endurance Cup.

The idea to take back endurance and guard the welfare of the horse by reducing speeds to limit injuries on the endurance tracks is called the Boudheib Initiative and is sponsored enthusiastically by His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nayhan. The Boudheib endurance track features stretches of natural desert that work best if taken at the speeds recommended.

The two-day November program also included: 40km CEN & 80km CEN qualifiers, 80km CEI*, 120km JYR** & a 120 CEI**, and an 10km special introductory ride for young riders on Friday 24th...

Read more here:
http://www.horsereporter.com/boudheib-endurance-season-opener-puts-the-welfare-of-the-horse-first/

Great Britain: National Awards celebrated at EGB's Gala Dinner

Endurancegb.co.uk

Saturday 25th November saw the annual EGB Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony take place at the Daventry Court Hotel, Daventry and was attended by nearly 250 people – a nearly 20% increase on last year! It’s a fantastic opportunity for our members to gather together and celebrate the achievements from the year and, as always, included an ‘Ode to the Horse’ – the most important partners in our sport.

A full list of award winners will be published on the website in the next couple of days, but in the meantime we wanted to highlight our Championship winners. 2017 was a hugely successful year for our Young Riders and we are extremely proud to share with you that this year, Endurance GB’s Overall Champion is Young Rider Emily Cooke, having achieved a fantastic points total of 2288 with her horse Lady’s Man.

In receiving her award Emily told attendees how proud she was of Lady’s Man and that it had taken some time for them to build the bond they now share. She attributes her success to their shared understanding and the time and dedication she puts in, alongside her Mum, Lise Cooke, to training and preparation. Winners of the other Championship Awards as follows:


Overall Championship - Lady’s Man (Emily Cooke) - 2288 Points

Senior Championship - Warrens Hill Rubyn (Sarah Rogerson) - 1194 Points

Young Rider Championship - Lady’s Man (Emily Cooke) - 2288 Points

Junior Championship - Redwings Milky Way (Ella Pomroy) - 1085 Points

Veteran Championship - Bizout (Hannah Lydon) - 1716 Points

Novice Championship - Mistletoe (Caitlin Birkitt) - 670 Points

2017 FEI General Assembly Meeting - Endurance Decisions

FEI held its General Assembly 2017 meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay on 21 November. Decisions in the sport of endurance are as follows:

The General Assembly approved changes to the Endurance Rules to be implemented on 1 January 2019.

The General Assembly voted separately on a proposal to reduce the minimum weight for CEI 3, 4 and 5* and Championships from 75kgs to 70kgs. This was approved.

The General Assembly also voted separately on raising the competition age of horses for 5*, CEIOs and Championships, where horses must now be at least nine years of age (previously eight years) and for Young Horse Championships and Championships under 130km, where the minimum age must now be eight years (previously seven). This was approved.

Other main amendments approved en bloc (also to be implemented as of 1 January 2019) include: Increases in mandatory rest periods, based on scientific presentations at the FEI Sports Forum last April and the FEI Endurance Forum last May. An additional rest period of seven days will apply for horses that reach average speeds of 20 km/hr or higher at completion. This rest period will also apply to horses which do not complete the competition whose average speed of completed phases is 20 km/hr or higher.

A new star system for Endurance events, CEI 4* and CEI 5*, will be introduced to have prime events and a higher standard of competition for horses and athletes. The new star system is not solely defined by prize money, but sets specific requirements for organisers to ensure compliance with FEI rules and high standards of horse welfare.

In order to avoid having minors registered as trainers, the minimum age of a registered trainer has been set at 18 years old.

Qualifying criteria established for new 4* and 5* events, proving the full experience of athletes and horses to guarantee a high standard of competition level, and clarification to novice qualifying criteria in relation to experienced horses and athletes. Plus a new set of rules to define qualifications of horses and athletes for Regional Championships.

New general requirements and test event rules for Championships.

These changes can be viewed here in due course. 

More information from the meeting can be seen here:
https://inside.fei.org/fei/regulations/endurance

World Equestrian Games 2022 Open for Bids… Again

Horse-Canada.com - Full Article

November 22 2017

The FEI has announced that it will re-open the bidding process for the World Equestrian Games 2022.

The announcement was made during the FEI’s General Assembly that Samorin had recently decided not to sign the host agreement. Despite lengthy discussions with the FEI, the Samorin team has withdrawn its bid and the FEI Bureau has decided to re-open the bidding process.

Under a revised timeline, the FEI World Equestrian Games 2022 will be allocated at the in-person FEI Bureau meeting in November 2018...

Read more here:
https://www.horse-canada.com/horse-news/weg-2022-open-bids/?utm_source=Enews+Nov+27%2C+2017&utm_campaign=EnewsNov272017&utm_medium=email

All the Wild Horses Takes Top Honors at Equus Film Festival

November 22 2017

The documentary "All the Wild Horses" took top honors of Best Equestrian Feature Film, Best Director, and Best of Festival at the November 17-19 Equus Film Festival in New York City.

ALL THE WILD HORSES follows international riders from around the world as they compete in the Mongol Derby in Mongolia, the longest and toughest horse race on the planet.
 
In this race across one thousand kilometers of Mongolian steppe the riders are on their own, navigating from horse station to horse station where they change horses every forty kilometers. They battle dehydration, hypothermia, exhaustion, extreme weather, swollen rivers and wild dogs. 

They stay the nights out in the wild or with nomad families. One wrong horse and they can get bucked off, lose their mount or suffer serious injuries.

More about the movie at:
http://allthewildhorsesmovie.com/index.html