UAE: Record entries at HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Festival

Endurance-world.com - Full Article

2 January 2018
by Admin

Dubai International Endurance Village, Dubai, UAE. Thursday 28, Friday 29 and Saturday 30 December 2017. More than 800 combinations took part in the first week of the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Festival.

For a lot of riders from the UAE and abroad, the HH Sh. Mohmmed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Cup – CEI3* 160km, scheduled on Saturday 6 January, is the highlight of the season.

Traditionally the build up to this race are a series of races and for this season nothing different besides the fact that the lead up with three races were held the week ahead of the main event.

First part of the trilogy was the HH Sh. Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Festival – Ride for Private Stables CEN 100km, scheduled on Thursday 28 December...

Read more here:
http://endurance-world.com/record-entries-hh-sheikh-mohammed-bin-rashid-al-maktoum-festival/

UAE: Azizi Developments sponsors opening races of Endurance Festival

ConstructionWeekOnline.com - Full Article

by Jumana Abdel-Razzaq on Dec 31, 2017

Azizi Developments has sponsored the opening rides of the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Festival as part of the developer’s Pillar Partner Agreement with Meydan.

The sponsorship covers two of the four rides of the festival which started on 28 December, 2017, and will culminate in the HH Endurance Cup on 6 January, 2018 in Dubai.

The Pillar Partnership that was recently signed extends across a broad spectrum of equine sports including flat racing, endurance, and equestrianism.

The festival, which began as a single 160km ride for the HH Endurance Cup 11 years ago, has now been extended to four...

Read more here:
http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-47634-azizi-developments-sponsors-opening-races-of-endurance-festival/

The world comes to the North Carolina Foothills

TryonDailyBulletin.com - Full Article

By Catherine Hunter
Published 4:43 pm Thursday, December 28, 2017

The world will be coming to Tryon in fall of 2018 – the equestrian world that is. Next September the world’s leading horses and riders will gather at the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) for the World Equestrian Games (WEG).

From September 10 – 23 international horses and riders will vie for top honors in eight of the ten different equestrian sports recognized by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). WEG was started in 1990 to allow riders to compete in one location rather than in ten different individual competitions at as many different locations around the world.

WEG takes place every four years opposite of the Olympics and carries many of the Olympic traditions. Originally the Olympic equestrian sports were designed as a three-day-event type competition (also called combined training) that consisted of dressage, stadium jumping and cross-country.

In addition to the original three-day event type competitions, today’s WEG competitions include driving, vaulting, reining, para-equestrian and endurance riding. The two other disciplines, recognized by the FEI, that hold their competitions separately are horseball and tent pegging...

Read more here:
http://www.tryondailybulletin.com/2017/12/28/the-world-comes-to-the-foothills/

Endurance deaths remain a stain on the sport

Horsetalk.co.uz - Full Article

December 23, 2017
Neil Clarkson

Any equestrian discipline must surely confront a simple and unappetizing truth when three horses perish in one contest, as happened in Dubai recently in a national 100km Endurance ride.

Clearly, the measures in place to safeguard the horses are not working.

Sadly, yet again, it is Endurance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sitting squarely in the spotlight.

There is a terrible sense of dread and inevitability with every shattering leg in the desert form of the sport of endurance.

Based on disclosures in the last week of worrying numbers of deaths, even the most impartial of observers would likely agree that the FEI has failed to get on top of the problem.

Research by the group Clean Endurance, whose volunteers have been poring through the FEI Database, has cast light on a series of deaths which had not initially been coded in the results as Catastrophic Injuries (CIs).

It is a poor look for equestrian sport, and the numbers publicized by the group would indicate this ranks as a major failure for the world governing body...

Read more at https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2017/12/23/endurance-deaths-stain-sport/#QsEkPd3TWzcw2Obc.99

An Australia Day weekend endurance carnival is set for Glen Elgin

Northerndailyleader.com.au - Full Article

December 20 2017
Ellen Dunger

It’s been a few years since endurance riders made their way through Glen Innes but a date is set and work is under way to host a two-day carnival in January.

The Glen Innes Endurance Riding Club have planned an Australia day weekend carnival with a 40 kilometre ride planned for Friday and Saturday and a 20km included on Saturday.

The ride’s base will be at the Glen Elgin showground and committee member Jenny Annetts said they hope to attract a crowd with both new and experienced endurance riders making their way to town...

Read more here:
http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/5132517/endurance-riders-gear-up-for-glen-carnival/?cs=160

Australia: Gympie's top five sportspeople of 2017

GympieTimes.com.au - Full Article

20 Dec. 2017
by Rowan Schindler

Gayle Holmes

TOUGH: Gayle Holmes competed at the 2017 Tom Quilty (160km), in South Australia in July (160km), with a broken hand and had only just come back from a shattered foot.

The 56-year-old Widgee-based Holmes recently did the seemingly unthinkable by winning a host of state and national riding titles straight off the back of a serious injury.

Holmes, who has represented Australia at the World Equestrian Games, had her foot shattered when a horse kicked her last year.

The injury required the surgical insertion of a metal plate and seven screws.

She climbed back on after just several months and picked up the Queensland State Distance Rider and Points Rider awards, the State Distance Horse and Points Horse, won the Collier Cup, equal first place as National Distance Rider, second in National Points, second in Horse Points and third in Distance...

Read more here:
https://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/gympies-top-five-sportspeople-of-2017/3295400/

South Africa: 2018 Race the Wild Coast Open for Entries

RocketHorseRacing.co.za

In October 2018 we hold the second edition of Race the Wild Coast: a new breed of horse race. Riders, with a team of three horses, compete for victory over 350km of rugged paradise on the remote east coast of South Africa; navigating through this challenging wilderness, swimming rivers and keeping horses fit for vet checks in this complex multi stage race will challenge the endurance of any horseback adventurer.

What:
• Total distance: 350 kilometres.
• A multi stage format including: dawn start and dusk cut-off, compulsory holds for tide affected river crossings and timed releases.
• Each rider has a team of 3 horses provided by a South African stud.
• There will be two horse changes at prescribed points: 123km and 209km into the race respectively.
• Each stage ends with a vet check for the horses (approximately every 40km). A rider may only continue without penalty if their horse passes the vet check.
• A recommended track with alternative routes or simply a stage destination, dependent on the terrain, will be provided on GPS to aid navigation. There will be no route markings on the ground.
• The race window is a total of 5 days with the organisers expecting the winner to finish early on the fourth day.
• This race will be a complex combination of endurance, horsemanship, navigation, strategy and what Mother Nature throws at you!

Where:
• The Wild Coast on the eastern seaboard of South Africa, from Port Edward to Kei Mouth.
• Competitors will be transferred from Durban’s King Shaka International Airport and fly out of East London Airport at the conclusion of the race.

When:
• 13th – 21st October 2018.
• Pre-Race training 14th – 15th October. Race 16th – 20th October. Depart 21st October.
• Competitors transfer from Durban to the start camp on the 13th of October for a race briefing followed on the 14th and 15th with meeting their horses and back up teams, kit and tack testing, horse orientation (including practice swimming rivers) and team strategy discussions.
• The race starts at 09h00 on the 16th of October with a five-day window to complete the race.
• There will be a prize giving and spectacular celebration on the evening of the 20th, and on the 21st of October our brave adventurers begin their journey homeward.

Who:
• The adventure format of the race requires real horsemanship skills, experience riding long distances and competence in operating a GPS; the critical aid to navigating in this landscape.
• Riders will need to be physically fit, confident swimmers and be comfortable in the wilderness, alone and self sufficient.
• Riders must complete an application form, including details of their qualifications to compete in the race. Acceptance of applications will be at the discretion of the organisers.

Price:
• ZAR97 000.00
• The price includes all food, accommodation, horses, support crew, tack and transfers (from pick up in Durban to drop off in East London).

For more information and to enter, see: