Desert Endurance Could Jeopardize All Equestrian Sport, Says AERC

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

January 5, 2018
by: Pippa Cuckson

Fears that a welfare scandal at the 2018 Tryon World Equestrian Games will taint all equestrian sport are highlighted in a strong letter to the US Equestrian Federation from the American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC.)

AERC president Paul Latiolais cited his members’ “outrage and protest” about the continued abuse of horses in the FEI Group VII (Middle East) and hinted this could soon attract the attention of the animal rights lobby.

The letter was posted in full on AERC’s Facebook page in the wake of the current desert racing season’s attrition rate, and the UAE’s failure to acknowledge measures repeatedly put in place since 2013 to clean up sport in their region...

Read more here:
https://horse-canada.com/horse-news/desert-endurance-jeopardize-equestrian-sport/

UAE: Endurance Cup takes pride of place in Dubai

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Strength-sapping race takes place on Saturday

January 5, 2018 Gulf News
Staff Report

Dubai: The much-awaited HH Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Cup presented by Longines takes place on Saturday, to celebrate the remarkable contribution and support of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for endurance riding and equestrian sport at large.
The 160km race takes place at Dubai Equestrian Club, Meydan...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/endurance-cup-takes-pride-of-place-in-dubai-1.2152116

UAE: Al Tayer Motors Marks 7th Association With Gamilati Endurance Cup for Mares

Albawaba.com - Full Article

January 4th, 2018 - 12:32 GMT
Press Release

Al Tayer Motors and Land Rover provided Range Rovers to the first six winners in Dec 30 race

Al Tayer Motors, the UAE’s official Land Rover importer-dealer, began its association with the Gamilati Endurance Cup for Mares in 2012 and the December 2017 staging marks the company’s seventh sponsorship of the event.

The Gamilati Endurance Cup for Mares, being held as part of the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Festival, seeks to recognise and honour the best rider and mare combination in endurance racing. The sport requires the rider and horse to work in perfect harmony as a combination. They must manage pace to complete long distances in the shortest riding time while passing stringent veterinary examinations to ensure that the horse is in a good physical condition.

As one of the UAE’s leading automobile dealerships, Al Tayer Motors is committed to providing its customers with a world-class ownership experience from the time they step into its superb facilities. The award-winning after-sales service team ensures that customers are well looked after and their vehicles cared for in the best possible way to ensure a long and mutually beneficial relationship...

Read more here:
https://www.albawaba.com/business/pr/al-tayer-motors-marks-7th-association-gamilati-endurance-cup-mares-1069242

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