Anglesea women Tania Orlov and Ruth Benney prepare for Gobi Desert Cup

DailyTelegraph.com.au - Full Article

Jaimee Wilkens, Geelong Advertiser
August 2, 2018 8:25pm

TWO Anglesea mums are giddying up for a trip of a lifetime, travelling to Mongolia this month for a six-day endurance horse race through the Gobi Desert.

The Gobi Desert Cup is a 480km ride through some of the most unforgiving terrain on the planet, requiring riders to complete an 80km course each day.

It will test both the mental and physical strength of the riders, with only 20 people from across the globe entering each year.

But confessed horse-loving mothers Tania Orlov and Ruth Benney think they’re up for the challenge...

Read more here:
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/anglesea-women-tania-orlov-and-ruth-benney-prepare-for-gobit-desert-cup/news-story/6b5dba96ff6f3137981fe198f4363b31

Shooting the Messenger – A Setback for Fair Play

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

Cuckson Report | August 2, 2018

This blog might appear to be about a domestic issue this side of the pond, but there are important lessons for all. Please bear with, for there’s essential background reading first.

First, in endurance, mandatory rest periods are applied to horses after a ride, for obvious welfare reasons. The duration relates to the distance, with days added if you’re vetted out.

In 2016, FEI endurance also introduced a “de-merit” system, with penalty points for issues that prove the most problematic. Accumulating 100 points in 12 months means an immediate two-month ban for the rider with no appeal.

Metabolic elimination = 10 penalty points.

Essential invasive treatment by official vet = 25pts

Catastrophic [fatal equine] Injury during ride = 80pts

Competing horse during mandatory rest; failure to present to final vet; incorrect behaviour = 100pts each, plus automatic two-months rider suspension.

So, as you can see, the FEI puts competing a “resting” horse in its tier of most serious rule-breaches.

Secondly, a bit about “Clean Endurance” – a global alliance of folks with a common interest in salvaging their sport from doping, cheating and fatalities. I first encountered them in early 2015, about two years after I began writing about the UAE et al in-depth. I’d discovered the UAE was faking entire rides on an industrial scale. Some of the Clean volunteers helped me unravel how the Emirates Equestrian Federation (EEF) had forged results (and qualifications) of over 500 horses in 13 rides so convincingly that no-one noticed for years.

The FEI’s Equine Community Integrity Unit readily took up our research in its subsequent official investigation, and two senior EEF executives were eventually suspended (though other implicated officials went unpunished).

Since then, Clean Endurance has regularly engaged with FEI HQ in Lausanne, notably flagging up the many anomalies hiding in plain sight on the FEI database; this includes identifying the horses starting in rides they are not qualified for, which still occurs a lot, even on the basis of un-faked results...

Read more here:
https://horse-canada.com/cuckson-report/shooting-messenger-setback-fair-play/

Adventure of a lifetime awaits Tompkins County woman at Mongol Derby

Pressconnects.com - Full Article

Kevin Stevens, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
Aug. 2, 2018

Twelve days in Asian wilderness with temperatures ranging from frigid to sultry, aiming to cover 75 miles per day for nine in succession aboard semi-wild horses, replenishing on mutton, dumplings and fermented mare’s milk before sacking out on the base of a nomad’s yurt.

Belongings for the entirety of the expedition are restricted to 11 pounds, roughly the weight of a house cat. The likelihood of separation from those items stowed so meticulously in a bag affixed to the saddle is substantial, as the oft-skittish animals providing transportation rather fancy bucking free of human cargo and tearing off for parts unknown.

Diarrhea is as much a probability as drenching rain, throbbing limbs and utter exhaustion following each 13½-hour riding session.

Pam Karner will experience the above, by choice, and for the mere pittance of a $13,000 entry fee.

And damned if she isn’t pumped!...

Read more here:
https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2018/08/02/adventure-lifetime-awaits-tompkins-county-woman/777500002/

Road To The Mongol Derby: End Of The Road

Photo by TheAdventurists.com
Thoroughbreddailynews.com - Full Article

Monday, July 30, 2018
By Kelsey Riley

Nine months and a week after receiving the call that I was in, the road to the Mongol Derby has come to an end. on Wednesday, I board a plane to Ulan Bator and brace myself to be thrown into a seismic challenge that I’ve spent every day of the last 37 weeks preparing for, but that I know I could never be truly ready for.

To recap, the Mongol Derby is a 1000 kilometre (620 mile) race across the Steppes of Outer Mongolia on ‘semi-wild’ (aka varying definitions of broke) Mongolian horses. There is no marked course; we’ll navigate to each checkpoint by GPS and change horses every 40km. We’ll ride 14 hours a day for 10 days straight and camp out with the nomads (no showers), mimicking their lifestyle and diet. We’ll do all this with maximum 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of kit carried by saddlebag. Race training starts on Aug. 5, the starting gun fires on Aug. 8 and riders have until Aug. 17 to reach the finish line.

What has preparation looked like? First, seemingly endless winter months of galloping in the Lexington deep freeze, snow, and once even an ice storm. And suddenly, within about two days, riding out in the suffocating heat. Galloping racehorses turned out to be the best preparation I could have dreamed of in terms of fitness, strength, but most importantly, the confidence to jump on an unfamiliar steed and head off at full speed; the mantra of the Mongol Derby.

More recently, I’ve been fortunate to spend time at the beautiful Mt Brilliant Farm hacking their polo horses all over the farm. Truly brilliant for getting a feel for long hours in the saddle, which I believe became more a mental exercise than a physical one. Any spare moments were spent in the gym, researching or shopping for kit, or making frequent visits to the travel clinic for rounds of various inoculations (fun fact about me: I am now vaccinated against rabies-come at me wild dogs!)...

Read more here:
http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/road-to-the-mongol-derby-end-of-the-road/

Australia: Courtney takes on 400km ride to help break mental health stigma

The-Riotact.com - Full Article

By Ian Bushnell 31 July 2018

A Canberra public servant battling a debilitating illness plans to undertake a grueling endurance ride to raise money for a mental health charity.

Courtney Chapman from the Australian National Audit Office suffers from autoimmune illness Crohn’s disease, and has had her own demons to overcome, but she is not letting that stop her doing her bit for LIVIN, which aims to break the stigma and silence around mental health.

The 27-year-old Downer woman will attempt to ride 400 kilometres from 27 to 31 August in the Shahzada endurance event held in the Hawkesbury area of St Albans in New South Wales.

“It is a test of spirit, strength, resilience and communication with a creature with whom we share our life during the long hours and miles of training and competition. Spirit, strength and resilience are things you need to battle mental health challenges,” Courtney says...

Read more here:
https://the-riotact.com/courtney-takes-on-400km-ride-to-help-break-mental-health-stigma/258136

Australia: NSW State Championship Endurance ride

Bellingencourier.com.au - Full Story

July 30 2018

Bellingen’s Modena Schofield-Foster is the junior winner of the NSW State Championship Horse Endurance ride.

The 160 km ride was held in Tooraweenah on July 14, with riders from far and wide coming to be challenged at the foot of the scenic Warrumbungle Mountains.

The track ran over varying terrain that included private farming country, public dirt roads, national park trails and rocky sections of mountain tracks with a few challenging hill climbs to inspiring views.

Thirteen-year-old Modena entered with her horse “Kalarney” a 12-year-old part-Arabian gelding, and riding alongside her was her father Chris Schofield on his horse “Ally”.

The midnight start meant heading out in darkness at sub-zero temperatures, navigating with only a head torch...

Read more here:
https://www.bellingencourier.com.au/story/5554116/a-girl-her-dad-a-long-ride/

Endurance GB Launches Internal Review Following European Endurance Championship for Young Riders

July 30 2018

EGB has taken the decision to launch an internal process review following the withdrawal of GBR athlete Charlotte Chadwick at the FEI European Endurance Championship for Young Riders.

The results and conclusion of this review will be made public and EGB will endeavour to publish its findings as quickly as it is able, bearing in mind the complexity and wide-ranging points that will need to be included. Until such time it is inappropriate for EGB to comment any further on the situation.

EGB has already issued a detailed statement on its position and current processes which remain in place.