Endurance Rider Cleared of Doping Because of Contaminated ‘Sludge’

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

September 4, 2018
by: Pippa Cuckson

A leading American endurance rider who is also a veterinarian has escaped suspension for a doping offence in Canada, after the FEI Tribunal accepted that contaminated “sludge” was to blame.

Nicki Meuten, 48, and her husband Don, also a rider and retired veterinary pathologist “suspended themselves” once notified of the positive result at the Coates Creek ride in July last year. This prevented their consideration for the 2018 World Equestrian Games, but Meuten said they did not want to be labelled cheaters – they were 100% for horse welfare and totally against drug and physical abuse.

Meuten’s horse FYF Dutch tested positive to the banned anti-depressant O-Desmethyl Venlafaxine (ODMV) after winning the CEI160km ride at the New Lowell, Ontario venue.

Ride coordinator Robert Gielen confirmed that the trail passed through “at least one field” used for dumping sludge, and that the ride base was located at a Girl Guides’ camp, on whose huge septic field many of the competing horses had grazed...

Read more here:
https://horse-canada.com/horse-news/endurance-rider-contaminated-sludge/

Australia: Riders ready to test endurance

Latrobevalleyexpress.com.au - Full Article

Michelle Slater
6 Sep 2018

Victoria's fittest riders and their elite horses will be aiming to complete a gruelling 100-kilometre ride around the Toongabbie hills on the weekend during the Gippsland endurance championships.

Riders will gather at the Toongabbie Adult Riding Club to head out for the ride, which is governed by a series of stringent vet checks at ride intervals to ensure the horse is rested and fit to continue.

The Verspaandonk family from Glengarry will saddle up their team of lean and leggy Arabian horses, after starting out in the sport 10-years ago.

All six family members compete together on their own horses who they train at home along local bush tracks...

Read more here:
http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/story/5630440/riders-ready-to-test-endurance/

Heavy scrutiny of endurance ahead of WEG in Tryon

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

September 5, 2018
Horsetalk.co.nz

The world championship endurance race at the upcoming World Equestrian Games could well be the most scrutinized long-distance horse race in history, following a recent flurry of publicity around the problems within the discipline.

A group of six German endurance veterinarians have written an open letter to the German Equestrian Federation outlining a raft of concerns about the global development of the discipline. They asked that the national body pass it on to the world governing body, the FEI.

Five officials from the German Distance Riders Group, which runs endurance in the country, also weighed in on the debate, with their own open letter to the FEI.

Both letters follow just days after the respected group Clean Endurance released an A-to-Z guide to aid onlookers in spotting cheating in the sport...

Read more here:
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2018/09/05/scrutiny-endurance-weg-tryon/

Langley long-distance riding champion prepares for new challenge

LangleyTimes.com - Full Article

After winning the Mongol Derby, Heidi Telstad is planning to compete in a new 1,000 kilometre race

DAN FERGUSON
Sep. 3, 2018

The Langley rider who won the 10-day, 1,000-km Mongol Derby in a three-way tie in 2016 is preparing for a new challenge.

Heidi Telstad is getting ready to tackle the first annual Patagonia Derby, a 1,000-km horse race across Argentina that will resemble the Mongol race — for good reason.

The (original Mongol) Derby organizers are planning a similar horse race to the Mongol Derby except in Patagonia in the next year,” Telstad told The Times.


“The details are still in the works, as they want to build a race based upon the history of the Argentina horse culture and history,” Telstad said.

“It will be brand new.”

The route is still being researched, but plans call for the first event in October of 2019...

Read more here:
https://www.langleytimes.com/sports/langley-long-distance-riding-champion-prepares-for-new-challenge/

US Government Officials Impose Media Blackout on Arrival of World Equestrian Games Horses, FEI Also Restricted Early News Coverage

Dressage-news.com - Full Article

Sept. 3, 2018

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

TRYON, North Carolina, Sept. 3, 2018–The largest airlift of sport horses in history was well underway Monday with the first dressage mounts arriving from Europe for the World Equestrian Games as competition arenas and spectator stands were being completed with just eight days to the opening ceremony at Tryon, North Caroilina.

Although the combined world championships of eight equestrian disciplines is one of if not the biggest sports event in the Americas this year, federal officials forcefully followed up a decision by the Switzerland-based International Equestrian Federation (FEI) to restrict news coverage to itself and imposed a total news blackout of the arrival of the horses in an air amarda from Europe and at the Tryon International Equestrian Center.

The initial FEI restrictions and the U.S. Department of Agriculture ban for which no reasons were provided and was extended to ordering grooms and national federation officials to cease taking videos on their phones and to delete any images of their horses injected a sour note into what had been expected to be a festive kickoff for the WEG with photos of the finest sport horses before competition begins Sept. 11.

Local law enforcement officers were friendly and did not interfere with photographers taking pictures from public areas of the arrival airport...

Read more here:
http://dressage-news.com/2018/09/03/us-government-officials-impose-media-blackout-on-arrival-of-world-equestrian-games-horses-fei-also-restricted-early-news-coverage/

World’s biggest equine airlift for FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018

Inside.FEI.org

3 Sep 2018

The largest commercial airlift of horses ever undertaken in the history of horse sport has begun ahead of the FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018, which get underway in North Carolina (USA) on 11 September.

The first 67 of a total 550 supremely fit airborne equine athletes have now set foot - or should that be hoof! - on the Tryon International Equestrian Center venue, nine days before the start of one of the biggest sporting events on US soil this year.

They will join a further 270 horses coming overland to team up with their human partners from over 70 countries at these Games, which are world championships in all of the FEI’s eight disciplines and qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.



Military precision

Specialist horse transportation company Peden Bloodstock – working alongside The Dutta Corp – has coordinated the highly complex logistics, with horses from six of the world’s seven continents flying into Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) in South Carolina and Miami, Florida.

The horses will be flying into the USA on a total of 23 flights from Liège (BEL) and Dubai (UAE), plus flights from 11 South American cities including Buenos Aires (ARG), Sao Paolo (BRA), Santiago (CHI), Lima (PER), Montevideo (URU) and San José (CRC).

“This is the largest commercial airlift of horses in history, with only wartime shipments of horses coming close, so the military precision involved in the logistics is incredible,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said. “These horses are finely-tuned equine athletes and are not only very valuable, but they must arrive in peak competition condition, just like their human counterparts.”



First Class travel

Emirates SkyCargo, a world leader in the air transportation of premium horses, is now celebrating its largest ever horse charter, which started with the landing of flight EK 9387at GSP today.

The horses are flying on a specially designed Boeing 777 freighter aircraft in customised stalls, with independently air conditioned zones maintaining the perfect temperature for these four-legged athletes, which weigh anywhere between 450kg for the lighter Reining and Endurance horses, and 840kg for the heavyweight Vaulting giants.

“Emirates SkyCargo is excited to be working on our largest horse transport charter for the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018,” said Wilfred D’Souza, Manager Cargo Scheduling, Planning & Equine Transportation.

“Over the course of the last 16 years we have developed strong expertise and capabilities in equine transportation and this, combined with careful planning and attention to detail, allows us to consistently deliver a comfortable environment for the horses in flight.”


Mega-baggage allowance

The freight carried from Europe alone – not including the horses themselves - will total 123,500 (123,500 tonnes) of equipment, ranging from saddles, bridles, rugs and grooming kits, wheelbarrows and pitch forks, to horse shoes and all-terrain studs, as well as 51,000 kilos (51 tonnes) of feed, in-flight snacks and 20 litres of water per horse.

Kevin Howell, Senior Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer for GSP: “Today’s a little different, because this is four-legged cargo, we don’t move a lot of that. Actually our first equine charter was the test flight earlier this spring. The team is very focused on moving the horses safely, and keeping the horses in the best health and spirits for the competition.”

After touchdown at GSP, the first equine arrivals were transferred directly onto trucks – without setting foot on South Carolina tarmac – for the 82km (50-mile) journey to Tryon, crossing over the state line into North Carolina with its stunning Blue Ridge Mountains backdrop.

The FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018 will see human and equine athletes compete from 11-23 September for 29 medals in the Olympic disciplines of Eventing, Jumping and Dressage, the Paralympic sport of Para-Dressage, alongside Driving, Endurance, Reining and Vaulting.

Today’s flight time: eight hours 50 minutes

Horses from 13 countries: – Austria, Belgium, Bahrain, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Oman, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden.

In-flight temperature: 14-17° Celsius

Antidepressant residues in dumped waste led to endurance horse’s failed drug test

Environmental contamination with an antidepressant was behind minute traces of the drug being found in an endurance horse at a Canadian ride.

The FEI Tribunal found that the United States-registered rider Nicki Meuten bore no fault or negligence for the drug being in her horse’s system during a CSI3* 160km ride at Coates Creek, Canada, on July 2 last year.

Meuten competed on FYF Dutch in the race.

Her mount was selected for drug testing and FYF Dutch was positive for O-Desmethyl Venlafaxine, an anti-depressant used for treating depression and anxiety. It is classified as a banned substance under the FEI’s anti-doping rules.

Meuten was told of the positive test on October 16 last year, with provisional suspensions imposed on the horse and rider.

On May 18 this year, a preliminary hearing panel decided to lift Meuten’s suspension after considering written submissions and documents from her which indicated inadvertent environmental contamination as the likely source.

The FEI had first checked with an external expert, Professor Stuart Paine, who found that Meuten’s explanations were plausible for the positive drug finding.

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