Chaos at the World Equestrian Games

NYTimes.com - Full Article

By Victor Mather
Sept. 17, 2018

For Tryon, in western North Carolina, the arrival of the quadrennial World Equestrian Games this month was a chance to host the type of big international event that seldom comes to small Southern towns. Organizers promised half a million spectators and $400 million in economic impact.

Instead, much has gone wrong.

Few could blame organizers for the effects of Hurricane Florence, which has caused the delay or cancellation of several events. One of the classic events at the Games, called the three-day event, had to be extended to four days because of the storm.

But a series of decisions and mistakes, over housing and a botched endurance race, have led to some far more acrimonious disputes, and created hard feelings among some at the Games.

The competition, which continues through Sunday, is one of the biggest and most important show horse gatherings outside of the Olympics. A thousand horses were shipped to Tryon, about 90 miles west of Charlotte, representing more than 60 nations.

But things got off on the wrong foot almost immediately when some of the competitors were sent the wrong way at the start of the endurance event last Wednesday. Tarek Taher, a rider from Saudi Arabia, told Horse and Hound that he followed a sign to the right and ignored a person who did not look official who told him to turn left.

As a result, organizers decided to restart the event at a shorter distance. “As there is no possibility to reschedule the ride tomorrow,” organizers said, “this was the only pragmatic solution.” But that decision sparked only more bad feelings, and competitors and others sounded off on social media and expressed anger on site that the shorter race benefited some riders more than others...

Read more here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/sports/world-equestrian-games.html

A Great Start for WEG Horse Care

Equimanagement.com - Full Article

Veterinary care for horses at the FEI WEG Tryon 2018 is receiving high praise.

KIMBERLY S. BROWNSEP 14, 2018

“The first big challenge is over” for the treating veterinarian team, said Anne Baskett, DVM, DACVS. Baskett, who was referring to the WEG Endurance competition. Even though the Endurance event was surrounded by controversy over a mis-start and cancelling of the race late in the day, the competition was considered a success for the veterinary care of the equine competitors.

Baskett and her husband, Bill Hay, DVM, DACVS, are in charge of FEI treating veterinarians at the FEI WEG Tryon 2018.

There was a large team of veterinarians attending the horses at the Endurance veterinary inspection and throughout the event, and six equine ambulances and veterinarians were available on course. When the Endurance event was cancelled due to high heat and humidity near the end of the day, “We were able, with GPS tracking, to go pick up horses that were still on course so we could give them a ride in,” said Baskett.

“We had a lot better access to horses on this course because of the clearing they did of the trail,” she added.

Baskett said most of the Endurance horses were recovered in the veterinary tent on course with fluids, but that even the more-intense medical cases are now good...

Read more here:
https://equimanagement.com/news/a-great-start-for-weg-horse-care

WEG off to a bumpy start

TheDigitalCourier.com - Full Article

By Mackenzie Wicker mwicker@thedigitalcourier.com
Sep 16, 2018

MILL SPRING – The World Equestrian Games at the Tryon International Equestrian Center got off to a bumpy start this week, hampered by weather, misdirection and controversy after the first event, the endurance race, was cancelled.

Endurance teams were upset by the cancellation. One horse on the field had to be put down.

A 20-year-old Anglo-Arab gelding named Barack Obama, ridden by New Zealand's Jenny Champion, was euthanized Friday, media spokesperson Gayle Telford confirmed in a press release. The horse had been competing in international Endurance events since 2009. Champion had been partnered with him from 2014 and together they had won six events.

He was treated onsite and then transferred to the Tryon Equine Hospital. After consulting with Champion and veterinarians, the horse's owner, Mark Round, elected to have the horse euthanized.

Endurance: 'Completely a mess'

Barack Obama was one of 53 horses sent to the Endurance Treatment Clinic during and after incomplete rides in the event, which would have covered 100 miles and lasted around 14 hours...

Read more here:
http://www.thedigitalcourier.com/news/weg-off-to-a-bumpy-start/article_885117c7-e487-5b00-b54f-a3b862d7c2e5.html

Officiating blunder costs Bermudian Brangman

RoyalGazette.com - Full Article

Stephen Wright
Sep 14, 2018

Marvin Brangman’s World Equestrian Games came to a premature end after he withdrew his horse from the endurance riding event because of an officiating blunder.

Brangman had completed 20 miles of the 100-mile trek on Tuesday when riders were told there had been a false start and route complications. He said he opted against restarting the race after spotting behavioural changes in his horse MM Godiva Chokalat.

The race was called off later that day, perhaps saving the organisers’ blushes, because of a “dangerous combination of heat and humidity” after heavy rain in Tyron, North Carolina, where the Games are being held.

“When we got back [after completing 20 miles for the first inspection] it was absolute chaos,” Brangman said. “We were told there was a false start and the officials had sent us the wrong way. They wanted to restart the race..."

Read more here:
http://www.royalgazette.com/equestrian/article/20180914/officiating-blunder-costs-brangman&template=mobileart

World Equestrian Games Dressage Freestyle Canceled–Official

Dressage-News.com - Full Article

September 15 2018

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

TRYON, North Carolina, Sept. 15, 2018–The World Equestrian Games dressage Freestyle was canceled Saturday after the riders pulled out because of too many schedule and competition venue changes forced by Hurricane Florence.

The decision by the riders to withdraw led to an official announcement by the organizers hours later cancelling the event. Earlier in the week, endurance was canceled after a botched start.

“Despite the best efforts of the whole Tryon 2018 team and the officials, who have been working on plans for rescheduling since yesterday (Friday) evening, including meetings with the chefs de mission and chefs d’equipe, the logistics of putting all necessary elements into place in time have proved insurmountable. As a result, and very regrettably, the dressage freestyle will now be cancelled,” the organizers said in a statement.

“This was not an easy decision, but we have explored every option, including trying to reschedule the horse departures, and even looking at moving the competition into the indoor with a change of footing, but the logistics of making all this happen are just not possible,” Tryon 2018 organizing committee President Michael Stone said.

“We know this is desperately disappointing for the 15 athletes who had qualified their horses for the Freestyle, and of course for all the spectators who had bought tickets, but the weather has simply left us with no choice. Horse welfare has to be the top priority and flying the horses out on the same day as competition doesn’t work, so sadly the decision to cancel the Freestyle had to be taken..."

Read more here:
http://dressage-news.com/2018/09/15/world-equestrian-games-dressage-freestyle-off/

2018 WEG Endurance: Diary of a Collapse

Our "farm road" to get from the parking lot to the stables
Medium.com - Full Story

by Andre Vidiz
September 14 2018

How the FEI and the Organizing Committee turned the Enduro World into a hell

Pre-Written

I will tell you here all the mismatch of information and disorganization that triggered the greatest absurdity that has ever seen in enduro world in history, but first there is a caveat. Event volunteers and the people of the area were extremely helpful, gentle and kind. They all tried to help - even more than they could - to sympathize with us and take responsibility for problems that were not theirs. It was a real class of civility and a sense of community.

04/09/2018 - The Arrival of the Horses

Around 09:00 the truck that brought the horses from the Miami Quarantine arrives. Squirming through the narrow paths of Tryon Park and dividing space with tractors and cranes reaches the last stables in which we would stay. After descending, the horses can not go over the grass or walk a little bit, all thanks to the USDA and its nook with Piroplasmosis. Direct to the stables, the horses that took two flights, 14 hours of truck and were trapped in the quarantine for 7 days would still be stopped by at least one more.

Seeing the USDA sterilize the truck as if they had Ebola samples there, I had the idea of ​​picking up a bale of hay before they could render it unusable. Idea that proved very useful, since in the sequence we would find that in the park there was still no hay or ration (we were forbidden to take ours) and no one knew when they would arrive. It was the first of many "I dont know" that we would hear, almost a mantra of our stay.

The second would come soon: the grooms' accommodations were not ready and nobody knew when they would be. The organization arranged a hotel for them 20 minutes from the park and there we went to install them. From there I headed to the hotel they had assigned to me, 25 minutes from the park, but in the opposite direction, that is, 45 minutes from the grooms hotel.

05/09 - Misinformation

The grooms wake up with a paper under their doors: they should leave the rooms, since there were accommodations for them in the park. If "I dont know" would be our mantra, the disinformation was a constant of the trip and there was the first example. Arriving in the park there was no accommodation, but they guaranteed that by the end of the day the lodges would be ready.

The horses could already walk in the ring and the afternoon could go out on the trail, but never graze or have contact with the grass, as if that would infect the US with Piro.

Shortly after lunch we learned that the promise of a trail would not be honored and that only the ring road remained free. The second promise-the cabins for the grooms-would not be fulfilled, but this news would only arrive at midnight, an hour after, tired of waiting, we reserved a room for them to spend the night. was reimbursed by the organization)

06/09 - No lodge and no parking

Arriving in the park in the morning we are surprised by a new rule: the cars can not reach the stands anymore. They do not say why or even when this would be the case ("I dont know"). Even with coolers, ice and other things to download we can not go through. We park about 2kms away from the stables and walk around carrying things until some volunteer with a golf cart passes by and offers a ride.

We imagine that the new rule is to give more agility to the works that spread through all the corners of Tryon and that give the impression that nothing will be really ready until the opening date, at most will be more or less set.

On accommodation for the grooms no serious news: just excuses and the promise that they will make a new pavilion and blablabla

07/09 - Even less parking. And a crane!...

Read more here:
https://medium.com/@anvidiz/di%C3%A1rio-de-um-colapso-5a699b43c9a8

SPECIAL – Endurancegate Press Conference in Full – 2018 WEG Show

HorseRadioNetwork.com - Listen

Sep 14, 2018

SPECIAL – complete audio of press conference on Endurancegate 2018 at World Equestrian Games.