World Equestrian Games - Will Tryon Be the Last Edition?

GrandPrix-replay.com - Full Article

Friday 05 October - 10h08 | Sébastien Roullier

It has been much debated, before, during and after the recent World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Tryon, USA, but were those Games, the last? Grand Prix's Sebastien Roullier looks at the issues surrounding the future of WEG.

Too expensive, too complicated to organize, not enough publicity: the World Equestrian Games – a fantastic concept on paper – have always sparked debates within the horse sport community. And those who have taken on the challenge of putting them on over the years have rarely managed to deliver a flawless event.

While the inaugural edition of the Games in Stockholm, which featured 'only' six disciplines in 1990, and those of Jerez de la Frontera and Aachen, which brought together seven in 2002 and 2006, provided very good and sometimes excellent memories for participants and spectators, that has not been the case for others. In 1994, the organizers of the Games in the Hague went bankrupt. In 1998, those in Rome kept their promises against all expectations but could not host an endurance race, which was relocated to Abu Dhabi. In 2010, the WEG in Lexington, Kentucky were saved by significant last-minute budget infusions – and even then all was not perfect. In 2014, Normandy created a great regional project, but experienced various logistical problems. Not to mention all the organizers, chosen by the Fédération Équestre Internationale, who have thrown in the towel along the way: Paris for the 1994 edition, Dublin for the following and Bromont for 2018.

After the small town in Quebec bowed out a little over two years ago, Mark Bellissimo came to the rescue of the FEI, offering a new host site for its flagship rendezvous. Indeed, Bellissimo promised that the Tryon WEG, to be held on his large property in nearby Mill Spring, North Carolina, would be the best yet. And convinced of the merits of his project, the American raised enough capital to invest nearly $250 million for a stadium and other site features – not to mention an operational budget of millions to deliver the event...

Read more here:
http://www.grandprix-replay.com/uk/article/5814/world-equestrian-games-will-tryon-bethe-last-edition-

Luke Annetts successfully completes Australia's most prestigious endurance ride

NorthernDailyLeader.com.au - Full Article

October 9 2018
Ellen Dunger

The Tom Quilty Gold Cup is regarded as the ‘premier ride’ and the Australian endurance calendar and is also one of the toughest.

Tenterfield veterinarian Luke Annetts has successfully finished the gruelling 160km ride on 10 occasions with his most recent at the annual event in Tasmania on Friday.

Annetts and the Glen Innes-bred Churinga Taboo were the fifth heavyweight pairing over the line and to top off their success, received the prestigious best conditioned award in their division.

Making the feat even more impressive was the fact the seven-year-old gelding only began his endurance career this year with the longest ride in his career only half the distance of the Quilty.

“He is only a youngster, he only started at the start of the year so it was a big ask for him,” Annetts said...

Read more here:
https://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/5692228/local-vet-luke-annetts-claims-10th-tom-quilty-gold-cup-buckle/?cs=12473

Canada: Endurance Team Spirit Shines Bright at FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018

Equestrian.ca - Full Article & photos

October 3 2018

Despite a restart, weather complications and the ultimate cancellation of the endurance competition at the FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018 (WEG), the Canadian Endurance Team impressed with their unquenchable team spirit and perseverance on Sept. 12 in Mill Spring, NC.

The team – comprised of Colleen DeVry of Bruderheim, AB; Robert Gielen of Flesherton, ON; Wendy MacCoubrey of Sainte-Justine-de-Newton, QC; Kimberley Woolley of Finch, ON; and reserve rider, Tracy Vollman of Regina, SK – had proved they were ones to watch during a long and challenging WEG qualifying period that ran from July 2016 to July 2018. Gielen and MacCoubrey earned top 10 positions in the 2017 FEI Open Combination World Endurance Rankings with their horses, and DeVry came to WEG 2018 fresh off a second place finish, just 10 seconds shy of first, at the 2018 Bellis Summer Sizzler CEI 3* 160km race.

“We had reasonably focused on a goal of medaling as a team with potential for one or two top 20 individuals,” said Deanna Spiker, Endurance Chef d’Équipe, of Team Canada’s chances at the Games. “When the race was cancelled, we had one horse within the top 20 with one moving up just behind, and our three horses that remained in competition looked good for their final vet inspection.”

At the time the race was called off, Gielen was in the lead position for the Canadian team with his nine-year-old Arabian gelding, More Bang for Your Buck (Doran x Forty Thieves). A veteran of WEG 2010 and the oldest member of the Canadian Equestrian Team at 68 years of age, Gielen used his wealth of experience to successfully manage and pace his horse...

Read more here:
https://www.equestrian.ca/news/PtHMAF72tGLSiZo8r/endurance-team-spirit-shines-bright-at

Canada: Hope riders take second and fourth place at summer competition

HopeStandard.com - Full Article

Nearing retirement, Denise Pascucci’s Arabian steed Nikea still has a few more years left

Oct. 7, 2018

A life-long love of horses is nearing a turning point — but before then, there should still be a few good years of riding for Denise Pascucci and her Arabian steed, Nikea.

“I’ve always been around horses,” said Pascucci (pronounced “Pas-KOO-chee”). “I had aunts and uncles who had farms outside Winnipeg, in Vassar and South Junction. I got my first horse when I was 18.

“I got the one I currently own on my forty-first birthday, 18 years ago, from Del and Carl Augustine. He’s a pure Arabian and his registered name is Aur Lanii but I call him Nikea.

“I started riding endurance about 13 years ago, with Buffy Miller — and Shelley Taylor rides with me now. I keep my horse at Shelley’s place, by the airport. We’ve got morning and evening feeds, so Shelley usually does the mornings and I do the evenings and we work around our schedules.”

In 2012 and 2013, Pascucci and Nikea took part in the Cariboo Plateau endurance event at 108 Mile, then injuries, forest fires and other encumbrances kept them from returning until this year. On August 11, she partnered up for the competitive 25-mile ride, with fellow Hope rider, Leona Jones and her standardbred named J.J...

Read more here:
https://www.hopestandard.com/sports/hope-riders-take-second-and-fourth-place-at-summer-competition/

What if Tryon was one of the safest Endurance World Championships ever?

Medium.com - Full Article

Andre Vidiz
Oct 8

On the article I wrote just after the WEG Endurance ride I tried to show how the dysfunctional disorganization of the OC was as guilty of the whole disaster as the weather conditions itself. On that moment FEI Officials were using the quantity of horse with metabolic issues and the death of one of them as a smoke screen to do not talk about all the problems that happened before and during the start of the race. At that time we needed to put it all together so we don’t forget anything. Now it is time to untangle some of those components.

Pippa Cuckson wrote a long article about the conditions we set for World Championships in which she also questions the Organizing Committee “clinic was full” argument itself. If there are no doubts about the number of horses in the clinic and that almost all of them were there due to metabolic issues, there is nothing clear about the conditions of those horses. Only 3 of them were eliminated under the ME-TR status, which means that treatment is mandatory and signalizes a dangerous condition. All the other horses maybe were getting precautionary treatment, a safe practice that became quite normal in endurance rides*

Maybe the full clinic is just a consequence of the system that is built to protect the horses...

Read more here:
https://medium.com/@anvidiz/what-if-tryon-was-one-of-the-safest-endurance-world-championships-ever-8fcc11792d13

Tasmania: North-West teenager Jaz Hutchins crosses the line first but does not win the Tom Quilty Gold Cup

TheAdvocate.com.au - Full Article

Andrew Mathieson
October 6 2018

Jaz Hutchins galloped home to cheers, but the tone in the voice of the first to finish the Tom Quilty Gold Cup ride told the true story.

After nine hours, 46 minutes and 27 seconds in the saddle, the junior winner on the course near Scottsdale didn’t hide her understandable disappointment.

“Yes, I was the first – that’s correct,” Hutchins told The Sunday Examiner in the affirmative, “but it’s a bit disappointing that I can’t take the cup home being a junior.

The Sassafras 17-year-old like her contemporaries could not make the mandatory 73kg weight for the cup.

The lesser weight over the 160km journey from darkness to sunrise and sometimes beyond is considered an unfair advantage.

Not exactly tainting the win of top Victorian Kristie Taprell – a junior winner has been ruled ineligible of taking home the trophy before – but Hutchins’ ride 18 minutes and 40 seconds earlier could have caused a stir...

Read more here:
https://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/5687697/teen-cup-win-that-wasnt/?cs=12

Brief Encounters – The New 'Normal' in Endurance

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

Blogs Cuckson Report | October 5, 2018

I haven’t spoken to, or read anything written by, any veterinarian that disagrees with abandoning the Tryon WEG endurance ride. Vets all seem emphatic that horses were not coping with the fast rising heat and humidity.

One told me some were even pulsing back up while being examined – including the super-horses whose heart-rates usually meet the parameters within minutes.

But it isn’t quite that black and white. The weather in isolation was not the issue – historic rides have taken place in worse conditions without everyone keeling over. Worries also stemmed from the inability of so many to ride according to the conditions; some riders were apparently not even aware their horses were in difficulty.

How can that be? This was a world championship, featuring the best and most experienced horses and riders on the planet, surely? Not necessarily. No rider can truly can say their horse is pinging along with its usual verve when they’ve hardly competed it before. In modern endurance, not knowing your horse is the New Normal.

FEI records of the 120-odd riders who started the fateful first loop show:

• 13 had never competed their Tryon horse in a FEI race of any distance before;
• 13 had only started on their Tryon horse once before (in most cases their 160km WEG qualifier, which might not have been a highly competitive race;)
• 28 had only attempted 160km with the same horse twice before;
• 24 had started their Tryon horse in FEI twice over any distance before; nine riders three times;
• 59 riders had previously attempted 160km with their Tryon horse more than twice;
• Only 37 horse and riders had progressed from 80Km to 160km level as a combination;
• Four riders had fewer than 10 career starts in FEI at any distance on any horse/s; 18 riders had just 10-20 previous FEI starts on any horse/s...

Read more here:
https://horse-canada.com/blogs/brief-encounters-the-new-normal-in-endurance/