Australia: Glen Innes to host another endurance ride

Gleninnesexaminer.com.au - Full Article

Ellen Dunger
March 6 2019

Endurance riding returned to the Glen Innes region last year and is set to be back again this year.

The Glen Innes Endurance Riding Club held an event in Glen Elgin in January last year and have planned another weekend on March 23 and 24 for Red Range.

The 2018 event saw 20 kilometre and 40km rides take place but this year they will add an 80km ride into the schedule.

Club committee member Jenny Johansen said the feedback they had from 2018 was excellent.

"Everyone said last year's event was fantastic," she said.

"A really great atmosphere and lots of fun."

The coming event has already had plenty of interest through the club's Facebook page and Johansen is hoping to attract more riders outside of endurance circles...

Read more at:
https://www.gleninnesexaminer.com.au/story/5939577/riders-to-stride-out-on-the-track/

South Africa: World's toughest horse race looking for riders!

Sport24.co.za - Full Article

2019-03-05

Cape Town - Now in its third edition, Race the Wild Coast (RTWC) has rapidly become known as the toughest horse race on the planet.

The event takes place from October 19-27, 2019 and only 20 riders compete in this prestigious limited-access event. RTWC is now open for global entries.

This new breed of long-distance adventure horse racing is set amid the breathtaking scenery of the South African East Coast. Over the course of five days a host of experienced international riders, each riding three horses in the course of the race, will compete for victory over 350km of rugged paradise from Port Edward to Kei Mouth. RTWC blends the spirit of the frontiersman and the modern horseback adventurer - a test of endurance, horsemanship, survival and navigational skills.

Says race organiser and 2017 Mongol Derby winner, Barry Armitage: “RTWC is a complex multi-stage race, in which riders must brave this challenging wilderness and swim rivers while keeping horses fit for vet checks. It is no doubt the ultimate test of endurance and horsemanship for any long-distance rider!”

This is indeed the case, as supported by the comments of RTWC veteran Stevie Murray (USA) made at the RTWC 2016 finish line: “When you’ve done the Mongol Derby you get to thinking that nothing will ever compare again; I was wrong. RTWC is far more technically and physically challenging, and the hectic but breathtaking terrain has no comparison. I have never experienced such remote and enchanting beauty in all my life...”

Read more here:
https://www.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/South-Africa/worlds-toughest-horse-race-looking-for-riders-20190305

Ireland: Excellent start to ILDRA’s Endurance Season for 2019

Farmweek.com - Full Article

By Bree Rutledge - March 4, 2019

THE 2019 endurance season for ILDRA (Irish Long Distance Riding Association) kicked off brilliantly on February 17, with all 10 CTR (Competitive Trail Rides) riders and horses successfully completing their distances. Tollymore Forest Park had an initially misty start to the day, however, this soon transformed into sunshine with perfect riding conditions for both horse and rider alike. Riders enjoyed the mountainous views across the County Down landscape and coastline, whilst meandering through the forest park trails along the River Shimna...

Read more here:
https://farmweek.com/excellent-start-to-ildras-endurance-season-for-2019/

Anne’s Mongol Derby III, Preparing for the Horses and the Journey Ahead

Everythinghorseuk.co.uk - Full Article

03/03/2019
ehuknews

How does one prepare for Mongolian horses? That is one question I have an easy answer to, you don’t.

Here in the Netherlands, where I live, we do not have horses that come anything near the Mongolian horses. Not in size, not in temperament and not in strength. The Mongolian horses are bred for centuries for their habitat, work, and lifestyle. Nothing to be found like that near my home, sadly.

Meanwhile, I ride a lot of different horses. Big and small, and I take my trusty backpack anywhere. To me, the distance does not really count at the moment, however, the time in the saddle does. Four hours without sore muscles, five hours without sore muscles… And so on...

Read more here:
https://everythinghorseuk.co.uk/annes-mongol-derby-iii-preparing-for-the-horses-and-the-journey-ahead/

New Zealand: Horse trekking adventurer Chloe Phillips-Harris speaks to Jack Tame

Newstalkzb.co.nz - Listen

Newstalk ZB, SectionAudio, Publish Date Saturday, 2 March 2019

If you google Chloe Phillips-Harris, an almost unbelievable collection of headlines pops up.

She has snowboarded behind a camel through the Gobi Desert, was detained in Kazakhstan after immigration officials refused to believe New Zealand was a country and was part of a group who came up with a new sport ‘horse wakeboarding’.

Chole has written a new book 'Fearless: The life of adventurer, equestrian and endurance rider Chloe Phillips-Harris' about her adventures and joined Saturday Morning with Jack Tame to discuss her amazing journeys around the world.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW:
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-morning-with-jack-tame/audio/horse-trekking-adventurer-chloe-phillips-harris-speaks-to-jack-tame/

EQA Interview with Julie Veloo on Learning to Ride in Mongolia

EquestrianAdventuresses.com - Full Story

February 21 2019
Author: Krystal Kelly

Julie is a Canadian girl with the true heart of an adventuress. Growing up in the far North of British Columbia, she was accustomed to brutal winters and wild lands. Horses weren’t a part of her childhood though, in fact she held onto a fear of horses well into her adult life. Her interests of anthropology and travel eventually led her to Mongolia with her husband, where at the age of 50 she decided to challenge herself as part of understanding the Mongolian culture. She sat on a horse for the first time and was only led around the paddock by a small boy, but when she dismounted a whole new passion had been ignited inside her and she was never the same again.

“I had no clue that I was going to turn into the crazy horseback riding lady,” she chuckles before continuing. “Now, I am an associate member of the Long Riders’ Guild with about 25,000 kilometers under my belt and a fervent desire to hopefully make 100,000 before I die.”

Her interest in the Mongolian culture was a crucial factor in learning to ride. “I wasn’t planning on learning to ride,” she says, “It was just that I saw all these gorgeous little Mongolian children thundering by on their horses out in the wild steppe…” She realized that if she wanted to understand the culture, she needed to learn to ride. How else would she know what it’s like to herd thousands of animals or experience what it’s like traveling from one Ger—the nomadic homes also known as yurts—to another on horseback as the Mongols have done for thousands of years? She wanted to know what the Mongolians already knew: what it feels like to be “at one” with an animal...

Read more here:
https://equestrianadventuresses.com/2019/02/21/learning-to-ride-in-mongolia/

Fine and suspension in WEG Endurance fallout

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

March 1, 2019
Horsetalk.co.nz

The fallout from the abandoned Endurance race at the World Equestrian Games in North Carolina continues, with the FEI Tribunal suspending a leading figure in the sport.

In doing so, the three-member tribunal also laid some blame in the case on the FEI over what it said was a poorly managed race which caused frustration and anger among the participants.

It rejected most of the grounds on which the FEI had taken the case against the chef d’equipe for the Spanish endurance team, Dr Ignasi Casas Vaque.

However, tribunal members Armand Leone, Laurent Niddam and Henrik Arle found that Vaque, a veterinarian, had displayed incorrect behaviour towards event officials arising from the cancellation of the endurance race...

Read more here:
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2019/03/01/fine-suspension-weg-endurance-fallout/