Heather Wallace to Official in Mongolian Horse Adventure the Gobi Desert Cup

August 7 2019

Heather Wallace, The Timid Rider, will be working for the second year as an official and photographer for the Gobi Desert Cup, 27 August - 6 September 2019 starting in the capital of Ulaanbaatar and traveling through the Gobi Desert.

Heather Wallace is the writer and photographer for the blog, The Timid Rider, which focuses on the struggling confidence of a returning adult equestrian. She is the award-winning author of non-fiction titles Confessions of a Timid Rider, which details her insights about being an anxiety-ridden but passionate equestrian and Girl Forward: A Tale of One Woman's Unlikely Adventure in Mongolia. This year she will again be attending this unique endurance ride as the photographer and official media guru. She looks forward to strengthening her relationship with the local nomads and to further draw attention to their dwindling lifestyle through her storytelling on social media, in photography, and as a producer on a documentary being filmed this year.

The Gobi Desert Cup is a multistage endurance race on Mongolian horses unlike any other equestrian adventure. Founded in 2016 by FEI 3* Endurance Rider, Camille Champagne, the Gobi Desert Cup is a multi-stage endurance ride and cultural experience through the Gobi Desert, riding trained and conditioned Mongolian horses every day for six days over a total of 480 kilometers.

This challenge is the only one of its kind to combine equestrian adventure and distance riding while positively supporting Mongolian nomadic culture and their horses before, during, and after the event. Combining the safety protocols and regulations of three international endurance organizations with semi-wild Mongolian horses, the event occurs over multiple terrains from dunes to rolling, verdant hills. Each of the 21 international riders will ride six horses in six days, testing their horsemanship, their endurance and their sense of adventure. Each horse is chosen specifically for their physical strength and quiet temper and trained specially for the race by our team of Mongolian herdsmen and veterinarians.

Heather is proud to be part of an organization dedicated to the awareness and sustainability of the last true horse culture through her work with the ride and its Non-Government Organization, the Mongolian Horse and Nomads Foundation and share their mission worldwide.

Please contact Heather Wallace, Media Coordinator at heather@timidrider.com for more information or follow her live updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gobidesertcup.

2019 Mongol Derby Day 1

August 7, 2019

Holy thundering hooves of wonder that was one hell of a start to the race. Currently your correspondent is exhausted after getting no sleep for a week in the run up to the launch so I apologise in advance for the brevity of this update.

After being baked in the sun for the training sessions, the riders had their first slap about the face by the weather of Mongolia. The skies opened just as the riders started to tack up. What began as a slow drizzle evolved into a pre-longed soaking that made sure it was hanging around most of the day. Our concerns for the riders turned from heat stroke to hypothermia.

They lined up and ripped out into the wilderness at about 10:30am Mongolia time.

Bob Long (RL) and Frank Winters (FW) (Both hailing from the USA) pushed into the front pack showing all these young whippersnappers how it’s done. Frank somehow managed sneak out of HS2 forgetting to go through the vet check and came right back to loose his place in the front herd and leaving Bob to continue to show some most marvellous horsemanship…

Read more here:
https://www.theadventurists.com/adventures/mongol-derby/updates/?fbclid=IwAR1ejBla9Dg3x3rIOOVqgE1bLJfH41AzsYMSkWyFs7TpmrkmhB_QvYtVHyM

Daily updates here:
http://www.endurance.net/international/Mongolia/2019MongolDerby/

Entries Announced for FEI European Endurance Championship

August 7 2019

The definite entries have been announced for the Meyday FEI Endurance European Championships which will be held on August 17 at Euston Park in Great Britain.

67 riders and 72 horses from 20 countries are on the entries for the 160-km Championship.

The entries can be seen here.

The Meydan FEI Endurance European Championship takes place on Saturday 17th August as a part of the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum UK Endurance Festival.

Updates on the event can be seen at:
http://www.endurance.net/international/GreatBritain/2019EuropeanChampionship/

More than £1,000,000 prize money & participation support announced

Endurance-world.com - Full Article

Info@endurance-world.com
4th August 2019

HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s support announced for UK Endurance Festival with Prize money and participation support of more than one million pounds sterling.

Euston Park, Thetford, Suffolk, Great Britain. Sunday 4 August 2019. The UK Endurance Festival will be staged under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Organisers of the Euston Park Endurance rides have announced that the investment in the UK Endurance Festival (15th- 19th August) of total prize money and participation support will be more than one million pounds sterling.

This year’s Festival includes the Meydan FEI Endurance European Championship which takes place on Saturday 17 August over 160km. This is followed on Sunday 18 by a CEIO2* (Nations Cup) as well as a CEI2*YJ, a CEI1* and a CEI1*YJ and then on Monday 19 there are nine national rides over a variety of distances. The Pony Club Endurance Championships will take place on Thursday 15 August. The Festival is staged across some of the best endurance tracks in Europe with the variety of terrains that this area of Suffolk and Norfolk offers.

Alongside the prize money, the financial packages offered for the International competitors competing in the following rides: CEI1* 80km, CEIYJ1* 80km, CEI2* 120km, CEIYJ2* 120km are:

- A contribution to ferry and travel costs of £500 per horse for all non UK based competitors in all classes providing they pass the Pre Ride Veterinary Inspection and start.
- A starting award of £500 per horse in all classes providing they complete the first loop and pass the Veterinary Inspection.
- A finishing award of £500 per horse in all classes providing they pass the final Veterinary Inspection....

Read more here:
https://endurance-world.com/more-than-1000000-prize-money-participation-support-announced/

Belgium: Flanders Endurance Festival in Lanaken

Endurance-world.com - Full Article

3rd August 2019
Race Report made with the assistance of Jan Deprez

Pietersheim Castle, Lanaken, Belgium. Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 July 2019. To put this event in a context, we should rewind one year to the summer of 2018.

For the first time, on July 29 2018, a national competition (CEN) was organised on the settings of the Pietersheim Castle in Lanaken (Flanders/Belgium). The organiser, Belgian riding club ‘Vlaamse Lange Afstand Ruiters’ or simply VLAR, is the most important Belgian -an probably also Benelux- CEN-organiser. The terrains of the castle were leased and the organisation, under the chairmanship of Jan Deprez, received 98 entries. A pretty good number considering Belgian endurance has been confronted with a falling number of participants in recent years...

Read more here:
https://endurance-world.com/flanders-endurance-festival-in-lanaken/

Great Britain: Borden horse trainer to take on Mongol Derby in Mongolia

Kentonline.co.uk - Full Article

By Ellis Stephenson
estephenson@thekmgroup.co.uk
Published: 12:12, 01 August 2019

A horse trainer will take on the challenge of a lifetime as she prepares to ride in the world's toughest horse race.

Michelle Brister, 38, of Eyehorn Farm in Borden, is undergoing a regime of hypnotherapy to get in the right mindset for the Mongol Derby, as well as meeting regularly with a personal trainer.

The competition sees 40 horse riders from around the world travel 1,000km on semi-wild ponies across Mongolia for 10 days from Wednesday, August 7.

There will not be any signage to guide the participants, who will each be given a GPS tracker to wear and an emergency beacon.

It is expected to take between eight and 10 days to complete.

Every 40km the participants will change the animals they will be riding from 6.30am until 8pm each day.

She will be completing the challenge in a bid to collect £50,000, which includes £10,000 to cover entry costs and £40,000 for Cancer Research UK...

Read more here:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/horse-trainer-to-take-on-mongolia-derby-209665/

Australia: Undusting the Pevy power couple on the Horses' birthday

Singletonargus.com.au - Full Article

Alex Tigani
August 1 2019

This week the Singleton Argus caught up with local endurance riding stars Gary and Debbie Pevy of Jerrys Plains.

In Australia, every horse has its birthday on the first day of August each year - known as the horses' birthday.

Fittingly, the pair invited us to their home to share some stories from their careers while also exploring the sentimental features of their property.

MEET DEBBIE PEVY - OUR ENDURANCE RIDING HERO...

Read more here:
https://www.singletonargus.com.au/story/6306322/undusting-the-pevy-power-couple/