Verona Endurance Problems Flagged 16 Months Pre-Cancellation

HorseSport.com - Full Article

FEI reveals that concerns were raised about the 2022 World Endurance Championship venue during the test ride in May 2021.

By: Horse Sport staff | November 2, 2022

Five new venues have applied to host the delayed 2022 FEI World Endurance Championship, as it emerges that the original Verona site was known to have many problems 16 months before the FEI removed the event at short notice.

When the cancellation was announced on September 8 this year, reference was made to difficulties in completing the final preparation works because of the concurrent staging of a “rice festival” on the same site.

However, HorseSport.com has learned that problems went back to at least May 2021, when the obligatory test ride took place, causing both riders and the FEI’s own technical committee to voice concerns and the organizer be replaced. New deadlines to resolve them since then were repeatedly not met during 2021 and 2022...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/verona-endurance-problems-flagged-16-months-pre-cancellation/

Pessoa, Hoy Unopposed in Poorly-Contested FEI Elections

HorseSport.com - Full Article

A very small pool of candidates means that four riders will enjoy a “shoo-in” to the FEI sports committees.

By: Horse Sport staff | October 27, 2022

International riders have only until October 31 to vote for their rider representatives on the FEI sport committees, but for many it has been an academic exercise due to the lack of candidates.

German eventing legend Bettina Hoy, dressage’s Yvonne de Losos Muniz of the Dominican Republic, vaulting’s Lambert Lerclezio of France and driving’s Franz Schiltz of Luxembourg are the only candidates in their respective disciplines, and so are set to take up their new roles unopposed for the next four years.

For the jumping committee, the politically experienced Rodrigo Pessoa has one rival, but this is Russia’s Vladmir Tuganov who, like all Russians, is indefinitely suspended from FEI participation because of the invasion of Ukraine...

Read more at:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/pessoa-hoy-unopposed-poorly-contested-elections/

FEI to Increase Powers to Eliminate ‘Horse-Unfriendly’ Performance

HorseSport.com - Full Article

New FEI ethics commission recommends that rounds and tests which go against the ‘principles of horse welfare’ be subject to elimination.

By: Horse Sport staff | October 24, 2022

The FEI is set to empower judges to eliminate anyone whose riding goes against horse welfare, as efforts continue to safeguard equestrianism’s ‘social licence’ and combat growing negativity among the general public.

The FEI’s new Ethics and Wellbeing Commission (EEWB) has issued six initial recommendations to be actioned by the end of this year. The FEI board has resolved to take them forward to its General Assembly next month, as equestrian becomes more aware of its ‘social licence’ to exist...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/fei-increase-powers-eliminate-horse-unfriendly-performance/

Bids in for rescheduled endurance World Championships

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

Lucy Elder
25 October, 2022

Italy is bidding to retain its position as host of the 2022 endurance World Championships after the plug was pulled weeks ahead of the scheduled event.

This year’s championships were set to be held in Verona from 19 to 23 October, but were cancelled in September as the safety of horses and riders “could not be guaranteed” (news, 15 September).

The FEI reopened the bidding, and has extended the cut-off date for the 2022 championships to be held to 30 April 2023...

Read more here:
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/bids-in-for-rescheduled-endurance-world-championships-807459

Sitting on Top of the Endurance World

FEI.org

21 October 2022

We speak to World No.1 Julia Montagne...

Endurance is about strategy, with the top athletes knowing that a course of 100 to 160km is best handled in the individual phases of the race.

In essence, the strategic rider treats the four phases of a 160km endurance competition individually; they focus on each 40km phase, completing the mandatory veterinarian inspections, without losing sight of the race’s finish line.

Julia Montagne of France is currently sitting on top of the FEI World Endurance rankings, with a comfortable lead in the point standings. She trains and competes multiple horses at FEI competitions with Endurance Vilaltella based in Portugal. The consistent performance of Julia and her Endurance horses has led to her long stretch as the world’s highest-ranked athlete.

“This year has been amazing, and I hope we will have more results still at the end of the year,” Julia said.

Read more here:
https://www.fei.org/stories/sport/endurance/julia-montagne-profile-2022

Endurance: Italy relaunches bid for FEI World Championship

CavalloMagazine.it - Full Article

The proposal was officially presented to the FEI by the Italian Equestrian Federation. The Italian National Olympic Committee’s support in the words of its president Giovanni Malagò

Bologna, October 20, 2022 – The same Organizing Committee that organised the unanimously praised 2021 edition of the event – Italia Endurance asd and sistemaeventi.it srl – has taken action to order to keep the next FEI Endurance World Championships in Italy, proposing the date of April 29th 2023 and confirming Pisa San Rossore Racecourse as the venue, a facility that has also proved to be a real equestrian paradise for this discipline.

The Championship, previously assigned to Isola della Scala – Verona, should have taken place in October 2022, but the FEI unfortunately decided to cancel the event a few days earlier due to organizational problems and has consequently reopened the global process for bids...

Read more here:
https://www.cavallomagazine.it/english/equestrian-sports/enduranceeng/endurance-italy-relaunches-bid-for-fei-world-championship

Powys mum finishes world's toughest horse race in Mongolia

CountyTimes.co.uk - Full Article

13 October 2022
By Matt Jones
@MattJones_CT

A POWYS mum has described the experience of completing a 1,000 kilometre endurance horse race in Asia as “everything I could have hoped for and more”.

Zoe Geddes, from Llanidloes, competed in the Mongol Derby in August – described as the longest and toughest horse race on earth.

The race involves traversing 1,000km (621 miles) of untamed Asian wilderness, in which riders must compete using up to 30 different horses.

Mum-of-two Zoe, 28, had ambitions of becoming the first British winner and actually led the 10-day race at one stage, eventually finishing a credible 8th out of a field of 48 starters...

Read more here:
https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/23046275.powys-mum-finishes-worlds-toughest-horse-race-mongolia/