Abu Dhabi equestrian endurance cup to award prizes for healthiest horse

TheNational.ae - Full Article

It won't just be the first past the finish line who win this weekend's Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan and Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Endurance Cup

Haneen Dajani
November 7 2018

A series of endurance races that are due to start on Thursday will not only award the first past the finish line, but also those with the healthiest horses.

The competition is being held in honour of the Year of Zayed and combines two endurance cups held at Boutheib Endurance Village in Abu Dhabi by the grandsons of Founding President Sheikh Zayed.

The Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan and Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Endurance Cup will award gold, silver and bronze to the first three in an international 120.7 kilometre Two Stars race.

Unusually, the top three healthiest horses will also receive gold, silver and bronze cups in a move that is part of a healthy-horse initiative the event’s organisers are trying to promote...

Read more here:
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/heritage/abu-dhabi-equestrian-endurance-cup-to-award-prizes-for-healthiest-horse-1.789192

Youth equestrian endurance cup begins in Abu Dhabi

TheNational.ae - full article

The Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Khalifa and Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Endurance Cup is organised by the Emirates Heritage Club


The National
November 6, 2018

A two-day series of equestrian endurance races for young people starts at the Boudheib International Endurance Village on Tuesday.

The Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Khalifa and Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Endurance Cup is organised by the Emirates Heritage Club, in co-operation with the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation...

Read more here:
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/youth-equestrian-endurance-cup-begins-in-abu-dhabi-1.788561

First three star FEI ride in Ukraine

Endurance-world.com - Article and photos

4 November 2018
Race Report made with the assistance of Lesia Gordiienko

Equestrian Club Silin, Iatski, Ukraine. Sunday 28 October 2018. An outstanding event was held in equestrian club Silin, – a FEI ride. The athletes and their horses were competing in three distances: CEI1* 80, CEI2* 120 and first time in Ukraine CEI3* 160. There were riders not only from Ukraine, but also from Belarus and Lithuania.

he course was quite difficult, including natural landscape features with deep slopes, twisting paths, dams, picturesque lakes and long legs of level clay roads where the riders could make up for the speed. The organizational committee showed perfect level of the event: it provided water points every 6-8km of the distance with tanks of fresh water for drinking and cooling, the vet gate was equipped with electronic heart rate monitors, whereas the spectators were entertained by live music...

Read more here:
http://endurance-world.com/first-three-star-fei-ride-in-ukraine/

Chile: Very technical tracks at Bio-Bio cup

Endurance-world.com - Full Article

1 November 2018
Race Report made with the assistance of Andre Alvarez

Salto del laja place – Bio-Bio, Chile. Saturday 27 October 2018. Last weekend the Bio-bio cup was celebrated near to Salto del laja place. This is a special event because the competition took place in the south of Chile. Usually the endurance races are held in the central zone of the country and most of the time through famous vineyards.

Yet Bio-Bio is different; a beautiful district where woods are the main scenario.

Riders love this place because of the flat tracks, an excellent condition for the horses, and easy to measure good speeds. However this time everybody was surprised. Following the FEI recommendations the competition was quite different from last ones. The track was much more complicated, with a lot of variation in surface types. Deep sand and also the weather were big influencers too to make it harder for the riders.

At the end of the day the most experiment riders won every FEI category. Lukas Buckel one of the few elite riders in Chile won the 160km category...

Read more here:
http://endurance-world.com/very-technical-tracks-at-bio-bio-cup/

South Africa: NSPCA lashes Eastern Cape extreme horse race over ‘exploitation of animals’

DispatchLive.co.za - Full Article

By Matthew Savides - 31 October 2018

The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) said this week a 350km horse race through the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape “should not happen” over concerns that the animals were being exploited and that the vets employed to monitor the animals were not suitably qualified.

But the race’s organisers have hit back‚ not just denying the claims made in the NSPCA’s statement but also claiming that the statement’s contents were “very different” from comments made after the race.

In a statement on Monday‚ the NSPCA said that it had monitored the “Race the Wild Coast” endurance event‚ which took place from October 16. The race takes four to five days to complete.

“Four horses had to be disqualified due to injuries sustained during the race‚” said Arno de Klerk‚ the NSPCA’s special projects manager.

“The race organisers had employed six veterinarians‚ not all of whom had equine experience. There were concerns surrounding the conduct of some of the veterinarians which may have impacted on their ability to thoroughly examine the animals.

“The terrain was also inaccessible by vehicles and the only way to assess the conditions would be by helicopter. However‚ any lameness or welfare issues would be difficult to see from the air. This made instant intervention impossible and the only time that the horses could be properly assessed by anyone was at the various veterinary check stations...”

Read more here:
https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2018-10-31-nspca-lashes-eastern-cape-extreme-horse-race-over-exploitation-of-animals/

Mongol Derby: The Ride of Her Life

Jocelyn Pierce (right) riding with Michael Turner in Mongolia. Photo courtesy of Mongol Derby.

BethesdaMagazine.com - Full Story

A Rockville woman recently finished the Mongol Derby, known as the longest and toughest horse race in the world
BY CARALEE ADAMS | Published: 2018-10-29

As soon as Jocelyn Pierce finished her first pony ride at the age of 2, she got back in line for another turn. She started riding lessons when she was 4 and had her own horse by the time she was 10. Pierce competed in jumping and dressage events while growing up in Massachusetts and was on the riding team at Otterbein University in Ohio, where she minored in equine science and got a degree in international studies.

After moving to Rockville in 2015, Pierce continued to ride as a hobby. An associate editor at Practical Horseman magazine in Frederick, she is immersed in the horse world professionally. This past August, she saddled up for a new challenge: the Mongol Derby, dubbed the longest and toughest horse race in the world. From a pool of about 200 hopefuls, she was one of 44 riders selected for the endurance event, in which riders trek across about 600 miles of rugged terrain in Mongolia over the span of about a week to 10 days.

Pierce, 31, followed the Mongol Derby for years but had never participated in an endurance race and didn’t even consider applying until August 2017, after one of her colleagues competed in it. “I was hooked by the adventure, the competition, and was intrigued with how the Mongolian people have a huge history and connection to the horse,” says Pierce...

Read more here:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-magazine/november-december-2018/the-ride-of-her-life-2/

Room for improvement in event biosecurity, says FEI’s Veterinary Committee

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

October 29, 2018
Horsetalk.co.nz

Multiple areas where biosecurity can be improved at events have been identified by the FEI Veterinary Committee.

The committee, in its annual report released ahead of the annual FEI General Assembly in Bahrain next month, noted that several outbreaks of equine herpesvirus had occurred during the year and had even led to the cancellation of events.

The FEI’s Veterinary Department had monitored the situation with national head veterinarians and other horse industry stakeholders, and had also communicated guidelines.

“Further to the outbreaks, the Veterinary Department has evaluated six events from a biosecurity perspective and come to the conclusion that there are multiple needs for improvements to ensure a high level of biosecurity,” it said...

Read more here:
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2018/10/29/room-improvement-event-biosecurity-fei/