Endurance: Triumph or disaster?

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palo1

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Following WEG coverage and a letter in this week's horse and hound, again Endurance racing finds itself under a rather unflattering gaze...reports of horrendous conditions from journalists, officials and spectators which focussed on poor riding, exhausted, dead-eyed horses and 'floppy riders' are unlikely to encourage new members or support.

Yet Britain has an excellent welfare record in Endurance, horses are bought out of Britain regularly by 'more competitive' nations and we breed some pretty good endurance horses, quietly and usually by those passionate about the best and the toughest of bloodlines. Our riders don't do badly either, especially considering the complete lack of funding and the passionate dedication of British endurance riders to their one or two (occasionally more) rides who tend to enjoy long competitive careers. We have riders who have topped the FEI rankings this year and coaches with impeccable competitive credentials. Endurance GB runs rides of all sorts of distances for everyone from weekend warriors to those with world class ambition. People have fun, horses are safe and much adored and come home sound to go out again and again in our sport in Britain. What is not to admire and support?

Most endurance riders in the UK are not of the 'floppy' variety !! - as most endurance groups here in the UK encourage schooling and some even have winter dressage sessions, with actual competitions at the end of winter!

So where has it all gone wrong for Endurance GB? We no longer win much, as we used to, but we don't also say much about what we are good at either. Endurance in Britain seems likely to tear itself apart over welfare issues which have probably never been our problem yet, by association with those involved, have become a sordid and oft officially avoided subject.

What is to be done to ensure a sport we should be proud of will not simply wither on the vine of 'International Endurance' doom and a kind of rabbit in headlights mentality of senior officialdom?
 
I commented on the bad riding to our stable jockey. He told me he had observed lots of bad riding in local events.

We are in France and put huge effort into training. Our 6 year old was top horse at his second 60km endurance, largely because of his low heart rate at the final vet gate.

His full sister will do her first endurance, 20kms next weekend.

Preparation is key. Our horses get a variety of short fast rides, long slow hacks, schooling, hill work and jumping. Good food plenty of turnout, properly fitting tack from an English Master Saddler and farrier every 6 weeks - shod or not!!!

We have our first 80kms in a week's time. We did a test schooling run on the park at Lion D'Angers, 75kms, two weeks ago. Speed, heart rate and recovery were excellent. Had he not been up to it we would not be planning his next outing.

I have already refused to sell his sister for Endurance in spite of a very good offer.
 
Yes, preparation is key and as far as I am aware the vast majority of UK riders also prepare, prepare, prepare and can still accept that if the horse is not ok on the day, or ready for some other reason then withdraw and wait. Of course, France is a successful endurance nation in competitive terms and there are lessons to be learnt from 'you lot' by UK endurance riders! It would be interesting to know what you think we could learn.

It is somewhat insulting to tar all endurance riders with the 'poor riding skills' brush though, as the press appears to have done and with the European style of riding, there is generally a much greater emphasis and interest in riding in a balanced and helpful way for the horse. The Arab nations have a different style of course, not easy on the European eye, but one which appears to have worked for them, if not their horses.

What I was referring to in my original post was how and why Endurance GB has been so apparently unable to escape from the welfare issues and scandal in spite of having much that is good about it.
 
Palo

I did reply yesterday but found an 'error' so the post did not appear. I cannot comment on why Endurance GB has become involved in the welfare scandals and have not seen the H&H letter.

I can only comment on what we have seen in France. I have commented on two other posts, with pics, of our Shagya and a CB competing in France. Horses hammered and galloping on tarmac BUT that is not ALL the horses and we also meet on a regular basis professional and caring people.

I did write to a trainer in the UK who had a team at WEG and asked for her comments. She said it was tiring and one of their two horses was stopped at 140kms the other finished in good fettle. Of 174 starts 38 finished but remember that just before the event Normandy suffered torrential rain which made for testing going.

As a Brit in France who decided NOT to live anywhere in Northern France, we wanted to escape British rain, I do not understand why this was the location for WEG when the countryside Angevine is renowned in France for its mild climate.

Riding in endurance. My friend commented that about 25% of the field at WEG suffered from 'passenger' type riding which contributed to failure to finish.

I take my hat off to anyone training for Endurance in the UK. We are retired and the decision to move to France was motivated by the fact, I used to put our horses on a lorry each weekend to hack on Forestry Commission Tracks (£40pa/per horse) built for logging lorries and with no place to canter.

Here we have miles of off-road free of charge.
 
The feeling is pretty much the same here in New Zealand. Most riders have only one or two horses, they compete for the love of the sport and the imense satisfaction of having done the distance and bringing your horse home safe and sound. I havn't found anything to beat that yet.

As for what is happening internationally, that bears no resemblance to the sport as I know it here. I was in Dubai in 1998 for the World Cup and the passenger riding was evident then, so it is not new.

I can't comment on WEG really - I wasn't there. The NZ team is self funded, and it is a huge and expensive ask from this end of the world. None of the NZ horses finished, and one of the riders ended up in hospital - we ride in some pretty soggy weather here at times and I guess we accept that you can't organise the weather. However you could easily make a case for the minimum speed being reduced further.

I was saddened to read of Ian Williams resignation. I was privilliged to sit down with him at a forum attended by only about 10 people here earlier this year. He was open and honest and his passion for the sport was evident.

IMO we could do the break away thing, but that wouldn't change the culture of those to whom winning is everything. They were doing their own thing prior to joining the FEI in the 90's and would simply carry on doing it, but just in their own space.
 
I'm in Oz.. the same conversations happen here, and I can assure you from the AERC Facebook page that the same discussions are happening in the USA.
We have the same scenario too: most riders are one/two horse operations who do it for love, and our WA organisation's motto is "To complete is to win". But then there are a few large operations in the Eastern states who do the sport professionally and run Australian stables for UAE riders, who then come over and compete in our bigger rides. There are 2 UAE riders in the upcoming Quilty riding Australian horses - will be interesting to see what they do as the track is deceptive - more demanding than it looks, with plenty of long gradual uphills.
The European scenario bears no resemblance to the sport here, where a fast time for 160km is a shade under 11 hours. Only one of the four Australians at the WEG finished.
 
Those are interesting replies. It would seem that the FEI and officials in International endurance are struggling to manage, in spite of changes and some of those changes have had a positive impact, yet still it seems that for some reason it is impossible to apply on the ground common sense to the top level races. It sounds as if the course at WEG should have been modified or shortened and speeds lowered earlier when more teams could have then managed better. Such poor completion rates and such saddening press and spectator reports would make a difference in other equestrian sports like eventing. People have suggested that Endurance needs to adopt the system of having a rider representative who can discuss issues with the technical teams, as in eventing and this would seem a sensible suggestion.

It does seem that from both welfare and completion points of view speeds are now just too high - having been pushed in that direction by some teams who have an endless stream of horses and considerable wealth. Having said that, these teams are not alone in managing high speeds - probably because of increased professionalization of the sport in parts of Europe.

So where does that leave the future of endurance in the rest of the world I wonder? Clearly this isn't a new question! After WEG, what happens now?
 
Not so sure that the "money" genie can be put back in the bottle, but I would love to see the sport return to its roots. To complete is to win. In the rush to professionalism and to match the sparkle of some of the other disciplines, the powers that be seem to have forgotten that. I think the thing that depresses me most about Normandy, is that the lessons from Perez seem to have been forgotten. Same weather issues, same outcome.
 
Endurance used to be a lovely sport. its now totally ruined by greedy people who ask too much of their horses. Shame on them. I no longer support endurance I used to compete and run events. No longer. I am sickened by it.
 
Not all of us are greedy. Neither of my two super Shagya Arabs are for sale at any price for endurance. Last year I turned down a very good offer from Spain for my now four year old.

The same is true for my young Clevelands. My ambition is to see the horses we breed succeed in a competitive sphere without being pushed beyond their limits. This is the reason I decided NOT to sell two fillies this year much to the anguish of our Accountant "Madam you have a stud to breed and sell horses!"
 
That's really sad Horsesforever1. In my experience endurance is still a good sport - until you get to the higher levels where it does seem that in some instances competition has priority over the horses welfare which is simply wrong. As I said in my original post, there is a great deal to admire and support in the UK endurance scene and there is much disquiet about the International/Elite level of endurance amongst UK endurance riders.
 
The problem is that if the good people leave, what is left? I'll admit that my own mojo was waning earlier this year, just knackered from running rides and then all the bad press on top. But then we actually got a larger ride and I remembered why I was there. These riders, and their generous, big hearted horses; they're my family. And to a man, everyone else on the ground is as upset with the goings on on the international scene as we are. But, the bad pennies are so few and far between, particularly when you compare it to other disciplines.

Hopefully now Wolf is getting older we can get to a few rides ourselves (not a plan...) and then I'll really remember why I do it. My best horsey memories have been long distance riding and endurance riding, and the sport I love is still out there. I am sure of that.

I was actually very impressed with the British WEG team this year. They withdrew rather than push their horses past their limits to make the times. For the first time in a long time we brought a full team of sound horses home, if not a full team of completions. In view of the conditions, that was a good call. The horse comes first.

Rollin, I think I know your UK based trainer friend. What they achieved was just amazing, and they have a really hollistic view on horse management and training, too. I admire them a lot, and their plucky riders.
 
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Esther I am sure we are talking about the same person. I am an absolute beginner at Endurance and the UK friend, who I met in France several years ago, has been very very helpful.

We have 90kms on Sunday, the boy is super fit, we will see if the training has been effective.
 
It would seem that the only avenue availble to the grass roots riders is to keep on doing what has been done. Using the avenues available to keep the information going around the world and keep doing what we love doing and remember why we do it.
 
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