spookypony
Well-Known Member
...not just Eventers, obviously, but anyone else who's interested. HotToTrot's comment got me thinking, that when we write our reports (in any discipline) it can be difficult to know how much to repeat oneself, regarding specifics of the discipline. The people in the "normal" three (BE, BS, BD) and possibly in Showing can usually assume that their audience isn't completely clueless, but some of the other disciplines are just very different: for example, I have no idea how Horseball works, other than that it involves a ball, and presumably goals of some kind!
So here's a wee thread to de-mystify Endurance!
In the British Isles, there are no less than three governing bodies for Endurance: EGB (Endurance Great Britain), SERC (Scottish Endurance Riding Club) and ILDRA (Irish Long Distance Riding Association). There's also some offshoots...
Types of ride:
The names of the type of ride differ among countries, but in general in the UK, there are three types: non-competitive or pleasure rides, competitive rides that aren't races, and race rides. FEI rides are race rides. At FEI, 1* generally corresponds to 80k rides, 2** to 120k rides, and 3*** to 160k rides, though there are nuances here, such as multi-day rides.
At a non-competitive ride, the goal is to finish inside a certain time-frame (generally slower than a competitive one). In Scotland, these range from 15k to 29k.
At a normal competitive ride, you're competing against yourself: you're trying to get your horse in in a certain time-frame, in the best condition that you can. So there's no limit to the number of awards that can be issued to horses in any class. In Scotland, these range from 30k to 160k.
At race rides, it's the first past the post that wins, assuming the horse passes the vetting. In Scotland, these range from 60k to 160k.
Vet Gates:
Rides above a certain length (50k, in Scotland) are divided into sections, punctuated by "vet gates". When you finish a section or loop, the clock keeps ticking until you present your horse to the vet (generally, by alerting the vet steward that you're ready to do so, in case there's a line of waiting horses). The vet checks a bunch of metabolic things, such as hydration levels and gut sounds, and takes a heart rate. Then you trot up, and exactly one minute later, the vet takes a second heart rate. This is called the "cardiac recovery index", and the goal is to have 64 bpm or less on both heart rates (60 in some countries, I think). If you fail on heart rate at first presentation, you have another chance to re-present, but the clock continues for that time.
Assuming you pass, you then enter a hold time (here, it's usually 40 minutes, though this can vary), before your clock starts again. This hold time is used for eating and resting. Endurance riding quickly teaches you to re-evaluate assumptions about feeding and watering before and/or during work!
Levels of competition:
I'll comment only on Scotland and England/Wales here, as I don't know the other systems well enough.
In Scotland, you qualify through 3 basic levels: Bronze Thistle, Silver Thistle, and Gold Thistle.
Bronze involves 2 rides of 30 or 40k, and 1 ride of 50k. For all of these, you have to nominate (and stick to) a particular Speed Category. (SC3 is 9.5--10.99 kph, SC2 is 11--12.99 kph, and SC1 is 13 kph or faster.) It doesn't matter which one you nominate, but you have to stick to it. The idea is to teach you to pace yourself and your horse.
Silver involves 2 rides of 60k, and 1 ride of 80k, all to be ridden at least at 11 kph.
Gold involves either 2 rides of 80k at 11+ kph, or one ride of 80k at 13+ kph. This difference allows horses that are not naturally as fast as others a way to qualify, and it gives some allowance for the terrain in Scotland, which often makes really fast rides impossible or inadvisable.
In England, there's Novice, Open, and Advanced levels. To advance to Open, a horse has to complete 3 rides of 30--50km (+/- 5%), and to advance to Advanced, a horse has to complete 2 rides of 65--80km (+/- 5%). Open horses are eligible to do 1-day rides up to 90km, and Advanced are eligible to do 1-day rides up to 160km. (EstherYoung will hopefully correct me if I mess any of this up!)
The Scottish system is more complicated than the English, and generally takes longer. Under the English system, a combination could theoretically get to Advanced in 5 rides (though that would be pretty silly). For example, under the Scottish system, the Spooky Pony still hasn't achieved his Silver Thistle, because his successful 80k was too slow to count for his Silver Thistle Final. This means that he's still subject to Silver series entry limitations: I couldn't enter him in a 1-day class longer than an 80k class. Under the English system, he'd be an Advanced horse, and I could theoretically enter him for a 1-day 160k class---though I'd be insane to do so!
Miscellaneous:
During longer rides, many riders have crews, who meet them on course at various intervals to offer water for cooling the horse ("sloshes"), water and/or feed and/or strange electrolyte concoctions for the horse to consume, and the same (except with less Speedibeet involved) for the rider. Taking care of the rider is very important! Crewing can be very important especially on very hot or difficult rides, and can mean the difference between success, or lack thereof.
There's no specific requirements re. tack, though when a horse is going for that long, fit and comfort are paramount. Many endurance riders favour brightly-coloured biothane bridles, breastplates, and the like, which are easily washed, come apart into bit/headcollar easily (important for saving time at vet gates), and can be seen easily by the crew. There's a huge variety of saddles in use, from normal GPs to very specialised, minimalistic endurance models.
The big "bucket list" rides of the world include the Tevis Cup (US), the Quilty (Aus), and the Golden Horseshoe (sadly possibly extinct). Last year, a new Scottish "Cairngorm 100 (miles)" was run for the first time, in hopes to offer another candidate.
Endurance riders are often quite experimental, and many are at the vanguard of the barefoot performance movement. In recent years, statistics are beginning to show a clear advantage of booted horses over conventionally-shod in one of the world's toughest rides, the Tevis Cup. Even in the conservative UK, unshod horses are beginning to make their presence felt. Thankfully, hoof boots also come in a huge variety of colours, so one can play matchy-matchy with the biothane bridles!
Hope this helps the confused a little! I've deliberately simplified a bit/left out some complicated bits, so if anyone wants to add or amend stuff, please feel free!
So here's a wee thread to de-mystify Endurance!
In the British Isles, there are no less than three governing bodies for Endurance: EGB (Endurance Great Britain), SERC (Scottish Endurance Riding Club) and ILDRA (Irish Long Distance Riding Association). There's also some offshoots...
Types of ride:
The names of the type of ride differ among countries, but in general in the UK, there are three types: non-competitive or pleasure rides, competitive rides that aren't races, and race rides. FEI rides are race rides. At FEI, 1* generally corresponds to 80k rides, 2** to 120k rides, and 3*** to 160k rides, though there are nuances here, such as multi-day rides.
At a non-competitive ride, the goal is to finish inside a certain time-frame (generally slower than a competitive one). In Scotland, these range from 15k to 29k.
At a normal competitive ride, you're competing against yourself: you're trying to get your horse in in a certain time-frame, in the best condition that you can. So there's no limit to the number of awards that can be issued to horses in any class. In Scotland, these range from 30k to 160k.
At race rides, it's the first past the post that wins, assuming the horse passes the vetting. In Scotland, these range from 60k to 160k.
Vet Gates:
Rides above a certain length (50k, in Scotland) are divided into sections, punctuated by "vet gates". When you finish a section or loop, the clock keeps ticking until you present your horse to the vet (generally, by alerting the vet steward that you're ready to do so, in case there's a line of waiting horses). The vet checks a bunch of metabolic things, such as hydration levels and gut sounds, and takes a heart rate. Then you trot up, and exactly one minute later, the vet takes a second heart rate. This is called the "cardiac recovery index", and the goal is to have 64 bpm or less on both heart rates (60 in some countries, I think). If you fail on heart rate at first presentation, you have another chance to re-present, but the clock continues for that time.
Assuming you pass, you then enter a hold time (here, it's usually 40 minutes, though this can vary), before your clock starts again. This hold time is used for eating and resting. Endurance riding quickly teaches you to re-evaluate assumptions about feeding and watering before and/or during work!
Levels of competition:
I'll comment only on Scotland and England/Wales here, as I don't know the other systems well enough.
In Scotland, you qualify through 3 basic levels: Bronze Thistle, Silver Thistle, and Gold Thistle.
Bronze involves 2 rides of 30 or 40k, and 1 ride of 50k. For all of these, you have to nominate (and stick to) a particular Speed Category. (SC3 is 9.5--10.99 kph, SC2 is 11--12.99 kph, and SC1 is 13 kph or faster.) It doesn't matter which one you nominate, but you have to stick to it. The idea is to teach you to pace yourself and your horse.
Silver involves 2 rides of 60k, and 1 ride of 80k, all to be ridden at least at 11 kph.
Gold involves either 2 rides of 80k at 11+ kph, or one ride of 80k at 13+ kph. This difference allows horses that are not naturally as fast as others a way to qualify, and it gives some allowance for the terrain in Scotland, which often makes really fast rides impossible or inadvisable.
In England, there's Novice, Open, and Advanced levels. To advance to Open, a horse has to complete 3 rides of 30--50km (+/- 5%), and to advance to Advanced, a horse has to complete 2 rides of 65--80km (+/- 5%). Open horses are eligible to do 1-day rides up to 90km, and Advanced are eligible to do 1-day rides up to 160km. (EstherYoung will hopefully correct me if I mess any of this up!)
The Scottish system is more complicated than the English, and generally takes longer. Under the English system, a combination could theoretically get to Advanced in 5 rides (though that would be pretty silly). For example, under the Scottish system, the Spooky Pony still hasn't achieved his Silver Thistle, because his successful 80k was too slow to count for his Silver Thistle Final. This means that he's still subject to Silver series entry limitations: I couldn't enter him in a 1-day class longer than an 80k class. Under the English system, he'd be an Advanced horse, and I could theoretically enter him for a 1-day 160k class---though I'd be insane to do so!
Miscellaneous:
During longer rides, many riders have crews, who meet them on course at various intervals to offer water for cooling the horse ("sloshes"), water and/or feed and/or strange electrolyte concoctions for the horse to consume, and the same (except with less Speedibeet involved) for the rider. Taking care of the rider is very important! Crewing can be very important especially on very hot or difficult rides, and can mean the difference between success, or lack thereof.
There's no specific requirements re. tack, though when a horse is going for that long, fit and comfort are paramount. Many endurance riders favour brightly-coloured biothane bridles, breastplates, and the like, which are easily washed, come apart into bit/headcollar easily (important for saving time at vet gates), and can be seen easily by the crew. There's a huge variety of saddles in use, from normal GPs to very specialised, minimalistic endurance models.
The big "bucket list" rides of the world include the Tevis Cup (US), the Quilty (Aus), and the Golden Horseshoe (sadly possibly extinct). Last year, a new Scottish "Cairngorm 100 (miles)" was run for the first time, in hopes to offer another candidate.
Endurance riders are often quite experimental, and many are at the vanguard of the barefoot performance movement. In recent years, statistics are beginning to show a clear advantage of booted horses over conventionally-shod in one of the world's toughest rides, the Tevis Cup. Even in the conservative UK, unshod horses are beginning to make their presence felt. Thankfully, hoof boots also come in a huge variety of colours, so one can play matchy-matchy with the biothane bridles!
Hope this helps the confused a little!
I've deliberately simplified a bit/left out some complicated bits, so if anyone wants to add or amend stuff, please feel free! 
