I misunderstood
OK, I totally misread the live scoring–don’t follow the discipline–see more have finished now.
Is there something significant about the winner, other than the funny name? (Yamamah)
I hope they’re starving the riders too - less weight for the starved horse to carry :lol:
[QUOTE=Equibrit;7736004]
Article on measures taken this year; http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/weg/weg-news/endurance-monitoring-stepped-weg/
Of the 5 riders on the UAE team 4 did not complete.[/QUOTE]
I saw that 4 out of 5 team members were eliminated, is that correct? I don’t know anything about endurance, so am asking an honest question.
Amazing. Just a short while ago, endurance was the one discipline that was clean, fair and always had the horse’s best interest at heart, along with some of the best horseman. How quickly opinion and perceptions change.
And how very sad 
Well, I don’t follow that big bicycle race either. :rolleyes:Do they go off 1 or 2 seconds apart, or a charge like the Oklahoma land rush?
I started this because I don’t KNOW. I do know there has been a lot of cheating and scandals, and PH is hip deep because of her relations with the, ahem, cheaters. I noticed it was on while I was waiting for the exiting. eventing. dressage. to begin. I know they ride almost exclusively Arabian horses. I saw a lot of people doing nothing, waiting for horses to come in. When they did, they poured what seemed like the mother of all ice bucket challenges on the horses.
There was a good deal of twoing and fro ing, and dragging horses back and forth. Not a bit of explanation. Why are they doing a soundness jog on grass?
And if it really is true that the winners mostly cheat, that is another reason why I won’t be looking for it in the future.:no:
I assume most of the horses are Arabs?
How difficult is it to type a few words in to Google ?
(I do understand that you would have to come up with the right words and manage to spell them - but even so ?)
Good Lord People… Way not to be judgemental… ahem.
Basically, endurance is like running marathons. Now, does that make for exciting TV coverage? Probably not, but:
No, they don’t run their horses as fast as possible. At least, not the good riders/true horsemen. True, some riders from some countries just get on, kick on and run their horse to death as fast as they could. If the horse holds up and doesn’t break down half way through the race (due to bad riding and/or after effects of doping), then they win. It’s unfortunate but it certainly does not represent the practices in the sport as a whole.
Which is why there is no substitute for careful, appropriate training and conditioning.
Yes, it’s a mass start. But some riders will wait until most of the others are gone before starting if their little Arabs’ brains can’t handle the commotion…
[QUOTE=Larksmom;7736140] I saw a lot of people doing nothing, waiting for horses to come in. When they did, they poured what seemed like the mother of all ice bucket challenges on the horses.
And if it really is true that the winners mostly cheat, that is another reason why I won’t be looking for it in the future.:no:[/QUOTE]
What you saw were the team (grooms/vets) waiting for the horses at the vet checks. In the same way, as you would cool off a horse after XC, they are using water buckets to try to bring down the temp and heart rate of the horse.
Yes, something needs to be done for a sport that could be - and is for most people - great. It is unfortunate that the winners here tend to come from federations that don’t put the horse’s welfare as a priority (even the Dutch rider - currently silver medal I believe - is riding a horse belonging to one of the Middle Eastern countries).
The conundrum here is that Middle Eastern federations have put a lot of money in the sport in Europe (I do realize it is different in the US). Most riders from “traditional” leading countries such as Spain or France do work for the Emirati either as trainer/riders or sell a horse (for millions) once in a while to these countries. They often do it with a heavy heart as you know once you’ve sold that horse, it’s unlikely it will stay alive/hold up for long, but at the same time, that sale will fund the training and competing of your barn for many years to come…
I do believe there are 2 kinds of endurances (as there are 2 kinds of cycling, etc): the ones dominated by money and cheats and the ones where riders are out in 20 degree weather every day to condition horses they love and care for. Now, of course the 2 worlds are related somehow (it would be naive not to think so) but please don’t paint everyone with the same brush. There is more to that sport…
Whatever the sport it seems that there is an honest way of doing it but some people will choose the dishonest way. Bike racing, track and field, marathons, horse sports. Goes without saying that all steps should be taken to find abusers/cheats and punish them.
Endurance seems no different from many sports, and no different from a lot of other equine disciplines. A lot of what goes on at hunter/jumper shows, on the race track, etc., is nothing to be proud of.
Regarding the fact that the horses seem thin: Several posters have pointed out the comparison to human marathoners. They can look gaunt and be amazingly fit. When my husband trained for marathons, and he was very good, ran at 6 minute mile pace, I could tell when he was getting really fit. Friends would take me aside and quietly ask if there was anything wrong.
FEI endurance around the world, and especially in the Middle East, is very different from most endurance rides in the US, which are sanctioned by AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) – although some AERC rides are co-sanctioned as FEI rides.
As others have said in previous posts, FEI endurance has a (deservedly) fairly bad reputation, which is a shame for people in this country who might otherwise be interested in endurance but are turned off when all they hear about is FEI.
By and large, AERC endurance puts much more emphasis on completing the ride with a sound, healthy and happy horse (and rider!). Some people are more competitive and go for speed (within reason), while others just want to finish within the allotted time. AERC rides are often conducted over more challenging terrain than FEI rides, necessitating slower speeds, and welfare of the horse takes top priority. Endurance riders as a whole are a friendly bunch and always willing to mentor/share knowledge with each other and with people new to the sport.
The majority of endurance horses are Arabians, who naturally excel due to their body type and metabolics, but there are many, many other breeds represented in AERC, doing quite well. This year’s Hall of Fame inductee is an Icelandic horse, and one of the horses on the US team at WEG is an Arab/TWH.
To answer the OP’s specific question, everyone starts at once, but you have 15 minutes to cross the starting line after the signal has been given, so you have the option to wait until the front runners have left if your horse is over-excited. Here’s a link to a video of the WEG Endurance start, you will see people in the front cantering while others farther back are trotting. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=581435935315495&set=vb.193908564068236&type=2&theater
lol
From the link Horse and Hound
“Tamper-proof GPS units on horse and rider are among unprecedented surveillance measures in place at today’s endurance ride in Sartilly (Thursday 28 August) as the FEI strives to avoid a scandal-free Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG).”
Alright then…
I loved the little grey Arab who came in 2nd… Looked quite peppy and fresh at the finish!!
Well, hell. If they are trying to avoid a scandal-free WEG endurance competition, they have an easy job. It seems like the majority of UAE riders are also good at avoiding scandal-free rides. 
My favorite scandal was the guy who switched horses in the middle of a ride. What made it even funnier is that one horse was a plain chestnut, while the other horse had a big blaze down its face. Seems as if no one noticed.
I guess that is why they are putting trackers on each horse. If one tracker gets to a certain check point and then doesn’t move on from there, then coloring or not, TPTB might suspect another horse switch.
These people are not even trying to be subtle about cheating!
[QUOTE=BigHorseLittleHorse;7736374]
To answer the OP’s specific question, everyone starts at once, but you have 15 minutes to cross the starting line after the signal has been given, so you have the option to wait until the front runners have left if your horse is over-excited. Here’s a link to a video of the WEG Endurance start, you will see people in the front cantering while others farther back are trotting. [/QUOTE]
Does time being at the same time for everyone or begin when they cross the start?
Most of us competitors (hunters, jumpers, eventers, dressagers, racers, the list goes on and on) live in glass houses. Whether or not we as individuals are doing unethical things doesn’t really matter because others in our chosen disciplines definitely are. Unfortunately what we know that the general public doesn’t is that the majority of riders in every discipline do care very much for their horses and their well being and do right by them. My fear is that by throwing gas on on the fire we all end up getting burnt. Yes sometimes it takes a public scandal to get anything done but, I think, most of the time a public scandal does more damage to our sport than good. PETA and all those others are just waiting for something, anything to happen so they can cause trouble, we need to look out for each other as well as the horses because, as I said before, the majority of us are not doing wrong.
ETA: We riders need to address issues more effectively and quickly so we don’t have these huge scandals that give us all a black eye.
174 horses started - 38 finished.
Article; http://horsetalk.co.nz/2014/08/29/uae-wins-weg-endurance-gold-136-eliminated/
Time begins at the same time for everyone. Over the course of that many miles, it’s often easy to make up those few minutes should you choose to start just a little bit late, either on the course or by pulsing down faster than your competitors in the vet box. My horse is a reformed bolter, so we never tempt fate by starting with the main group. We usually start a few minutes after the main group has left, and we generally finish in the top 30%.
[QUOTE=Equibrit;7736532]
174 horses started - 38 finished.
Article; http://horsetalk.co.nz/2014/08/29/uae-wins-weg-endurance-gold-136-eliminated/[/QUOTE]
From what I heard, the course conditions were extremely challenging due to the amount of rain they had been getting. That’s an awfully long way to go in deep mud, especially if a lot of the horses (and riders) aren’t used to dealing with those conditions.
An FEI vs US competition question - I know more and more competitors who are going to boots (could have something to do with EasyBoot being founded here, or could be it was founded here due to the need…) but are they allowed at this level? Or are most horses in shoes there?
Yes they are. I saw a picture of the gold medalist with a boot strapped to his saddle. I assume it was there in case of a pulled shoe.
I used to think they were silly but I know a dressage horse that can’t wear shoes and he does well in the boots. Also I’ve done some trail riding with ladies that do a lot of long trail rides on difficult terrain and they swear by them.
Only 3 teams finished with the 3 horses required, and only 1 team finished 4 horses (France).
Do they vet check at different points–(meaning do you have to take a vet check into consideration and not just kick on regardless of your horses condition?)
