First day and already a disaster :(

[skydy]

MEYDAN=Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum

The Sponsor of our WEG Endurance.

[JanM]

Yes, Sheikh Mohammed has two wives.

I understand the first wife had a bunch of kids, and suggested that he add another wife. Princess Haya is the junior wife, and a royal princess from Jordan.

[Equibrit]

He has had at least 6 wives, and 23 children.

[RegentLion]

@skydy

I’m really not the one to explain but…Endurance as we know it is ridden over terrain. Sometimes steep and rocky. There are multiple vet checks. Conditioning is key. It is not done on the flat at a full gallop.
The Middle Eastern “endurance racing” is run on the flat at speed. The UAE NA in its entirety was suspended from the FEI due to their having trucks following the horses to make them run faster and people on the ground chasing them with whips. Their horses suffered broken legs at a very unusual rate. They have a huge number of suspensions for banned and controlled substances in their horses.

The U.S. sport of Endurance has been around for much longer and is a completely different animal.

Thanks this is helpful. I have been trying to understand and am not very knowledgeable about endurance, or that there was more than one kind.

So Ahmed kept saying in the ideas “this isn’t our sport.” What did he mean by that? I thought this was the flat race/run type of endurance? Which would have been “his” kind? No?

[skydy]

I really don’t know what he meant. I’m not into UAE endurance. I only know of its infamy.

I am disgusted that Meydan (the UAE) was accepted as a sponsor but it seems that our WEG has no standards as far as financing is concerned and is willing to take sponsorship from whomever flashes the money, no matter how morally dubious they are regarding horse welfare and honesty.

[skydy]

Well, I hope the Endurance screaming-tantrum-ugliness will be the end of the misbehavior by people who should know better.

I am reasonably sure that we won’t be treated to Eventer boxing, Dressage rider mud wrestling, or Show Jumpers slapping people silly.
Let’s hope.

[MHM]

It was pretty incredible to see the aftermath. Thanks for the background information.

Did others hear somebody on the video saying that the official was a dead man? :eek:

[roseymare]

@skydy

Well, I hope the Endurance screaming-tantrum-ugliness will be the end of the misbehavior by people who should know better.

I am reasonably sure that we won’t be treated to Eventer boxing, Dressage rider mud wrestling, or Show Jumpers slapping people silly.
Let’s hope.

Well it doesn’t look like the Reiner’s broke out into a beer bottle table tipping cowboy brawl. So I think your prediction will hold true

[skydy]

@roseymare

Well it doesn’t look like the Reiner’s broke out into a beer bottle table tipping cowboy brawl. So I think your prediction will hold true

Glad they didn’t let the side down! Honestly can’t imagine anyone behaving badly from now on.
I can only imaging the insults that could have been slung about regarding that super hippie horse hair, if the Reiners weren’t as polite as they always are when representing their countries. Good people those reiners.

[skydy]

@MHM

It was pretty incredible to see the aftermath. Thanks for the background information.

Did others hear somebody on the video saying that the official was a dead man? :eek:

I heard on the video someone saying" I’ll kill…" several times, but there was such mayhem I don’t know who was saying it.

The UAE official certainly was not acting as a professional and made the situation much worse by shouting abuse at other officials, but I think the guy from Spain was the one who kicked down the barrier and tried to incite people to help him with whatever he wanted to do to the officials.
It was a barbaric scene. I hope those that were in an official capacity,like the UAE guy who were yelling and making things worse, will be dismissed from their positions. It will be interesting to see the yellow cards and (hopefully) suspensions.

[MHM]

@skydy

It will be interesting to see the yellow cards and (hopefully) suspensions.

Omg. The yellow cards should be flying until it looks like a ticker tape parade.

[skydy]

@MHM

Omg. The yellow cards should be flying until it looks like a ticker tape parade.

I hope so! :lol: The entire debacle was inexcusable. Then again, so has been the dishonest behavior and horse abuse by others in the past and they are still allowed to play.

[skydy]

Again, I must reiterate that U.S. Endurance racing is a sport that has been around for a long time and is pretty much the antithesis of what the UAE Bahrain and other Middle Eastern countries consider “Endurance racing”.

I remember our Endurance folks as very good horsemen and women.

The UAE version does not consider the horse as any more than a vehicle to make the riders “winners”.

[OverandOnward]

@roseymare

Well it doesn’t look like the Reiner’s broke out into a beer bottle table tipping cowboy brawl. So I think your prediction will hold true

There’s time, there’s time. It would be kind of funny if they staged one, with a country-western music background, just for yucks. (Or would it … ?)

[OverandOnward]

For whatever it’s worth …

Tryon itself didn’t have anything to do with the mismanagement and decisions by the endurance section of the sport. As was stated vociferously by the videographer in one of the morning videos.

That is, other than the overkill of sending armed security guards to tell people that they owned the place (who probably made no difference at all, other than making it all look that much worse).

And also fwiw … One thing horse show managers don’t always remember is that everything will be video’d and published, and they have NO control over that. They should all be aware enough to just assume that it is happening. Other people in the crowd also visibly had cell phones going, pointing at the action.

[MHM]

@OverandOnward

And also fwiw … One thing horse show managers don’t always remember is that everything will be video’d and published, and they have NO control over that. They should all be aware enough to just assume that it is happening. Other people in the crowd also visibly had cell phones going, pointing at the action.

Yes, at any level. I had a little discussion with someone at a small A show not long ago about remembering that in the show ring, you should always act as if the local tv station is filming you for the evening news. Multiply that by at least 10,000 for an event like WEG.

[MHM]

Speaking of which…

Is there video posted somewhere of the horses going the wrong way at the start? So far I’ve only seen the video of the irate people in the aftermath.

[skydy]

@OverandOnward

For whatever it’s worth …

Tryon itself didn’t have anything to do with the mismanagement and decisions by the endurance section of the sport. As was stated vociferously by the videographer in one of the morning videos.

That is, other than the overkill of sending armed security guards to tell people that they owned the place (who probably made no difference at all, other than making it all look that much worse).

And also fwiw … One thing horse show managers don’t always remember is that everything will be video’d and published, and they have NO control over that. They should all be aware enough to just assume that it is happening. Other people in the crowd also visibly had cell phones going, pointing at the action.

I was referring to the actual Police in the second video, not the rent-a-cop (who was confused between the term ground jury and grand jury) in the first.video.

[Kirikou]

@OverandOnward

For whatever it’s worth …

Tryon itself didn’t have anything to do with the mismanagement and decisions by the endurance section of the sport. As was stated vociferously by the videographer in one of the morning videos.

Euh? Well not even being done with the vet gate area until the night before, changing the course at the last minute, being so unprepared that everyone was confused? I guess that’s on them…
http://www.grandprix-replay.com/new/15533/benedicte-emond-bon-inacceptable-et-scandaleux

[ladyj79]

Agreed. This was at least 75% related to Tryon being unprepared.