Endurance is a long-distance competition against the clocktesting the speed and endurance of a horse and challenging the rider over their effective use of pace, thorough knowledge of their horse’s capabilities and ability to cross all kinds of terrain. Although the rides are timed, the emphasis is on finishing in good condition rather than coming in first.
Endurance started as a sport in the United States, where the US cavalry tested its horses on a five-day, 300-mile (483km) ride, with each horse carrying over 200lbs (91kg). It did not become a competitive sport until the 1950s, when Wendell Robie traced the Pony Express route from Nevada to California in under 24 hours.
Each rider must safely manage the stamina and fitness of their horse and each course is divided into phases – in principle at least every 40km – with a compulsory halt for a veterinary inspection, or ‘vet gate’, after each. Each horse must be presented for inspection within a set time of reaching each ‘vet gate’, which determines whether it is fit to continue.
Arabian horses dominate the Endurance discipline though the most successful rider to date is Spain’s Maria Alvarez Ponton on her French-born gelding Nobby.
The premier Endurance rides are the FEI World Equestrian Games™, staged every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle; the FEI World Endurance Championships, held in every Olympic year; and the biannual FEI European Endurance Championships.
As you may know, this is an election year for the FEI Athlete Representatives in all the FEI disciplines. We have recently reached out to all the eligible athletes and we would like to enlist the community to help us encourage and motivate eligible athletes to come forward and nominate themselves.
The FEI Athlete representative carries a four year term (non-renewable) and is a member of the FEI Discipline Committee and also member of the FEI Athletes Committee with all the other athlete representatives. This position is a really important and vital role providing a voice to your community within the global decision making process.
We have a dedicated page on InsideFEI with all the relevant information around elections.
Timeline & Deadlines
1 May, 23:59 CEST Deadline to submit Application
8 May Names and supporting documents of Candidates for the Athlete Representative positions will be published
29 July Online voting process opens on inside.fei.org (see eligibility criteria above)
23 September Online voting process closes
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Julie.schlaefli@fei.org
The schedule for the Endurance Test Event in Tryon NC on the 27-28 April 2018 of the FEI World Equestrian Games is now published on our website on the following Link
We are pleased to communicate here below the top 3 places of the following 2017 final rankings:
(also available here: http://www.fei.org/rankings#ranking-E)
Open Riders World Endurance Ranking
1 | URU | |||
2 | USA | |||
3 | GER |
Open Combination World Endurance Ranking
1 | USA | |||||
2 | IRL | |||||
3 | POR |
Open Horse World Endurance Ranking
1 | |||
2 | |||
3 |
Young Riders World Endurance Ranking
1 | SVK | |||
2 | URU | |||
3 | BRA |
Young Riders Combination World Endurance Ranking
1 | BRA | |||||
2 | UAE | |||||
3 | CHI |
Young Riders Horse World Endurance Ranking
1 | |||
2 | |||
3 |
We are happy to anounce that the FEI has extended its Global Equine Injuries research agreement with the University of Glasgow for two years.
The initial aim of this study was to provide regulatory changes to endurance rides focused on minimising the risk of equine injury.
For more details please read the Press release here .
New and updated 2018 Draft Schedules are now available on our website and you are kindly requested to use them for your international events next year.
Here are the direct links to the schedules for Endurance discipline and the email addresses of the FEI staff responsible for them:
Click here for Endurance
Person in charge : marc.chovelon@fei.org and/or olga.nikolaou@fei.org
Should you need any further information and/or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the person in charge directly.
We would like to inform you that the Test Events Calendar for the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon is now published here.
Send us your news, ideas & comments regarding Endurance: endurance.updates@fei.org
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