Strength, agility and Endurance determine which horse and rider will become world champions

No fewer than 800 experts will be ready tomorrow to offer the best Endurance horses in the world all the care they could wish for during the marathon of equestrian sports: the FEI Endurance World Championship 2024 in Monpazier (FRA). Every horse has a team of caretakers, a veterinarian, a farrier and of course its rider, with whom it will accomplish its sporting feat.

The World Championship under the flag of the FEI takes place in the nature around the French city of Monpazier. The combinations of horse and rider have a varied ride ahead of them in a typical French course; The route alternates between hills, bends, forests, gravel and asphalt.

Sabrina Arnold, the German rider who won the European title in Ermelo in 2023 with her horse Easy el Boheira and occupies 11th place on the FEI world rankings, does not dare to claim that the French or Europeans have an advantage. “In 2011 I rode the European Championship in Florac, France. An incredibly hilly, technical course. The competition was also open to combinations from outside Europe. You would think that Europeans would come out strongest there, because they have more experience in such areas. But that was not reflected in the result: Maria Alvarez Ponton (Spain) won the championship and I came second, but the competition itself was won by Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri, a rider from the UAE.”

Power and agility

Italian rider Daniele Serioli compliments the FEI for the choice to hold the World Championships in the hilly south of France. “I know the area. It is a beautiful course, but above all a safe course. From a sporting point of view, it is also an interesting area. Because with the technical challenges that will be included in the route, the horses that are the fastest or recover the fastest will not automatically win. Power and agility are both just as important here. Moreover, the last lap is still a considerable distance (26 kilometres). Then your horse should still have enough power left.”

Development of Endurance

The beginning of modern Endurance, as practiced worldwide today, was marked by the 1966 'Tevis Cup' competition in the United States. Over the decades, the sport has developed in quality. This is partly because other parts of the world also started practicing the sport. For example, in the Middle East, where the courses are mainly flat and where it is therefore logically easier to gain speed.

The Americans are extremely proud of their 'Endurance roots': “We have great horses and great riders. And a lot of combinations that practice Endurance. But most of them participate in national competitions. Tomorrow it will be up to the five USA riders - who come from all over the United States - to show how beautiful the international FEI competitions are”, chef d’equipe Lisanne Dorion says.

Success starts with a herd 

A country that is geographically much smaller, but has an extraordinary number of international (FEI) Endurance riders, is France. This country won the previous world championship as a national team (Butheeb, 2022). Jean-Michel Grimal, the national coach of France, shares his 'secret': “Success is a team effort. First of all, I am referring to the horses. They are all away from their herd home this week. So, the first thing we do is create the new herd on the competition site. Our horses have stables next to and opposite each other, walk together and eat at the same time. They quickly feel solidarity.”

Making the riders a 'herd' is more difficult, the national coach admits. “The riders ride alone all year round, for individual results. Once a year there is a European Championship or World Championship and they are suddenly expected to compete together. Unlike Jumping or Dressage, for example, Endurance riders can help each other while they are on the track. In any case, the five French riders will start together tomorrow. In Butheeb we even rode the entire race together. That strategy has yielded gold. Are we counting on the world title again? We see it as a new ride, in a new place, with partly new horses and riders. We just have to do our utmost again.”

Definitive selections

Who will start the ride tomorrow, has in most cases just been decided this morning (6th of September 2024). All horses (the horses preferred by the chefs d’equipe, the spare horses and the horses of spare riders) have all had the chance to be presented to the team of FEI veterinarians. After that the national coaches chose their selections of maximum five rider-horse combinations. 

Spaniard Jaume Punti Dachs, who has been on multiple gold medal-winning teams for his country across his World Championship career, was supposed to ride his trusted partner Echo Falls, but did a horse swap in the last days before the championship. “Echo Falls has a cut in one of his hind legs. He is absolutely fine, but I don’t want to take any risk with him. And besides that, I don’t want to take a risk in my task to represent Spain in the best way I can. So I’ll ride with my mare LG Farasia de Shebab. She is - with the age of 11 - less experienced than Echo Falls (18 years old), but she loves running. So I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s ride.”

When he gets asked if he will make his wife’s dream come true (finishing at the same time, winning both a medal) he answers laughing: “No, I hope Maria (Alvarez Ponton) will be faster than me tomorrow”.