Letter from the Endurance Committee Chairman

With just 16 weeks or so to go before the much awaited Endurance World Championships many Nations are now setting their sights firmly on Dubai.

Once again the United Arab Emirates opens it arms to welcome Endurance Riders from around the world to compete for the ultimate prize in our sport.

The creation of a completely new venue, with its world class facilities, is nearing completion and everyone who gathers together in Dubai next January will experience a new standard of international competition venue never seen before.

It will be the fitting climax to another season where Endurance has continued to re establish itself on the world stage.

The 2004 year has seen a further growth in the discipline worldwide with over 350 FEI Endurance events taking place across the world. When you compare this with a total of 44 events in 1998, the last time Dubai hosted the World Championship, we can truly see the incredible expansion that has taken place.

The secretariat has now written to all National Federations regarding the introduction of the * Rating of existing officials and all of our FEI Judges will be registered from January 2005. The new rules together with the newly worded individual qualification criteria for Championships events come into force in January 2005 too.

On behalf of my Committee I would like to thank all those individuals and Federations who have contributed to the process of our detailed review during this last year.

The number of Federations who actively contributed was much less than we had expected considering the amount of comment that had circulated through official (and unofficial) channels in the early part of this year.

We have tried to incorporate everyones wishes in the review and will continue to work closely with all those National Federations and individuals as we continue to move the sport forwards. The involvement and support given to our discipline by the Veterinary committee, the new Veterinary advisory subcommittee and the FEI Veterinary department has been very valuable and welcomed by us in our aim for improving the welfare of the endurance horse.

This year sees trial runs taking place for all of our three major 2005 Championships scheduled for next year. The Pan American Championship OC in Argentina and the European Championship OC in Great Britain have both run successful events this year. The Junior/Young Rider Championships OC in Bahrain hold theirs in December.

At all three events representatives of the EC were or will be present to ensure the facilities and course are up to the required international standard now expected at our premier events.

In August the new FEI web site, in which you find this article, has been launched to much acclaim. Some early glitches have been straightened out and I feel sure that the new lay out will allow much more information to be immediately available as and when needed.

The Endurance section will carry news items which will be updated regularly by the department at the FEI. I gratefully wish to thank Ian Williams and his helpers in the Lausanne office for their promoting and ongoing work for endurance.

I hope everyone has had a successful year and I look forward to seeing everyone in Dubai.

Hallvard Sommerseth
Endurance Committee, Chairman