[RC] FEI/AERC/Future of the sport - Leonard . Liesens
Title: FEI/AERC/Future of the sport
Hello Steph,
I hope you enjoy your stay in Abu Dhabi. I read your posts on ridecamp and would share a bit my experience at the European level.
You say that the sport has become a race… Maybe but it has been a race since more than 10 years in Europe, I mean in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium. If I just take France as an example, and this the most competitive place for endurance (no one would contest that once one has participate to an event in France) , most of the participants come to a race with a very high level of competitiveness. Most of the time 80 to 100 starters and 40 to 50% willing to achieve a top ten placing. Very very different compared to the US. A general completion rate of 50%. A very high level vetting. All rides are FEI sanctioned rides. On a territory (France) like 2 US states, there are more than 30 FEI rides (5 of 160kms, the rest being 120..130 kms). Many times, the winner receives automatically an offer for selling.
The speed is not tremendously increasing, in general. Examples : Florac is still won at 15Kph, Compiegne at 17Kph, La Baule at 19Kph. Nothing really to be concerned about. France produces a lot of good endurance horses and sells many to the UAE. It is nevertheless bizarre that very few are successful in the desert of the UAE. Most of the French horses sold to Sh Mohammed are kept in France and trained there. The horses are ridden by the Sheikh in Europe (UK, Italy, Spain…) and are very successful here. BUT THE SPEED REMAINS IN ACCEPTABLE VALUES. You have to also notice that very few UAE riders take the risk to compete in France… Strange, isn’t it? Why? Because they have a lot more troubles to win… Because the races in France are not tailored-made to their requirements. Florac will still be Florac, Compiegne will still be a technical race!
So… The speed has tremendously increased in the UAE. OK, but only for a few ‘cracks’. For many others, we still have speed ranging around 19Kph. Look at the results of the WEC… From the horse placed number 5, speed is 21Kph.
So they select 100 horses, they condition them under extreme pressure and stress, they give the best vet care and maybe also other highly scientific stuff and from the 100 horses, maybe 10 are able to ‘survive’ and take the start of a race. From those 10, maybe 2 will go to completion at high speed. The rest will end with metabolic collapse or lameness(check ligament, suspensory, etc).
And what about the othesr, the ones who covered 160km at 22 Kph. What do you think that will happened in their mind? Will they be ready to double that a second time? Will they remember? Look for example the winner who did his first 160 at more than 22Kph… will he achieve the same performance a second time? I would like to see some statistics about repetitive good performances. Wold be interesting.
Is this bad or good… I do not know. Horses are unfortunately taken as a commodity. But is the Showjumping or dressage different? Without speaking about flat racing, nor about your US disciplines like barrel racing. When reaching the highest level, many dressage horse are broken. How long do a showjumping horse last? And what about the trotters? Qualified at 1.5 years and racing at 2… Business commands.
And what about the States? I would like to know what happened to the top ten horses of the Pan Am in Mt Adams? Or the recent winners of the big races like Tevis, Oreana, and others. Is this not the same phenomenon… Many horses ridden regularly very fast do not last long, don’t’ you think so. Is this not true that in the past many good performers in the US did alternate fast and slow rides? Was that not the policy of Rio?
Concerning the fact that USA was focused on a team performance, well, I do not understand really well the tactic of staying in the back of the pack then and cruising at 16Kph… I saw in Oreana many horses completing the race at more than 18Kph. I think that even my (well your J ) old Great Santini would have easily achieved 19Kph if I had better drank during the race ( stupid me) . So why, the hell, was the US not capable of sending 4 horses able to reach 18Kph in Dubai? Is this bad luck?
True that UAE riders are always considered as favourites when they enter a Championship. At individual level, ok. But at the team level… this is another tactic.
France made even a bad choice by sending all its troops in the front. Results : 3 team horses out.
