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[RC] FEI - racing - riding - Europe - USA - Leonard.Liesens

Title: FEI - racing - riding - Europe - USA

Hi ridecampers,

I think, as a regular rc user, I should give my opinion on this subject. I think my opinion reflect what the majority of european riders are thinking.

 By reading many comments here, I have the impression that many of you never attended - as a spectator, crew member or rider - an FEI endurance ride. Many think that FEI endurance rides are very different from what you guys have in the US.

This is not true. What you get as informations from Steph and gulf countries websites is THEIR reality. Nothing to compare with european races/rides.
UAE/BAhrain/QAtar to their own things. They are independent countries. Their races are FEI sanctionned and the vetting, - Steph can also attest - is stricter than in the US.
OK, we are not sure that the doping controle are real. It is very weird that we never see any positive case in a polulation of horses cruising at more than 20kph.
We can not force FEI to rule things in the UAE... How can we? On the contrary, if wa can make sure that the big events (CEIO, Championships, etc) can be fair, that's OK for us.
One can respond that we all are bought by the big petrodollars: horses sold for big money, invitations in big hotels, first class airlines tickets, etc... OK, maybe, but consider that since 1997 endurance sport has grown tremendously and the movement is profitable for the whole arabian horse community. In France many trainers, breeders are living from the UAE involvment in the sport.

In Europe, we have ALSO - and we like them very much - technical races : Florac (France), Montcuq(France), Barcelona(Spain), Libramont(Belgium), Gubbio(Italy), Compiegne(France)... and the list goes on... Come to Europe for the coming season and report to your friends :-)

We have also fast races, like the Oreana when Steph want to make it easy (19Kph average winning speed).

In Europe, in the pack, maybe 10% of the riders are there to win or make a podium (first 3). We  
appreciate - like you do - a placing in the Top Ten, but a placing on the podium (Top Three) is the ultimate achievement. Among the rest probably 30% are just coming for completion (we say qualification). Ok, very few are taking it easy like you. We think that if we have to complete a given race (take Florac as an example) at 8kph, that means that the horse was not ready. Florac is won at 14Kph. Min speed limit is 10kph.

Also, ALL RACES in Europe ( 120km, 140km, 160km) are FEI.

Crewing is different in our countries : our crew follows us (most of the ride manager provide a road book for the crew cars) and meet us every 8..12 km. We stop and get bottles to cool the horse and horses are given drinking water. OK, this is a lot more tense than you water stop where you guys dismount and take you time to sponge and have a talk with your friends. In Europe this is quite different... You want an example : watch the photos of eruropean rides and look at the _expression_ on the face of the riders : very few smiles, tension, concentration... It is a sport, a competition. Every second/minute counts.

Something else... UAE riders (mostly the Sheiks) come to Europe to compete. They don't come very often in France. Is it because it is too competitive, so competitive they have less chances to win. Maybe. They go compete in UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain. But the horses they are buying the most in Europe are french horses. This is a sign, isn't it ?

The Task force of the FEI has - normally - been greatly influenced by the Groupe 1 countries (Group 1 countries represent 70% of the world endurance riders), even if the staffing of the different task force groups do not correspond with the leading european countries. Let's hope they will do a good job. I can just comment that there are NO RIDER in their task force and this is for me unacceptable : only officials, vets, chefs d'equipe. F1 racing has an association of the pilots, footballers also, the showjumping riders have one too... not in endurance... an error

OK, it's a bit late now... I go to bed...

Leonard (www.endurance-belgium.com)