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Compiegne - 10th Anniversary of Compiegne Endurance
CEI*** 160 km - Championnat de Monde FEI des 8 yearsCEI** 130 km - Championnat du Monde FEI des 7 yrs
CEI** 130 km - Trophee des Sponsors par Equipes
Report by Leonard Liesens - Endurance-belgium.com
The weather was good. We had plenty of sunshine, but also a high level of humidity especially in the forest. Most of the Compiegne trails are in the forest.
Unfortunately, the major sponsor didn't renew his support to the organization. A big loss for Compiegne, which forced the organizers to review the whole program. Was that linked wit the forfeit of the main sponsor or not, but one could hardly see any horse broker on the venue. While several dozens of horses joined the Gulf stables during the previous years competitions, this time, we didn't hear about financial transactions.
Qatar helped a bit the organization committee, for example by sending a bunch of their horses stabled in France. Unfortunately, an inappropriate decision from the technical delegate (Ian Williams) didn't please the Qatar team at the time of the initial trotting, leading to the withdrawn of the whole Qatar team.
The number of horses competing on the 7 years and 8 years races was reduced, compared to other years. Compiegne is called the 'Mondial' but it will always be very difficult to get horses coming from the other continents. When a South American, Australian or Noth American horse is competing here, it looks like an exception. Compiegne is not Dubai and doesn't have the same financial means. It is more a (small)European Championship for Young Endurance Horses. 'Small' because European countries (with the exception of Belgium which always send its best young horses) never come in mass.
It seems obvious that France must now review and renew its qualification system. Originally, the idea came from Pierre Cazes (the french Chef d'Equipe who passed in 2005 from an accident). He was willing to promote Compiegne to a major worldwide event and didn't want having 80% of French couples at the start. That was the reason of the selection process for the French horses. The two last year it was even reinforced with the obligation for the rider to have a CEI*** of 160km under his belt in the 12 months. This explains the (relatively) low number of French horses.
The course was also a concern. Should it be made of five stages in order to strengthen the horse examinations ? Should it be more technical with more hills to slow down the pack and give more opportunities for the horse to regenerate and breath? Should they organize a trot-by or pulse-down additional vet point at the middle of the last loop to stop the horses obviously in trouble? Finally let's keep in mind that we are testing young horses... Many questions that the organization committee will have to debate.
7 years - 130km : 38 at the start, 18 at the finish. A bit less than 50%. Taking into account the weather conditions and the humidity, this looks normal. The race was very competitive from the beginning, nobody was willing to let the frontrunners increasing the gap. But the the detailed results show that all riders who were in the lead during the first three loops were not able to keep up for the last stage. Many were eliminated for lameness or metabolic at the third vetgate. The remaining ones were crashing on the trail. The horses completing first and second didn't nevertheless demonstrated an outstanding condition on the finish line (they arrived very exhausted) but the recovered during the allowed 30 minutes and passed the veterinarian inspection. The third and fourth horses arrived more than 20 minutes later.
8 years - 160km : 21 starters, 13 finishers. The first eight riders rode together at a good speed during the three four stages, until km 135. At the vetgate after loop 4, the recovering times took their toll on the horses, leaving Payen, Kanavy, Atta behind. They couldn't close the gap with the leaders Totain, Goncalves and the Lafaure brothers. Totain won the sprint, ahead of Goncalves.
Photos by Leonard Liesens and Caroll Gatelier
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