Hi all,

Are there any endurance competitors out here?

I wonder if any straight Egyptian is competing in endurance this season and perhaps even a SE stud stallion? I remember that one German rider competes endurance with Serenity bred SE's, how is he doing and are there more competitors here?

We just got back finishing a 35km competition succesfully, placed 15th out of a field of 100 starters, of which only 58 finished the ride succesfully.

This weekend we're off to do a nice 26km endurance competition, aiming for completion so that we can progress into class II (40-80km).

Within 2 weeks I start the Andalusian inhis first endurance competition, going a 31km. He's s good ride at trot but very difficult to sit at canter, guess we're going for a mainly trot ride then! That's probably the most significant difference with Arabs, they can canter all day long and your behind won;t turn blue

Hi Nasheeta

Yes, out there are many excellent endurance riders/winners.
Lutz Petersen in Lehrte, Germany is the Gentleman you were referring to, with many wins in endurance on Serenity SE's.
His daughter just underwent a two week training program with me here in Florida and should become a very formidable competitor.
Also she is riding in endurance in Germany.

But also we had great success in stress performances, while such winners also by enlarge were halter champions.
Our success with these SE's I think is based, because ALL went first through basic dressage and jumping training, something I feel is of utmost importance. Selective breeding did the rest.

Have a nice day and good riding
Hansi
Serenity Arabian Farms

Hi Nasheeta,
Yes, I am riding SE Serenity horses in Germany on endurance races. In the moment I am training 5 horses for endurance, and my daughter trains the stallion Serenity Makib for dressage.
I am riding Serenity Shahan ( AK Shah Munifeh & Serenity Khohana ), he is running long distances. He has completed more than 1000 km on different races and has won some 60 km races.
The second horse is the mare Serenity Bint Lazan ( Serenity Lazan & Serenity Khohana ), she is on the long distance too. She has won sveral races in the last years. In this year she has gone one 90 km race. Her next start is middle of april over 100 km.
Further we are riding two joung stallions, Ameen Laheeb ( Serenity Lazan & Serenity Shaha ) and Ameen Safeer ( AK Shah Munifeh & Serenity Lamia ), last year they were running several races between 60 and 70 km.
And in this year I started to train my best mare ( my best horse?? ) Serenity Shaha ( Ak Shah Munifeh & Serenity Sharaa ). I will start her on short races in this spring, and than I will see how she can run. I Think she will become very good, she has very good movements.
So you see, I have a good programm to train my horses, in the moment I am riding about 6-8 hours every day.

I whis you good luck with your horses Lutz

Thanks for your answers!

Wow, that's a dream of mine, to be able to ride so many hours and horses per day! Guess I need to retire real soon .

Good season!

Brigitte

Hi Brigitte,
I use my holydays for riding. During the season I don´t train them so often and such long time. Between the races I usually train them in dressage. The condition they get on the endurance races.
Have a nice evening Lutz

HI Brigitte

Yes, Lutz is fortunate. However it does not have to be that many hours a day, 1-2-3 would do.

Most important is in my opinion, that the rider has been well schooled to sit the saddle, his horse has the basic dressage,
proper equipment is utilized, and the horse is in good condition.

Sometimes it is wiser to use the money buying a horse, for lessons.
I know, they are expensive, especially when an excellent trainer is involved. And it does take a year or two to accomplish the basic and enjoy a good ride. One then can truly save the horse, because it will not use itself up as much.

Mind you, there a "naturals" "Talents" out there who do not need that lenghth of time. they themselves are so balanced and have so much "feel" that they can alreay with a few instructions get along.

The worsed is, when a person taught themselves to stay on board,
utilize all sorts of gimmick aids and if then taking proper lessons it is a nightmare for the teacher and rider to correct this. My young student from Germany took 40 lessons just to correct her back and hands, before it became routine..And then it took another 30-lessons to manifest it. (5 horses per day-equal five lessons- 14 DAYS) After that my patient stallions thought an "angel" is on top, ha!. they were smiling all the way back to their paddock.

This "worsed" I compare with someone typing with two fingers and then beeing introduced to the tenfinger system, like me.
Never made it, ha!.

In endurance or hunting one really gets to know the horse. Is he/she a chicken heart, bold, unafraid,has stamina, alert, excellent reflexes, staying power and attitude as well as dispostion. All these are desired qualities except the chicken heart of course.these qualities are by enlarge genetic and should play an important role when It comes to breeding from or to such horse. There is simply no way to conclude by just seeing the horse in hand or running free. IT WILL NOT WORK. JUST IMAGINE BREEDING A CHICKEN HEART TO A CHICKLEN HEART. WHAT MIGHT ONE GET, A turky??

Have a nice day
Hansi
Serenity Arabian Farms

Thanks for all the info!!

Just got back from a 26km ride and came in 14th, all A's and full of energy again, my little partbred Arab mare. Now she gets some time off until her coat has changed. Next week I'll take my Andalusian fellow for a 31km ride.

The advise about using the competitions as training rides is an excellent one. Also advised by experienced 100 miles level competitors.

Thanks again. PS)yes we do dressage and practise it weekly, up till 3rd level excercises (attempts!)

Dear Lutz,

Are there any nice endurance rides near the Dutch border? I want to ride in belgium and Germany also (just class I rides, so up to 40km, perhaps a 50-60km) since I want to see diffetrent l;andscapes. Maybe you can tell me which rides, near the border, are really nice, with a beautiful landscape also, or maybe you can tell me where I can get the info.

Thanks,

Hi Brigitte,
you can find a list of rides on the homepage of the VDD. Try this adress : http://www.vdd-aktuell.de/index.php?option...id=14&Itemid=42
or go on www.vdd-aktuell.de and look for "Termine" and "Distanzritte und Fahrten"
Let me know, when you can to Germany, perhaps we can see us.
I hope I could help you. Lutz

There was a long ride in Egypt itself yesterday, so you may hear of some SE horses who were in that. We had several finish well in it from Jordan, 6th,8th,etc I think 5 in the first 20 but don`t have all the details yet and our horses were not SE. Good luck to you all, Alia

Good morning dear Princess Alia

I am delighted to hear that there was a long distance ride in Egypt. Please elaborate on it, the distance, times,horses names and riders if it is possible, and of course the breeders of the horses.

thanks so much and have a wonderful day
Hansi

Dear Brigitte,

if you like to enjoy some endurance rides near the Dutch border check the calender under this link:ELDRA. We have several Dutch members in our organisation who ride competition on different levels in Belgium ( mostly in the Flemish part ). On the 12th of September we organise rides between 30 km up to over 100 km in Lommel ( at the border: 25 km under Eindhoven ). If you need more information please send a message to secretary@eldra.be. We speak and write Dutch, French, German and English.


with kind regards,

Ronny Vosch
Secretary ELDRA vzw
www.eldra.be
Equestrian Long Distance Riding Association

Thanks Lutz, thanks Ronny, that sounds really interesting, Lommel is in my backyard so to speak, our horses are located at Poppel!

Do I have to become a member of Eldra to take part at your competitions?

Dear Hansi, I will get the details assoon as posible, I don`t have them and am out of town. Thanks for the interest....I believe it was in the pyramid area and is the third or fourt year they have had it there.Quite tough . Best wishes, Alia

Dear Hansi,

Hi I am from Egypt and a very big fan of endurance, me and my fiance. There was a 120 km ride last Thursday in the Sakkara desert which is MUCH tougher than the pyramids of Giza area. It is the fourth international ride usually held on a yearly basis and sponsered by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum, the ride's name is Al Ahram Al Araby Endurance Ride. Actually we had 2 horses complete one of them is SE and completes the ride every year, Jordan did very well and of course the Emirates had the first 4 or 5 places and Egypt around 8 horses in the top 20. the ride was great and I believe the toughest in the middle east as the desert of Egypt has VERY deep sand and hills, unlike the deserts of the Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain. If you need further details please don't hesitate to ask.

All the Best,
Dina

does not sound like a ride my Andalusian fellow would like! but what a challnege to ride in the desert, hmmm, that's where Arabians excell.


Yesterday we finished a 31km endurance ride (approx. 25 miles). Our Andalusian fellow did a terrific job, especially since the heat got up to 20 +degrees! He's still in fur coat so the heat got to him. We were pacing an honest 15km/hour untill I felt that he started to suffer from the heat by breathing heavily, then we took it slow and walked the 3 km up to the p/r check where everything was very well, pulse 52, respiration 44.
We did the same thing at the 2nd part of the route, we trotted and cantered a bit and about 3km before the finish we relaxed and walked into the finishing scene, with a 54 pulse, dropping to a 48 at the final vet check. He did such a good job, given it was so hot, he wore such a heavy fur coat and also the vets did not like his typical Andalusian way of going! But he was not lame at all so they had to approve him.

He isn't an Arab at all but what a nice ride he makes, he is larger with a larger stride and he makes such a comfortable seat, wouldn't mind trotting a 50kms Class II ride with him, as long as it isn't this hot!

Erwin improved his skills as a groom very much and Emma was quiet all day, so it was perfect!

Best wishes,
Brigitte

Congratulation Brigitte,
Yes it was very hot this weekend. We had 3 very good races too this last weekend. Take a look under the thread "Congratulation Kirsten Petersen".

Have a nice day Lutz

I just read it, Congrats! Really great to read this, What a fun you all must have. Tracey Tromp and I started an endurance topic at the sheykh obeyd site, www.sheykhobeyd.org/
Tracey is very experienced in endurance, she completed the Tevis and multi day rides, among them 5 days 250 miles ride.

Are there any multi day rides in Europe (close to our countries I mean) that you know of?

My husband is riding his first endurance competition this weekend on his Andalusian fellow, and it is going to be hot again, poor guys!

we're also camping out with the entire family, 1 kid, 2 parents, 1 horse and 2 dogs and 2 visiting friends and a 6 persons tent. endurance is family fun, don't you agree? Take care and good luck at the competitions!

Hi Lutz.

I would want to compete multi day rides perhaps next year and saw some interesting ones at the VDD site. I have no idea which ones are close to the Dutch border but will draw a map out of the closet.

Do you have any experience in multi day rides? Belgium has one 2x80km. I would like to do a simple 2x25 or 2x35 or even 2x50 but more is just too much right now.

Maybe I will bring my Egyptian to ride in Germany but she is located at the Ardennen regio in Belgium and that's an awesome area to ride competitions in.

My husband succesfully finished his first competition over 32km with his Andalusian fellow, they came in 11th out of 45 competitors pacing a fair 12,22kms/hour. He's really proud of his horse and I am even more proud of him, considering the fact that heavy Andalusians are not the best suitable horses for this sport!

Hi Brigitte,
The rides over 2 or 3 days are all longer distances, bur sometimes you can stop each etap earlyer. I made one race over 2 days last year on the Isle of Rügen with Serenity Bint Lazan. It is very good for the horses, they learn to arrange their condition, when they have to go a second race the next day. You should ask the organizer what you can do.

Yesterday I had my stallion Serenity Shahan ( AK Shah Munifeh & Serenity Khohana ) with me again on an endurance race in Hitzacker on a 50 km race. It was his first race since more than one year. We had a speed of 3.35 that is 17,92 km/h. There were 25 starters and we cme on place 4, only 16 seconds after the 2. and 3. It was very good.

Have a nice day Lutz

hi lutz,

that sounds great, would be wonderful to do a 2x25kms or 2x30km or 2x35!

our andalusian loves the work, and he is very tough, he would be very good to do this, never would end really high but that's no problem, it's the fun that counts