Below is a link to a petition created by Philip Hirst to get Endurance Riding included as an Olympic discipline in 2012.  Personally I feel that Endurance has as much claim as any other sport and has the added bonus that as a country we are reasonably good at it!  Realistically the current one in and one out rule makes it highly unlikely that the petition will succeed but since when did a bit of a challenge stop Endurance riders? 

Just click on the link below to sign the petition…

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Endurance2012/

This is an issue affecting every horse owner which was first highlighted in Horse and Hound.  Whilst there is no legal requirement to have your horse’s passport with you for every journey the implications for rescue (or lack of it) in time of need are worrying.  The document below has been circulated by the author of the article Jon Phillips. Managing Director, PRP Rescue Services  Ltd and is designed to explain why there is a problem.

no-passport

I have been playing on the internet and discovered some interesting video footage online.  I have collected a few together and posted a link to them on the right hand side of the site in the menu bar (you might have to scroll down a bit).

One is the EGB introductory video if anyone hasn’t yet watched that.  It’s pretty informative as a general introduction.

There are a series of videos which were taped at Your Horse Live when the EGB gave a lecture/demo.  These are very interesting although some of the information is definately aimed at the top end of the sport.

I also found some footage of riders in the Tevis cup last year – I have absolutely no ambition to copy these guys but it’s worth a viewing just to admire the sheer guts of both horse and rider.

In contrast to that there is film shot by hat cam of a fairly typical pleasure ride in the UK – it’s a bit wobbly but if you’ve never attended a ride then it will give you some idea of what to expect.

Log on and have a look