The first Euston Park Endurance Rides, sponsored by Emirates Airline, took place in stunning weather conditions in Suffolk. CEI3* 160Km, CEI2* 120Km, CEIYJ2* 120Km, CEI1* 80Km rides were held on the Euston Park Estate and surrounding land. Riders from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were victorious in each class but Great Britain was also well represented. 

In fact each winning horse emanated from the same team: Mrm Stables. Mrm Stables Trainer, Ismail Mohammed Al Jeziri, said of the day: “We started our European season last week at Royal Windsor Endurance but this was our first three star ride and it’s just amazing. The horses finished in great condition and it looks very positive for the season ahead.” 

One notable British finisher was Nikki Brown (21) from North Yorkshire, who finished third in the CEIJYR2* on her pony Tinkerbell’s Image, a rescue pony who she and her mother have trained. It was their first 120Km ride, and Nikki was overwhelmed with her result: “I can’t believe I did 120Km. It’s a long way!  But it’s been an amazing day, and worth the journey to get here. I am so surprised I can’t quite believe we did it.” 

In order to maximize horse welfare and responsible riding, the prize fund was, as always, awarded based on FEI’s Best Condition Awards [Article 822] and up to a maximum of five riders. 

The top Prize Winners of the Best Condition Award in each class were: 

CEI1* 80km – ANKOR DA ridden by Mohd Obaid Rashed AL KAABI (UAE) 

CEI2* 120km – ZULO ridden by Mohd Ahmad Mohd Ghanim AL MARRI (UAE) 

CEIJYR2* 120km  – ZO GO DAYR ridden by Saeed Salem Atiq Khamis ALMUHAIRI (UAE) 

CEI3* 160km – SIAM DU BARTHAS ridden by Hamad Obaid Rashed AL KAABI (UAE) 

In a first for Euston Park Endurance, the day’s action was live-streamed on the website and event Facebook page. They attracted over 4,000 views and the plan is to do the same for the next rides. 

Nick Brooks-Ward, Endurance Director at HPower Group Endurance, said: “It was a fabulous start to our ride season today and I am so grateful to our ground staff for the incredible work they’ve put in over the last few months. We had extremely heavy rain in the days prior to the ride but given the long period of dry weather we’d had in the lead-up we ended up with really good going." 

Endurance GB also trialled its Good Horsemanship Award, scoring horses against a series of criteria. Further details of the initiative can be found here. The winners at Euston Park were Saeed Salem Atiq Khamis Almuhairi (UAE) in the CEIJYR2* and Saif Ahmed Al Mozroui (UAE) in the CEI3*. 

The FEI has approved dates for up to a further four rides to be held this summer, on June 18th, July 22nd, August 19th and September 2nd.

In its seventh year the, Alltech-Hartpury Equine Student Conference took place on May 3, 2017 at Hartpury College, Gloucester, to a packed auditorium.

This annual conference, aimed at higher education students, provides an opportunity to experience writing and submitting an abstract, going through the review and revisions process, through to delivering a theatre presentation to a full conference audience or producing a scientific poster to present.   

Around 115 delegates attended, representing more than eleven colleges and universities from the UK, with 14 theatre presentations and over 25 poster presentations on offer covering a vast range of topics.

The standard of presentations from the students was extremely high and they were rewarded with engaging discussions from both the student delegates and the keynote speakers with whom they were able to network over coffee breaks and poster sessions.
Posters on topics, such as ‘Whether Riders would Accept Pre-Competition Weight Assessments in UK Competitions’, ‘Comparison of the Energy Intake and the Energy Requirements of a Variety of Horses’ and ‘The Effect of Common Equine Vocalisations on the Behaviour of Leisure Horses’ were displayed throughout the day.

Prizes for the best student theatre and poster presentations were awarded at the close of the conference by the conference organiser Kirsty Lesniak and Dr Helen Warren from Alltech, from conference sponsor, Alltech.

Both Alltech and University Centre Hartpury would like to offer their sincere thanks to all involved, especially the expert keynote speakers and the review team for their efforts in making this, once again, a very successful event.