ENDURANCE WOES

Sir — How sad to see yet more bad publicity for endurance; the race at WEG was a complete fiasco. Some teams were misdirected at the start of the ride, so the competition was stopped and restarted. My heart bleeds for those competitors who worked so hard to get themselves and their horses fit, never mind the expense and upheaval of transporting them to Tryon.

The flat-surfaced rides are a major contributor to the current problems within our sport. A horse is designed to run fast to escape predators over a relatively short distance — it is not realistic to expect high speeds throughout a 100-mile race, particularly in hot and humid conditions.

The best endurance riders are competent, knowledgeable horsemen who have worked themselves skillfully up through the ranks, gently increasing fitness and gaining a partnership with their horses. They ride lightly and in balance, reading their horse’s way of going and the going itself, to arrive at completion with a sound horse considered capable of going a further distance, thus proving to the world that success in endurance

does not depend on speed alone.

I defy any rider to achieve average speeds of over 20kph on rides that prove a true challenge of endurance and horsemanship, such as the Tevis Cup or Golden Horseshoe. Rosie Marsh Halstead, Essex