A Change of Paradigm is Needed

In Endurance Riding, the fastest is always the best – oh, really? In the Middle East, endurance riding has been perverted into a flat race of 160 km, and despites all attempts to reform it, horses are still dying on the track. Therefore, Sheikh Sultan demands a rethink: For him, the horse with the best condition is the winner. His “Bouthieb-Rules” demand a change in paradigm.

After the FEI (International Equestrian Federation) and the EEF (Emirates Equestrian Federation) have signed an agreement with new rules, the CEI*** 160 Km Endurance Ride “H.H. The President of United Arab Emirates Endurance Cup” on Saturday 13th February 2016 was the first ride under the new rules. It took place with 190 starters, of which 140 failed to finish the ride, close to hundred because of lameness. Fortunately, there was no “catastrophic injury”.
On 19th March, the CEI** 140km Crown Prince Cup was cancelled by FEI just before the pre-ride inspection, and changed into a CEN 120 km by the organiser. Apparently, the reason for the cancellation were the rules, introduced on 11th February by FEI, and which were not fully respected by the organiser.
On 23rd March, another horse died: 10-year- old Texas, ridden by Sh. Mohamed Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa from Bahrain, suffered a “Catastrophic Injury” during the CEN 120 km Endurance Trainers Cup.

The “Bouthieb Rules”

Reacted someone else has, and this is presently the only silver lining at the horizon: H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan has implemented new rules at his Endurance Village Bouthieb at Abu Dhabi all by himself, which obviously show some effect: At “his” rides, the maximum speed is limited to 20 km/h (and controlled by GPS), maximum heartbeat shall be 56 bpm at all vetgates, and a compulsory hyposensibility test will be done on all legs. Crewing Points are located every 1 km, crewing is only allowed at these crewing points and the last crewing point is 2,5 km before the finish line. There is only one car per trainer and five horses allowed. The winner is the horse with the “Best Condition”, and prizemoney is offered on a best condition evaluation that is cumulatively calculated as the ride progresses, and is an accumulation of the scores at the vet gates.

H.H. Scheich Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the author of this article are discussing the Bouthieb-Rules.Foto: Pamela Burton, www.horsereporter.com

H.H. Scheich Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the author of this article are discussing the Bouthieb-Rules.
Foto: Pamela Burton, www.horsereporter.com

During the 10th Bouthieb Festival in Abu Dhabi, I had the chance to talk with H.H. Sheikh Sultan about the endurance situation in the UAE. “You know”, explained His Highness, “we have here in the UAE a totally different situation from Europe, US or Australia. In your countries, it is the owners who ride their own horses during the competition, who groom and care for them at home. These people feel attached to their horses and know their horses inside out. Here in the UAE, the owners are not the riders, they hire riders. But most of these riders are not professionals. Often, even the trainers are not professionals. As a result we have this situation where horses get injured or even die.” HH Sh. Sultan emphasises that his set of rules weren’t taken “out of the blue”, but are the result of analysing several hundred rides and thousands of individual results. “The analysis clearly showed, that the key to everything is reducing the speed”, Sh. Sultan explains emphatically. To prove his point, Sh. Sultan introduced his rules at all CEN’s at Bouthieb. “The riders, trainers and owners were not at all happy at first”, recalls Sh. Sultan, “but after the first ride, there were many smiling faces and they really enjoyed the competition under the new rules.”
I asked HH Sheikh Sultan, what he thinks of changing the fast racetrack-like tracks back to the undulating paths leading through sand dunes, as it was during the first World Championships in Dubai in 1998. Would this not be a way to reduce the speed? “I don’t think, it would work here, because – as I explained – the riders are not professional, not knowledgeable enough. They would ride at gallop though the sand dunes and still ruin the legs of the horses.”
Apart from speed, another important screw to adjust is the heartbeat per minute at the vetgates. According to the Bouthieb rules, the heartbeat has to be at 56 bpm or lower in all vetgates. To keep below this threshold level at all gates requires thoughtful riding and speed reduction. And both goes hand in hand to minimize metabolic problems.

The New Rules in Practice

All national rides at Bouthieb are conducted according to these new rules. The international rides at Bouthieb are still according to FEI-rules and thus the results recognized by FEI, but the official winner, who is the fastest, will only get 30% of the prize money, 70% will be given to those, who ride according to the rules of Sheikh Sultan – and these rules have the welfare of the horses as main priority.
In the meantime, these rules were tested at three events with eight rides and 1077 horses altogether (as of end of January). The result: Only five horses had to be treated in the veterinarian clinic, but neither their lives or their future in the sport were at stakes, and they left the clinic already the same afternoon. If you compare this to the 10 deaths at the other rides during the same time period, the result is obvious.
Now that others have done the work, the FEI jumped on the moving train. FEI Endurance director Manuel Bandeira de Mello stated: “It is abundantly clear that speed is a major factor in these incidents and that it is necessary to introduce measures to slow down the horses in order to reduce the number of catastrophic injuries. The FEI is in urgent discussions with the Emirates Equestrian Federation (EEF) and individual event organisers to introduce similar protocols to those used so successfully at the recent event in Bouthieb to reduce the speed.”
Whether or not the “Bouthieb Rules” to reduce speed will prevail and be taken on by FEI in their entirety depends on many different factors. These new rules require not only some “rethinking”, they actually demand a change of paradigm, as the fastest horse is no longer the winner: The speed is limited and the winner is the horse with the Best Condition. The whole concept of endurance riding must be put to the test: Is the long distance flat racing run against the clock on a prepared track the future of the sport, or should other criteria, such as skilful riding, tactics, and above all horse welfare be the criteria which decide the winner? For His Highness Sheikh Sultan there is no doubt and he issued an ultimatum: “Reform or stop – no compromise.”
Gudrun Waiditschka

Interested in what happened before? Read here:
15. März 2015: Enough is enough!
7. Februar 2016: And the dying goes on…
14. Februar 2016: FEI and EEF Agree Endurance Measures for 2016 Season