Well-Known Ontario Endurance Trainer Under Fire

HorseSport.com - Full Article

Solstice Pecile of Wishing Stone Farm inexplicably posted horrendous videos of her dragging a horse and later laughing at its injuries.

By: Horse Sport staff | November 25, 2022

Solstice Pecile of her family’s Wishing Stone Farm in Bailieboro, Ontario shared disturbing videos of her “training” a client’s horse recently by dragging it behind a moving vehicle. The videos ‒ one depicting a horse skidding on the pavement and another showing her laughing at the horse, bleeding from its hooves, calling it a “retard” ‒ have caused justified outrage on social media and have led to Northumberland OPP investigating a “possible cruelty to animal incident”. No other details were released by police at this time...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/well-known-ontario-endurance-trainer-under-fire/

Walmart Purchase Ends in Suspension for Valerie Kanavy

HorseSport.com - Full Article

The former world endurance champ fell afoul of a rule she helped introduce after accidentally buying a massage cream containing capsaicin.
By: Horse Sport staff | November 23, 2022

Valerie Kanavy, a leading figure in the movement to improve welfare in FEI endurance, has been suspended for 12 months after a horse she trains, Fine Cut Gold, tested positive for the banned substance capsaicin.

Under the “strict liability” process, Kanavy is accountable, because in FEI endurance a horse’s registered trainer is now automatically joined with the rider in proceedings related to banned substances – a rule change Kanavy herself supported.

She was suspended by the FEI Tribunal for 12 months, and fined 3,500 Swiss francs. The mare’s rider, Alex Shampoe, was also suspended for 12 months but fined a reduced amount of 1,500 Swiss francs, due to her age (20) and low level of blame. The pair have already completed the 12-month suspension period, as it was credited against time served when provisional suspensions were imposed last year.

The US’s two-time endurance world champion pointed out the irony of her situation, having been a member of the special committee set up by the FEI to re-write the endurance rules in 2018...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/walmart-purchase-ends-suspension-valerie-kanavy/

Les Carr's Endurance horse Tulip is thriving as a therapy horse

Karen Chaton visits 35-year-old Tulip, AERC's highest mileage horse (22,280 mi), happily working as a therapy horse

November 20 2022
by Karen Chaton

Yesterday I mentioned getting to see an old friend while I was at the Cal-Neva Gratitude Ride & Drive. That old friend is Tulip.

For those that may not know who Tulip is - he is a 35 year old Morab gelding that also happens to be the highest mileage endurance horse in the sport of endurance. Well over 22,000+ miles over an incredibly long career. Tulip's owner, Les Carr, passed away in 2015 and Tulip ended up in the capable hands of his wife Jill and daughter Cecilia.

I was excited to learn that Tulip was alive and well and has a new job! He's been working as a therapy horse at the ROP Sierra Sage Equestrian Center. It turns out that Tulip has never liked being retired, which is understandable. Endurance horses love going places and seeing things. They thrive on it. When they are suddenly getting left home, especially when other horses are coming and going they absolutely know what they are missing and in Tulips case each time he was retired he got depressed.

Tulip's second career (therapy horse is at least his 3rd career, btw) was as an outrider on wagon train rides. The type where they travel in large groups over various passes in the Sierra's - like highway 50, 49 and 88. I remember when my junior excitedly told me that she got to ride Tulip and asked me if I knew who he was.

Of course I knew Tulip. I had ridden a lot of miles alongside him with Chief, and one time Les even invited me to ride Tulip on a 50. We had a great time. Tulip has a well known reputation for bucking people off. Tulip did try to buck with me many times but he wasn't serious and by the middle of the ride he stopped.

There was many a time that we saw Les getting back on after getting bucked off at a ride start. Once during a ride I was trotting along in a group to look over and see Tulip trotting alongside me with no Les. 

Cecilia told me that within 30 days of going to the therapy center that Tulip had gained 100 pounds, got his sparkle back and is loving his new job. It is clear that Tulip is being extremely well cared for, has good weight, his feet look fabulous and Tulip does indeed have a sparkle in his eye. I'd like to think that he remembered me as he came over and was very friendly. I brought a baggie of Strategy with me to feed him, and he enjoyed every bit not losing any so being 35 isn't affecting his ability to eat.

When we first rode up on Jovi and Apollo I could see a grey horse running around, quite frisky. I didn't know yet from a distance that it was Tulip (it was). It was nice to see an old friend looking happy and healthy.

Sebastopol rider finishes 14th in world’s longest horse race

PressDemocrat.com - Full Article

Sebastopol native Lena Haug endured a dog attack, got kicked in the face and lost her gear, yet lived to tell the tale of the Mongol Derby

MEG MCCONAHEY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
November 18, 2022, 2:06PM

Lena Haug was close to finishing the longest and most punishing horse race in the world — 640 miles across the Mongolian steppe on half-wild horses, roughly tracing the route of 12th-century emperor Genghis Khan. Fellow competitors already had fallen out, one with a broken back, another a broken neck.

It was the final night of the race for the 31-year-old equestrian, who grew up in Sebastopol and attended Summerfield Waldorf School. She was just 4 miles from the finish line. But riders must stop for the night at 7 p.m. Haug stopped 10 minutes late, which meant another 20-minute penalty when she took off for the finish line the next morning. What weighed heavily on her mind that night was not the triumph of finishing the race, but her desperate desire to change her shirt...

Read more here:
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/lifestyle/sebastopol-rider-finishes-14th-in-worlds-longest-horse-race/

The Love of her Lifetime

ThePlaidHorse.com - Full Article

Amateur Felisa Read finds her perfect match with an unlikely partner

November 14, 2022
By Christina Keim

In the dark, damp, early morning hours of June 11, 2022, 34 endurance competitors were busily making final preparations for the American Endurance Ride Conference 100 Mile National Championship at Old Dominion in Virginia. A cold rain had started the night before, and continued now, just before dawn, where it soaked through gloves, ran into boots, and saturated the rocky trails that competitors were slated to tackle beginning at 5:30 AM. Perhaps most of the assembled riders did not consider these to be the ideal conditions for this long, grueling ride, respectfully nicknamed “the beast of the east” by those who have attempted it. But at least one rider smiled as raindrops fell from her hood.

“Lenny loves the rain,” says his owner/rider Felisa Read with a laugh. “That’s his Morgan half. It was really cool and wet, so for us it was a good advantage. I was happy—I think I said before the ride I’ll be happy if it rains all day.”

17 hours, 8 minutes, 35 seconds, and 100 sodden, slippery miles later, Read and her 22-year-old Morab partner would cross the finish line, pulse down and jog for the vets one last time before officially earning their new title of “Decade Team” from the AERC. This coveted award is presented to horse and rider teams that have completed at least one 50-mile endurance ride in each of ten years; a true testament not just to perseverance but to outstanding horsemanship...

Read more here:
https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2022/11/14/the-love-of-her-lifetime/

2022 November's Horses in the Morning Podcast

Horsesinthemorning.com - Listen

Endurance: Completing Your First 50, Decade Teams, Horse Trailer Winterization for Nov 8, 2022

Guests Joni Burden and Samantha Shoemaker join Karen Chaton for a fun filled chat about the perseverance required to ride endurance; whether finishing your first 50 or racking up the miles with three Decade Team horses. Plus, part two of our discussion on winterizing your horse trailer.

Listen:
https://www.horsesinthemorning.com/endurance-completing-your-first-50-decade-teams-horse-trailer-winterization-for-nov-8-2022/