Endurance in Germany

I've been on a mission lately to get information about endurance riding in Germany/Europe. A couple ladies across the street did their first ride last year but they can't really answer my questions.


I went to the German endurance riding website and found a couple regional representatives and wrote them but they sent me back some disappointing information - there is no mentoring system in Germany, for example. Then they didn't really answer my questions but told me to go to Facebook and try to meet people there. I don't use Facebook. I'm mostly disappointed that there are regional reps, but they don't actually answer all my questions, and, condescendingly, I was told to go to the German endurance website for information. Um, where do they think I got their contact info? So, the website's a dead end.

I read some nice articles in the German endurance magazine (Distanz Aktuell) that I wanted to talk about on my blog.

This issue of the magazine, from 2010, covers two FEI rides, but no others.

One took place in the Czech republic. It takes place at a Standardbred racetrack where the start and finish occur (on the track). The rider who wrote the article praises the facility; the rider accomodations are directly above the stalls. That's one cool thing about Europe, horses and people living in the same buildings, usually with people above horses. The ride had "mostly bad footing" in the hills, which gave an overall average speed of 17.5 km/h.

The next article was for me, the most interesting. It's called "Extreme Endurance - Adventure or Superfluous?" The opinion piece lists some rides that can be classified extreme: Korsika, Barcelona, Florac, Alpe d Hues, and the Tevis cup. I liked this article because it credits the Tevis as being the beginning of the sport "as we know it." It quotes Valery Kanavy saying,

"The Tevis is a long distance ride with climbing passageways with no possibility to overtake other riders." (Someone else might do a better job translating "climbing passageways" (kletterpassagen).)

The author describes extreme endurance as those rides involving, well, mountains. She quotes a rider who enjoys the Florac ride, "I love to push my own boundaries, and I know that if my horse gets faster on the last loop, he wasn't bored."

Since the article was written at the end of 2010, the author raises her worry that the Florac ride is already extreme, and the motto To Finish is to Win doesn't apply to the European Championships - held there in 2011 - where in truth, only winning is winning. But then she says that extreme rides are adventures and never superfluous.

So.....where are some extreme rides in Germany?! chirp.wav

Here is a link to an amateur video of a non-FEI ride in Germany. And here is another by the same person of another ride that shows some of the endurance drivers coming through with their suklies. Very cool.

Here is another. I really appreciate the amateur videos I found that show how these limited distance rides operate. I think all of these are under 50 miles.

There are lots of professional/press videos on youtube covering the sport officially, but they are mostly filming FEI rides and I don't have questions about FEI - I've visited a couple and saw enough of that.

Here is a website for a local ride that is at another Standardbred track (not far from us). I love their website banner image - the sheer terror on that one lady's face, the fighting horses at the "not-so-fun" start. I wonder if anyone who worked on that website thought it was funny, or if no one really noticed that it doesn't reflect the fun part of the sport. Be sure to note the horse on the far left: )

OK but here is a clip of Florac 2011 - the European Championships. You'll recognize Nobby. Well done, you didn't fall off the mountain!

One thing I found looking at the German endurance website strikes me as odd. They offer an abzeichnung (certificate) program regarding endurance riding. Just like everything else in German life, you can (or must) get a certificate to do things that in America, we just do. There are many different levels of certificates for endurance, and each test is given after several teaching sessions. I'd seen flyers up at the feedstore for "certified endurance instructor" but was turned off by the policy of paying money to simply learn things about a sport.

After all I've seen so far I wish I was up in the UK where the rides seem more rugged, and the people are friendlier. The GB Endurance website is just as welcoming as the AERC one, stating they are "happy to put you in touch with experienced riders."

I could not find any equivalent welcoming page in the German site. Apparently they don't want to increase their membership base. If you're with the press, however, it sounds like they'd love to talk about their sport. Probably even those regional reps would actually answer my questions if I was with a newspaper.