July 15, 2013, Report from Iran thanks to Shirin Salartash –  Iran has had organized Endurance Riding since 1997 and in 2012, after approving the National Endurance Regulations, every season there is one National ride; team and individual and in the winter,  and there will be an Iranian Endurance Championship.

During the year the provinces and private clubs organize their rides in their own region. The distance for the novice riders and horses start from 20k, after that one 40k and then the combination of the horse and the rider are qualified for 60k, which is also in the National rides.

In  2012 we had 60 and 80 k and this year the in first National ride, with riders competing in two distances : 60 and 80k as well.

We are starting slowly as we need experienced riders and healthy horses; we are doing our best to get to international levels and standards.

In the recent National ride different teams from different provinces and cities of Iran took part. Out of 9 teams , 8 were qualified.

And totally out of 33 riders, 18 were qualified. The average speed was 18 k as we encourage our riders to first think about their horses. The track was partly hard and it was in the outskirts of the central desert.  As Iran is the country of 4 seasons and a good variety of track in all seasons riders can compete in the desert, near the sea, in the mountains, in the forests… so this gives the horses a good chance to experience different climates and tracks.

The first placed rider in 80k did a very good performance with excellent recovery time not more that 5 minutes with 3 loops 2 X 30 k and the last loop 20k.

Young horses and young riders also competed in two different groups in 60k.

Full article and report here: