About Endurance Horse Riding

Guide to The World Endurance Championship

An Endurance ride is a timed test against the clock of an individual horse/rider team’s ability to traverse a marked, measured cross country ‘”trail” over natural terrain consisting of a distance of 50 – 100 miles in one day.

Endurance riding was first developed in the early 1900s as a military test for cavalry mounts. Horses were required to go on a 5 day, 300 mile (483km) ride carrying at least 200 lbs. The cavalry test became a civilian sport in the early 1950. Over time the reduction of distance and time increased the number of riders as well as rides and in 1978 the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body for World and Olympic equestrian events recognized endurance riding as an international sport.

In its 26th year with the FEI – Endurance became a FEI discipline in 1982. Endurance became the Federation’s fastest growing discipline until 2007. In 1982 there were four international rides. This number slowly increased to an average of 18 rides per year up till 1998 when the World Championships were held in the United Arab Emirates. 47 National Federations came from all over the world to compete. This huge attendance proved to be the catalyst for an amazing growth in participation. This tendency was confirmed in 2005, when 353 international competitions incorporating over 49 countries worldwide made Endurance second only to Jumping and Eventing.