VN November 2021

Vetnuus | November 2021 16 The eagerly awaited South African International Championships Endurance Ride in 2021 took place in Kathu on Thursday the 7 th and Saturday the 9 th of October 2021. This competition was cancelled during 2020 and should have taken place in April 2021. Many of the endurance events were either cancelled or delayed. Sadly, this one was not similar to the previous International Championships because there were no competitors from Namibia or Botswana. Therefore the event became a Provincial Competition. Traditionally, the 160km ride takes place prior to the 120 km because a limited number of riders compete in the 160 km. The ride took place at a very impressive Equestrian Club that caters for all of the various equine disciplines at Kathu and where they are fortunate that the mines have built these remarkable facilities. The location is also lovely because of the traditional Kalahari thorn trees which are well established in this area. Concern was expressed that rather high daily temperatures could be experienced, but fortunately, this was not the case, and the weather conditions were changeable. There was a substantial storm that threatened the area late in the afternoon of the 160 km ride (Thursday). Fortunately, it passed the event site, and only wind damage occurred at the campsites. The event was expected to be smaller than when our neighbouring countries were competing; thus, the number of vets that attended was reduced.TheTreatmentVet was Dr Gerhard van derWesthuizen, the Line Vets were Tino Dakwa (Head Vet), Boeta van der Merwe, Theo Coetzee, Lea Shuda, Brighton Muyambiri and they were also assisted by Anja Uys. The ride Masters were Brand Pretorius and Ludi Fourie (all of these are in the picture). There were some challenging sections for the riders where a portion of the ride took place through game camps and then other sections through farmlands where there was a challenge with soft sand where the horses worked substantially harder. Fortunately, for both events, there were no serious problems experienced with horses, and in particular, for the 120 km ride, the expectation was that there would be a substantial number of horses that would require drips, but this did not occur. The speeds with which the light-weight and young riders rode for the first 40 kmwere of real concern because they were substantially faster than anticipated. The concern was that a number of horses would have run out of “petrol” after the first 40 km. Gerhard van der Westhuizen was assisted by two assistants - and had access to excellent stabling facilities (which had been cleared of the normal horses that occupy those stables - in order to accommodate this ride). The equine owning community in Kathu happily moved their horses to other facilities to provide sufficient stabling. Some of the results are shown in the tables below (with sincere thanks to Alan Spreadborrow), but 17 horses departed at the start of 160 km, and 9 finished the ride. SAIC 2021 – KATHU, NORTHERN CAPE Photo provided Photo provided