Vetnuus | August 2024 17 The three days of the ride exposed the horses to the extremes of cold temperatures heating up to approximately 20 ˚ C plus – adding stress on those horses during the day. Fifty-two percent (133) of all the horses that departed finished the ride successfully. This reflects how difficult it was and the typical pattern was seen in that most of the horses that failed to complete the ride were lame (i.e. 71,07% of failed to complete were lame). The course is divided into 8 legs, after which each horse receives a mandatory inspection by the veterinary panel followed by a standard rest period before continuing the course. Horses are eliminated from the ride when the vet panel judges the horse not fit to continue and can offer immediate treatment if necessary. For a horse to successfully complete the 206 km, it must also pass the final vet check as fit to continue. This ensures that horses are ridden within their individual fitness level until the very end of the course. The NSPCA were present during all 3 days and reported no major complaints during the formal debriefing. An interesting historical event took place this year - in that the overall winner in 2023 was the same person in 2024 - Marchane Steyl. She was the leading rider on Wednesday night specifically in the Light Weight category and she finished the ride fastest, thus overall winner (she was the overall winner and Light Weight winner). The leading horses on Wednesday and Thursday morning receive specific-coloured bibs sponsored by Stride, and of those that received the leading bibs on Wednesday, none were the same on Thursday morning. Thus, of the five leading riders in the categories (Heavy, Standard, Light Weights, and Young plus Child Rider), three of the leaders finished first in their weight category. Sadly, the child rider failed to complete it. A total of 17 riders withdrew their horses without them being disqualified at vet checks. This year, there were fewer riders than started in 2023 – 252 versus 282, and then 286 in 2022. The table showing the summary of horses where the vet team prevented the horses from continuing further is shown below – with an explanation of assessments. Winners of the different categories are as set out below, which shows the time they took to complete the ride and the average speed at which they rode during the ride. ASSESSMENTS COUNT OF HORSE: % OF HORSES Did not start 2 1,65% FTQ – GA (Gait) 86 71,07% FTQ – ME (Metabolic) 11 9,09% FTQ – FTP (Presentation) 3 2,48% FTQ - MI 1 0,83% FTQ - FTC 1 0,83% Voluntary Retired 17 14,05% Grand Total 121 100,0% CATEGORY NAME WEIGHT kg RIDE COMPLETION TIME AVERAGE SPEED Light Weight Marchane Steyl 65,6 8.07.56 hours 25, 3313 km/h Young Rider Danielle Joubert 64,4 8.31.19 hours 24, 1729 km/h Standard Weight Dineka Daniel Momani 73,4 8.41.44 hours 23, 6903 km/h Heavy Weight Jean-Jacques Kasselman 98 9.13.07 hours 22, 346 km/h Child Rider Ame van Aswegen 45.3 9.41.06 hours 21.2699 km/h 24-Hour Toll-Free Helpline: 0800 21 21 21 >>> 18 Events / Gebeure
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