Merri's Travel Stories & Photos

Merri Melde travelled to Australia to visit a few of the top Endurance trainers and horse breeders, and observe a bit of the sport. An AERA ride in the southeast state of Victoria (Road to Nowhere) and an International FEI ride (Imbil) in the northern state of Queensland provided a sampling of the styles and landscape of this vast country.

A week at Meg Wade's Castlebar Ranch, and a week with Toft Endurance highlighted Australia's thriving Endurance training and breeding operations.

Endurance Series
sponsored by
Sample & Partners

FEI 3* 160klm Series 2007

IMBIL May 5-7th (ride day Sunday)
Imbil is a small village situated in the pineapple and hoop pine forest areas, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Imbil is also the home of the famous Faraway marathon and Easter carnival.

NANANGO June 8-10 (ride day Saturday)
Nanango Shire has a population of 11,000 residents, situated in the South Burnett region of Southern Queensland. When not affected by drought is a rich farming and forestry area, with a hoop pine forest close by which has seen many endurance rides and has excellent riding trails.

Both these events are sponsored by Sample & Partners who hope to expand the series in the future.

In this inaugural year the Series winner will be the rider who completes both the events in the fastest time. It will not be judged as a horse/rider combination.

Combined with the Nanango Series will be the Trans Tasman with the Teams from New Zealand and Australia competing in the CEI 3* 160klm and the CEI 2* 110klm , which will be open to all riders and horses who are registered with the FEI

All these Rides will include a Young Riders division in each ride. Young riders are eligible to enter from the year they turn 14yrs until the year they turn 22yrs.