Endurance

Endurance is a horse sport, in the Netherlands it is not very popular. In a complete competition season there are not that much competitions here in the Netherlands. Approx 16 a year. This is not very much compared to soccer, but for our horses it's enough. They can't perform that often. And every distance is a big performance, every finish is a celebration on itself.

The beginning
A couple of recreation riders wanted to make their hobby into a competition, they called it endurance. Many people wanted to ride endurance, now there are 800 members of the Dutch Endurance Riders (DER)

There are 4 grades;
Grade I: 20-40 kilometers
Grade II: 40-80 kilometers
Grade III: 80-120 kilometers
Grade IV: 120-160 kilometers

160 Kilometers
That's the longest distance you can do in one day. On two days you can do two times 80 kilometers or two times a 100 kilometers.
I'm not riding these distances yet. This year I rode my first competition in grade III. I have to ride one more to be classified for grade IV. Next year I hope that I can ride my first 120 kilometer competition.

The riders
It is a great sport, we ride it for a lot reasons: The people in this kind of sport usually have a great mentality, they all are ready to help you when you have a problem, they explain things to beginners, they are fantastic people!
Of course there are always people who are not as sportive as the majority. But most of them are just fantastic people who are always there to help you.

If you want to use something of my website, mail me, Guinnifer