"I'd love to try endurance, but I don't own an arabian"
Jo Brock (author) on Lady, and Glen Kennedy on My Friend Jack
Blue Rock Endurance Ride, June 2004
This is one of the most common misconceptions heard from potential newcomers to the sport of endurance.
While there is no doubt that arabian horses are particularly suited to this demanding discipline, this does not automatically mean that other breeds are excluded from doing well in the sport. Successful endurance horses have included thoroughbreds, stock horses, various pony breeds, morgans, appaloosas, walers, saddlebreds, buckskins, palominos, paints ... and of course Standardbreds.
Endurance riding started out as a sport in Australia back in 1966, when RM Williams, inspired by the 100 mile Tevis Cup in the USA, challenged Australian riders to demonstrate whether they had the skill and horsemanship of our early pioneers to "ride 100 miles in a day". Kimberley cattleman and long standing mate Tom Quilty donated the prize, and the Tom Quilty Gold Cup was born.
Even in that inaugural event, second placegetter "Rarmar" was a Standardbred.
Endurance competition today offers opportunities to ease newcomers into the sport with introductory rides as short as 16km, the distances gradually increasing until open competition (80kms and above) is reached. As with other equestrian disciplines, the lower levels of endurance are well within the realms of most Standardbreds, and with careful selection and training, some can and do go on to compete successfully at open level.
The aim of this site is to promote the Standardbred as an endurance horse, and to review and follow successful Standardbreds in past and present endurance competition within Australia.
GENERAL ENDURANCE INFOPUREBRED ENDURANCE STANDARDBREDS
- My Friend Jack
- Im Not Shy (Lady)
- Architeuthis (Black Betty)
- Play The Ace
- Sarah
- Two Time Sunset (Simmo)
- Robert
- Pepperell Osca
- Royal And Riegle
- Yarilla Breeze
- Scenic Rock NZ
PARTBRED ENDURANCE STANDARDBREDS
- Millennium Star
- Soliloquy
- Hakan
- Shadrach
- Messenger
- Mountain Breeze Jack The Ripper
- Splitters Creek Bundy
ENDURANCE STORIES
- Two Time Sunset : Proves There Is Life After Racing - Tony Clifford's Harness Racing Weekly story about Simmo at the 2001 Tom Quilty Gold Cup (reproduced with permission)
- Jack's Quilty Adventure - My Friend Jack at the 2006 Tom Quilty Gold Cup
- Millennium Star : FEI Star - 2008 Tasmanian FEI 3* 160km
LINKS TO OTHER RELEVANT SITES
- Australian Endurance Riders Association - For rules, news and links to all State sites for their calendars and results.
- SPPHAV - Standardbred Pleasure and Performance Horse Association of Victoria. Offers annual endurance award for its members
- SPPHANSW - Standardbred Pleasure and Performance Horse Association of NSW
- SPPHAACT - Standardbred Pleasure and Performance Horse Association of ACT
- SPPHASA - Standardbred Pleasure and Performance Horse Association of SA
- AFTER - Association For Trotters Exiting Racing Inc (formerly SAQ)
- SAT - Standardbred Association of Tasmania
- Harness Racing In Australia - Official harness racing site, featuring harness racing news, results, fields, trading ring. AHRC Online section for searching standardbred pedigrees, race history etc.
- aus-standardbred - Yahoo discussion group for standardbred enthusiasts
- thearabianstandardbred - Yahoo discussion group for arabian-standardbred (starab) enthusiasts.
For links to private businesses that specialise in rehoming off-the-track standardbreds, or breeding performance standardbreds and partbreds, go to the page on Selecting An Endurance Standardbred.