The Endurance Team has been named to represent Australia at the World Endurance Championships, to be held in Slovakia, in September.
Ben Hudson
Ben’s first endurance ride was in 2007 in his home state of NSW. He was introduced to the sport by Hayden and Gail Fisher who were his neighbours at the time after they saw Ben having trouble with a green broken mare that his dad had bought for him. They asked if he wanted to train with them and he completed his first 40km event on the mare. Ben hasn’t stopped competing since
Over the last 8 years Ben has ridden for a number of different people in endurance, on a wide range of horses. He has always aimed to learn from everyone he meets and every horse he got on. Ben’s first ride for Oso Arabians (who are providing the horse on which he will compete on at the World Championships) was on the young stallion, Oso Last Eclipse.
The horse was, and still is, a strong minded boy but Ben was up for the challenge. Since then Ben has achieved a lot, highlight would have to be winning 2015 Tom Quilty and taking out the Equestrian Australia Endurance Championships in 2016.
Joining Oso at an early stage has provided Ben to grow together as a team and he cannot thank them enough for the opportunities that he has been given. While Ben may not have loved endurance from his first ride it has slowly grown into an obsession.
Sasha Laws-King
Sasha has been competing in endurance for 15 years. Her career highlights include being a member of the gold medal-winning team at the Youth World Champs in Bahrain in 200 and she was 33rd at last year's World Equestrian Games (held in France). Sasha has also competed in other countries including Argentina, South Africa and the USA with top placings.
Locally Sasha has won 5 Qld state titles in three divisions (junior, lightweight and middleweight). She has 5 Quilty buckles, 2 of which were for 1st place in the lightweight division.
Sasha is a veterinarian and specializes in small animal medicine and surgery and lives south of Brisbane, QLD.
She will be competing on Oso Edith at the World Endurance Championships. Edith is a well-performed mare including an FEI*** Australian Championships 160km win in 2013 and 2nd at the Tom Quilty in 2014. She was 2nd at the 2015 FEI *** Australian Championships with Sasha and was awarded the prestigious Best Conditioned horse award.
Rebecca Pinder
Rebecca grew up in Australia and while she rode horses she didn't do endurance riding. She moved to the UAE for her work and subsequently met and married Jairo, a Spanish endurance rider and trainer who works with the famous Emirates stable. They have one son.
Rebecca has been riding in endurance events overseas, both before and after the birth of her child, and was long listed for the World Equestrian Games team which competed in Normandy in 2014.
The horse she has been selected on is an experienced 15 year old mare (Safwa) belonging to friends in Spain, Sue Sidebottom and Javier Cervera. The mare was bred in Britain and is registered with the Arabian Horse Society of Great Britain. Together they completed a 2* event and a 3* star event in Spain at 16.9 kph to obtain their qualification.
Rebecca is currently ranked third in the world in the open rider’s endurance rankings and her FEI record is very impressive.
Jodie Salinas (nee Patterson)
Jodie grew up and began her endurance career in Glen Innes NSW. She completed 5,500 km of rides in Australia including a third MW Quilty and a fourth MW Quilty in 2008 and 2009. Jodie moved to the Middle East in 2005 riding and training endurance horses and subsequently met and married a veterinarian from Argentina, Mariano Salinos, they have two children Isabelle 4 and Lucas 2.
Jodie returned to competitive endurance riding 18months ago with the aim of achieving elite rider status. She has competed all over the world to do this and has now successfully finished ten FEI three star events with numerous placing and best conditioned awards.
The horse she has been selected on is Koela de la Dours, who belongs to the Jetline Endurance team of Italy. Koela is an experienced grey mare who is twelve years old. She was bred in France and is registered with the French stud book.
Her owner is Daniele Rusconi of Italy.
Jodie & Koela completed at Samorin in Slovakia, the site for the World Endurance championships in June this year at 16.8kph in extreme heat for fourth place and best conditioned. As a combination they have now done two three stars together and will be a serious competitive combination at this year’s World Championship event.
Alexandra Toft
Alexandra’s endurance career highlights include completions in 4 out of 4 World Endurance Championships including the recent WEG in Normandy, France, and a team Bronze medal in Abu Dhabi in 2011. In addition, Alexandra has completed the President’s Cup twice, once at 19.4km/hr and once on Dream Dancer te. Alexandra is currently studying honours in neuroscience at the University of Queensland. She loves dogs and is an enthusiastic runner. Alexandra is very excited to be competing on her favourite horse, Dream Dancer te, in Šamorín at the 2016 World Endurance Championships.
Dream Dancer te is a homebred mare by Chip Chase Sadaqa and out of Sharahd Sakura. Dream Dancer’s endurance journey saw her move to France in 2012. Here she has successfully completed numerous 120km FEI 2* and 160km FEI 3* competitions, including the notorious Florac, Fontainebleau and Compiègne. Dream Dancer’s career highlights include a trip to Pisa, Italy placing 5th in a 120km FEI 2* at 20.3 km/hr and completing the President’s Cup in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. Alexandra Toft has ridden Dream Dancer in training and competitions with much success.
Penny Toft
Highlights of Penny’s endurance riding career include representing Australia 8 times at World Endurance Championships and World Equestrian Games events gaining gold, silver and bronze Team medals. Penny has completed more than 35 FEI*** Events and prides herself on a very high percentage of completions.
Penny is one of the few people around the world who has completed the 4 most prestigious rides, being The Tom Quilty, The Tevis, Florac, and The Presidents Cup. My most favourite achievement is a 7th place in the Presidents Cup Riding Phantasm.
Penny’s most special Horses have been: Bremervale Justice, Phantasm, Harriet, Murdoch, Magnum, Don, Dream Dancer te and Charlotte te. Penny is an owner/trainer, along with her husband Peter at Toft Endurance and she has recently completed a course to become one of 5 FEI tutors for endurance around the world.
Penny will be travelling as the reserve rider for the team along with her homebred horse, Charlotte te, who is a 1O old grey mare. This is her fourth season of Endurance and she has a near perfect completion record with only one failure to complete an event in her career.
Her biggest achievements have been a top 20 at Normandy WEG 2014, plus 5th at the North Island NZ Championships, 3rd in the Australian Endurance Championships Red Range 2015 and 2nd and Best Conditioned horse at the Table Top FEI 120 2016. Charlotte and I have just returned from an FEI 120km** Event in Euston Park, England. She came 11th showing outstanding form and recoveries. Her performance is particularly notable given that she had only arrived 6 days before following the long distance trip from Australia. She is a personality plus little mare with a lot of experience now at travelling overseas and at big events.
