Hosted by the current King of Malaysia Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, this year’s championships attracted a crowd of about 30,000 to the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony featured a team parade, entertainment by French aerobatic horse rider Lorenzo and performances by local and international stars, while 5,000 people turned out to watch the start of the 160km race.

Dr Mackay became involved in endurance riding through her children, who made the Australian young riders team competing in Bahrain in 2005. While this was the fourth time she was elected to the position of Chef d’Equipe, or team manager, it was her first world championships in the role.

The Australian team of six riders and horses, four in the team and two as individual riders, left for Malaysia on October 15 in order to acclimatise their Arabian horses. Each country was designated a training track; the King, who was also competing in the championships, trained his horses on the same 20km training track used by the Australian team.

“We didn’t get to see much of the king as he was surrounded by security. He was going to ride an Australian bred and trained horse in the championships but under political pressure he rode a horse from UAE (United Arab Emirates) instead,” Dr Mackay said.

The race began at 5:30pm on Saturday November 8 in temperatures of 35 degrees and 80 percent humidity and continued through the night along a coastal bush track. One hundred and thirty three riders from 32 countries rode seven loops of the track at about 28km per loop. After each loop the horses were checked by a veterinary panel, fed and cooled for 40 minutes until their heartbeat was under 60 beats per minute and they were deemed fit to continue onto the next loop.

“Our main aim is the horses welfare to keep them healthy,” Dr Mackay said.