All posts by Associate Editor

Al Reef Endurance Festival Live Feed Follows Australasian Endurance Forum (AUS)

Lausanne (SUI), 10 June 2011 – The 150-plus delegates representing nine different nationalities at the Australasian FEI Endurance Conference and Forum have now moved onto the Al Reef Endurance Festival, which takes place in Toorbul, Queensland (AUS) 11-14 June.

All the action from the Australasian Championship, which follows the highly successful conference, can be viewed on a live feed from http://iequine.com/events/al-reef-endurance-festival.

Footage begins on Saturday 11 June at 12.30pm with vetting and a pre-ride talk later that afternoon. Sunday morning is when the action unfolds – coverage starts at 5.00am and runs all day. On Monday 13 June there will be a live feed for a series of work-outs and presentations.

FEI Media contacts:

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
ruth.grundy@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 45

Malina Gueorguiev
Manager Press Relations
malina.gueorguiev@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 33

Four Candidates Named to the Endurance Chef d’Equipe Short List

Lexington, KY – The USEF High Performance Endurance Committee has named four candidates to the Endurance Chef d’Equipe Short List. During this extensive process, the USEF received 14 applications from three different nations. The Chef d’Equipe Search Committee interviewed six applicants in April. Prior to these interviews, athletes were given the opportunity to provide questions to the Search Committee to be included. Following the interviews, Joe Mattingley presented the Search Committee’s rating of all 14 candidates to the USEF Eligible Athlete Committee who then made their recommendations to the Endurance High Performance Committee. Taking into account the ratings of the candidates and the recommendations of the Athlete Committee, the Endurance High Performance Committee established the following to the short list: Mark Dial (USA); Dr. Flavia Ferraro (BRA); Emmett Ross (USA); and Dr. Michele Roush (USA).

The four candidates have been invited to the Ashland CEI June 10-12, 2011 held in Ashland, Montana.  Endurance athletes will have the opportunity to meet and talk to candidates over the course of the event in an informal setting and on June 13th the Athlete Committee and Endurance High Performance Committee will conduct formal interviews with each individual candidate.

Following the interviews, the Athletes will once again make their recommendation to the High Performance Committee.

Members of the USEF Endurance Eligible Athlete Committee are:

Kathrine Brunjes, Chair
Carolyn Hock
Carol Giles
Jan Worthington
Valerie Kanavy
Heather Reynolds
Jeremy Reynolds
Stephen Rojek
Michele Roush
Christoph Schork
Margaret Sleeper

If you have any questions regarding the process, please don’t hesitate to contact Joe Mattingley, guyhorse@yahoo.com or Vonita Bowers at vbowers@usef.org.

AP Story Spotlights IDA’s Fight for Wild Horses

IDA’s legal challenge to the U.S. government’s “management” of wild horses received extensive exposure in an Associated Press story by Scott Sonner that ran in newspapers around the country this week. Click here to read the story in the San Francisco Chronicle, then please post your own comments!

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031
idainfo@idausa.org

Alltech National Horse Show Welcomes Pony Lane Farm as Sponsor of the High Performance Hunter Division

Kelsey Thatcher on Milous De Fontaine. ©Parker/Russell - The Book LLC.

Lexington, KY – June 10, 2011 — The Alltech National Horse Show, 128th Edition, announced today that Pony Lane Farm has come on board as sponsors of this year’s High Performance Hunter Division.

The Alltech National Horse Show will be staged at the Alltech Arena at the world-renowned Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, site of last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

In addition to the CSI-W 4* ranking from the FEI, this year’s Alltech National Horse Show will feature world-class hunter competition, including the Pony Lane Farm sponsored High Performance Hunter Division.

Pony Lane Farm, the leading USEF Hunter Owners for the 2009 and 2010 show seasons, is not only the home base for young riders Kelsey and Madeline Thatcher, but also home to popular breeding stallion Klotaire Du Moulin. Klotaire is by the legendary stallion Voltaire and is sire of many of this country’s top hunters. Klotaire competed this past summer in the Super League, winning top prizes at La Baule, Rome, Rotterdam and Dublin. Klotaire continues to compete in the U.S. at the Grand Prix level with owner Kelsey Thatcher and rider Maggie Jayne.

Continue reading Alltech National Horse Show Welcomes Pony Lane Farm as Sponsor of the High Performance Hunter Division

Senate Reintroduces Bill to Permanently Ban Horse Slaughter

Washington, D.C. (June 9, 2011) – A bill to ban horse slaughter was reintroduced in the United States Senate today. Sponsored by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the “American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011″ will end the slaughter of American horses here and, most urgently, will stop these horses from being exported abroad for slaughter. The sponsors, who have long championed the cause, have the bipartisan support of 14 colleagues who are co-sponsoring the bill.

“As a lifelong horse lover and rider, this practice is appalling to me, and more importantly, the majority of Americans oppose it.  We raise and train horses to trust us, perform for us, and allow us on their backs, and as such, they deserve to be treated with human compassion.  When horse owners are faced with the sad reality of having to put their animals down, it should be by humane euthanasia,” said Senator Landrieu. “I intend to work with Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and my other colleagues to get this bill passed and permanently end the slaughter of our American horses.”

The legislation comes at a time when horse slaughter no longer occurs on U.S. soil, but each year approximately 100,000 American horses are hauled to Canada, Mexico and beyond. Reports show that horses regularly travel for hundreds or even thousands of miles to the slaughterhouses on double-deck cattle trucks without food, water or rest. At some Mexican slaughterhouses horses are stabbed repeatedly in the spine until they are paralyzed, after which they are butchered while still fully conscious. This country’s three remaining horse slaughter plants – two in Texas and one in Illinois – were shut down in 2007 under state law.

Continue reading Senate Reintroduces Bill to Permanently Ban Horse Slaughter

FEI Nations Cup 2011 Promotional League Update

SWISS LOOKING STRONG IN PROMOTIONAL LEAGUE SERIES by Louise Parkes

Lausanne (SUI), 9 June 2011 – The Swiss, relegated from the Top League in 2010 but clearly on form when making a guest appearance in the FEI Nations Cup on their home ground at St Gallen last week, are heading the 2011 European Promotional League table after the first three legs of the series and look set for an early return to the elite level of the sport.

This year the Promotional League looks a little different, with teams from three qualifying groups entitled to battle it out for a place in the 2012 Top League.  The 12 nations which have competed in the European series so far are Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Brazil, Australia, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Portugal, Hong Kong and Hungary, but the Swiss advantage is a slender one going into the fourth of the six rounds at Drammen, Norway next week.

OPENING LEG
The Swiss finished sixth at the opening leg in Linz-Ebelsberg, Austria early last month, and ninth at round two in Copenhagen, Denmark a week later.  However, runner-up spot behind Sweden at Lisbon, Portugal two weeks ago has given them a 0.5 point advantage over the Spanish who have registered an eighth and two fifth-place finishes so far.  The Spanish put up some tremendously spirited performances when joining the Top League last season and are making a determined effort to qualify once again.

Continue reading FEI Nations Cup 2011 Promotional League Update

Stable Scoop Episode 147 – Horse and Rider Awareness

A fascinating conversation about awareness, horses and marketing with author, speaker and horsewoman Randi Thompson. Listen in…

Stable Scoop Episode 147 – Show Notes and Links:

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Dressage Radio Episode 107 – Susan Dutta, Euro Report & WOW

Susan Dutta makes her guest debut on the show after a winning weekend and German journalist Kim Kreling reports on the Munich and Hamburg CDIs. Plus another WOW moment! You can listen in right here.

Dressage Radio Episode 107 – Show Notes and Links:

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Eventing Radio Episode 145 by Bit of Britain – Olympic Test Event, Euro News & True Prospect Farm Update

Olympic Course Designer, Sue Benson, tells us how preparations for the test event are progressing, Horse & Hound’s Pippa Roome reviews Euro events, and Jennie Brannigan from True Prospect Farm joins Chris as co-host. It’s all right here.

Eventing Radio Episode 145 by Bit of Britain – Show Notes and Links:

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Jumping Radio Episode 66 by Audible.com – World of Show Jumping & Jane Wallace’s Training Topic


Jannicke Naustdal of the World of Show Jumping joins Chris this week and Jane Wallace addresses another training topic. Tune in right here…

Jumping Radio Episode 66 – Show Notes and Links:

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