The Gulf Coast Winter Series started today and WLOX, the local television station, came out and was live at our event. If you would like to watch the short video please click here: http://www.wlox.com/global/Category.asp?c=194069. We are the third video on the left.
We have posted a new schedule on our webpage for the Gulf Coast Winter Classic I. The changes were minor but because we produce our prize list in the fall and then the annual meetings of USHJA and USEF are in December and January we sometimes must make adjustments to new rules.
Just a second reminder for some other changes…
1. We will offer a non restricted 1.0m Children’s Adult Jumper section because of the new zone specs.
2. We will offer a Walk, Walk Trot, and Crossrails classes that will follow the short stirrup in the schedule.
If you still have not reserved your stalls please call us ASAP because we are putting up more stalls on Monday and I am sure that will be the last visit from our tent man. Call 228.832.9255 for reservations.
Combined Driver Chester Weber has been named to the United States Equestrian Team Foundation (USET) Board of Trustees. (Photo courtesy of My Elisabeth Weber)
Ocala, FL (February 9, 2011) – Combined Driver Chester Weber, the eight-time USEF Foundation National Four-In-Hand Driving Champion, has been named to the United States Equestrian Team Foundation (USET) Board of Trustees. The USET Foundation supports equestrian athletes, promotes international excellence and builds for the future of equestrian sports.
The eight High Performance equestrian disciplines supported by the USET Foundation are dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, reining, para-equestrian and vaulting. As one of the leading drivers in the United States, Weber’s experience — as well as his passion for promoting his sport — will serve as a benefit to the USET Foundation Board of Trustees.
“Chester and our other Trustees are people that have shown their leadership with the United States Equestrian Team through their involvement as ambassadors in International High Performance activities, and for their charitable support of our United States Equestrian Teams,” said Bonnie Jenkins, Executive Director of the USET Foundation. “We expect that Chester will continue to help us achieve our mission of supporting athletes, promoting international excellence and building for the future.”
Steiner and Hoag from the 2010 Challenge of the Americas. Photo Credit: Susan J. Stickle.
Wellington, FL – February 9, 2011 – Noted and distinguished photographer Susan J. Stickle has been announced as the professional photographer for two exciting events that are coming to Wellington the week of March 10-13. The World Dressage Masters returns to Wellington March 9-11, 2011, for the third year on its international tour, with three different competitions for dressage enthusiasts and the public alike held at the Jim Brandon Center. The weekend events wrap up with the tenth annual Challenge of the Americas March 12, 2011, which includes a Grand Prix team dressage quadrille and musical freestyle competition. This year, the Challenge will also feature a four-on-four polo match featuring patron level players. The Challenge is held at International Polo Club Palm Beach and benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Stickle, originally from Maplewood, New Jersey, has been shooting professionally since 1995, covering local, regional and National Dressage championships. She bought her first camera at age 17 with her very first paycheck after always having an interest in photography. She began riding western at age 20, and then moved to a dressage barn where she fell in love with the sport.
“At that time, there were no real professional photographers shooting the actual classes, only the awards,” noted Stickle. “We just shot each other and our friends, and never looked back.” Stickle started her business, Susan J. Stickle Photography, with longtime partner Jonna Koellhoffer and the two continue working together today. Susan rode dressage competitively with her chestnut Thoroughbred mare, Bonnie. The pair were high score champions at training level and went on to compete thru the lower levels. Her love of horses and her knowledge of dressage have given her a wonderfully keen eye that shows in her work.
Catherine Herman, Robert Orthwein, Patricia Keenan, and Rebecca Brewer Photo Credit: Alyson Sanderford/PMG.
WELLINGTON, FL – February 7, 2011 – Equestrians from all disciplines gathered on Friday, February 4, 2011, to enjoy the Equestrian Idol Musical Talent Show presented by Tiffany & Co. Palm Beach Gardens where the top prize of the evening was awarded to Robert Orthwein. Six talented performers vied for the crown, but Orthwein’s unique and incredible performance won over the judges to earn him the 2011 title. Equestrian Idol, co-chaired by Catherine Herman and Patricia Keenan, was the first event to be held in the “new” Grande Pavilion at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida. Guests had the opportunity to enjoy cutting edge culinary catering trends and the latest in food styling by the newly formed International Polo Club Catering Company.
The EQUUS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that seeks to educate the public on the significant impact of horses in our everyday lives and award grants to charities that use the horse for the benefit of the public, promote horse welfare, and advance the equestrian sport. The Foundation has awarded over $1.5 million in grants, thanks almost entirely to events like Equestrian Idol.
Mason Phelps, Jr. emceed the 5th year of the event, kicking things off by thanking everyone for attending and acknowledging the many wonderful sponsors. In addition to title sponsor Tiffany & Co. Palm Beach Gardens, other generous sponsors include Buick and GMC, the Official Vehicle Sponsor of The EQUUS Foundation. Gold Medal sponsors include: Mr. & Mrs. Michael Carpenter, the Ann T. D’Addario Family Foundation, Equestrian Sport Productions, Britta Lippert and Caroline Moran. Silver Medal sponsors include: Jennifer Burger & Meredith Lipke, and Visse Wedell. Bronze Medal sponsors include: the Adikes-Hill Family Foundation, Patricia Adikes-Hill & Rosalind Schaefer, Bobbie & Derek Braun & Split Rock Farm, Jane Forbes Clark, Louisburg Farm, Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Orthwein, Chris & Jessica Pasmore, Quiet Corner Farm, the Steeple Chase Farm Foundation, and Jenny Wren Sutton.
Wellington, FL – February 7, 2011 – Dressage is the oldest of equestrian disciplines and the basis for true harmony between rider and horse. The Greek philosopher Xenophon wrote the first recorded book on horsemanship in 350 BC. At that time and long after, horses were trained for warfare. During the Renaissance the riding schools of Vienna and Saumur contributed a lot in sophisticating dressage.
However only in the 20th century the public discovered the beauty of the ‘dancing horses’. The 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm were the first to stage dressage on an Olympic level. Dressage has never left the Olympic podium since and with the introduction of the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music in 1996 in Atlanta, dressage quickly gained popularity all over the world. Grand Prix Dressage, the highest expression of horse training, is considered to be the art of equestrian sport.
To compliment this fantastic sport and to contribute to its further internationalization and growth, sports marketing agency SportBizz, equestrian innovator Exquis have launched the World Dressage Masters (WDM) initiative in 2008. In 2011 the World Dressage Masters will feature four top class CDI5* shows:
9-11 March, Palm Beach, Florida USA
2-5 June, Munich, GER (final Nürnberger WDM Rider Ranking)
WEG Gold Medalist Shawn Flarida is the first rider in history to become the NHRA’s Four Million Dollar Winner. Flarida is shown riding Wimpy’s Little Chic. (Photo courtesy of Waltenberry)
St. Louis, MO (February 8, 2011) – Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses, is pleased to announce that Shawn Flarida, an Arenus Ambassador, is the first rider in history to become the National Reining Horse Association’s (NRHA) Four Million Dollar Rider. The NRHA has reported that Flarida’s earnings are $4,023,885.
“We are so excited for Shawn and couldn’t be prouder,” said Arenus Business Manager Simone Pophal, DVM, Ph.D. “Shawn reached the four million dollar mark during the 2010 NRHA Futurity in Oklahoma.”
Flarida, who was already the NHRA’s first Three Million Dollar Rider, topped four million dollars with rides in the finals on Quistador, owned by Augustine and Gaynia Revenberg, and Shine Chic Shine, owned by Amabile & Strusiner. A tie for third in the $100,000 NRHA World Championship Shootout on Wimpys Little Chic, owned by Arcese Quarter Horses USA, helped Flarida earn more than $100,000 to become the NRHA’s first Four Million Dollar Rider.
NO SECRET SO CLOSE is the story of a the most unthinkable betrayal humanly possible — at only 24 years old, Claire Dorotik’s father has been murdered, her mother arrested, and now, in a sinister twist of fate, Claire’s mother points the finger at Claire, accusing her of killing her own father. Battling the feelings of loss, abandonment, terror, and dissociation, and also learning about them, Claire struggles to stay in her master’s program for psychotherapy. However, when Claire’s brothers also betray her and side with her mother, Claire is left all alone to care for the 18 horses she and her mother owned. As the story unfolds, what is revealed is the horses’ amazing capacity for empathy in the face of human trauma, and the almost psychic ability to provide the author with what had been taken from her. Arising from these horrifying circumstances, the most unthinkable heroes — the horses — show Claire that life is still worth living.
Excerpt #5 from NO SECRET SO CLOSE:
“I only know one. But he’s very good.” Two years before I had been sued. I was trying to sell my first horse Cheers, when a woman and her daughter saw him at a horse show and asked if they could take him on trial. I was naïve, and they seemed nice. We wrote a contract on the back of a show entry and shook hands. “The buyer will have two weeks to try the horse, at the end of which time she can either purchase him for the agreed price of $10,000, or give him back.” That’s what it said, word for word. It didn’t say that if I took my horse back when they didn’t buy him that it would result in “emotional damages” to her daughter. When the woman chased the hauler down the freeway in her Range Rover, honking and swearing at him, I thought he was the one who would suffer emotional damages. She wanted longer than two weeks, but didn’t want to pay for the horse. I just wanted my horse back. But she sued me anyway and hired a prestigious attorney. I had no money. I couldn’t even decipher the papers I had been served with. When I showed it to the trainer I was riding for at the time, she said, “You gotta call Mike, he’s the best.” I took the number and the papers and went to see him. When he saw the name of the woman’s attorney, he told me I was in trouble. But he took the case for $500. It was a pro-bono for him. I thought it was an act of sympathy.
So I gave him a call. He didn’t hesitate. He also didn’t ask questions. Another act of sympathy. “Kerry Steigerwald. Call Kerry Steigerwald.”
While those familiar to horses would contend that horses, in general, are good for any type of person, therapists, for whom which equine therapy is a new, untested field, have not been so quick to jump on the bandwagon. Many of the concerns expressed have surrounded the relative lack of evidence available indicating the efficacy of work with horses, but also, lack of clarity as to what particular diagnosis may be helped by equine therapy. Certainly these concerns are not without validity as we have learned that with the fertile emergence of all types of experiential therapies, some approaches are not helpful, and in some ways harmful, for certain types of clients.
So in considering the introduction of equine therapy for clients, we must be clear just who can be helped by our equine friends, as with other experiential methods, equine therapy is not for everyone. However, from the beginning, equine therapy was promoted for all types of clients, with the largest and most prominent usage surrounding eating disorders. Remuda Ranch, in Wickenburg, Arizona (www.remudaranch.com), has in many ways been a trendsetter in this movement. This particular center, which is designed exclusively for the treatment of pervasive cases of eating disorders, incorporates horses with every client, and the equine therapy program enjoys a large share of treatment time.
Of late, equine therapy has been espoused as an effective treatment for addictions, with the majority of centers promoting this, among other experiential therapies as a way to engage and ascertain information from clients who might otherwise be treatment resistant. The frontrunner in this approach has been Sierra Tucson, (www.sierratucson.com) the prominent rehabilitation center in Tucson Arizona. Like Remuda Ranch, equine therapy is a part of every client’s program, and the center’s sister site, Miraval (www.miravalresorts.com), a less intense and more akin to a “health spa,” uses equine therapy in majority to restore balance and wellness to clients’ lives.
Champ 163 and Rodrigo Pessoa won the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award during the third week of the WEF. Melissa Bennington and Kristen Galvan, Sales Specialists for Arenus, presented Pessoa with the award. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)
Wellington, FL (February 7, 2011) – Brazilian Olympic Gold medalist Rodrigo Pessoa rode away as the winner of the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award aboard Champ 163 during the third week of the 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. Champ 163, owned by Legacy Stables LLC, finished ninth in the 1.50m Jumper Classic.
“Rodrigo is a legend in the show jumping world and it was a thrill to present him with the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award,” said Melissa Bennington, northeast Sales Specialist for Arenus. “Rodrigo made history and broke a world record when he and Baloubet du Rouet won the World Cup Final three years in a row. Rodrigo has also competed and medaled in multiple Olympics and Pan Am Games and it was an honor to meet him and present him with the Arenus award.”
The Performance and Conditioning Award is sponsored by Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutrition products for pets and horses, and is given to one horse during the show whose conditioning enhances its performance. Kristen Galvan, an Arenus Sales Specialist for the southeast, was also thrilled to meet Rodrigo. “It’s not often you get to meet someone who has made such an impact on the show jumping world,” she said.
February 7, 2011 – Chicago (EWA) – On February 1st, Utah Senator David P. Hinkins introduced joint resolution S.J.R 11, titled “A Resolution Expressing Opposition to Federal Restoring Our Mustangs Act.” The resolution expresses opposition to federal bills H.R. 1018 / S. 1579, known collectively as the ROAM Act. The only problem is that the ROAM Act was from the 111th Congress and no longer exists.
The ROAM act was passed by the House of Representatives on July 19, 2009 but was never taken up by the Senate and died with the end of the 111th Congress. Though initially popular among wild horse advocates, growing suspicion that ROAM could be used by the Obama Administration to implement its “Salazar Plan” caused it to lose support.
The “Salazar plan” would remove mustangs from their native habitats in the West, sterilize them, and leave them to die out on Midwestern feedlots. So intent is the Administration on this plan, that it rejected a private refuge plan offered by Madeleine Pickens, wife of oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens. That plan would have left the horses on a large tract of their native lands which the Pickenses had purchased.
