All posts by Associate Editor

Titles Shared between Nations at the FEI Driving World Championship for Young Horses

Fabrice Martin (FRA) & Idromel Noir – FEI/FFE/Mélanie Guillamot

Venturing outside Hungary for the first time since the event was established in 2016, the 7th FEI Driving World Championship for Young Horses was held at the superb equestrian centre Parc Equestre Fédéral at Lamotte-Beuvron, south of Orleans (FRA).  It has been a busy time for the French as the event followed the FEI World Pairs Championship in Haras-du-Pin in Normandy last weekend.

First to be crowned World Champion on a bright Sunday morning was Swiss singles supremo Mario Gandolfo in the 6-year-old class with the Franches-Montagnes Lemmy-K, owned by Lisby Bastin.  Maintaining the winning momentum he showed last year to win the 5-year-old title in Szilvásvárad (HUN), the powerful Swiss bred gelding was in front at each stage of the competition to end on 15.93. Mario is currently ranked number two in FEI Singles.  Runner-up was Lars Krüger (GER) with the German Sathu mare Salome on 14.80, and in third was Sabrina Melotti (NED) driving the KWPN mare Melotti Texel with 13.67.

The next class to find a new champion was for the youngest category, the 5-year-olds.  Fabrice Martin (FRA), driving for the host nation, also led at each stage with the stunning black Selle Français mare Idromel Noir, owned by the IFCE, and they topped the leaderboard with 15.30.  Matching his position from the previous class, runner-up once again was Lars Krüger with the Sathu stallion Valentino on 14.12.  Trading a first for third, Mario Gandolfo drove his own Franches-Montagnes gelding Johnson Du Signal to take the remaining podium place with 12.98.

Despite a slight delay to the start of Sunday’s competition due to water problems in the arena, by late lunchtime, the third title of the weekend had been awarded in the 7-year-old category to Marie Schiltz (LUX).  Currently ranked number three in FEI Singles, Marie was another to lead throughout the competition, driving her father Franz’s Oldenburg mare Freaky Friday 12 to end on 14.53, who impressed the judges with her supple and uphill movement.  Franz drove the mare two years ago in the 5-year-old category, but he is also a previous world title winner in the 7-year-old category, which he took at the first World Championship in 2016 with his Oldenburg stallion Frodo, who Marie now drives.

Placed second was Wilbrord Van Den Broek (NED) with his own KWPN gelding Love to Dance with a total of 12.46, marginally ahead of Agnes Paulovics (HUN) with Józef Vida’s KWPN stallion L-Grappa-WK on 12.31.  As well as appearing at the last two Young Horse World Championships, where he was third last year in the 6-year-old class, this versatile horse also drives in Józef’s Four-in-Hand, and with Agnes competes in Horse Singles classes.

The competition, like other championships, takes place over four days, after the initial ‘fit to compete’ inspection.  However, in all other areas the format is different.  On Thursday, athletes and horses enter a qualifying ‘Aptitude Test’ which combines a series of Dressage movements and a sequence of Cones. The top 50% proceed to the Dressage on Saturday, but on Friday, the lower 50% drive again to try again to gain a place in the final phases.  The number permitted to through after the second qualification is determined by the officials, but there is a maximum of ten athletes in the final rounds for each class.

Sunday’s Combined Marathon takes place in one arena and consists of two Marathon type obstacles plus Cones, but the course varies between the classes to alter the complexity depending on the age category, for example in the 5-year-old class, only one of the Marathon obstacles was used.  The course designer was Josef Middendorf, who also designed at the Four-in-Hand World Championships in Pratoni (ITA) last year.

The marking system is also different from most Driving competitions, which are penalty based, so the lowest overall score wins.  Here it is the highest score which wins and marks are awarded together by the four judges, who decide collaboratively what mark out of 10 will be given, which is then averaged to give a single mark at the end of each phase.  For the final placings, two marks count, which are from the Dressage and the Combined Marathon.  Penalties are deducted from the total and can be for a knocked ball, which is 0.3, or for time and other errors, such as a groom down.

“Having the judges sit together allows for really good discussion around the way of going expected from the age range.  The key point is this is judged around the performance of the horse, not a series of Dressage movements. It is refreshing to look at the horse according to age and have a good discussion between colleagues. It is also important to understand how we train horses correctly, giving them time to develop and mature. It’s such a special event, being able to look at some amazing horses and really getting into the movement, training scale, and minds of some wonderful equines,” said Andrew Counsell, President of the Ground Jury.

In total, 50 athletes and 50 horses came forward from 10 nations.  Athletes compete as individuals and there is no team competition.  Each athlete can enter two horses per age category.  Throughout the event, the emphasis is on the performance of the horse. Marks are given in accordance with the scales of training in the context of the age and stage of its development.

FULL RESULTS

by Sarah Dance

press@fei.org
www.fei.org

Oliver Townend Soars to the Top of FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings

Photo: Oliver Townend at the FEI Eventing World Championship 2022 in Pratoni del Vivaro (ITA). FEI – Massimo Argenziano

British equestrian athlete Oliver Townend has claimed the top spot in the FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings with 504 points, a spot he takes from his fellow countrywoman, Rosalind Canter, who held the coveted position for just one month.

Townend’s ascent to the summit of the rankings comes as no surprise for the Olympic gold medalist, who previously held the world’s number one ranking over a year ago. He temporarily relinquished his position to New Zealand’s Tim Price, who enjoyed an 11-month reign before being surpassed by Canter.

“It is and always will be an honour to be at number one in your sport and it’s great to be back in that spot. The horses are incredible – they’re improving every day, have been so consistent, and will always be my ultimate teammates. I also want to thank the massive amount of people behind me that make this happen, including the team at both yards,” Townend explained.

Townend’s career has seen him hold the top position in the FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings for a total of 50 months, with a streak of 37 consecutive months at number one.

Rosalind Canter now stands at second place with 467 points, while American athlete Martin Boyd has made a remarkable jump from eighth to third place with 436 points. Meanwhile, Tim Price (NZL) continues to slip in the rankings, currently occupying the fourth spot with 434 points, closely followed by Tom McEwen (GBR) in fifth place with 431 points.

Great Britain’s stronghold in the top end of the Rankings is unequivocal, with three out of the top five in British hands; they also have back up and can count on Harry Meade (408 points), David Doel (393 points), William Oakden (383 points), and Laura Collet (371 points) in 6th to 9th respectively, making that a total of seven British athletes within the Top 10 rankings. Coming in tenth place is USA athlete Philipp Dutton with 367 points.

FULL RANKING HERE

FEI Contact:

Didier Montes Kienle
Manager, Sport Communications and Media Relations
didier.montes@fei.org

British Are Best on Opening Day

Robert Whitaker and Vermento. (FEI/Liz Gregg)

Team Great Britain got off to a flying start when topping the first round of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Final 2023 at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain with the only zero scoreline of the afternoon.

Foot-perfect runs from pathfinder Tim Gredley (Medoc de Toxandria), Robert Whitaker (Vermento), and anchorman Harry Charles (Aralyn Blue) meant that the 12 faults collected by Lily Attwood (Cor-Leon VD Vlierbeek Z) would be their discard. They finished a full fence ahead of Brazil, Germany, and Switzerland, who filled second, third, and fourth places with four faults apiece and separated only by their combined times.

The top eight nations have qualified for Sunday’s title-decider in which they will all start again on a clean sheet, and the remaining countries that have made the cut are the defending champions from Belgium and Team USA, who each posted eight-fault results, and Ireland and France who finished with 12.

Team Mexico just missed out when also putting 12 on the board but in a slower time, and on Saturday night they will once again defend the Challenge Cup trophy they won so memorably 12 months ago.

Meanwhile, the battle for the single qualifying spot on offer for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been whittled down to a two-way contest between Brazil and the USA, because the other contenders from Mexico, Argentina, Italy, and Australia didn’t make it to Sunday’s second round, which already looks set to be another cracking contest.

Think about

Spanish course designer Santiago Varela gave them lots to think about with a 14-fence track with plenty of height and curving lines that tested power and accuracy. The vertical with a yellow plank on top at fence nine and the penultimate double of verticals were the bogeys of the day.

Harry Charles clinched top spot for the British with a superb clear with the 12-year-old mare Aralyn Blue. Talking about the challenges of the course, he said fence nine, which followed the beefy Longines triple combination, “was on an unusual line and angle; you were coming straight out of the corner. You could see at the start of the class the horses weren’t jumping it well. I just made sure to give myself a bit more room there.

“Coming to the double of verticals (fence 13) it was either five or six (strides) and on the six you take away a bit of the power, slowing down so much to jump it. For me it was a waiting five and my mare was able to have a bit of room and kept the power, so not too many problems there for me,” he explained.

Like all the British, he was delighted with the result. “I’m really proud of us today actually!” he said. “My horse is pretty new at this level; she’s only done one Nations Cup prior to this, and it was a tough enough course, not overly big but delicate with some fun lines in there! The other guys did a good job; there were two clears already (for the British team) so I luckily could go in and do the clear.”

When asked if he felt under pressure, he replied, “Today probably wasn’t the most pressure I’ve ridden under, but we wanted to be in there on Sunday, so there was that to it.” He admitted that the result for his team was a bit of a surprise. “Probably an unexpected result if you told us at the start of the day, but we’ll take it and hopefully we can do something similar on Sunday!

“We will go back to a blank slate unfortunately (in Sunday’s final round), it would be nice if we carried it through, but it’s been really good and hopefully we will be in good enough nick for Sunday,” he added.

Anticipation

There’s a lot of anticipation of a great final day. The Swiss have never won the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ title, but their fourth-place finish gives them another opportunity to clinch it. However, it hasn’t been plain sailing ahead of this year’s event.

“We’ve always been a bit unlucky with this Final, and this year the horse from Edouard is injured and Bryan (Balsiger) lost his horses and the horse of Pius (Schwizer) was injured, so we don’t have our ‘A’ team. But still our horses jumped good today and we’ll see if Elian (Baumann) goes on Sunday. We won’t be the favourites on Sunday, but we’ll try!” said Steve Guerdat who, just a few short weeks ago, added the individual European title to the Olympic gold he won back in 2012.

“We’ve had a very good year and it would be a great way to finish, and for the horses to finish as well. My horse (Venard de Cerisy) didn’t have a rail down in the whole Nations Cup season – St Gallen double-clear, Aachen double-clear, Dublin double-clear, and now clear today, so I hope I can do a clear again! We are here, we will try, the sport is great, and we are looking forward to Sunday now!” said the man who sits third in the current world rankings.

Focus

In contrast, the focus for Brazil is fully on that Olympic qualification and the battle against the USA. Pathfinder Marlon Modolo Zanotell and Grand Slam VDL produced a perfect clear and team veteran, Rodrigo Pessoa, did likewise. Pessoa has won Olympic and World titles and is as hungry as ever to help take his country to Paris next summer. His top ride, the 10-year-old gelding Major Tom, made nothing of the course.

“It’s a freak of a horse – the intelligence, the ability to jump, the whole package. He’s very straightforward and has a lot of blood, a lot of temperament, but at the end he wants to jump clear; that’s all he wants to do,” Pessoa said.

When asked about the recent addition of former Portuguese rider Diniz to the Brazilian side, he said she is a real asset. “Yes, she’s super-experienced and her horse is really good and it’s always good to have one more – the more soldiers the better!”

As for Sunday, “It’s just about us, the USA!” he said. “They are a big nation with a very strong team as well. Today was just a warm-up and we have to go again. I think it went well today; the two mistakes that we had (a fence down each for Stephan de Freitas Barcha and Chevaux Primavera Imperio Egipcio and Luciana Diniz with Vertigo du Desert) were silly mistakes that I think we can get rid of, but better to do those little ones today than on Sunday!”

Results here.

by Louise Parkes

press@fei.org
www.fei.org

BLM Proposes Massive Burro Roundup + New Cattle Grazing

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a MASSIVE roundup of burros in Arizona’s Three River Complex, which includes the Alamo, Big Sandy, and Havasu Herd Management Areas (HMAs). BLM plans to round up 1,794 of the estimated 2,259 burros living in the area, leaving behind just 465 burros. Livestock grazing in the Big Sandy HMA is equivalent to 1,000 year-round cows; BLM only allows 139 burros to live in that same area.

America’s wild burros face a genetic crisis due to BLM’s mismanagement of these hardy little animals. The agency keeps most burro populations so small that inbreeding is inevitable.

BLM plans this massive burro roundup while at the same time the agency proposes ADDING COWS to graze in the same area! After nearly 30 years of no livestock grazing in the Alamo HMA, BLM wants to add cows despite claiming the HMA is over-grazed. This is CRAZY.

BLM’s unscientific “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) is a rigged system where any animal over BLM’s arbitrary quota is considered “overpopulation.” The only way to address this is to reduce livestock grazing and increase the number of burros allowed on the range.

Please take action NOW by signing our two petitions here and here, which call on BLM to ditch the massive roundup and reject the proposal to add new livestock grazing in the Alamo HMA.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Wild Horse Fire Brigade Updates

Photo: Michelle Gough

Maybe you can imagine the frustration of having a vaccine that is proven to cure cancer, but not having the money to produce and distribute the cure.  Even as people are dying.

That is the kind of frustration that we are dealing with in regard to saving wild horses!  We have the cure for the wild horse management debacle. Now we just need the money to get the cure effected.

Unfortunately, an industry-wide slowdown in funding, partially caused by more nonprofits than ever entering into the wild horse nonprofit marketplace, is diluting donations and slowing progress on our projects critical to implementing a permanent, humane, and natural solution to keep American wild horses wild and free.

People are being fooled into funding the widespread sterilization (a.k.a.: Fertility Control) of wild horses to augment the genetic damage being inflicted by reducing populations via BLM roundups. This slowdown in funding is coming at a time when some people are asking and pleading with us, “Is there any way we can get the Wild Horse Fire Brigade plan accomplished faster?”  Of course there is, but it takes proper funding… we can only go as fast as our budget allows us.

Stanford produced a white paper that addresses the serious issues that arise from under funding a worthy nonprofit:

The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle

“Funders must take the lead in breaking a vicious cycle that is leaving nonprofits so hungry for decent infrastructure that they can barely function as organizations — let alone serve their beneficiaries.”

(Note: In the case of Wild Horse Fire Brigade, the ‘beneficiaries’ are the wild horses being abused, tortured, and on the brink of extinction.)

“Our research reveals that a vicious cycle fuels the persistent underfunding of overhead. The first step in the cycle is funders’ unrealistic expectations about how much it costs to run a nonprofit. At the second step, nonprofits feel pressure to conform to funders’ unrealistic expectations. At the third step, nonprofits respond to this pressure in two ways: they spend too little on overhead, and they underreport their expenditures on tax forms and in fundraising materials. This underspending and underreporting in turn perpetuate funders’ unrealistic expectations. Over time, funders expect grantees to do more and more with less and less — a cycle that slowly starves nonprofits.”

Sure, we’ve gotten some great national media exposure, and we’re very grateful for it. But people incorrectly assume that will be the ticket and we should now have financial wings when it’s not the case.  Honestly, national media articles help build brand recognition, reputation, and equity, but are less effective at bringing in donations these days than in prior years.

Until we can secure a major grant or large-scale donor, or a solid following of monthly donors, which as a newer nonprofit, we don’t have yet, our progress is restricted by budget.

We are far from having the kind of financial support we need to fully and speedily execute our novel, multifaceted approach to change the ongoing disastrous wild horse management and 30 years of failed advocacy.

Doing more of the same isn’t going to save wild horses in a manner that provides sustainable, humane, natural conservation that keeps them ‘wild & free’.

Too many people keep ignoring the evident facts that wild horse roundups have been greatly accelerated in coordination with horrific sterilization programs, both of which are carefully and scientifically designed to decimate wild horse populations.

This is the Bureau of Land Management’s end game.  And the biggest nonprofits are cashing in on the BLM’s plan, to the great detriment of wild horses.

Our end game is to use the combined experience of our team, along with the unparalleled extensive knowledge and experience, gained by managing our herd of 150 free roaming wild horses in a wilderness for the past 9 years, including during a catastrophic wildfire, to re-wild and relocate tens of thousands of wild horses into appropriate remote wilderness areas on parts of both public and privately owned remote wilderness.

There is approximately 353 million acres of privately owned for forests in America. About 50 million acres of that is very remote and unsuited for livestock, but ideal habitat for wild horses, that can make these areas more wildfire resilient.

Of the 115 million acres of publicly owned ‘designated wilderness’ (unsuited for livestock), all of which is at grave risk of incineration by wildfire, at least 30 million acres of that is very remote ideal habitat for wild horses. We only need to utilize a total of 20 million acres in order to re-wild/relocate 100,000 horses at the rate of 1 horse per 200 acres.

Here’s what we have in progress that can change everything for American wild horses:

(1) Our pilot herd of wild horses helped CALFIRE to stop a deadly 38,000 acre, wind driven catastrophic wildfire from incinerating the national treasure called the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. THIS IS A CASE STUDY. And we need to continue our ongoing research with this case study herd. We are needing to acquire some electronics for an advanced tracking system for our lead mares. This will open the door to much more important scientific information. The telemetry package (electronics, etc.) we need costs $20k. We currently don’t have that in our budget.

By way of the wildfire fuels management year after year, when the fire struck in 2018, the fuels had been managed by the wild horses and were minimal, and that made CALFIRE’s wildfire suppression efforts more effective.

Our herd of wild horses had created and maintained a fire resilient landscape year-round, and they can do the same job elsewhere.

Saving what we can right now – working with our extended family of volunteer advocates, we have rescued 60 mustangs that would have ended up in a Mexican slaughter plant.  Here is a video showing one of the groups that has their freedom restored: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntqV QeeVMs.

We must continue to offer the lesson from our wild horse management experience to legislators, forest managers, firefighters, ecologists, and wild horse advocates. Our empirical experience transcends textbooks, academic hypotheses, and certainly BLM mythology.

We can teach and inform others.  Education is one of our key strategies, and will help our future re-wilding partners to understand how and why our plan works, and how to successfully scale our plan onto very large landscapes of 100,000 acres and larger.

(2) Articles & publications:

Anyone who has been college educated can recall the huge time requirement and effort to write a term paper, right?

Now imagine having to crank out a term paper every week, for years in a row! That’s what we’ve been doing, and we have NO STAFF.  Of course, that’s on top of dealing with hundreds of emails per week, phone calls, etc.

In addition to doing daily field work in the wilderness with wild horses and all the chores it takes to live off grid in the wilderness, Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s founder William Simpson and co-researcher Michelle Gough have been producing articles and papers weekly that average 2,500 words each (in Simpson’s case, for the past 9 years).

We must continue authoring and publishing articles and white papers that inform decision makers and educators about the genuine value of maintaining natural herds of wild horses on the appropriate landscapes. This is a very time-consuming endeavor (writing researched articles and getting them published).

Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s founder, William E. Simpson, is a professional writer and published author (Ulysses Press), and recognized by Simon and Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/William E Simpson/169118167.

A few of our published articles and informational stories are platformed on our website (www.WHFB.us), providing the public with quick single point access to important, accurate information about wild horses.

Many other articles are published elsewhere, such as these example outlets:

*Pagosa Daily Post (Colorado): https://pagosadailypost.com/author/william simpson/

*HorseTalk (New Zealand):  https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/author/billsimpson/

* Sierra Nevada Ally: https://sierranevadaally.org/author/william e simpson ii/

(3) Utilizing our wilderness research station/ranch:

Our free roaming wild herd in the wilderness coupled with our onsite research station can serve as a center for the college field studies of wild horse ecology and ethology. This could turn out a new army of resource managers into the real world who know the truth of wild horses.

Our research station/ranch is set in the wilderness among a herd of free roaming wild horses. This provides our team with the opportunity to have visiting university students and scientists to learn about wild horses using what we call the ‘Goodall Method’.  Through an alliance with an accredited University, we hope to soon be offering a certificate or fellowship program in Wild Horse Ecology Ethology.

(4) Video and photographic education:

Producing documentaries and edutainment videos that can help inform the public at large. We have already produced over 230 such videos. Some of these videos have thousands of views, and provide a library of video information to the public.  We need to get the word out about this body of work.

(5) TV, radio, and internet interviews:

Bringing out the truth about wild horses and their importance on the American landscape is vital to our mission, and yet another important way to inform the general public. Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s founder spends dozens of hours every month preparing for and giving interviews, on site at the ranch, on the radio, on TV, and via the internet and webinars.

Recently, Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s Vice President, Kelsey Stangebye, authored an outstanding paper that was published at Midwest Reining Horse Association’s magazine, and can be read here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mZWo2FJd1D1RtK2AWCq8yQK2sYBVcauM/view?usp=sharing

Thank you for reading this, and please do share it.

Please donate here.

Visit www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org for more information.

The 2023 Hampton Classic Kicks Off with a Focus on Equine Welfare

Left to Right: Gabriella Pizzolo, Jill Rappaport, Serena Marron, Valerie Angeli, and Kevin Santacroce Photo @ Marianne Barnett

What better way to start the 2023 Hampton Classic Horse Show than by focusing on the welfare of America’s horses in need of forever homes? The EQUUS Foundation partnered with the Hampton Classic to showcase adoptable horses on Sunday, August 27, during the Opening Day Ceremony in the Grand Prix Ring, and on Monday, August 28, for the annual Adoption event sponsored by Gotham Enterprizes and Georgina Bloomberg.

The Opening Day ceremony previewed the adoptable horses that would be participating the next day and featured popular actress, Gabriella Pizzolo of TV and Broadway; renowned animal welfare and adoption advocate, TV personality and best-selling author, Jill Rappaport; Serena Marron, EQUUS Foundation Advisory Council member; and Valerie Angeli, EQUUS Foundation VP Engagement.

The highlight was the presentation of a $4,000 check to the EQUUS Foundation from ConnectOne Bank, a new sponsor of the Hampton Classic. ConnectOne Bank’s Long Island Market President, Kevin Santacroce, said, “As ConnectOne Bank continues to grow on Long Island and serve the community, I am delighted to honor the EQUUS Foundation with this donation for their long-standing commitment to ensuring the welfare of America’s horses and fostering the horse-human bond.”

Equine Adoption Day

On August 28, Georgina Bloomberg and Jill Rappaport joined Valerie Angeli to emcee the annual Equine Adoption event. Participating EQUUS Foundation Guardian charities included Bergen County Horse Rescue, Rising Starr Horse Rescue, and Sunshine Horses.

Over 100 attendees were able to enjoy not only hands-on experiences with the adoptable horses but also learning experiences, including tours of the state-of-the-art HEART Horse Ambulance and a demonstration of blacksmithing and equine leg anatomy by Tim Fitzgerald of the Long Island University College of Veterinary Medicine. There was also interactive fun featuring Bouncy Horse Racing and Horseless Show Jumping. The Long Island University Equestrian Team volunteered in full force.

Christine Fitzgerald, Executive Director of The Rider’s Closet, was on hand to remind attendees that the donation trunk would be onsite all week. The Rider’s Closet, founded by Georgina Bloomberg and now an EQUUS Foundation program, makes equestrian sport more accessible to all riders to pursue their equestrian dreams.

How You Can Help

Angeli added, “If you can’t adopt a horse, you can still help by lending your voice. Join us as a #HorseProtector by taking the pledge here that you will be a friend and advocate for horses in need.” While no donation is required to take the #HorseProtector pledge, each individual who takes the pledge will have their own customized fundraising page to encourage donations from among their family, friends, and associates. Pledge takers who give or raise $100 or more starting now through August 31, 2024 will be entered into a drawing to win prizes donated by our HorseProtector Sponsors.

There were several adoptions at, and shortly after, the event as well as ongoing interest in all the horses that participated, as a direct result of exposure both in person at the event, and through word of mouth and social media.

A special highlight of the day was the adoption of the Mustang mare, Abracadabra, from Rising Starr Horse Rescue. “Abra, a victim of the government roundups to rid wild horses from public lands, is a symbol of the plight of all American wild horses who are fighting for their lives and who are now desperate for and dependent on new-found purposes once removed from their family herds and natural habitats,” said Angeli. Abra’s life had taken twists and turns for years since her removal from the wild, and this adoption was particularly emotional and triumphant.

Sunshine Horses educated and amazed spectators with their stunning off-track Standardbred horses who were looking for special homes after their harness racing careers had ended. “The stories these horses could tell – from racing, to auction, to almost shipping to slaughter, to being purchased to work as cart and buggy horses for years, only to be sent back to auction – will break your heart,” said Angeli. “The lucky ones find their way to rescue, rehab, rehoming and hope – but many will not. That’s why we are here today, to share their stories and to work together to make sure no horse winds up at risk.”

To learn more about the many horses available for adoption from our Guardian charities nationwide, please visit: equusfoundation.org/adopt.

Meet Thoroughbred Trainers Jena Antonucci and Katie Miranda at EquineEd

Saturday, September 16

On June 10, Jena Antonucci became the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race by winning the Belmont Stakes with Archangelo. 10 weeks later, she showed the world it was no fluke by winning the $1.25 million Travers Stakes.

Join Thoroughbred trainers Jena Antonucci and Katie Miranda at the Kentucky Horse Park for our September EquineEd lecture series. Jena and Katie are co-owners of horseOlogy, a full-cycle thoroughbred training and ownership organization based in Ocala, Florida that handles everything related to thoroughbred breeding, training, and racing.

EquineEd is a FREE event. Mark your calendar for this Saturday, September 16, 12 p.m. at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions barn. Please enter through the KHP Visitor Center.

Don’t miss EquineEd: A First Saturday Lecture Series!

September 16: Jena Antonucci & Katie Miranda
Thoroughbred Trainers

October 7: Erin O’Keefe
Retired Racehorse Project

November 4: Shelby Hume
Dressage Naturally Instructor

December 2: Museum Round Table featuring:
International Museum of the Horse
American Saddlebred Museum
Keeneland Association
Kentucky Derby Museum

To learn more, visit www.kyhorsepark.com.

Strzegom Autumn Show: Equestrian Tournament with a Star Lineup

Photo by Mariusz Chmieliński

11 classes, including the Polish Championships and the International Young Horses Competition. Outstanding athletes, and for the youngest, the Hobby Horse competition – Strzegom Autumn Show starts this weekend.

The autumn equestrian tournament returns to the Stragona calendar after a five-year break. The hippodrome in Morawa will host riders from 22 countries, with more than 240 horses. Four international classes in the short format, three competitions for young horses, and four national classes will be played out. The battle for the medals of the Polish Championships will also be decided.

The entry list includes some of the world’s best eventers, including the German multi-medalist Michael Jung – the double Olympic champion, world champion, and European Champion; Australia’s Andrew Hoy – the two-time gold medalist of the Olympic Games; Felix Vogg from Switzerland – the silver medalist of the world championships for young horses; Japan’s Yoshiaki Oiwa – the double gold medalist of the Asian Games; as well as the defending Polish champion – Mateusz Kiempa.

During the International Young Horses Competition, we will see youngsters aged from 5 to 9. “I think this event will be an excellent opportunity to present young horses at the international arena, and for some it may be the last chance to qualify for the World Championships for Young Horses, which will be held in Lion d’Angers, France,” says Marcin Konarski, the show organizer.

The accompanying event will be the Hobby Horse Eventing competition, which will be held on Sunday. This an up-and-coming new sport, in which athletes compete on “horses” built from a wooden pole with a horse’s head with reins, a bridle, and other equipment imitating that used by riders. The rules of competition are inspired by the regulations of equestrian competitions. The hippodrome will feature a dressage arena, a cross-country course with wooden obstacles specially designed for Hobby Horse, and a parkour with jumping fences.

The Strzegom Autumn Show competition starts on September 15. On Friday, dressage trials will be held, and on Saturday and Sunday several arenas will be the playgrounds for both jumping and cross-country trials.

Admission to the competition and parking are free.

Contact:
www.strzegomhorsetrials.pl
press@strzegomhorsetrials.pl

High Excitement in the Final Day of Para Dressage Team Competition

Charlotte Cundall (GBR) riding FJ Veyron in the team test Grade V © FEI/Leanjo de Koster

Sweden Qualifies for Paris

The excitement for the team rankings has been high at the FEI Para Dressage European Championships in Riesenbeck. Not only were the evident glory of team medals at stake, but for one team, a good result meant a nation spot for the Paralympic Games in Paris next year.

As the top placed team not already qualified for the Games would earn that spot, the stakes were high for countries such as Ireland, Austria, and Sweden. The last Austrian rider Bernd Brugger was also the last rider of the day, so tension was drawn out to the very end. It was therefore a happy and relieved Swedish team that found themselves in possession of a nation’s qualification for Paris 2024.

Mette Ubbesen, Swedish team trainer, says: “I am so excited! I think the riders have been doing a great job. For the last 10 months I have worked with them, they have just been getting better and better and they have worked so hard. Our plan for these championships was to qualify the team for Paris, but we didn’t quite believe in it. But we actually succeeded!”

The Netherlands takes Team Gold once again

The defending European Championship team from 2019 in Rotterdam has just reclaimed their title here at the FEI Para Dressage European Championships in Riesenbeck. For a long time, it looked like it could be German gold, but then the European championship debutant Demi Haerkens (Grade IV) and her super mare EHL Daula entered the arena. The pair absolutely smashed it in the Grand Prix B and were rewarded with outstanding 79.730%.

Not only did they have the highest score of the day, but more importantly, they put the Netherlands in gold position. Before her, Frank Hosmar (Grade V) riding Alphaville N.O.P. and Lotte Krijnsen (Grade III) on Rosenstolz N.O.P. had laid a strong fundament for the gold. Finally, Sanne Voets (Grade IV) and Demantur RS2 N.O.P. sealed the deal and brought the team score up to an impressive 232.637%.

In the end, the German team consisting of Heidemarie Dresing (Grade II) on Horse24 Dooloop, Melanie Wienand (III) on Lemony’s Loverboy, Martina Benzinger (Grade I) on Nautika, and Regine Mispelkamp (Grade V) on Highlander Delight’s took the silver medal with a total score of 226.979%.

On bronze, we have the super ladies from Great Britain, Georgia Wilson (Grade II) riding Sakura, Gabby Blake (Grade I) on Strong Beau, Charlotte Cundall (Grade V) on FJ Veyron, and Sophie Wells (Grade V) on LJT Egebjerggards Samoa finishing with a total score of 222.663%.

National trainer for the Netherlands, Joyce Heuitink, speaking after the final result: “I am incredibly happy, and I am more than proud. I think from most of them, it was a pure masterclass! It gave me goosebumps and tears during the test already, because it was so nice and effortless and beautiful and mistake-free. I have riders that perform under pressure and they have to show it every show, which is never a guarantee, but once again they have proven that they can perform under pressure, which also makes me extremely proud that you can rely on such good riding.”

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by Stinne Tange

press@fei.org
www.fei.org

Vogel Untouchable in the CANA Cup

(Photo: Rolex Grand Slam / Ashley Neuhof)

On the second day of the 2023 edition of the CSIO Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ Tournament, 42 of the world’s best horse and rider combinations took on Leopoldo Palacios’ stunningly designed course in the hopes of securing their place in the pinnacle class of the show, the CPKC ‘International’ Grand Prix, presented by Rolex.

The iconic International Arena, which has played host to numerous historic moments in the sport, including Scott Brash’s incredible Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping victory in 2015, was beautifully bathed in the late summer sun. First to enter the arena, Ireland’s Conor Swail, who claimed this class last year, set the standard for the remaining combinations with a perfectly judged clear round. It was only five horses later that the newly crowned FEI European Champion, Steve Guerdat, ensured that there would be a jump-off as he mastered the technical course aboard the impressive gelding Albfuehren’s Maddox.

The world-class field truly impressed the knowledgeable Canadian crowd with a total of 15 riders clearing the 1.55m, 12 combination course faultlessly. The elite list of riders included the winner of the ATCO Cup earlier in the day, Martin Fuchs, and Britain’s Matthew Sampson, a regular winner at the venue. The crowd also were thrilled to see Canadian riders Mario Deslauriers and Erynn Ballard finish the first-round fault-free.

Three combinations elected not to return to the jump-off, meaning that 12 combinations proceeded to the jump-off. Entering the ring in the same order that they jumped in the first round, it was second to go, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, who jumped the first double clear of the class in a time of 44.27 seconds and set the pace for those to follow. However, fourth into the arena, Richard Vogel with the big striding stallion, United Touch S, eclipsed Guerdat’s lead with a time of 43.07 seconds.

Read more here.

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