Category Archives: Associations/Breeds

*Featured/Spotlights, Breeds, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Driving, Events, JRPR

Lusitanos Light Up the Season at West Palm Beach’s Waterfront Holiday HorseFest

December 17, 2010 Associate Editor 1 Comment

ReiberIMG_0235 — Cherri Reiber and the Lusitanos Zerbino Interagro and Visitor Interagro presented a tandem driving exhibition at the Fidelity Investments Holiday HorseFest. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)

West Palm Beach, FL (December 17, 2010) – Two magnificent Lusitanos, driven in tandem by Cherri Reiber, kicked off the holiday season in style at Fidelity Investments Holiday HorseFest at the Meyer Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach’s downtown waterfront. With more than four thousand spectators in attendance, the Lusitanos’ thrilling demonstration lit up the holiday show, which was presented as a fun and festive afternoon of show jumping, musical performances, pony rides, holiday fun, prize giveaways and a competition for the 2011 $1 Million Great Charity Challenge.

“The crowd really enjoyed the tandem driving exhibition and the two Lusitanos, Vistor Interagro and Zerbino Interagro, piloted by Reiber put on a fabulous performance,” said Peter Van Borst, the United States representative for Interagro Lusitanos, the largest breeder and exporter of Lusitano horses in the world. “Tandem driving is considered by driving aficionados to be one of the most difficult forms of the driving discipline due to the fact of minimal control over the lead horse. These two horses have only been working together for a few weeks, and despite the imposing venue Vistor Interagro and Zerbino Interagro put on a show that the crowd will remember for a long time.”

*Featured/Spotlights, Breeds, Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Events, JRPR

Lipizzaner Stallions and Riders Perform Classical Dressage for the King of Bahrain

December 17, 2010 Associate Editor 1 Comment

Johnson155454 — Holly Johnson of JRPR and the Lipizzan stallion, Pluto Valdamora, also known as Pete. Pete was one of eight Lipizzans to be rescued from neglect and brought into the show to perform the courbette, the most difficult of the ‘airs above the ground’ maneuvers. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)

Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain (December 17, 2010) – Ten horses and eight riders braved a 16-hour plane ride to the Middle East this November to present the King of Bahrain with a demonstration of classical dressage. King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa staged the Bahrain Animal Production Show this month and brought in the Lipizzaner Stallion Show as the headliner. Also known as the Mara’ee, the agricultural show featured animal trainers, breeders and performers from around the world.

Holly Johnson, a marketing associate for JRPR, Inc, was one of the eight riders to perform in Bahrain. The 23-year-old joined the tour immediately after graduating from the University of Miami in May of 2009, and was thrilled to be asked to ride overseas. Johnson works as a marketing associate for Johnny Robb Public Relations (JRPR), an equestrian focused PR firm based in Wellington, Florida.

“Bahrain was quite an experience. We had to ride the stallions through hordes of people, as well as past camels, goats, donkeys and Arabian horses in full traditional dress. But the stallions are used to intimidating situations and were very well behaved, for the most part,” Johnson added with a laugh. “It was also wonderful to see all of the Lipizzans again since you get so attached to them when you’re all traveling and showing on the road.”

Continue reading Lipizzaner Stallions and Riders Perform Classical Dressage for the King of Bahrain →

Breeds, Contributors/Press, Rescue/Protection Sources

Budget Spells Disaster for Wild Horses — Act Now!

December 16, 2010 Associate Editor 1 Comment

Dear Animal Advocates,
As you may know, Congress is currently trying to pass a federal budget for fiscal year 2011. Unbelievably, although the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program is widely known to be broken and unsustainable, the House of Representatives has approved increasing its funding.

The BLM plans to use this funding to remove another 10,000 wild horses from public lands next year. If this happens, the population of mustangs warehoused for life in government holding facilities would swell to 45,000 — to the tune of $50 million in taxpayer money. Meanwhile, privately owned herds of cattle are allowed to graze on the same land that was “overcrowded” with wild horses.

We do have a chance to stop this: the Senate is still debating the 2011 federal spending bill, but the deadline to make changes and pass it is midnight on Saturday, December 18.

Continue reading Budget Spells Disaster for Wild Horses — Act Now! →

Associations/Breeds, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, Racing Sources, Western/Reining

AQHA 2011 Rule Changes

December 13, 2010 Associate Editor Leave a comment

New rules to take effect January 1.

At the 2010 AQHA Convention, many showing rules were voted on that will take effect January 1, 2011. Check out which rules have changed before next year’s show season starts.

More Horses
Previously, only two horses could be shown per exhibitor in classes that are worked individually. Beginning January 1, exhibitors can show three horses in individually worked classes.

“If the open classes are combined into an all-ages class at a weekend show, then it goes back to four horses total,” according to Charlie Hemphill, AQHA senior director of shows and new events.

In grouped classes, such as horsemanship, Select exhibitors can show one horse in the amateur class and a different horse in the Select.

Continue reading AQHA 2011 Rule Changes →

Associations/Breeds, Breeds, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Racing, Racing Sources

Spit Curl Diva Honored as Supreme Race Horse

December 10, 2010 Associate Editor Leave a comment

The American Quarter Horse Journal, December 9, 2010 – With her victory in the November 19 Merial Distaff Challenge Championship (G1), Spit Curl Diva became the 24th racing American Quarter Horse since 1983 to earn the distinction of an American Quarter Horse Association Supreme Race Horse.

The honor is given by AQHA to a horse which during its racing career earns $500,000 or more and wins at least 10 races, including two or more open Grade 1 stakes races.

Owned by the Lepic-Morgan Partnership of Iowa City, Iowa, Spit Curl Diva has won 16 of 29 starts, including nine stakes, and earned $695,938. She won the Refrigerator Handicap (G1) on October 2, then earned her second Grade 1 victory in the Merial Distaff Challenge Championship.

Spit Curl Diva is a nine-time stakes winner, and her other stakes wins include the Speedhorse Gold & Silver Cup Futurity (RG1), Blue Ribbon Futurity (G2), Bob Moore Memorial Stakes (G2), Oklahoma Derby (G3), Decketta Handicap (G3), Keokuk Stakes (G3) and Merial Arapahoe Distaff Challenge.

Spit Curl Diva is by Spit Curl Jess out of the Some Dasher mare Some Kinda Diva. She was bred in Oklahoma by Little Deer Creek Quarter Horses of Thomas, Oklahoma.

Prior to 1983, there were 71 Supreme Race Horses that were retroactively given the award.

There have been two other Supreme Race Horses named in 2010, including world champion Freaky and champion Stylish Jess BR.

AQHA news and information is a service of AQHA publications: The American Quarter Horse Journal and America’s Horse.

American Quarter Horse Association
1600 Quarter Horse Drive
Amarillo, TX 79104

Breeds, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, Racing, Racing Sources

Freaky Chases Second World Title in Champion of Champions

December 9, 2010 Associate Editor 1 Comment

The American Quarter Horse Journal, December 9, 2010 – Armando Aguirre’s Freaky, the unanimous No. 1-ranked American Quarter Horse in the AQHA Racing-Horseplayernow.com poll, races to enhance his prospects for a second-straight world championship when he heads the $750,000 Champion of Champions (G1) at Los Alamitos on Saturday night.

The Adan Farias-trained Freaky (TR Dasher-Chickasecret by Raise A Secret) won the 2009 Champion of Champions and was rewarded as the 2009 world champion, champion aged horse and champion aged gelding. He would be the prime contender to retain each of those titles with a win in the 440-yard Champion of Champions.

If Freaky is honored as the 2010 world champion, he would be the first back-to-back world champion since SLM Big Daddy earned the 1997 and 1998 world titles.

The 2010 champions will be announced in mid-January.

Continue reading Freaky Chases Second World Title in Champion of Champions →

Breeds

Appropriately “Federally Protected” Wild Horses “LOCK UP” Our Western Public Rangelands from Development & Exploitation

December 7, 2010 Associate Editor 1 Comment

Appropriately “federally protected” wild horses “LOCK UP” our western public rangelands from development and exploitation. Looking at the bigger and historical picture of wild horse mismanagement (not what appears just fine in one’s own “backyard”), it’s easier to see why there is a war waged against our wild horses & burros at the DOI/government level ~ OUR lands. Remain vigilant and “Keep our WEST WILD”.

Besides livestock overrunning lands owned by just a few large corporations (not private ranchers – very different) which only benefit 3% of the American public… there is also development, natural resource exploitation, green energy farms such as the Ruby Pipeline extending from Wyoming west to Oregon, and wind turbines & solar power. Suddenly, our wide open spaces of our beloved west are shrinking at alarming rates.

As stated, wild horses “lock up” our lands when they have appropriate “protected” status, as we are hoping… and they (DOI) are fearing, by restoring appropriate language/protection through a wild horse and burro Act (i.e. ROAM Act), prior to the 2004 tragic amendment, stripping wild horses and burros of most of their protection “sold without limitations”… a sneaky rider bill by Senator Conrad Burns who introduced it, and put it into appropriations without public comment/consent DURING the holiday break when most in DC were away on vacation. President G. Bush signed it on December 6th, and with the swipe of a pen, causing tragedies to your/my/our American mustangs and burros, and at the same time devastating knowledgeable citizens.

Sign of the times: actual video of what many of our wide open spaces may soon be like – tremendous impact on all wildlife & our psyches. Information and awareness is key. Here’s what Basin & Range says: The loud noise of the Stirling dish/engines will scare wildlife in the desert away and invade the silence of the wilderness areas nearby, at Calico Solar Project and Imperial Valley Solar Project (deadly Calico roundup, where 2,000 wild horses were removed last winter).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEIQ2FVL_ys

Sonya Malecky Spaziani

A Million Voices for Mustangs

Associations/Breeds, Breeds, Conferences, Contributors/Press, Racing, Racing Sources

AQHA Studies Clenbuterol Abuse, Recommends Action

December 4, 2010 Associate Editor Leave a comment

The American Quarter Horse Journal, December 3, 2010 – Veterinary medical professionals and horsemen gathered at the American Quarter Horse Association’s annual racing conference on November 18 in New Orleans to consider the use – and misuse – of drugs and medications in racehorses. Topics included laboratory testing and procedures, out-of-competition and pre-race examinations, therapeutic and illegal medications, joint injections, acceptable threshold levels and withdrawal time, zero-tolerance policies, public education and the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.

Once the panelists and attendees started talking, the discussion focused primarily – indeed, almost exclusively – on clenbuterol.

Approved for veterinary use in horses with allergic respiratory disease and for medical use in humans with asthma, clenbuterol acts as a bronchodilator. The problem, however, is how the drug is being misused – both in horses and humans: While it is not an anabolic steroid, clenbuterol has some of the same effects, increasing muscle mass and enhancing performance.

Breeds, Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Racing, Racing Sources

First Down Dash Dies at Age 26

December 3, 2010 Associate Editor Leave a comment

The American Quarter Horse Journal – American Quarter Horse racing’s most prolific stallion, First Down Dash, died on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, at Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall, California. He was 26.

“He lay down and went to sleep peacefully. He was missing Scoop and his sunflower seeds,” said Bonnie Vessels, referring to her late husband, Frank “Scoop” Vessels.

Dr. Ed Allred, the sport’s all-time leading breeder, released the following statement: “First Down Dash is unquestionably the greatest stallion of all time. No horse has had the influence of the great First Down Dash. He was an amazing horse. He was a sire of sires. What an incredible and great career… he was in one word ‘amazing.’”

The stallion was laid to rest at Vessels Stallion Farm on November 26. Bonnie Vessels said that First Down Dash was quietly eating hay in his stall when observed by ranch manager Kevin Dickson at 1 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. Three hours later, the night man observed First Down Dash taking his last breath.

Horses in the South – An Equine News Publisher