Category Archives: FEI

Eventing/H.T., FEI, FEI

FEI Nations Cup Eventing Debuts at Fontainebleau

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Lausanne (SUI), 15 February 2012 – The FEI’s first team Eventing series, the FEI Nations Cup Eventing 2012, will début at Fontainebleau (FRA) on 22-25 March 2012.

The brand new six-leg series, which will take place on a trial basis this year, is open to all nations fielding one team composed of 3 or 4 riders at each leg.

The FEI Nations Cup Eventing 2012 will be run under FEI Eventing rules at CICO and CCIO 3* level and riders will accumulate points under a dedicated system created for the new series.

Houghton Hall (GBR) will host the second leg on 24-27 May, followed by Strzegom (POL) on 1-3 June 2012 and Aachen (GER) on 3-8 July. The series then heads to Montelibretti (ITA) on 21-23 September, with the last leg in Boekelo (NED) on 11-14 October.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Events, FEI, Hunter/Equitation, Show Jumping

Margie Engle and Indigo Win $125,000 FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix

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Elizabeth Faraci Sweeps FarmVet Amateur-Owner 18-35 3’3″ Hunters

Margie Engle and Indigo. Photos © Sportfot

Wellington, FL – February 11, 2012 – Margie Engle (USA) and Indigo emerged victorious in the $125,000 FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix presented by Spy Coast Farm under the lights in front of a crowd of 5,200 spectators at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center on Saturday night. Engle and Indigo, owned by Gladewinds, Griese, Garber, and Hidden Creek, were the fastest of two clear rounds in an eleven horse jump-off over Darragh Kerins (IRL) and Lisona, owned by Kevin Babington. Pablo Barrios (VEN) and G&C Quick Star 11, owned by Gustavo Mirabal, were third.

Week five of the FTI WEF, sponsored by Spy Coast Farm, will conclude tomorrow. The 2012 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of competition that conclude on April 1, 2012, and they will be awarding more than $6 million in prize money through the circuit.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Contributors/Press, Dressage, Driving, FEI, USEF

Sterling Graburn and Ulano Longlisted for the FEI World Singles Driving Championships 2012

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Graburn and Ulano at the Katydid CDE, Aiken, N.C.

GEORGETOWN, KY – FEBRUARY 7, 2012 – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has announced that Team Sterling – driver Sterling Graburn and the horse Ulano – are now longlisted for a coveted spot on the U.S. Combined Driving Team at the FEI World Singles Driving Championships 2012, to be held in Lezirias, Portugal Sept. 12-16.

Elizabeth Staller, Director of High Performance Driving at USEF, made the eligibility pronouncements in January.

Graburn, who is head trainer at the Gayla Driving Center in Georgetown, KY, is the only Kentucky-based equestrian under consideration for the team. He plans to compete in Florida this spring where the process of final team placings will begin.

Graburn debuted Ulano, owned by Lebanon, Ohio-based Larry Denny, at the Advanced Level at the USEF National Single Horse Championship at the Katydid CDE in Aiken, S.C. last November. Besting 16 more-experienced combinations, Graburn finished 1st in dressage and placed 6th overall – high enough in the rankings to earn consideration for the championship team.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Events, FEI, FEI, Vaulting

Male Champion Looser Retires at the Top While Eccles Family Dominate Female Final

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YouTube – http://youtu.be/AW8pQO2c4Cs

Patric Looser and his horse Record RS Von der Wintermuehle made an emotional retirement from the sport after winning the 2011/2012 FEI World Cup Vaulting Final. Photo: FEI/Christophe Bricot/Jumping International de Bordeaux.

Bordeaux (FRA), 5 February 2012 – Emotions ran high at the 2011/2012 FEI World Cup Vaulting Final in Bordeaux, France today where Switzerland’s Patric Looser made the perfect exit from the sport when taking the Male title in style, and Great Britain’s Joanne Eccles pipped her younger sister, Hannah, for the Female honours.

This first official FEI World Cup Vaulting season visited five qualifying venues over the winter months, and today’s closing stages saw the sport at its very best.  Looser was determined to produce a better result than he did in yesterday’s first round.  “I’m going to try to enjoy every second of my Freestyle today” he said before the competition began.  “Yesterday was not my best performance – I was a bit stiff in my body although I didn’t make any mistakes, but I’m in first position by a good distance as the competition begins today and I intend to be more relaxed and just enjoy my routine and my horse!” he explained.

He succeeded in doing just that, adding this new title to the one he earned at the Final in Leipzig, Germany last April and to his career-defining gold medals at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in 2010 and last year’s FEI European Championships.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Driving, Events, FEI, FEI

Boyd Exell Writes History at Bordeaux

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Boyd Exell (AUS) has written history at Bordeaux by winning the FEI World Cup Driving title for the fourth consecutive time. ©Rinaldo de Craen/FEI

BORDEAUX (FRA), 5 February 2012 – Boyd Exell (AUS) has entered the history books by winning the FEI World Cup Driving Final for the fourth consecutive time.

Dutch drivers IJsbrand Chardon (NED) and Koos de Ronde (NED) fought like lions but were unable to beat Exell, who was simply unbeatable.

Class of his own
Last starter Boyd Exell felt the pressure on his shoulders despite his 8-second head start on Chardon after the first competition on Friday evening. Boyd however proved to be in a class of his own again, cheered on by the many enthusiastic spectators. The triple FEI World Cup Driving Champion put down an amazingly fast and clear round with his solid team of horses and widened the gap further on Chardon and De Ronde, who were in second and third place.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Events, FEI, FEI, Show Jumping

Staut and Silvana Are Brilliant in Bordeaux

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YouTube – http://youtu.be/I4DTWXpLhz0

Kevin Staut is presented with a Rolex watch by Arnaud Reverdin, Commercial Director, Rolex France. Photo: FEI/Kit Houghton.

Bordeaux (FRA), 4 February 2012 – French hero, Kevin Staut, won the eleventh qualifying round of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping 2011/2012 series on his home turf at Bordeaux tonight.  Riding the 13 year old grey mare, Silvana HDC, he devastated the opposition in the ten-horse jump-off with a display of class and courage that snatched the honours from Australian runners-up Edwina Top-Alexander and Cevo Itot du Chateau.  Belgium’s Rik Hemeryck slotted into third with Quarco de Kerambars, while Ireland’s Denis Lynch finished fourth with his exciting new stallion, Contifex.

But tonight’s competition was as much about the battle for positions on the Western  European League leaderboard as anything else.  Following the next, and last, qualifying leg at Gothenburg, Sweden, the top-18 riders will make the cut for the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping final which will take place in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands at the end of April.  So the placings all the way down the line are critical at this stage, and the pressure is at boiling point.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Driving, Events, FEI, FEI

Boyd Exell Takes the Lead in FEI World Cup Driving Final in Bordeaux

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Boyd Exell is on his way to win the FEI World Cup Driving Final for the fourth consecutive time. ©Rinaldo de Craen/FEI

BORDEAUX (FRA), 4 February 2012 – Triple World Cup winner Boyd Exell (AUS) has taken the lead in the FEI World Cup Driving Final in Bordeaux (FRA) after the first competition on Friday 3 February.

Many spectators attended the first competition of the FEI World Cup Driving Final despite it ending close to midnight. Boyd drove an excellent round in a thrilling competition which kept the spectators on the edge of their seats. The defending World Cup champion managed to put a 15-second lead between himself and Jozsef Dobrobitz (HUN), who was leading the competition. Exell drove a clear round, using the same four-in-hand team with which he amazingly won at Mechelen (BEL) at the end of December 2011, using his best horse Bill.

Flat out
Second into the arena Jozsef Dobrovitz took a risk by using a completely new horse to lead his team. The seven-year-old bay gelding Horus Alom only arrived at Dobrovitz’ stables last October. Dobrovitz drove the horse in his team at an indoor competition last weekend and got so excited that he decided to bring it to Bordeaux. Dobrovitz went flat out through the rather technical course, designed by German course designer Falk Böhnisch, setting the time to beat.

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Competitions, Driving, Events, FEI, FEI

Top Class Lineup for FEI World Cup Driving Final in Bordeaux

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Lausanne (SUI), 31 January 2012 – Driving fans will be treated to a thrilling finale of the FEI World Cup Driving 11th season in Bordeaux (FRA) on 3 and 4 February.

Six drivers – Boyd Exell (AUS); IJsbrand Chardon (NED); Koos De Ronde (NED); Tomas Eriksson (SWE); Jozsef Dobrovitz (HUN) and Zoltan Lázár (HUN) – qualified for the Final at the end of an exciting season that ran over seven events held in five European countries. They will be joined by home driver Thibault Coudry, who has received the wild card.

In Bordeaux the seven drivers all start from scratch and it will not be until the very last second of the Final on the evening of Saturday 4 February that the new FEI World Cup Driving champion will be crowned.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Events, FEI, FEI, Vaulting

FEI World Cup Vaulting Comes to Thrilling Climax in Bordeaux

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Switzerland’s Simone Jaïser (SUI) heads to this weekend’s FEI World Cup Vaulting Final in Bordeaux after scoring the highest points tally in the first full FEI World Cup Vaulting series. Photo: Karl-Heinz Freiler/FEI.

Lausanne (SUI), 1 February 2012 – The first full FEI World Cup Vaulting season will culminate in a hotly contested Final in Bordeaux (FRA) this weekend (4-5 February), when the sport’s top male and female vaulters will compete to secure the World Cup title.

The series has been hard fought with 10 male and 10 female vaulters competing in five qualifiers in Kiel (GER), Munich (GER), Salzburg (AUT), Paris (FRA) and Leipzig (GER).

Six male and six female vaulters will now battle it out for the honours at the FEI World Cup Vaulting 2011/2012 Final in the Bordeaux Exhibition Centre.

World number one Patric Looser (SUI), who has announced his retirement after Bordeaux, heads to the Final after securing a six-point lead over Viktor Brüsewitz (GER). They will be joined by Lukas Klouda (CZE), Yvan Nousse (FRA), Lukas Heppler (SUI) and Remy Hombecq (FRA).

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Events, FEI, FEI, Show Jumping

Kutscher and Obolensky Are in a Class of Their Own at Zurich

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YouTube: http://youtu.be/wK0-_t4Gq08

Photo: FEI/Karl-Heinz Frieler.

Zurich (SUI), 29 January 2012 – Germany’s Marco Kutscher steered Cornet Obolensky to victory in the tenth qualifying leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping Western European League 2011/2012 series at Zurich in Switzerland this afternoon.  The 13 year old stallion produced an exhibition of effortless jumping to outclass the rest of the 40-strong field on a tough day that saw six riders opting to retire in the opening round.

Course designer, Rolf Ludi, really piled on the pressure with a colossal track that quickly separated the best from the rest.  But one man who was unfortunate to miss a place in the seven-horse jump-off was Belgium’s Ludo Philippaerts whose 14 year old Kassini Jac left all the fences intact, only to be penalised for crossing the finish line just outside the 69-second time limit.

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