Category Archives: USDF

Florida’s Dressage Initiative Gets Big Thumbs Up in California as Great for Sport in U.S.

Steffen Peters. Photo by Ken Braddick/ dressage-news.com

Glenda McElroy, who probably has run more dressage competitions, including four World Cup Finals on the West Coast, than any other show manager in the United States, is excited about the initiative to create a dressage stadium in Palm Beach, FL, as are the top riders competing at her shows.

“Anything that can showcase dressage and appeal to a broader audience, bring a brighter spotlight to the sport, is good for dressage,” she said during her Festival of the Horse World Cup qualifier at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

Some of California’s top dressage figures who were competing at the LAEC in Burbank came out strongly in support of plans to build a new dressage complex as part of Phase II of development of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, home to the world famous Winter Equestrian Festival.

Continue reading Florida’s Dressage Initiative Gets Big Thumbs Up in California as Great for Sport in U.S.

Dressage Rider and Two-Time Olympian Jane Gregory Dies

Jane Gregory. Getty Images.

Former British Olympic dressage rider Jane Gregory has died at the age of 51 from a suspected heart attack.

Gregory first rode for Britain in 1994 and went on to team up with Cupido at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

And the Wiltshire-based rider returned to Olympic action three years ago in Hong Kong when she rode Lucky Star.

“This is tragic news. Her enthusiasm, energy, dedication and positive outlook on life was infectious,” said British Dressage chief Jennie Loriston-Clarke.

“Jane was an inspiration to many in the sport and was so proud every time she competed for her country.

“She will be dearly missed by all in British dressage and everyone who had the privilege to meet her or watch her perform.”

The two-time Olympian, who was born in Bromley, is survived by her husband Aram, the Hong Kong dressage rider with whom she set up a yard in 2001 before marrying in 2006 after more than 20 years together.

Peters Sweeps Small Tour & Ebeling Prepares for World Cup at Festival of the Horse CDI-W/Y/J

Steffen Peters and Weltino's Magic. Photo by Jennifer M. Keeler

Burbank, CA – In sunny California, the competition for a coveted spot on the U.S. and Canadian Pan American Games teams heated up during the Festival of the Horse CDI-W/Y/J, held March 31 – April 3, 2011, at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank. Despite a large and talented group of international competitors, there was no stopping Steffen Peters with what the judges deemed his new “super horse”, Weltino’s Magic.

Peters and Jen Hlavacek’s nine-year-old Westfalen gelding (Weltino x Diva by Diamond Boy) swept the small tour with impressive scores of 75.395% in the Prix St. Georges and 77.237% for the Intermediaire I, and debuted their new freestyle to a score of 79.417%. “The first word that comes to mind is ‘fun’,” says Peters in describing the weekend’s rides. “He’s really a pleasure to ride, so supple and forward now, it’s like that feeling that I get from Ravel.”

On Peters’ heels throughout the competition were Guenter Seidel and Sundayboy (Dutch Warmblood gelding by Kennedy, owned by Richard and Jane Brown), who earned second-place finishes in both the Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire I; as well as Freestyle runner-up Jan Ebeling and Anne Romney’s Sandrina (Oldenburg mare by Sandro Hit x Stutbuch by Ganymed). “There are really nice horses here on the West Coast,” noted judge Cara Whitham (5* CAN). “While I haven’t seen every single horse out there, at this point and from what we saw this weekend it looks like it may be a U.S. team of gentlemen riders going to Guadalajara for the Pan Ams. It’s very strong out here. But it is still a long while until October. We’ll see!”

Continue reading Peters Sweeps Small Tour & Ebeling Prepares for World Cup at Festival of the Horse CDI-W/Y/J

The Dressage on the First Coast Spring 2011 show program “Thank You” ad from Jerry Rehkopf

Click for larger image

My Northeast Florida Dressage Association (NFDA) club’s Dressage on the First Coast Spring 2011 show is coming up this weekend (April 9-10th) and boy has there been a flurry of work to do to get everything ready for it. Everything else has had to be put on hold, even getting my newsletter out before the end of March. My attempt to get it out the week before that was thwarted by a frustrating technical issue of my ESP not ‘talking’ to my ISP which took me 4 days to finally get resolved.  Hence my March newsletter has become my Spring newsletter or a March/April newsletter.

My wonderful husband offered to do an advertisement for the show program as the EVP of HorsesintheSouth.com. We were trying to decide what he would say in the program ad as I already have an ad for HorsesintheSouth.com in it, so we decided that we would just thank all of our current clients, banner advertisers and affiliates. My graphic designer, Beth Webb, who also did the show program for us on a last minute notice just told me to write up some text and she would make an ad out of it. Well, 3-4 hours later, I came up with this huge text-heavy ad that feels like I am thanking everyone for an academy award or something, it is so long!  I didn’t know where to stop, I am so lucky to have such wonderful clients and advertisers.  And, these are just the current ones!  So I figured this would also be a good editorial so that all of the HorsesintheSouth.com readers and AHorseBlog.com readers will see these accolades instead of it just being confined to a horse show program.

 

It reads like this, but the layout that Beth did is gorgeous, as is the show program that she did for the Dressage on the First Coast.

Jerry Rehkopf, husband to Teri Rehkopf the website developer of DressageontheFirstCoast.com and CEO/Owner/Producer of HorsesintheSouth.com and AHorseBlog.com, SurvivalPrepperSupply.com and GoldenSurvivalist.com wants to wish the NFDA, Northeast Florida Dressage Association, nfladressage.org, host to the Dressage on the First Coast, USDF/USEF recognized show, and the competitors the best of luck for this show and to thank all of Teri’s clients, current advertisers and website she supports.

The list of her clients in alphabetical order, many of which have been her clients since the early 2000’s, are:

Website Clients:

ASmallCleverness.com – Rubber stamp store for people who love to create with stamps.

EquineSportsTrainer.net – Ashley Davis, Equine Sports Trainer and Performance Consultant.

ALGGraphics.com – Flexo and Screen printer of specialty labels.

DogwoodSportHorses.com – Breeders of excellent bloodline European cross warmblood sport horses for sale; featuring the branded Westfalen, and approved RPSI breeding stallion, Freedom Hall.

DressageontheFirstCoast.com – The website for the twice yearly recognized show; started for the 2005 Region 3 Championships held at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center.

Feedin’ Time – Animal feed & supply store. See the store link on HorsesintheSouth.com/feedintime

FloridaMaritimeLawyers.com – Florida-based law firm which concentrates in trial litigation in the field of admiralty, cruise line and maritime law.

James “Shea” Walsh – HorsesintheSouth.com/sheawalsh; 1988 Olympian represented Ireland. Instruction and clinics locally and abroad.

KDEquine.com – Kathy Daly — Classical Dressage trainer, clinician. USEF “r” Dressage judge; my first website started in 1997. I wanted to give back to Kathy for all of the wonderful training she had and has done for me and my horses. We still get many “phone” training lessons and I used to get “Kitchen Table” lessons when she would stay with me when I lived in Jacksonville and she would get to my place too late for a lesson. One day I am going to write a book for her on these lessons, she is that good at explaining what to do!

PostHillFarm.com – Breeders and sales of show ponies.

Sundance Farm – HorsesintheSouth.com/sundancefarm; Featuring Swedish Warmblood, AWS approved stallion, Synchronicity; Lupe Guarderas, owner, competitor, trainer and Dressage judge.

SuncoastBedding.com – Premium ultra-compressed pine shavings animal bedding.

TripleKBarC.com – Preserving the “Last Chance” naturally-gaited, old-time Albert Dement foundation line of Tennessee Walking Horses. Dement mares for sale to selected breeding homes.

Current Banner Advertisers and Others that we Support:

CanterburyShowPlace.com – Central Florida’s nicest equestrian showplace with an indoor covered and lighted arena, and 3 outdoor rings, 5 show barns, clubhouse and more!

ClassicCompany.com – Show management that we support; production of multiple shows throughout the South.

EquineColicReliefAmerica.com – Amazing product that we have personally used to stop colic.

FlashpointMediaServices.com and FlashPointPhotography.com – Robbie and Greg Meisel who we love and support, specialize in performance and event portrait photography, and press releases for Classic Company, LLC show management.

JaneHeart.com – Gorgeous equestrian and dog lines of jewelry including Secretariat™ and Barbaro™ licensed jewelry.

KAMAnimalServices.com – KAM’s Equine Learning Circle offers FREE webinars every month and we list weekly tips each Monday and support them with a banner link.

MahanFarm.com – 113 acre boarding, show and clinic facility in Tallahassee, FL. Summer camp held in conjunction with Feather Oaks Farm. Brett Barteld, Owner

NagHorseRanch.com – Home of the Nose Shade, formerly called Nag Nose Shade to stop sunburned horses’ muzzles.

NFHJA.com/ North Florida Hunter Jumper Association – We support them, especially during the Jacksonville Winter Series.

Fleet Footing International – Supreme arena footing distributed and used by Canterbury Showplace

RavenwoodFarm.net – Ravenwood Farm Foundation non-profit rescue corporation

SouthernFarrier.com – Brett Barteld; 2nd Generation Farrier; 1990 Oklahoma Horseshoeing School -Certificate Graduate Professional Horseshoeing; Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association Certified; American Farrier’s Association Member

SunHorseTack.com – Fancy and custom-made horse halters and stuff!

USET.org/United States Equestrian Team Foundation – We support them with a non-profit banner advertisement.

YouMightAsWellJump.com – Rob Bowman – amazing artistic photographer

And, we have too many blog contributors to list here, so please see the Contributor category on AHorseBlog.com as these keep growing every day.

Jerry and Teri also wish to thank Sheila Van Dusen, honorary EVP, for all of the assistance she has provided since our beginnings in 2000, plus Jason Ellerbee, for his assistance as our Associate Editor and analyst, Chris Dunn and Linda Bourdow for their accounting assistance, Rob Bowman for his amazing photography, Charles Bryant for his amazing programming work on our website and blog, and Beth Webb for her amazing graphic design skills and assistance. Without their help, we would not have been able to keep this monster of a website and blog, plus our client sites and advertisers functioning.

Tenth Annual Challenge of the Americas Competition and Gala

Steiner and Hoag. Photo Credit: Susan J. Stickle Photography

Wellington, FL – March 3, 2011 – The Tenth Annual Challenge of the Americas competition and gala is set to take place on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, FL. Beginning at 5:15 pm at the Nespresso Pavilion the 2011 Challenge of the Americas (COTA) will be presented by International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC) and will benefit Play for P.I.N.K., a partner of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

This equestrian evening features musical team quadrilles performed by the “who’s who” of top riders in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. COTA will be an exciting evening to benefit an incredible cause. In addition to the team quadrille dressage challenge the evening’s events will feature a special polo match.

COTA Chairmen Mary Ross, along with Georgette Escobar and the Challenge Committee are proud to present an International Musical Grand Prix Dressage Quadrille Team Challenge and Polo Extravaganza. The Challenge Gala, an elegant evening of dinner and dancing, will get underway immediately following the “The Challenge of the Americas” competition. An awards presentation will be featured and guests will have the chance to meet and socialize with riders and judges.

Continue reading Tenth Annual Challenge of the Americas Competition and Gala

Lusitanos Shine in the Spotlight at the USDF Annual Convention and Symposium

Photos © 2010 Teri Rehkopf, HorsesintheSouth.com & DressageontheFirstCoast.com

Jacksonville, FL (December 30, 2010) – The Lusitano breed was in the spotlight at the recent United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Annual Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, when an award-winning Lusitano took part in the symposium and two lucky audience members won tickets to the upcoming 2011 Lusitano Collection International Horse Auction. The auction, which will be held at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center in Wellington, Florida, on February 23-26, 2011, will feature Lusitano horses from the world’s top Lusitano breeders.

Dressage rider Leah Winston showed the six-year-old Lusitano stallion Amintas Interagro, owned by Al and Sherie Zobec of Z Stallions in Palm City, Florida, in the USDF symposium. Winston has found success with Amintas in the FEI Six-Year-Old division and believes the stallion has Grand Prix potential.

“Amintas is my pride and joy,” Winston said, adding that she co-owns him with the Zobecs. “Although the level we were demonstrating was below the level he is currently competing, it was great exposure for us and the Lusitano breed. The judges for the symposium, Gary Rockwell and Lilo Fiore, treated us very fairly and helped me with some of the issues that actually carry through to the level I ride Amintas in now. Gary even commented that he is a very nice young horse and has a great work ethic, very serious and will be fun to train up through the levels. He also commented on the relationship that he feels we have developed.”

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12851

Arenus Gears Up for 2011 as Presenting Sponsor for United States Dressage Federation

Arenus was the Presenting Sponsor of the USDF Breeders Championships at Dressage at Devon. Rabiola, owned by Mary Alice Malone and Iron Spring Farm, won the USDF Mare Championship. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)

St. Louis, MO (December 16, 2010) – Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses, is pleased to announce they will continue to be a Presenting Sponsor of the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) during 2011. Arenus was a Presenting Sponsor for the Breeders Championship for the USDF throughout 2010 as well.

“Arenus is pleased to continue as a Presenting Sponsor of the USDF Breeders Championship,” said Simone Pophal, DVM, PhD, Arenus Business Manager. “We have developed a great partnership with the USDF and look forward to a fantastic 2011.“

Throughout 2010, Arenus served as a Presenting Sponsor for the Breeders Championship Series, including a presentation at Dressage at Devon. “We saw some amazing, beautiful and talented horses and it was our pleasure to take part in the 35th Annual Dressage at Devon,” said Melissa Bennington, Arenus Sales Specialist, North East US.

During Dressage at Devon, horses from Mary Alice Malone’s Iron Spring Farm took home several Breeders Championships, including the USDF Foal Championship won by Florence; the USDF Colt Championship won by El Paso ISF; and the USDF Mare Championship won by the famous Iron Spring Farm mare Rabiola, who also won more than 10 championships while at Dressage at Devon.

Continue reading Arenus Gears Up for 2011 as Presenting Sponsor for United States Dressage Federation

John ‘Jack’ Kimball & Judith Noone to Receive 2010 USDF Lifetime Achievement Award

Lexington, KY (November 24, 2010) – The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to John ‘Jack’ Kimball and Judith Noone at the Salute Gala & Annual Awards Banquet on December 3, 2010, at the Adequan/USDF National Convention & Symposium in Jacksonville, FL. These two recipients have shown a lifetime of dedication to USDF through volunteering, and developing programs, projects, and committees that have contributed to USDF’s mission. They also have a long history of membership in USDF.

The late John “Jack” Kimball, of McIntosh, FL, was an active volunteer with USDF from its beginnings in 1973 until his death in June 1996.  Kimball was a founding member of USDF, served on several USDF committees, including Technical Delegates, Symposium Organizing, and Show Management, served as USDF Region 3 Director from 1979-1987, was a well-known American Horse Shows Association (now US Equestrian Federation) “R” dressage judge and technical delegate, and helped a number of USDF Group Member Organizations (GMOs) get off the ground.  These included the Florida Dressage Society which is one of USDF’s first charter GMOs for which he served as an official representative at the inaugural USDF meeting.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12639

North Florida Dressage Association to Host Events during 2010 Adequan/USDF National Convention and Symposium in Jacksonville, Dec. 1-5

Jacksonville, Fla. – September 22, 2010 – North Florida Dressage Association (NFDA) will be holding a variety of events in Jacksonville, Fla. during the upcoming 2010 Adequan/USDF National Convention and Symposium. From Wednesday through Sunday, Dec. 1-5, equestrian activities will be held at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Riverfront, 223 E. Coastline Drive and the Jacksonville Equestrian Center, 13611 Normandy Blvd. Many events are free and open to the public. Registration and cost is required for some activities and classes. Visit www.DressageontheFirstCoast.com and www.usdf.org/convention.

According to Mary O’Brien, event spokesperson, the activities begin on Wednesday and continue through Sunday at the hotel and the equestrian center with classroom instruction on a variety of topics including the  2011 tests for horse and rider competitions and training methods, health and nutrition information, and tips and trends in dressage, to name a few. Riding events will include Dressage on the First Coast, a USEF and USDF recognized dressage show and the USDF/Adequan Symposium designed to instruct riders about the new 2011 USEF dressage tests and how best to perform them in the show ring.

Continue reading North Florida Dressage Association to Host Events during 2010 Adequan/USDF National Convention and Symposium in Jacksonville, Dec. 1-5

Ravel Named Adequan/USDF Grand Prix Horse of the Year

Lexington, KY (December 21, 2009) – The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) would like to congratulate the eleven-year-old, 16.3 hand, Dutch Warmblood gelding, Ravel, owned by Akiko Yamazaki of Woodside, California, and ridden by Steffen Peters of San Diego, California, for being named 2009 Adequan/USDF Grand Prix Horse of the Year.  Ravel’s median score of 75.574 percent made him the top horse in the United States competing at this level and the recipient of USDF’s highest honor.

Ravel was recognized at the 2009 Adequan/USDF Salute Gala and Annual Awards Banquet with a certificate, a commemorative personalized plaque, an embroidered cooler and $400 gift certificate provided by Dressage Extensions, and a gift certificate for Adequan joint therapy.  Also, Ravel is the recipient of the Colonel Thackeray Award and will have his name engraved on a silver trophy to be on permanent display in the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame housed at the USDF National Education Center, located at the Kentucky Horse Park.

“We are thrilled to be able to recognize this extraordinary horse for his many accomplishments this competition season, and look forward to his future successes,” stated USDF Executive Director Stephan Hienzsch.

For more information about the Adequan/USDF Horse of the Year awards or to access a list of past and current recipients, visit the USDF Web site at www.usdf.org, or contact the USDF office at usdressage@usdf.org.

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