Category Archives: Show Jumping

Championships, Competitions, Eventing/H.T., Events, Show Jumping, USEF, USEF, Vaulting

This Week in International Disciplines – August 18, 2011

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Beezie Madden and Cortes 'C'. Photo by Stefano Grasso/GCT

Jumping
The U.S. show jumpers had a strong showing in the final week of the two-week Horse Festival in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands. Beezie Madden and Cortes ‘C’ claimed victory in the weekend’s most prestigious class; the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Valkenswaard sponsored by the VDL Groep. In only their second grand prix together, Madden and Cortes ‘C’ were the fourth and last pair to go in the jump-off, storming to the win in a time of 38.38 seconds. Ireland’s Denis Lynch riding Lantinus 3 was second and Jur Vrieling and VDL Bubalu of The Netherlands claimed third place.

On Friday, Laura Kraut and Teirra were third in the Medium Tour 1m45 CSI5* against the clock class. Cortright Wetherill and Carlos were second in the Special Invitational 1m35 CSI1*.

On Saturday, Wetherill claimed a fourth-place finish with Whoops in the Special Invitational 1m25 CSI1*. Wetherill finished his competition week by riding Carlos to a second-place finish in the Special Invitational 1m35 CSI1* against the clock.

For more information and results, visit http://www.globalchampionstour.com/events/2011/valkenswaard/results.

Continue reading This Week in International Disciplines – August 18, 2011 →

*Featured/Spotlights, Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Revolution Sports, Show Jumping

The Rolex One to Watch – July 2011

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Antonio Alfonso riding SNAI Boa Vista. Photo: SPORTFOT/Rolex

19 August 2011 – The Rolex One to Watch for July 2011 is Italian rider, Antonio Alfonso. Based at the Castello Stables in Rome, Italy, the 33-year-old jumped from number 368 to 218 during July – a move up the Rolex Rankings of 150 places.

The Rolex One to Watch is an initiative which identifies the rider who has made the biggest jump within or into the Top 250 of the Rolex Rankings the previous month.

Born in Sora – a little town near Frosinone in central Italy – on 13 January 1978, Alfonso started to ride some of his uncle’s horses when he was five-years-old. He first competed when he was 13.

Alfonso’s first trainer was Carlos Dodero, an experienced Jumping rider and trainer who has competed for Argentina in the Pan American Games and the FEI World Equestrian Games. Alfonso has also been trained by Duccio Bartalucci, silver medallist at the Mediterannean Games in Split in 1979. Currently he works very closely with Natale Chiaudani, who shares the same sponsor. Chiaudani has competed in five FEI Nations Cups and won the silver medal at the Italian Championships in 2009.

From 1 January 2011 Alfonso has ridden in 21 official Jumping competitions, both nationally and internationally. He has been in magnificent form, recording nine victories, seven second places, and nine third places.

Continue reading The Rolex One to Watch – July 2011 →

FEI, Show Jumping, Symposiums

Aachen Symposium “Vital Step” in Organised Growth of Jumping

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Lausanne, (SUI), 19 August 2011 – The inaugural two-day Symposium hosted by the FEI, CHIO Aachen and Aachen School of Course Design (ASCD) last month was “a vital step forward in the organised growth of national, regional, FEI 1* and 2* Jumping competitions,” according to John Madden, Acting Chair, FEI Jumping Committee.

The Symposium, entitled “How to develop, organise and sustain national and regional Jumping Events”, was held in Aachen following the World Equestrian Festival and attracted more than 50 delegates involved in event organisation from 25 countries.

“The Symposium was an exceptional opportunity for event organisers planning to hold successful Jumping competitions at national and regional level and was an ideal opportunity to connect with international specialists to share valuable insights,” he said.

“The topics covered were of huge benefit and everyone who attended has come away with vital tips on what makes a successful event and the key ingredients for competition organisation.

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Awards, Championships, Competitions, Events, Hunter/Equitation, Phelps Media Group, Show Jumping

Havens Schatt and Valencia Win the Championship Tricolor in the High Performance Hunters at the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show

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Havens Schatt and Valencia win the High Performance Hunter Championship award at the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show. Photo Credit: Kendall Bierer/PMG.

Lexington, KY – August 18, 2011 – Although thunderstorms threatened the morning classes at the Kentucky Horse Park, diligent horse and rider combinations turned out to the Stonelea Ring for the second day of the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show. Thankfully, the sun began to make its way through the clouds, and riders were blessed with beautiful weather yet again as they made their rounds. Today marked the conclusion of the professional hunters divisions, awarding top honors to riders in their respective divisions. Scott Stewart and Dedication took home the tricolor champion award in the First Year Green Working Hunters, while Hunt Tosh and Cold Harbor garnered the champion award in the Green Conformation Hunters. Patricia Griffith piloted Sienna to a strong conclusion in the Second Year Green Working Hunters earning the top honors. Elizabeth Boyd and Casallo swept the over fences and won the under saddle in the Regular Conformation Hunters. It was Havens Schatt aboard Valencia, who earned the championship prize in the High Performance Hunters, proving consistent with their past performances.

As seen by their previous performances, Havens Schatt and Valencia, owned by CH Farm, LLC of Delano, MN, seem to have the High Performance Hunters figured out. Yesterday, the talented duo claimed two second place ribbons during the over fences classes, narrowly missing the blues with scores of 84 and 86. However, Schatt and Valencia continued today with strong and consistent rounds, earning scores of 84 and 80 over fences and the first place position in the under saddle class, proving to be the Champions of the High Performance Hunters.

“I felt as though our rounds were really good today, although I did think that she was better yesterday in the Working Hunter classes,” Schatt admitted. “We are still trying to figure things out; Valencia sometimes forgets that the handy is not a jump-off. I think that some of her jumper instinct comes back to her and she gets a little worked up for that.”

Continue reading Havens Schatt and Valencia Win the Championship Tricolor in the High Performance Hunters at the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show →

Competitions, Events, Hunter/Equitation, National Horse Show, Phelps Media Group, Show Jumping

Get a Leg Up on the Alltech National Horse Show

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[Lexington, KY] – With the historic Alltech National Horse Show preparing for its Lexington debut this fall, horse enthusiasts and members of the community are invited to attend an informational program about the show and the experiences that will be available to spectators during the five-day event.

Free and open to the public, Alltech’s popular Equine News and Brews program will be held August 25 at Alltech’s Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company in downtown Lexington.

“The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games were transformational for Lexington and for the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech, the first-ever title sponsor of the Games and of the National Horse Show.  “Opportunity once again literally landed in our backyard with the National Horse Show.”

“As with the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010, we are eager to help people understand and enjoy this year’s highly acclaimed equestrian competition, along with experiencing the many exhibits and demonstrations on the show grounds for the entire family.”

The 2011 Equine News and Brews program, he added, is designed to “build on the spirit of the Alltech FEI Games by providing a forum for all those who share a love of the horse.  The open, casual dialogue encouraged at Equine News and Brews is meant to serve as a catalyst in fostering local involvement and interest in the equine industry.”

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Championships, Community/Charity, Competitions, Events, FEI, FEI, Hunter/Equitation, Show Jumping, Sydney Masters-Durieux

Daniela Stransky Takes Gold for Venezuela & Champions Children’s Charity during FEI Americas Jumping Championships

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Daniela Stransky and Ikarus

Florida Teen Wins Best Individual Junior Rider during Final Leg of Competition in Ecuador

Daniela Stransky, the 15 year old equestrian from Stransky’s Mission Farm who champions the children’s charity Step by Step Foundation, piloted her gelding Ikarus to the Junior Jumper Best Individual Rider Medal during the final weekend of the 2011 FEI Americas Jumping Championships held in Guayaquil, Ecuador from July 26 to 31, 2011.

More than 85 top young show jumping riders, ages 12 to 21, came from over a dozen countries including Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Canada and the United States to compete at the prestigious international competition hosted by the Ecuador Equestrian Federation from July 26 to 31, 2011. Representing her native Venezuela for the first time, Stransky competed over double courses designed by Mrs. Marina Acevedo of Brazil on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

The Miami Dade County High School student took top honors aboard her big gray Warm Blood and was the only rider from her country to compete in the high Junior division. She was awarded the individual gold for her efforts.

“It is an honor to have my daughter represent her native country,” stated Daniela’s mother Liliane.  “We are so very proud that she had such success her first time here.”

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Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Eventing/H.T., Events, Show Jumping, USEA

Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championship Coming to Atlanta

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“Not Your Average Horse Show!”

Horseback riding tends to have a somewhat sissified reputation — perfectly coiffed men and women in top hats and tails perched prettily on top of overpriced hayburners.  That is so not the case with the Olympic sport of eventing, an equestrian triathlon that is a test of skill, strength, partnership, and just plain guts — definitely not your average horse show. These riders have grit, their horses have more heart than a Disney movie, and more than 500 of them from every corner of the country will descend on Bouckaert Farm at Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, September 8-11, for the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC), presented by Bit of Britain, which is slated to rank as one of the biggest competition in the sport’s nearly 100-year U.S. history.

Eventing has its roots in the cavalry, so we’re talking white knuckle, take-your-breath-away feats of athleticism on the part of both horses and riders, who participate in three different phases over several days.  Unlike almost all other sports, men and women compete on equal terms, in the same divisions. The horse is the equalizing factor, and these horses are unlike any you will see in competition. At the top levels during the sport’s signature phase of cross-country, expect to see them leap off banks almost as high as a refrigerator, jump some fences practically as narrow as a doorway, and bound across ditches as wide as your average car.  If you were to compare them to other athletes, think extreme – snow boarders or BMX riders. Think Olympic Games meets X Games.

At the Nutrena AEC, top horses and riders at every level, from juniors and adult amateurs to Olympic veterans, will battle for more than $70,000 in prize money and nearly $100,000 in prizes — not to mention bragging rights, with close to a dozen past Olympic, World and Pan American medalists on hand.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Events, Hunter/Equitation, Maclay, National Horse Show, Phelps Media Group, Show Jumping

Alltech National Horse Show Finds a Home at the Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky

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Photo credit: Alltech

After a hundred plus year run in the heart of New York City at Madison Square Garden, the nation’s oldest indoor horse show has been somewhat nomadic for the past decade, having landed on the Piers in New York for two unsuccessful seasons following the departure from Madison Square Garden, and then stopping in Wellington, Florida, for four years before finally landing in Syracuse, NY, four years ago.

Then, after numerous complaints by a large segment of the National Horse Show exhibitor base, Mason Phelps, Jr., along with the progressive thinking members of the Board of Directors of the National Horse Show, spearheaded the drive to finally give this national equestrian treasure a permanent home. The site they chose was the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky.

“It was the logical and perfect place for the National,” Phelps said. “It’s quite simply one of the outstanding venues in the entire world. Also, the excellent management infrastructure that Hugh Kincannon has had in place for years makes this a seamless transition,” he noted.

The Alltech National Horse Show, 128th Edition, will be held from November 2-6, 2011, at the beautiful, new Alltech Indoor Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

“I speak on behalf of the entire Kentucky Horse Park in saying that we are honored to be chosen as the venue of the Alltech National Horse Show and it is our sincere wish that it will be a long and happy association,” said John Nicholson, Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Park.

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Competitions, Events, Hunter/Equitation, Phelps Media Group, Show Jumping

Red Rock Hounds Returns to Demonstrate Fox Hunting at 2011 $25,000 Franktown Meadows Hunter Derby

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Carson City, NV – August 16, 2011 – The 2011 $25,000 Franktown Meadows USHJA International Hunter Derby will take place at the Franktown Meadows Equestrian Facility in Carson City, Nevada on September 5, 2011. As spectators admire the beautiful hunter derby course set upon the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range they will be treated to a display of the sport of fox hunting by Lynn Lloyd of Red Rock Hounds from Reno, NV. Following the fox hunting presentation, the Franktown Meadows Hunter Derby will showcase the best horse and rider combinations in the country as they compete for the winning title.

Lynn Lloyd will demonstrate and explain the excitement of fox hunting, the hounds, and the tradition of this wonderful sport. This event will take place at 12:00 p.m. with the derby beginning at 1:00 p.m. Lloyd and her team at Red Rock Hounds will be parading 80 of her fabulous American bred Walker Hounds around the hunter derby course on horseback.  Lloyd is excited to gallop around and show off her prized hunting dogs as she enjoys sharing her passion with the public.

“I think it is good exposure for the hounds. It is part of the hunter derby,” noted Lloyd. “The derby came because of field hunting. All of the hunters came from the field or that’s how it all started so this is kind of presenting its roots. I think that they begin to understand that this is where hunters in the show ring began and that hunting in America is still available and we hope it stays available. I want people to understand the freedom and being in nature. I think it grounds people and I want them to remember the fun of horses. Sometimes I think they forget that.”

Lloyd began hunting in England where she became captivated with fox hunting. She explained, “The first time I heard the call of a hound something inside me came alive. I have not stopped hunting since. I feel as though I am the luckiest person on the face of the earth. We have so much land to hunt on in Nevada that you cannot believe it. You never have to stop the hounds or the horses and it is the best way to see nature and the beautiful state of Nevada.”

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Community/Charity, Competitions, Events, HITS, Hunter/Equitation, Media/Radio/TV Sources, Show Jumping

HITS Joins Forces with HRTV, the Network for Horse Sports, and A Good Show to Bring Equine Show Jumping Competition to Broadcast Television Starting with the 2011 Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix

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©ESI Photography. Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist McLain Ward of Brewster, New York captured the first ever Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix aboard Sapphire in September of 2010.

SAUGERTIES, NEW YORK (August 16, 2011) — HITS, Inc. is pleased to announce a multi-year partnership with HRTV and A Good Show (AGS) to bring coverage of the 2011 Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix and other select competition from the national HITS show series to broadcast television. As part of the deal, HRTV and A Good Show will also provide a free, live webcast of the second-annual Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix and first-ever Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final on Sunday, September 11.

“This is an exciting partnership that will, for the first time ever, bring both national and international coverage and attention to a U.S. show jumping series,” said Tom Struzzieri, HITS President & CEO. “We believe that by working with HRTV and A Good Show we will once again raise the bar for American show jumping and provide an opportunity for the world to watch some of the best in equestrian sport.”

In addition to the Pfizer Million coverage, this agreement will extend to include coverage of select high-profile events showcased at the 2012 HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, California and the 2012 HITS Ocala Winter Circuit in Ocala, Florida.

HRTV, the Network for Horse Sports, is a 24/7 multimedia network dedicated to serving the news, information and entertainment needs of one of the world’s largest, but most underserved audiences – horse fans. Leading with the finest in thoroughbred racing, HRTV also delivers programming for virtually all equine sports.

Continue reading HITS Joins Forces with HRTV, the Network for Horse Sports, and A Good Show to Bring Equine Show Jumping Competition to Broadcast Television Starting with the 2011 Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix →