Category Archives: Championships

*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Dressage, Driving, Events, FEI, FEI

Seventeen Nations to Compete at the FEI World Driving Championships for Combined Ponies 2011

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Tobias Bücker of Germany is the title defender in the four-in-hand category © Rinaldo de Craen

Lausanne (SUI), 20 September 2011 – From 21 to 25 September, the Lipica Stud Farm in Slovenia will host the fifth edition of the FEI World Driving Championships for Combined Ponies. Seventy-seven drivers from 17 nations will compete in the singles, pairs and four-in-hand classes.

Title defender Melanie Becker (NED) will compete with her world champion pony Ostara’s Sandor in the singles category. Pony pairs world champion Daniel Schneiders (GER) has successfully moved on to the pony four-in-hand class. One of Schneider’s biggest opponents will be the reigning pony four-in-hand champion Tobias Bücker (GER).

The eldest competitor is 65-year-old Hannu Kalalahti (FIN), who will be making his world championship debut at Lipica. The youngest competitor David Palkovics (HUN) will celebrate his 14th birthday on the Marathon day of his first world championship.

There will be six teams, each consisting of a minimum of one and a maximum of two drivers per class and per nation, fighting for the medals. Title defender Germany and silver medallist The Netherlands are tipped as the favourites for the nations competition.

The Driven Dressage and Cones Competitions will be held in the main stadium. Swiss FEI O-course designer Christian Iseli, who is well-known for his work at world championships, has built eight beautiful obstacles located close to each other in the fields of the Lipica Stud Farm. For the first time the Marathon will include a cool down section where the ponies will be given a few moments of rest after they complete the course and before the compulsory veterinary inspection.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Events, Para-Equestrian, USEF

Wentz Obtains 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship

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Jonathan Wentz and NTEC Richter Scale. Photos © Lindsay Yosay McCall

USA Team Achieves First at CPEDI3*

Saugerties, NY – September 18, 2011 – Intensity, impulsion, power are three words that defined Sunday’s Para-Equestrian Individual Test competition at the 2011 NEDA Fall Festival of Dressage. Sunday was the last day of the CPEDI 3* and it was the championship day for the 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship. After Saturday’s Freestyle only a tenth of a point separated Jonathan Wentz and Dale Dedrick for the National Championship. Following an exceptional day of tests Wentz earned the scores he needed to earn the national championship. Only .308 behind Wentz was Dale Dedrick and Bonifatius who garnered the highest score of the day from Judge E, Anne Prain of France, a 75%. Dedrick’s percentage secured the reserve championship accolade. In the CPEDI3* Team competition Para-Equestrians from USA, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and Bermuda competed in Grades Ia-IV under judges Anne Prain of France, Kjell Myhre of Norway, and Carlos Lopes of Portugal. The USA achieved the top ranking with team members Jonathan Wentz, Mary Jordan, Wendy Fryke, and Rebecca Hart.

Hart was the third place finisher in the 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships in addition to supporting the USA Team competition. After three days of tests Hart was delighted with Lord Ludger. She noted, “I was really happy with LoLu; this was his first major competition where he had to be on it three days in a row.  He handled the pressure and he even stepped up to the plate for me.”

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Championships, Competitions, Events, HITS, Hunter/Equitation, Show Jumping

Youngsters Capture Championships in the Children’s Hunter Divisions at the 2011 Marshall & Sterling League National Finals

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Joe Norick of Marshall & Sterling Insurance, Inc. presents the Champion award to Jennifer Staniloff in the Children's Hunter Pony Small Division. Photos © ESI Photography.

SAUGERTIES, NY (September 18, 2011) – Jennifer Staniloff will always remember her first trip to HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, New York. On Saturday afternoon, the fourth grader was named Champion in the Children’s Hunter Pony Small Division at the 2011 Marshall & Sterling League National Finals aboard Nancy Buzzeta’s Shimmer.

Staniloff of Setauket, New York and Shimmer led the way as they captured the blue ribbon in the first over fences class and then finished second in the under saddle, which helped to fuel their drive to the Children’s Hunter Pony Small Division Champion. Reserve Champion went to One Way or Another, owned and shown by McKinley DeAngelo of Allentown, New Jersey.

“My favorite part about being here was getting in the big ring and making it work together with my pony,” said Staniloff. “I gave him a big bath and helped my mom pack the tack trunk before we left and when we were doing all of this I had a feeling that we would do great! My pony did everything that I asked him to do.”

“Jennifer has been riding with me for about 10 months,” said trainer Rita Timpanaro. “She really devotes a lot of her time to riding and I am very proud of her. This is a tremendous accomplishment.”

Children’s Hunter Pony Medium Division

To say that Anna Platek’s first year competing at big horse shows was a success would be an understatement!

The 12-year-old soccer and skiing star scored Championship honors in the Marshall & Sterling League’s Children’s Hunter Pony Medium Division aboard Yasmin Rizvi’s Forever After, making her first season of showing a major hit!

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Events, JRPR, USEF

Caroline Roffman Wins Young Adult Brentina Cup Championship at 2011 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions

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Caroline Roffman rode Beemer to the win in the Young Adult Brentina Cup Championship. (Photo courtesy of Sue Stickle)

Gladstone, NJ (September 16, 2011) – Dressage rider Caroline Roffman added another prestigious title to her growing resume, cementing her place in the history books of dressage riders by winning the Young Adult Brentina Cup Championship aboard Beemer at the 2011 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions in Gladstone, New Jersey. Roffman’s Brentina Cup victory comes on the heels of a successful 2011 Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in which she rode away with three Reserve Championships aboard San City, Bon Chance and Pie.

As dressage’s reigning “it girl,” Roffman piloted Beemer to a close victory over Olivia Lagoy-Weltz and Riffalino. Roffman said she was thrilled to ride Beemer, a sales horse owned by her trainer Lars Petersen and Global Dressage, and that the 13-year-old gelding has given her a great introduction to the Grand Prix ring.

“I had dreamed of competing at Gladstone in the Brentina Cup for years, ever since the class was developed,” Roffman said. “To win this award was so exciting, but it was mostly icing on the cake. Just being there and being part of it was thrilling.”

While Roffman has been riding Beemer throughout the year, she wasn’t certain if he would be available to compete in the Brentina Cup since he was for sale. “The opportunity Lars gave me to ride Beemer was incredible and gave me so much experience. I am so lucky and I cannot thank him enough,” Roffman said. “Beemer will now be marketed for sale and with several people already inquiring about him I doubt he will be around for long.”

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Events, FEI, FEI, Show Jumping

FEI European Jumping Championships 2011 Final Day

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L to R - Silver medallist Carsten-Otto Nagel from Germany, Gold medallist Rolf-Goran Bengtsson from Sweden and Bronze medallist Nick Skelton from Great Britain. Photo: Kit Houghton/FEI.

For a wrap-up of the Championships including interview with gold medallist Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (SWE) click http://youtu.be/smMqIO173pc.

HISTORIC FIRST AS SWEDEN’S BENGTSSON AND NINJA SWEEP INDIVIDUAL GOLD, by Louise Parkes

Madrid (ESP), 18 September 2011 – Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and the brilliant little Ninja la Silla added European gold to their 2008 Olympic silver medal when sweeping to victory in the closing stages of the individual title-decider at the FEI European Jumping Championships in Madrid, Spain today. This was a historic first, as the only European medal previously stashed in the Swedish trophy cabinet throughout the 54-year history of this event is the bronze collected by the same rider at Arnhem in Holland in 2001.

In a cliff-hanger of a class that had spectators on the edges of their seats right to the very end, the pendulum of good fortune appeared to have swung in the direction of The Netherlands’ Gerco Schroder who was in the lead as the final round got underway. But Lady Luck was not smiling on the Dutchman today, and it was Germany’s Carsten-Otto Nagel and Corradina who claimed their second successive European silver medal, while Great Britain’s Nick Skelton and Carlo took bronze.

It truly was a battle of the giants of the sport. And in the end it was the sport that everyone was talking about tonight. The extraordinary atmosphere of cooperation that prevailed throughout the entire week between the riders, officials and organisers created a powerful sense of a great sport in good shape. As Ground Jury President, Stephan Ellenbruch, pointed out, “It’s been a fantastic event, and at the end of it we can only see smiling faces which is great!”

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Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Events, Para-Equestrian, USEF

Wentz Leads 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships

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Jonathan Wentz and NTEC Richter Scale. Photo: Lindsay Yosay McCall 2011.

Saugerties, NY – A blast of autumn greeted riders on the second day of 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships as temperatures dropped to near 40 degrees overnight. The cool weather did not stop the best Para-Equestrian competitors in the U.S. from achieving strong scores in their Freestyles. Competitors from the five different grades (athletes are graded based on the severity of their disability) of Para-Equestrian Dressage are vying for the National Championship title.

Jonathan Wentz, a member of the Kentucky Equine Research U.S. Para-Equestrian Dressage Team at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, heads the field in the National Championship with his WEG partner, NTEC Richter Scale.

Wentz (Richardson, TX), who has two rides in the Grade 1b division, used the experience he gained last year in Kentucky. He rode his coach Kai Handt’s NTEC Richter Scale to a score of 71.515% in Friday’s Team Test, which counts for 40% of the overall score, and produced an eye-catching Freestyle today to score 71%. Wentz will try to maintain his lead tomorrow’s finale, the Individual Test.

Wentz found that his experience at last year’s WEG has served him well: “You know what the judges are looking for,” he said. “At WEG I learned how to fight for it and read the judges’ sheets and work on what they were looking for.”

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Events, FEI, FEI, Show Jumping

FEI European Jumping Championships 2011 Day 3

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FEI TV commentator Steve Hadley & Irish international Jumping rider Cian O’Connor sum up today’s amazing action at the FEI European Jumping Championships in Madrid, Spain on FEI YouTube Channel: http://goo.gl/ccphY.

GERMANY MAKES IT A MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, by Louise Parkes

Carsten-Otto Nagel, Marco Kutscher, Chef d'Equipe Otto Becker, Janne-Frederike Meyer and Ludger Beerbaum. Photo: FEI/Kit Houghton.

Madrid (ESP), 16 September 2011 – Germany scooped team gold for the seventh time in the history of the FEI European Jumping Championships with a superb final-day performance at the Club de Campo in Madrid, Spain today. As the overnight leaders from The Netherlands faltered, eventually dropping to a disappointing fourth, the Germans flexed their not-inconsiderable muscle with three great clear rounds to snatch the title, while France moved up to seize silver and the British claimed the bronze.

An Olympic qualifying spot was some compensation to the Dutch who always looked like taking one of the three coveted spots available to non-qualified nations and, following a game of fluctuating fortunes today, it will be Switzerland and Sweden who will join them in London next summer. The Spanish also became contenders as the competition progressed, but their chances faded, as did those of the Irish whose only possibility of representation now lies in the Olympic rankings list.

DEMONSTRATION OF SOLIDARITY
The day began with a demonstration of solidarity in the sport as, following agreement by all concerned, the water fence which caused so many faults yesterday, was altered. The grey wall used in the first round was replaced with the darker frontage that had been used for the opening speed competition.

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Championships, Competitions, Events, FEI, FEI, Show Jumping

FEI European Jumping Championships 2011 Day 4

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DOUBLE GOLD WOULD BE PERFECT EARLY BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR NAGEL

Madrid (ESP), 17 September 2011 – Carsten-Otto Nagel is the man of the moment in Madrid. The 48-year-old already has a team gold medal in his back pocket after yesterday’s German victory at the FEI European Jumping Championships and, as leader of the individual rankings, he’s hoping to make that double gold here at the Club de Campo de Villa Madrid tomorrow.

Nagel will celebrate his 49th birthday next Friday, and what better present could there be than two European gold medals to add to the team gold from last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games that’s already in his collection.

There were five no-shows for this morning’s second horse inspection, most notably Pilar Lucrecia Cordón, best-placed of the Spanish in 12th overnight. Nuage Bleu has a minor leg injury and there was no question of risking the 10-year-old gelding over two big courses tomorrow. But the home side still has Julio Arias and Jarnac to cheer on and the Spanish rider’s fan club is sure to be out in force in the glorious Club de Campo showgrounds tomorrow afternoon.

Others who decided to give their horses a longer lie-in this morning were the three Belgians, Jos Lansink (Cavalor Valentina van’t Heike, Gregory Wathelet (Copin van de Broy) and world champion Philippe le Jeune (Vigo d’Arsouilles STX), as well as Italy’s Natale Chiaudani (Almero 12).

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Events, Para-Equestrian, USEF

United States Para-Equestrians Excel at the 2011 Fall Festival of Dressage CPEDI3*

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Mary Jordan (Grade IV) and Sebastian. Photos © Lindsay Yosay McCall

Saugerties, NY – September 16, 2011 – At 7:30 a.m. Friday morning it was a brisk but beautiful 46 degrees at the 2011 NEDA Fall Festival of Dressage and 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships. Twenty-four Para-Equestrians competed in the CPEDI3* with riders from U.S.A., Ireland, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. Grade Ia, Ib, II, and III were dominated by United States riders.  James Dwyer of Ireland and his horse Orlando earned the Grade IV win. With the tough competition of the CPEDI3* and the National Championships hanging over the United States Para-Equestrians, the U.S.A still excelled over the rest. It may be September, but these riders are preparing and building their team for 2012 when London hosts the 2012 Paralympics.

Friday’s competition for the CPEDI3* consisted of the same scoring style as the Paralympics, the Team and Individual score of each team rider will be combined and averaged.  The lowest averaged number will be dropped from each team’s score and a final tally will be conducted.  The 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship scores are calculated with the team competition representing 40% of the total score, Saturday’s Freestyle representing 20% followed by Sunday’s Individual classes earning the last 40%. For many equestrians, this is a weekend not about scores but about first time rides, first time shows, and first time travels.

Dale Dedrick a retired Orthopedic Surgeon from Ann Arbor, Michigan is a brand new rider to Para-Equestrian Dressage. In Friday’s Team competition she earned the top score of 70.079% in Grade II. Dedrick was happy with Bonifatius’ progress and performance for his first day out.  She noted, “Bonifatius is a great horse and he has phenomenal gates.  The test today was not my best test but it was a good test.” Since being introduced to the Para-Equestrian world Dedrick has utilized a training program that fits her inability to tolerate a lot of activity for a duration of time.  She explained, “Since I have a pacemaker, I can’t tolerate a lot of activity.  Therefore, I ride in short bursts and walk for a length of time.  Those long walks on the bit have increased my horse’s back strength, endurance, and it has overall helped both of us.”

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Championships, Competitions, Events, HITS, HITS, Hunter/Equitation, Show Jumping

Lindsay Lynch Captures the Adult Working Hunter Championship at the Marshall & Sterling League National Final

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©ESI Photography. Lindsay Lynch and Bethany Greskovich’s Brother Bear captured the blue ribbon in Thursday's $1,250 Adult Working Hunter at the 2011 Marshall & Sterling League National Finals.

SAUGERTIES, NY (September 17, 2011) – On a beautiful and sunny Friday morning, 30 qualified riders took to the Strongid C 2X Grand Prix Stadium at HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, NY to compete for the Marshall & Sterling Adult Working Hunter Championship. In the end, Lindsay Lynch and Bethany Greskovich’s Brother Bear stood in the winner’s circle to accept the honors.

Lynch, of Medford, New Jersey, was one of 30 competitors who competed in the Adult Hunter Division over courses designed by Jerry Dougherty of Bokeelia, Florida. She earned the Championship prize after capturing the first-place victory in Thursday’s $1,250 Adult Working Hunter and finishing fourth in the Adult Working Hunter Under Saddle.

“Bear is a great horse,” said Lynch. “He really put it all out there this week and jumped his little heart out. Despite being a little fresh this week, he knows how to put on a cute little face for the judge when he walks in the ring.”

Lynch has been a Marshall & Sterling competitor for several years. “I’ve been showing in the League for a few years now and I always enjoy coming to the National Finals. It’s nice to have the spotlight in the Grand Prix Ring and winning the Championship was a very good way to finish up before we head to the Zone II Finals.”

Reserve Champion honors went to Kelly Champion of Washington, New Jersey who finished second in both the Under Saddle and Friday’s Hunter Stake aboard her own All In.

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