Category Archives: Competitions

USEF Announces Dates and Location for 2011 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has announced the dates and location for the 2011 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions which will also serve as the USEF Selection Trials for the US Dressage Team for the 2011 Pan American Games.

The competition will be held over four days, September 8-11, 2011, at the USET Foundation Headquarters in Gladstone, NJ.

The best horse/rider combinations in the following divisions will vie for national dressage championships: Grand Prix, Intermediaire I, Young Adult ‘Brentina Cup,’ Young Rider and Junior. For the first time in 2011, a National Pony Dressage Championship will also be run.

The Intermediaire I National Championship will also serve as the USEF Selection Trial for the US Dressage Team for the 2011 Pan American Games.

The Pan American Games will run in Guadalajara, Mexico in October, the U.S. Dressage Team will be looking to repeat their Gold medal effort from 2007.

For more information about High Performance Dressage, please visit:
http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsdisciplines/discipline/alldressage/hpDressage.aspx.

Or contact Jenny Van Wieren, USEF Director of Dressage, High Performance at jvanwieren@usef.org.

© Copyright 2011 United States Equestrian Federation

Eventing Mandatory Outing Information for 2011 Pan American Games

Lexington, KY – The USEF has announced that the Mandatory Outing for Eventing for the 2011 Pan American Games will be held at the Richland Park Horse Trials in Richland, Michigan, August 25-28, 2011.

The event will run a separate division for the USEF Short Listed riders.  Their division will include the FEI CCI2* dressage test and the Advanced Cross Country and Jumping tracks. The USEF will name a partial Short List for the Games after the Bromont CCI, which will be held June 9-12, 2011. The Event at Rebecca Farm (July 21-24) is the last selection trial designated in the Selection Procedures, after which the final and complete Short List will be named.

Short Listed horse/rider combinations must compete in the Mandatory Outing, unless excused for veterinary, medical or exceptional circumstances.

The Pan American Games will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico this fall and eventing will be run at the CCI2* level. The eventing competition will take place from October 20-23, 2011.

Richland Park features Horse Trials from Novice to Advanced, a CIC3* and a CIC2* as well Young Horse Divisions.

More information about Richland Park is available here: http://www.richlandpark.com/index.html.

More information about the 2011 Pan American Games is available here: http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/eng/01_inicio/index.asp.

USEF High Performance Eventing Information is available here: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsdisciplines/discipline/alleventing/hpeventing.aspx, which includes a list of applicants for the Games.

AQHA: More Exhibitors Recognized at This Year’s World Shows

The American Quarter Horse Journal — The American Quarter Horse Association will be recognizing a new level of exhibitors at four of its world championship shows this year.

At the 2011 Built Ford Tough AQHYA, Adequan Select, Bank of America Amateur and Fedex Open world championship shows, AQHA will recognize the top three Intermediate exhibitors in each youth, amateur, Select and open class.

“This is a great way to introduce some of the show or competition-leveling concepts that AQHA has been exploring over the last couple of years,” said AQHA President Peter J. Cofrancesco III. “Recognizing the Intermediate exhibitor is a way to shine the spotlight on exhibitors who have worked hard to qualify for our world shows and are tough competitors at our world shows year after year, but don’t make it into the top 10.”

Continue reading AQHA: More Exhibitors Recognized at This Year’s World Shows

Cory Hardy Captures $10,000 3’3″ Hunter Derby at the 2011 Fieldstone Spring Festival

Cory Hardy and Connor won the $10,000 Fieldstone 3'3" Hunter Derby. Photos © 2011 Anne Gittins

Halifax, MA – May 22, 2011 – The 2011 Fieldstone Spring Festival concluded its final day of competition on Sunday with an exciting schedule of hunter derby events all held on the Fieldstone Equestrian and Show Facility’s beautiful grass Grand Prix Field. The $10,000 3’3” Hunter Derby was the feature event of the day with a great win for local professional rider and trainer Cory Hardy, of Waltham, MA. Hardy guided Mary Chase’s seven-year-old German Warmblood gelding Connor to the win following two rounds of competition. A $2,500 2’9” Hunter Derby immediately followed with a victory for 17-year-old Susan Huyett, of Concord, MA, riding her ten-year-old Oldenburg gelding Huckleberry Finn.

Course designer Nathan Panetta, of Warner, NH, set the tracks for today’s hunter derby classes. The $10,000 3’3” Hunter Derby was held first on the beautiful grass field with 22 entries and the top twelve returning for round two. Class winners Cory Hardy and Connor finished round one with a score of 78 and then had a fantastic trip in round two to score an 85, tallying the highest two round total of 163.

Elizabeth Kenny and Donald Stewart’s Don Juan finished in second place, just one point behind the winning pair, with a 162 total from combined scores of 80 and 82. David Oliynyk and Generous, owned by Lori Gaudet, finished with scores of 81 and 80 for a 161 total in third place. Hardy and his second mount Le Chasseur, also owned by Mary Chase, finished in fourth with scores of 83 and 77 to total 160. Robert Lee and Shock Top scored a 76 in the first round and then earned an 83 in round two to finish with an overall score of 159 for fifth place.

Continue reading Cory Hardy Captures $10,000 3’3″ Hunter Derby at the 2011 Fieldstone Spring Festival

Hannah Goodson Earns Top Honors in Junior Hunters at Kentucky Spring Classic

Hannah Goodson-Cutt and Caretano at the Kentucky Spring Classic. Photo Credit: Holly Whiteman

Lexington KY – May 21, 2011 – Today was another beautiful sunny day at the Kentucky Spring Classic, held at the prestigious Kentucky Horse Park. The Stonelea Arena presented championship honors in the Junior Hunter Divisions as they wrapped up their second day of competition. Hannah Goodson-Cutt earned two tricolors with her mounts Caretano and Superman in the Junior 16-17 Hunter Divisions. Catherine Tyree also earned championship and reserve championship awards with her mounts Savant and Concetto in the Junior 16-17 Hunter Divisions.

The Small Junior 16-17 Hunter Division awarded championship honors to Hannah Goodson-Cutt and Caretano. The duo earned three blue ribbons, and red and yellow ribbons to secure the championship honors.

“He was good in all his rounds,” noted Goodson-Cutt. “Yesterday, he was good in all his rounds. He went amazing and I was very happy with our results. Today was also good and he feels really great and feels soft and I am excited for how he will be at Devon.”

Continue reading Hannah Goodson Earns Top Honors in Junior Hunters at Kentucky Spring Classic

FEI Central Asian Endurance Championship 2011

Bissemaganbetov Captures Gold as Kazakhstan Scoops All the Medals, by Louise Parkes

Lausanne (SUI), 24 May 2011 – The host nation of Kazakhstan captured all the medals at the 2011 FEI Central Asian Endurance Championship staged in Talgar earlier this month.  Altyngali Bissemaganbetov claimed gold, while Amangeldy Munaitbayev took silver and Kairzhan Andybay clinched the bronze.  Just six of the 16 starters completed the 80kms course, and the only non-Kazakh in the final line-up was the sole competitor from Turkmenistan, sixth-placed Oleg Karabayev.

Bissemaganbetov made history as he secured his success riding the Adai horse Oyly.  The Adai, a breed native to Kazakhstan, was only recently awarded an official pedigree following tests conducted by a State Commission in the Mangistau Steppes earlier this year. These horses are cherished for their hardiness, and Oyly proved just how tough they can be.

GROWING
The sport of Endurance is growing in the region, and Kyrgyzstan was also represented as the competition got underway on 15 May.  Talgar, which lies close to the city of Almaty, is at the foothills of the Zailiisky Mountains where the Asian winter-sports championships regularly take place.  The town is also on the Silk Road – the network of trade routes that stretches across Asia, linking East to West – and close to the Caspian Sea.  Demonstrating the spread of the sport, some of the competitors travelled over 500 kilometres to compete in the championship.

Continue reading FEI Central Asian Endurance Championship 2011

Kentucky Spring Classic Wrap Up May 18-22

Lexington, KY – May 23, 2011 – As the Kentucky Spring Classic hosted another night of show jumping, the incredible duo of Kent Farrington and Uceko continued their complete domination of the last two weeks by securing the $55,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix victory. Tonight’s event was sponsored by Audi of Lexington and honored Mary Rena Murphy, a horsewoman whose dedication to equestrian sport was unmatched. Once again, speed proved to be the determining factor during the thirteen horse jump-off, and that is something Farrington and Uceko are proving to master. The duo was a full two seconds ahead of second place finishers Ali Wolff and Lanoo, while Christian Heineking and River of Dreams took home third for the second time this week.

“During the first round, there were more clear than I expected,” admitted Farrington. “The outside line started with a wall and then an awkward distance to an oxer-oxer combination, and then a very steady distance to a liverpool. I thought that would catch more horses than it did. I think the footing here is excellent, and these horses have been here for two weeks now, so I think they are really comfortable in the ring. I think that’s why there were more clear rounds than Richard expected. It’s under the lights, so they are a bit impressed, and I think the horses were just really going well on the ground.”

For the final test, Jeffery had riders start over a single oxer to the liverpool and make a bending line to a single oxer. They then made a sharp roll back to a vertical-oxer double combination and galloped across the ring to a wide oxer. Finally, riders made another sharp turn to a tall vertical before they galloped towards the timers over the last oxer. Of the thirteen qualifiers, seven were able to make it a perfect night and finish without any faults added to their score.

Continue reading Kentucky Spring Classic Wrap Up May 18-22

McCutcheon Golden at the 2011 FEI Reining World Final; Schmersal Brings Home Silver

Bökeberg, Sweden – Set in a beautiful arena and in front of a capacity crowd, the 2011 FEI World Reining Final was an electric atmosphere at Bökebergs Gård, Sweden, just outside of Malmö. The best reining horses in the world contested the highly coveted title and Tom McCutcheon of the United States was flawless in his effort to the top of the podium.

Riding Darlins Not Painted to an extraordinary score of 229.5, McCutcheon – the double-Gold medalist at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games – added another Gold medal to his impressive resume and continues his dominance of international high-performance reining events. Darlins Not Painted is owned by Turnabout Farm.

In the Silver medal position, also from the U.S., Craig Schmersal aboard Miss Lil Addy Tude, owned by KC Performance Horses, gave the crowd a thrill with an incredible score of 227.5. Schmersal, showing on the mare at only the second FEI Reining event, had nothing but praise for his mount and the attractive American Quarter Horse was one of the crowd favorites from the first horse inspection.

Continue reading McCutcheon Golden at the 2011 FEI Reining World Final; Schmersal Brings Home Silver

Sympa and Daniel Geitner Triumph in Final Weekend of Atlanta Spring Challenge Series

Sympa and Daniel Geitner. All photos by Shawn McMillen.

May 22nd, 2011 – Conyers, Georgia – The 2011 Atlanta Spring Challenge Horse Show came to a close today at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, GA.  Attention turned to the International Arena on Saturday evening for the $25,000 Atlanta Spring Challenge Grand Prix and “Preakness Party” which was sponsored by DFG Stables and Daniel and Cathy Geitner of Aiken, SC.  The crowd gathered early to enjoy the impressive spread of tasty Mexican fare including ground beef, chicken, and steak tacos with rice and all of the fixings and an assortment of special mini cupcakes to celebrate the occasion.  A large screen TV was set up for everyone to enjoy the 136th running of the Preakness Stake.  As Shackleford headed towards the winners circle at Pimlico, riders prepared to tackle the challenging Prix course designed by J. P. Godard.  The course set at the National Standard offered 15 jumping efforts in the first round including a double and triple combination with a time allowed of 84 seconds.  The shortened jump off course included 8 jumping efforts with numerous options and a time allowed of 48 seconds.

It was a fantastic night for Daniel Geitner and his DFG stables of Aiken, South Carolina.  Out of the original field, Geitner qualified two mounts for the jump off, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bostwick’s Sympa and CDS Stable’s Neville.  DFG’s Christina Jason also advanced to the jump off on the Booth Parker Owned entry Wonder Pomme.

Continue reading Sympa and Daniel Geitner Triumph in Final Weekend of Atlanta Spring Challenge Series

Double H Farm Dominates Jumpers at Kentucky Spring Classic

Christina Kelly and HH Narcos Du Marais were victorious in the High Junior/ Amateur-Owner Jumpers at the Kentucky Spring Classic. Photo By: Rebecca Walton/PMG.

Lexington, KY – May 20, 2011 – The sun was brightly shining as the exciting jumper action in the Rolex Stadium continued today at the Kentucky Spring Classic, held at the picturesque Kentucky Horse Park. Double H Farm proved to be a dominating force today, taking home two blue ribbons with mounts winning the 1.45m Open Jumper class and the High Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper class. Quentin Judge piloted HH Sandor to victory in the 1.45m Open Jumper class for the second time this week, while junior rider Christina Kelly took home the winning title with HH Narcos Du Marais in the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumpers.

For both events, riders showed over a technical course designed by Richard Jeffery of Bournemouth, England. The first round included 14 jumping efforts, which featured an open water option, a liverpool, and two double combinations. For the jump-off, riders showed over a new oxer followed by a tight turn to a single vertical, before galloping over a large oxer to a vertical-oxer double combination. Finally, they turned to a single vertical and galloped home over the final oxer.

The 1.45m Open Jumper class kicked off just before noon, and there were eight riders that managed to successfully complete the first round and advance to the short course. During the jump-off, only three entries left all the rails in place to finish with a perfect effort.

Continue reading Double H Farm Dominates Jumpers at Kentucky Spring Classic