Category Archives: Competitions

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FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships 2010

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The Area 3 Young Rider Eventing team of Missy Miller, Emily Renfoe, Danielle Dichting and Devon Brown celebrate their gold medal winning performance at the 2010 FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championship in Lexington last weekend. Photo: Anthony Trollope.

US RIDERS HAUL IN THE GOLD

3 August 2010 – The 2010 FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships came to a close on Sunday August 1st at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, USA – home of the forthcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.  Top American, Canadian and Mexican riders between the ages of 14 and 21 showcased their talents in Jumping, Dressage, Eventing and Reining but it was the host nation that dominated affairs when taking nine gold medals.

Jumping

US riders swept the boards in both the Individual and Team Young Rider Jumping Championships.  Ali Wolff and H & M Necoll made an amazing comeback after pulling two rails during the First Individual Qualifier to claim Young Rider Gold. They began their rise to the top by completing two clear efforts in the Team Competition. The pair then moved into the first place position during the last round of the Finals and held their lead with another clear to finish on a total of 9.93 faults. Catherine Pasmore and My Boy took the Silver Medal with 10.65 faults and Jessica Springsteen and Vornado Van Den Hoendrik took home the Bronze after accruing 13.44 faults.

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Caroline Roffman and Bon Chance Go Five for Five

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Caroline Roffman and her Hanoverian gelding, Bon Chance, won the Five-Year-Old Championship at the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Championships in Lamplight, Illinois. (Photo courtesy of Fire and Earth Photo)

Wellington, FL (August 2, 2010) – Five may be dressage rider Caroline Roffman’s favorite number right now, as the talented 21-year-old rode her Hanoverian gelding Bon Chance (Belissimo M x Wintersong by Weltmeyer bred in Germany by Marefield Meadows) to the Five-Year-Old Championship at the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Championship in Lamplight. It was the first national championship for Roffman, who lives in Wellington, Florida, and trained Bon Chance herself.

The Five-Year-Old victory was the fifth win at a major show for Bon Chance, giving the duo a five for five record. Bon Chance also won the Five-Year-Old Preliminary Class at the Young Horse Championships, captured first at the 2010 Dressage at Equestrian Estates as well as the 2010 Dressage Derby and was Reserve Champion at the 2009 Young Horse Championships in the Four-Year-Old class.

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Championships, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Driving, Events, FEI

FEI World Singles Driving Championships 2010 – Final Day

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From left to right: Bartolomiej Kwiatek (POL)-silver, Thorsten Zarembowicz (GER)- gold and Cristiano Cividini (ITA) – bronze. (c) Hippoevent

DOUBLE GOLD FOR GERMAN SINGLE DRIVERS

Pratoni del Vivaro (ITA), 1 August 2010 – After a nerve-wracking obstacle driving competition at the FEI World Single Driving Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy, Germany took home both individual and team gold. Thorsten Zarembowicz is the new World Champion. Poland’s Bartolomiej Kwiatek took the silver and Italy’s Cristiano Cividini won the bronze medal.

World Championship course designer Christian Iseli is known for his challenging obstacle driving courses, and at Pratoni he built another selective course, sticking to his motto ‘Not easy, but Iseli!’  The course, which was underestimated by most of the drivers, consisted of many sharp turns and the tight time frame made it difficult, but nevertheless do-able.

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Adelinde Cornelissen & Jerich Parzival Win Exquis WDM Freestyle at Hickstead

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Adelinde Cornelissen on Jerich Parzival holding aloft the Exquis World Dressage Masters trophy with Mike Rutherford and wife, Angie, on left and WDM Chief Executive Officer Anthony Kies, and Tosca and Kees Visser of Moorland Stables. © 2010 Ken Braddick

HICKSTEAD, England, Aug. 1 — Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival dominated the final Exquis World Dressage Masters of the year with a resounding victory in the Grand Prix Freestyle Sunday with Dutch team mate Hans Peter Minderhoud on Exquis Nadine was runner-up.

Adelinde and the 13-year-old chestnut gelding ranked No.2 in the world, received a score of 85.650 per cent with Hans Peter and the mare receiving marks of 78.850 percent in the €60,000 (US$78,000) freestyle.

Great Britain’s Laura Bechtolsheimer and Andretti, who had finished second behind Adelinde in the Grand Prix, was third on 78.250 per cent. Adelinde and Parzival had won the Grand Prix with a score of 81.362 per cent, a margin of eight percentage points over the second placed pair.

Great Britain’s Carl Hester, in the first CDI5* since getting the ride back on Liebling II, won the €30,000 (US$39,000) Moorlands Grand Prix Special earlier Sunday, and most likely secured a place on Great Britain’s team for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky next month.

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Henri Kovacs and Sassicaia II Race to $40,000 KY Summer Grand Prix Victory at Kentucky Summer Horse Show

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Henri Kovacs and Sassicaia II won the $40,000 KY Summer Grand Prix at Kentucky Summer Horse Show. Photo By: Kenneth Kraus

Lexington, KY – August 1, 2010 – The curtain closed on the Kentucky Summer Horse Show, the first in the summer series, and the last event of the week did not disappoint. The week featured classes such as the NAJYRC finals and the $30,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic, and the most prize money was offered in this evening’s $40,000 Kentucky Summer Grand Prix, sponsored by Audi of Lexington. As the sun set over the Kentucky Horse Park’s Main Outdoor Stadium it was 20-year-old Hungarian Henri Kovacs garnering the win with Plain Bay Farm’s Sassicaia II in their third Grand Prix victory as a team here in Lexington.

Thirty-two entries competed over today’s 13-obstacle, 1.50 m course, designed by Olaf Petersen, Jr. The technically demanding track included a wall fence, triple bar, a double combination and a triple combination. The distances in the related lines required control of the mount, and a tight time allowed required a precise route to break the beam within the 80-second time allowed, which already had been lengthened from the original 72 second limit.

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Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Events

Adelinde & Parzival Post Best Ever Grand Prix Score to Win Exquis World Dressage Masters at Hickstead

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Adeline Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival. © 2010 Ken Braddick

HICKSTEAD, England, July 31 — Adelinde Cornelissen rode Jerich Parzival to victory at the Exquis World Dressage Masters Saturday with their best ever Grand Prix score of 81.362 per cent while Laura Bechtolsheimer and Andretti turned in their best ever result of 73.362 per cent for runner-up and home side joy.

Hans Peter Minderhoud and Exquis Nadine, selected to be on the Dutch team with Adelinde at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in September, finished third with 70.936 per cent.

The €10,000 (£8,320/US$13,000) Grand Prix kicked off the fifth and final CDI5* event for 2010, the second year of the richest lineup of dressage competitions that started with Palm Beach, USA, then moved to Munich, Germany, Cannes, France and Falsterbo, Sweden for the first time. Each of the events carries total prize money of €100,000 (£83,200/US$130,000).

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, Jennifer Wood, Show Jumping

Pablo Barrios Wins Three Gold Medals at 21st Central American and Caribbean Games

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Andres Rodriguez and Pablo Barrios (left, center) in the medal ceremony. All Photos © Anwar Esquivel.

Mayaguez, Puerto Rico – July 31, 2010 – Pablo Barrios represented his home country of Venezuela well this week at the 21st Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Barrios rode G&C Quick Star 11 to the gold medal in the first individual round, helped the Venezuelan team win the gold medal, and finished as the overall individual gold medal winner. G&C Quick Star 11 is owned by G&C Farm. G&C Farm, owned by Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal of Venezuela, is based in Wellington, FL. Barrios is also based in Wellington, FL.

In the opening speed round, Barrios and G&C Quick Star 11, a 12-year-old KWPN mare by Quick Star x Grannus, were the fastest clear round to take home the first gold medal in show jumping. Venezuelan teammate Andres Rodriguez won the silver, which helped Venezuela take the lead in the team classification going into the next day’s Nations Cup competition.

“I went last out of the Venezuelan riders on the first day, so I had the opportunity to watch almost the whole class,” Barrios recalled. “I watched Andres lead the class for a while, and I wanted to go a little faster. I made a few turns tighter, but I didn’t want to risk too much because it’s a championship and all scores count.”

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FEI World Singles Driving Championships 2010 – Marathon

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Lucie Musy-Comune (SUI) won the World Championship marathon at Pratoni del Vivaro (c) Hippoevent

SWISS DOMINANCE AND GIRL-POWER IN THE MARATHON

31 July 2010 – Perfect conditions created a wonderful environment for the marathon of the FEI World Single Driving Championship in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy. Undulating tracks on a green meadow and the obstacle site nicely embedded in the hilly landscape ensured great sport.

The eight obstacles built by Austria’s course designer Christian Iseli offered the competitors countless route options. Two of them included extra large water elements, built and flagged in a modern and horse friendly way.

Before the start of the World Championship, the possible hot weather conditions in the summer in Italy was much talked about, but it could not have been better today. Twenty-seven degrees Celsius was the highest temperature reached. The marathon was heavy, but fair and selective, absolutely ideal for World Championship competition.

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Championships, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Driving, Events, FEI

FEI World Singles Driving Championships 2010

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Thorsten Zarembowicz (GER) is the new Dressage World Champion in the Single Horse class. (c) Hippoevent

GERMANY LEADS AT WORLD SINGLE DRIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PRATONI

31 July 2010 – Germany’s Thorsten Zarembowicz has set a new standard in the Single Horse Driving scene by putting down a wonderful score of 35,20 penalty points and taking the lead at the FEI World Single Driving Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy. The German Team is leading the Nations Cup after the first phase of the combined driving competition.

After two days of dressage in which the best 72 Single Horse drivers in the world showed their skills, Thorsten Zarembowicz is the new man to beat in dressage. Zarembowicz bettered the score of the title defender Jan van den Broek from the Netherlands by over six penalty points. The 31-year-old manager of the driving stable of former World Champion Michael Freund drove a wonderful test with the 8-year-old Holsteiner mare Sunrise. His test thrilled both the spectators and the judges.

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Community/Charity, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, Show Jumping, Sydney Masters-Durieux

News Bits about Hillary Dobbs, Liliane Stransky, and Roger Young Stables

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Photo by David Mullinix Photography

Hillary Dobbs
Hillary Dobbs hit the million dollar mark in winnings during the 41st annual Lake Placid Horse Shows.  The 22 year old Harvard graduate placed second aboard Marengo in the $30,000 Intercat, Inc. Open Jumper Classic CSI 2* pushed jumped her past the million dollar mark. Her victory in the $30,000 Battenkill Grand Prix, the 2nd year she has won it, also on Marengo at the Vermont Summer Festival WEEK 2 put her total earnings to date at $1,023,785.75.

Liliane Stransky/Stransky Mission Farms/Step by Step Foundation

Photo by Kathy Anderson

The tornado that slammed into the Olympic stadium may have delayed the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, but it didn’t dampen the competition or spectators’ spirits. “You can plan for almost anything,” stated Liliane Stransky, the owner of Stransky’s Mission Farm and founder of the Step by Step charity. “I have learned the hard way, there is no plan with nature.  Every day is unexpected, and thank God no people, or horses, were seriously hurt.” Stransky celebrated the finishing of the Step by Step Foundation’s new Tipa Tipa Elementary School in Haiti with her 14 year old daughter Daniela by cheering on both Hector Florentino (Dominican Republic) riding their bay Ultimo, and Diego Muyshodndt (El Salvador) on their jumper Ikarus, in the CAC show jumping competitions. 31 nations were scheduled to participate.

Photo Courtesy of Roger Young Stables

Congratulations to rider, trainer, and judge Gary Young of Roger Young Stables and his lovely wife Michaela on the opening of Camden Equine Rehabilitation & Conditioning Center in South Carolina. Soon their two year old daughter Stella will be able to take the reins in the family business!

By Sydney Masters-Durieux