Category Archives: Events

Awards, Community/Charity, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Events, JRPR, Products/Services

Draper Equine Therapy to Sponsor “Put Your Best Foot Forward” Award at 2011 FTI WEF

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Draper Equine Therapy will be sponsoring the “Put Your Best Foot Forward” Award at the 2011 WEF. Each winner will receive a pair of Draper Equine Therapy Recovery Wraps, an Anti-Sweat Sheet and Saddle Pad for their horse, along with a pair of Draper Body Therapy Socks and a t-shirt for themselves. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)

Wellington, FL (December 30, 2010) – Riders who put their best foot forward each week during the world class 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival will have the chance to ride away with the “Put Your Best Foot Forward” Award. Sponsored by Draper Equine Therapy, makers of therapeutic horse and rider products featuring the innovative “smart fiber” textile Celliant, each winner will receive a pair of Draper Equine Therapy Recovery Wraps, an Anti-Sweat Sheet and Saddle Pad for their horse, along with a pair of Draper Body Therapy Socks and a t-shirt for themselves.

“Draper is thrilled to be sponsoring the ‘Put Your Best Foot Forward’ Award at WEF. This is a wonderful opportunity to reward talent that might not be winning ribbons each week at WEF, regardless of all the determination and hard work they are putting forward,” said Kat Wojtylak, Product Manager of Draper Equine Therapy. “We want to recognize those horses and riders who are really giving it their all, because everyone deserves a shot at being the best.”

The 2011 Winter Equestrian Festival, held January 12 to April 3 at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, is a world-class show circuit that attracts top horses, riders and trainers from all around the world. “The winners of the ‘Put Your Best Foot Forward’ Award are going to have the opportunity to really try the products out by feeling and watching the results,” Wojtylak said. “We have riders with feet problems that put on our socks and call us the next day to tell us their pain is gone. We have one rider who says he will never take off our socks because he is pain free for the first time in five years.”

Continue reading Draper Equine Therapy to Sponsor “Put Your Best Foot Forward” Award at 2011 FTI WEF →

Breeds, Contributors/Press, Events, Racing

“Hats Off to the Horses,” the Online Derby-Hat Auction Benefiting Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement, Continues January 1st

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Stunning New Hat Honors Retiree Creator

GEORGETOWN, KY – DECEMBER 30, 2010 – Bidding opens January 1st on “The Creator,” hat number three in the six-part “Hats Off to the Horses: The Road to the Derby,” an online fashion auction benefitting Old Friends, the central Kentucky organization devoted to racehorse retirement.

Handcrafted by milliner Sally Faith Steinmann of Maggie Mae Designs, the hat will be on the block from January 1st through January 11 2011.

Steinmann, who owns the Massachusetts-based Maggie Mae Designs, is donating the six magnificent millinery creations to raise funds for Old Friends, the 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that cares for more than 100 retired Thoroughbreds.  Each hat is inspired by one of the retirees at Old Friends and will be auctioned monthly from November to April, leading up to the famed First Saturday in May. One hundred percent of the online proceeds goes to Old Friends.

To celebrate the New Year, Steinmann has created a magnificent chapeau in honor of Old Friends’ 25-year-old retiree Creator, one the first horses acquired by the organization from the breeding sheds of Japan.

Continue reading “Hats Off to the Horses,” the Online Derby-Hat Auction Benefiting Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement, Continues January 1st →

*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Driving, Events, FEI, FEI

Hat Trick for Koos de Ronde in Mechelen

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Koos de Ronde on his way to his hat trick victory in Mechelen. Photo: FEI/Rinaldo de Craen

Koos de Ronde did it again. The Dutch golden team member of Kentucky has won the FEI World Cup Driving competition in Mechelen for the third time in a row. De Ronde beat Hungary’s Jozsef Dobrovitz with an exciting fast and clear round to put the pressure on last-to-go and wild card driver Boyd Exell. But the World Champion from Australia was unable to stay clear and left the arena with 15 penalty points. When the scores were finally tallied, De Ronde was declared the deserved winner.

Charley is back
After wins in 2008 and 2009 in the Nekkerhal just 140 kilometres from his home in The Netherlands, Koos de Ronde was determined to be the best again in Mechelen. Koos was very pleased to be able to use his black horse Charley in the lead of his team again after having to replace him at Budapest due to injury. De Ronde put his team in the highest gear from the start and was the only driver with two clear rounds.

Too generous
Boyd Exell, who had received one of the three wild cards from the organisers, was last to go in the Winning Round after a very fast first round. Koos had asked him to be generous before he went into the fully packed arena, but Boyd explained afterwards that he had not planned to be that generous! Boyd, who had swapped his leaders around, went too fast in tight places and knocked three balls down.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12857

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

Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping 2010/2011 – Round 8

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Mireille Puttevils, Rolex Belgium, presents Jessica Kuerten with a Rolex watch after the Irish rider's victory with Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois in today's leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping series. Photo: Dirk Caremans/FEI.

KUERTEN KEEPS THE BELGIANS AT BAY ON THEIR HOME TURF AT MECHELEN by Louise Parkes

Mechelen BEL, 30 December 2010 – Ireland’s Jessica Kuerten fended off a powerful challenge from the host nation contingent to scoop maximum points in the eighth leg of the 2010/2011 Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping series at Mechelen in Belgium this afternoon.  From a starting field of 38 only four went into the second-round jump-off, and the 41 year old German-based rider snatched victory when second-last to go against the clock riding Lady Georgina Forbes’ Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois.

“It was a very special win, and I feel quite emotional,” Kuerten said afterwards.  “We really wanted to win, we were unbelievably motivated and we had to go very fast to beat Gregory Wathalet.  Winning this and the Queen’s Cup on Tuesday has made it a fairytale week!” she added.  Belgium’s Wathalet took runner-up spot with Sea Coast Cortes C while his fellow-countrymen Jos Lansink (Casper Van Spieveld) and Niels Bruynseels (NASA) filled third and fourth places respectively as the home riders put on a great show in front of their own crowd in the packed Nekkerhal Arena.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12853

*Featured/Spotlights, Breeds, Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Events, JRPR, USDF

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

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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

*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Events, FEI, FEI

Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage 2010/2011 – Round 6, Mechelen

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The Netherlands' Edward Gal and Sisther de Jeu won the sixth leg of the 2010/2011 Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage series in Mechelen, Belgium today. Photo: Dirk Caremans/FEI.

GAL REIGNS SUPREME WHILE MINDERHOUD TAKES MAXIMUM POINTS AND SALZGEBER FORGES AHEAD ON LEADERBOARD by Claartje van Andel

Mechelen (BEL), 28 December 2010 – The Netherlands’ Edward Gal and his mare Sisther de Jeu simply did what they set out to do at the sixth leg of the 2010/2011 Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage series in Mechelen, Belgium today when following their victory in the Grand Prix with the same result in the Freestyle. As Gal is the title defender and does not receive points in his starts, his partner, Hans Peter Minderhoud, claimed maximum points when runner-up with the mare Exquis Nadine.  And Ulla Salzgeber, winner at both Kaposvar in Hungary and at Frankfurt in her native Germany this season, finished third with her chestnut mare Wakana to forge a strong lead at the top of the series leaderboard.

Gal was relieved and happy with the win. He took the rather inexperienced mare Sisther de Jeu to Olympia in London and now to Mechelen. “She is very sensitive and is not used to a lot of noise and to the crowds, but she is learning to behave better, and to relax – this definitely will be her future,” the 40 year old rider said with confidence. His Freestyle music is just like the famous Freestyle of his former ride, the stallion Totilas which has now been sold to Germany.  The score was created by Dutch musician Joost Peters, who is married to Dutch dressage rider and trainer Mischa Koot, and the music cast a mysterious spell over the movements of Sisther de Jeu who began to really show what she can do during the test.

Continue reading Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage 2010/2011 – Round 6, Mechelen →

Classic Company, Community/Charity, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, Hunter/Equitation, Show Jumping

Jacksonville Update 2011

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Just a reminder that the stalls/tents will start going up in Jacksonville on Friday so we need to get the best count we can.  If you are planning on attending the Jacksonville Winter Series (Jan 12 – Jan 30) this winter, please call and let us know your stall count.  In order to keep our expenses down and your costs down, we plan only to erect the number of stalls reserved this year.  You are welcome to email or call.  Email is info@nfhja.com and phone is 904 993 2053.

See you at the rings,

Bob Bell
The Classic Company, Ltd.
www.ClassicCompany.com
Phone/FAX:  (843) 768-5503
Post Office Box 1311  Johns Island  SC 29457

Awards, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, FEI, FEI, Racing, Show Jumping, Western/Reining

FEI Month in Review – December 2010

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12/01/2010 Malmö to host inaugural FEI World Reining Finals in 2011

12/03/2010 Guatemala to stage FEI World Jumping Challenge Final

12/05/2010 Ultimate win for Ulrich in Budapest

12/11/2010 Swiss Jumping team presented with 2008 Olympic bronze at 50th anniversary Geneva show

12/12/2010 Journalists to vote for best press office in Rolex FEI World Cup Western European League 2010/2011 season

12/13/2010 FEI President names Executive Board members

12/16/2010 FEI and Reem Acra give Christmas treat to children from inner city London horse charity

KEY EVENTS, ITEMS AND MEETINGS – DECEMBER 2010

Clean Sport presentation and FEI Veterinarian Course, Budapest (HUN), 1-2 December

FEI Veterinary Director Graeme Cooke presented Clean Sport to members of the Hungarian NF and gave an official FEI veterinarian course.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12844

*Featured/Spotlights, Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Events, Phelps Media Group

Robert Dover’s Radio Show to Feature Olympic Stars in the “It Gets Better Campaign”

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Robert Dover. Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Client

Wellington, FL – December 27, 2010 – Six time Olympian Robert Dover will host Olympic Stars for the It Gets Better campaign on his radio show, Dover’s World, on Tuesday December 28, 2010 at 6pm on WBZT (AM 1230) from Palm Beach to Miami, Florida.  The program can also be found at www.DoversWorld.com, and will be streamed live there for listeners around the world.  The roster for the “Olympic Stars for the It Gets Better Campaign” radio show include Olympic Stars that all happen to be out, gay, and proud champions in sport and life in general.

Featured guests on the show include Olympic Diver David Pichler, who represented the United States in Atlanta in 1996 and was named the Diving Team Captain four years later at the Games in Sydney, Australia, where he was ranked fourth in the world in the 3-meter synchronized event and ninth individually. Life was not always easy for David, and he will share how he persevered and became such a great success.

Next up is Southern Germany born Guenter Seidel, who immigrated to the United States, became a citizen, and went on to represent the U.S Olympic Dressage Team in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.  Seidel earned Bronze Medals in each of his three Olympic appearances.  He will talk about his decision to leave his native land and move to California where he still makes his home, along with his long-time partner, Sean Caddell.  Seidel will also discuss his sights on the 2012 Olympics in London.

Continue reading Robert Dover’s Radio Show to Feature Olympic Stars in the “It Gets Better Campaign” →

Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Fundraisers, Jennifer Ward, Show Jumping

JustWorld International Forms Partnership with Equine Canada

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December 24, 2010 – Wellington, Florida – JustWorld International has formed a partnership with Equine Canada, the national federation for equestrian sport in Canada.  JustWorld is a not-for-profit, humanitarian organization working as a catalyst for positive change in the developing world by helping impoverished children.

By forming an alliance with Equine Canada, JustWorld will have official endorsement from the national governing body.  Currently, JustWorld has a strong Canadian presence with 35 of the more than 370 JustWorld Rider Ambassadors hailing from Canada while several top show jumping competitions host fundraising activities.  The main focus of JustWorld’s activities is raising funds and awareness for its project sites in Brazil, Cambodia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Senegal.

“Equine Canada and the Canadian Equestrian Team are honoured to join hands with JustWorld International and become part of their work,” said Akaash Maharaj, Chief Executive Officer of Equine Canada.  “We hope that our partnership will make a meaningful contribution to improving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children, and to upholding equestrianism’s higher traditions as a sport of conscience.”

Continue reading JustWorld International Forms Partnership with Equine Canada →