Category Archives: *Featured/Spotlights

Special features, spotlights, headlines

*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Eventing/H.T., Events, Pan American Games, USEF

Eventing Set to Begin at 2011 Pan American Games

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Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot (Photo: Shannon Brinkman)

Guadalajara, Mexico – The U.S. Eventing Team presented five horses at the First Horse Inspection of the 2011 Pan American Games and all were accepted without incident. The United States drew fourth position, but of the three countries drawn ahead only Venezuela has a complete team; therefore American Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty will be second in the ring in Friday’s dressage.

All five horses looked sharp, and the Ground Jury of Wayne Quarles (USA), Janine Rohr (ARG) and Alain James (FRA) passed them as fit and ready to contest the CCI2* level competition. Under the care of Chef d’Equipe Capt. Mark Phillips, veterinarian Dr. Brendan Furlong and farrier Stephen Teichman, the U.S. Team presented a strong and fit looking group of horses.

Listen to what Dr. Furlong had to say about the squad: http://www.usefnetwork.com/blogs/170/dr_brendan_furlong_on_the_eventing.aspx.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Dressage, Events, FEI, Pan American Games

USA Dominates Dressage at Pan American Games

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L to R - Heather Blitz (silver), Steffen Peters (gold) and Marisa Festerling (bronze). Photo: FEI/ Stockimageservices.com

Lausanne (SUI), 20 October 2011 – American Dressage riders swept all before them when returning a record-breaking fourth consecutive team victory and filling all the steps of the individual medal podium at the 2011 Pan-American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.  On Sunday they cruised confidently into pole position in the team event ahead of the silver medallists from Canada while Colombia claimed the bronze.  And yesterday Steffen Peters steered Weltino’s Magic to individual gold ahead of Heather Blitz with Paragon in silver and Marisa Festerling and Big Tyme in bronze.

It was a convincing performance at all levels, and anchorman Peters was the linchpin of the American side.  But, as he pointed out in the aftermath of the team success, he was under considerably less pressure than usual due to the highly-competitive performances of his team-mates.  “Over the past few years I have always had to carry a lot of weight on my shoulders as the very last rider, but the team did an awesome job – every single horse, every single rider,” he pointed out.  The silver medallists from Canada and bronze medallists from Colombia had plenty of reason to celebrate too, as their second and third-place finishes have provided them with qualifying spots for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

TEAM MEDALS
A total of 12 nations battled it out for the team medals, and the combined US score of 75.754 gave them a clear five-point victory. Peters and Weltino’s Magic produced the only score over 80% – his 80.132 setting a new Pan-American Games record – and he was awarded the leading mark by all five members of the Ground Jury – Great Britain’s Stephen Clarke, Raphael Saleh from France, Canada’s Cara Witham, Argentina’s Gabriel Armando and President, Lilo Fore, from the USA.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Dressage, Events, Pan American Games, USEF

US Dressage Team Invincible in Individual Medals 2011 Pan American Games

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Steffen Peters and Weltino's Magic Celebrate Gold (Photos: Shannon Brinkman)

The U.S. Dressage Team continued to own the Guadalajara Country Club’s beautiful dressage arena, continuing their medal run at the 2011 Pan American Games. They added Individual Gold, Silver and Bronze to the Team Gold they won on Sunday and they all scored over 80 percent in today’s freestyle.

Steffen Peters (San Diego, CA) wasn’t sure it would be possible to top Heather Blitz (Wellington, FL) and Paragon’s score of 86.650%, but he rode with a fierce determination and got every point out of Weltino’s Magic. They scored 87.300% for their freestyle to music by Seven and Five for a combined average of 82.690%. Jan and Bruce Hlavacek’s 9-year-old Westphalian gelding gave Peters his second Gold medal of these Games.

“What an amazing day and an amazing competition,” said the Olympic veteran. “I still have to think about the moment that I came out of the arena and when the scores were announced it probably took 30 seconds but it seemed like three hours. It is a very exciting day, congratulations to my teammates. The big score that Heather pulled in – I don’t think I’ve ever had that much pressure going into the arena knowing that there was an 86% in front of me.”

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*Featured/Spotlights

What You Must Know about Equine Posture, by Karen Gellman, DVM, PhD

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Gravity. It’s not just a good idea… it’s the law! This goes for horses and dogs as well as people. Pretty much all activity on earth is influenced by gravity, and the forces generated by gravity are the primary source of most athletic injury. However, most injuries aren’t caused by running or jumping, as you would think. They actually originate with how the person or animal uses their body while standing. In horses, this is especially critical, because they spend 20-22 hours a day standing: standing and eating, standing and sleeping or just plain standing.

What goes into posture?

Did you ever think about what it takes to stand up? You have to organize your legs, joint by joint, engage your spine, support your head and at the same time, keep the whole apparatus from falling over. All these tasks are done unconsciously by postural control centers in the brain, which process information about the body’s position in space. The nerves that receive information and take it to the central nervous system are called afferent nerves, and a special class of them are known as “proprioceptors.” Proprioceptors tell the brain where different parts of the body are: feet on the ground, head in the air, how much each joint is bent, etc. The most important information needed to generate posture comes from the position of the head and upper neck, the contact between the feet and the ground surface, and the position of the temporo-mandibular joints (TMJ), or jaw joints. These areas are very rich in proprioceptors; information transmitted to the postural control centers from these three regions will generate the correct standing posture needed to keep the animal upright.

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

Eleventh Season of the FEI World Cup Driving Attracts World Class Field

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FEI World Cup Driving title holder Boyd Exell of Australia. © Kit Houghton

Lausanne (SUI), 12 October 2011 – After an exciting outdoor season with the FEI Open European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand in Breda (NED) as its highlight, the sport of four-in-hand Driving moves indoors for the 11th season of the FEI World Cup Driving.

Ten top class drivers will battle it out for the ultimate title of FEI World Cup Driving champion. Germany, who was absent from the series for the past two seasons, is making a significant comeback and will now be represented by two drivers, Rainer Duen and Georg von Stein.

New comer
The qualification season consisted of 14 competitions held throughout Europe with the top 10 drivers qualifying for the 2011-2012 season. Amongst these, there is one new comer: Georg von Stein from Germany. Von Stein competed as a wild card in the FEI World Cup Driving Final 2011 in Leipzig where he finished sixth.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Dressage, Events, FEI, FEI

Whisper of Excitement as New Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Season Begins

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Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival from The Netherlands won the 2010/2011 Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage title at Leipzig, Germany. Photo: FEI/Kit Houghton.

Lausanne (SUI), 18 October 2011 – As the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage 2011/2012 season gets underway at Odense in Denmark this weekend (21-23 October), there is a whisper of excitement running through the world of international dressage.  This sport, which relies on the technical skills and innate instincts of the riders along with the grace, elegance, willingness and athleticism of their horses and the expertise of a panel of judges, has experienced a tsunami of change in recent years, and the new-found unpredictability of the formerly pedantic discipline has energised it like never before.

For so many years, Dressage was dominated by the same few names, but in the modern era it has grasped the concept of greater engagement with the public without shedding its links to its classical past, and many new stars have been born.  The explosive arrival of the sensational Dutch duo, Edward Gal and the stallion Totilas, blew away the cobwebs and shone a bright light into the future as they blazed a trail through the 2009 and 2010 seasons with displays of pure showmanship and energy.  That partnership no longer exists, but the legacy they have left behind includes the desire to hold onto the massive increase in public interest created by their star quality.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Dressage, Events, Pan American Games, USEF

US Sweep in First Half of Individual Dressage Competition at 2011 Pan American Games

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Steffen Peters and Weltino's Magic. Photos: www.stockimageservices .com

After scoring Team Gold Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Dressage riders went to task again, this time in the first half of the Individual Final. Riding the Intermediaire I test, all four U.S. riders kept the level of their Game high, and continued to thrive in the main arena at the Guadalajara Country Club. They swept the top three places, and head to the freestyle on Wednesday in Medal position.

Read about the Team Gold medal effort here: http://usefnetwork.com/news/7751/2011/10/16/gold_for_us_dressage_team_at_2011.aspx.

Steffen Peters (San Diego, CA) topped the scoreboard again on Weltino’s Magic, this time scoring 78.079% in another valiant effort. Heather Blitz (Wellington, FL) is second on Paragon with a score of 77.184% and Marisa Festerling went one better than in the Team competition, finishing third on Big Tyme on a score of 74.316%.  Cesar Parra (Whitehouse Station, NJ) rounded out the U.S. effort with a sixth place finish on Grandioso on a score of 72.000%.

Weltino’s Magic continues to rise to the occasion for Peters, despite one mistake early in the test, Peters was pleased with Jen and Bruce Hlavacek’s 9-year-old Westphalian gelding. Weltino’s Magic nearly broke to canter in the first trot extension across the diagonal.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Competitions, Dressage, Events, Pan American Games, USEF

Gold for US Dressage Team at 2011 Pan American Games

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The Gold Medal-Winning U.S. Dressage Team. Anthony Trollope/ Stockimageservices.com

The U.S. Dressage Team’s Gold medal never looked in doubt today at the 2011 Pan American Games. They started off confidently and with each ride, the margin improved. They stormed to victory and won their fourth consecutive Pan American Games Team Gold medal – a first in the sport of Dressage. Their combined average score of 74.421% left them well clear of the Canadians who won Silver with a combined average of 70.413%. Colombia put in a valiant late effort to surge into the top three with 69.632%.

Led by Olympic veteran Steffen Peters (San Diego, CA) on Weltino’s Magic – the only combination to score over 80% – the U.S. Team put on an exhibition. Peters’s score of 80.132% is a Pan American Games record. A strong anchor rider, Peters had the luxury today of a little less pressure due to the fact that the entire team put in top 10 performances.

“It was one of the best tests this horse has done,” said Peters. “I have to say a big thank you to my teammates because they gave me a very relaxed position to start in today. Over the past few years I have always had to carry a lot of weight on my shoulders as the very last rider but the team did an awesome job, every single horse, every single rider.”

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Eventing/H.T., Events, Show Jumping, USEF

Martin & Lyman Produce Clear Rounds to Claim 2011 USEF National Eventing Championships

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Boyd Martin and Ying Yang Yo. Photo: Shannon Brinkman

Elkton, MD – Sunday brought an action-packed slate of show jumping at the 2011 Dansko Fair Hill International. With the top riders in both the CCI3* and CCI2* divisions tremendously close, clear rounds were at a premium. Boyd Martin and Kylie Lyman rose to the occasion producing fault-free rounds to win their CCI3* and CCI2* divisions as well as claim 2011 USEF National Eventing Championships.

The leaderboard in both the divisions at the Dansko Fair Hill International saw great fluctuations as a result of Sally Ike’s challenging track.

Full scores are available here: http://www.evententries.com/livescoring/14839.html.

2011 USEF National CCI3* Eventing Championship

Martin, the leader following the dressage phase, jumped a clear round on Ying Yang Yo to clinch his second USEF National CCI3* Eventing Championship. Martin (West Grove, PA) and the 15 year-old Australian Thoroughbred gelding rattled a few rails but all stayed in place for the pair to finish on a score of 52.

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

Schwizer Scoops Maximum Points at Rolex Opener in Oslo

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Pius Schwizer is presented with a Rolex watch by Magali Dubois Vaucher from Rolex. Photo: FEI/Roger Svalsrod.

Oslo (NOR), 16 October 2011 – Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer swept to victory in the opening leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping 2011/2012 series at Oslo in Norway today with a thrilling last-to-go run from Carlina.  With 14 into the jump-off it was never going to be an easy one to take, but the 49 year old rider raced home to pin Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt and Souvenir into second, while Portugal’s Luciana Diniz and Winningmood slotted into third.

“This is my very first success in a World Cup qualifier, so I’m super-pleased with the result!” Schwizer said after collecting the winner’s prize of a Rolex watch.  “I’ve been second and third a few times, but it feels really great to be first – and Carlina was brilliant today!” he added.

DIDN’T COMPROMISE
The compact Telenor Arena in Oslo measures just 35 metres by 75 metres, but course-designers Terje Olsen-Nalum and Anders Hafskjold didn’t compromise on height and width, giving the 40 starters plenty to think about.  The triple combination at fence six – oxer, vertical, oxer – proved influential, but it was the 1.70m-wide oxer at fence nine that hit the floor most often in the first round as nine horse-and-rider combinations faulted there.

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