Wilhelm Genn and Copyright 3 win in the $10,000 Classic at the Spring Gathering Charity Horse Show Photo By: Heather Bellock/PMG.
Katy TX – April 8, 2011 – Today was a hot and sunny day for horses and riders competing at the Spring Gathering Charity Horse Show, held at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center. The main indoor hosted the $10,000 Spring Gathering Jumper Classic, which proved to be an exciting competition. Wilhelm Genn continued to be successful this week taking the win aboard Copyright 3 in a six-horse jump-off.
Richard Jeffrey of Bomemouth, England, designed today’s courses with the first round course including 14 jumping efforts and the short course including six jumping efforts. Six horse and rider combinations were able to navigate the first course in the 74 second time allowed fault free and advance to their jump off round. The short course presented tight turns and a fast pace set early on by Wilhelm Genn and Happy Z. They were the first to enter the arena and advanced to the jump-off after a fault free effort. Genn and Happy Z set the time to beat at 34.849 seconds, which earned them third place honors.
“With Happy I took the inside turns. Happy doesn’t like the heat and it is very humid today and I didn’t want to push her that hard. Sure I wanted to be competitive, but I left the door open. If this were the grand prix jump-off I would have gone faster,” noted Wilhelm. “This was a really good course and a really good jump-off, but it wasn’t a jump-off that was suitable for Happy and with the heat she was sweating a lot. I just figured I would go nice and give her a good round, so she is confident for Sunday and not take too much out of her. I wouldn’t change anything if I went back in with her.”
Cesar Parra wrapped up his show season by riding Agastrofos into the winner’s circle at the International Horse Sport Dressage at Equestrian Estates Show in Loxahatchee, Florida. (Photo courtesy of Susan J Stickle)
Loxahatchee, FL (April 7, 2011) – International Dressage Rider and trainer Cesar Parra wrapped up the Florida show season at the International Horse Sport Dressage Show at Equestrian Estates with more big wins, describing the show as a “beautiful finish” to a great season. Parra, who owns Piaffe-Performance with locations in Florida and New Jersey, is never one to rest on his laurels and left the show to fly to Colombia, South America, to teach a clinic but not before raving about the success of the horses and his Piaffe-Performance team.
“This season was truly an amazing one and a true blessing. In total we earned 32 wins and many of the second places were because other Performance farm horses finished first. The words ‘Thank You’ cannot convey the depth of my gratitude to all of my team members, our horse owners, grooms, friends and everyone else involved,” Parra said.
While Parra and his Piaffe-Performance team are now heading back to New Jersey, Parra was thrilled with their 2011 winter experience. “This weekend concluded our Florida show season and again it was a successful one. I was very proud of Dave and Taunia Reed’s Agastrofos. On Saturday we won a very competitive PSG class with a 74.7%. On Sunday we rode in the USEF Developing Horse Qualifier and were narrowly beat out of first place by only a tenth of a point, still earning a 69.4%. I could not have been happier with Aga’s performance both days,” Parra said.
Jennifer Alfano and Miss Lucy at Spring Gathering Charity Horse Show Photo By: Heather Bellock/PMG.
Katy TX – April 7, 2011 – Today was another beautiful, sunny day for riders at the Spring Gathering Charity Horse Show held at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center. This morning the professional hunter divisions wrapped up in the Main Indoor and awarded championship honors. Jennifer Alfano, Tamara Provost, and Erynn Ballard secure championship honors with impressive performances.
Jennifer Alfano took home the championship award in the Second Year Green Hunter Division aboard Helen Lenahan’s Miss Lucy. Alfano and Miss Lucy earned first and second place in their over fences classes and won the under saddle class yesterday. Today the pair earned two blue ribbons and accumulated an impressive 46 points to secure the championship honors.
“Miss Lucy was great; I was really thrilled with her. Yesterday, she was a little fresh, but still jumped great. She was definitely a little up, but today she was really relaxed and she felt great,” noted Alfano. “I thought the courses were nice. I thought the handy rode really nicely and I liked the courses. This is the first time I have shown here and I love it. I love this ring it is really fun and nice to ride in and the footing is good.”
Caroline Roffman rode Bon Chance to victory in the FEI Young Horse Test for Six-Year-Olds at the International Horse Sport Champions Cup CDI3* show. (Photo courtesy of Susan J Stickle)
Loxahatchee, FL (April 7, 2011) – When the International Equestrian Federation awarded dressage rider Caroline Roffman with the 2010 FEI Rising Star Award they said Roffman was “one of the brightest hopes of the U.S. Dressage community.” Roffman lived up to their prediction at the International Horse Sport Champions Cup CDI3* at Equestrian Estates in Loxahatchee, riding into the winner’s circle again and again and taking home high scores on several of her horses.
“I could not have imagined a show going much better for my horses than the Champions Cup. All of my horses made good progress from the last show and really showed me they are on track for success in their prospective levels,” Roffman said. “I showed three horses in two classes each and finished first in all six classes with qualifying scores.”
Roffman rode into the winner’s circle on Pie in the FEI Test of Choice class with a score of 69.412 and in the USEF Developing Horse class with a score of 71.618. “Pie did his first two Developing Horse classes and showed me he is very capable of doing this level quite well. He continues to gain confidence inside the show arena and I am excited for his future,” Roffman said.
Lausanne (SUI), 7 April 2011 – The FEI has announced that the Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials (8-11 September 2011) will be hosting the London 2012 team Eventing qualifier for Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and Oceania (FEI Olympic Groups F and G).
Blenheim, which began in 1990, is firmly established in the Eventing calendar attracting international champions and over 60,000 spectators every year.
The venue is also synonymous with Olympic qualification. In 2003, Blenheim hosted the Asia-Pacific Championships as a qualifier for the 2004 Athens Olympics and a second Olympic qualifier in 2007 for the 2008 Beijing Games.
With Canada, New Zealand, USA, Germany and Belgium teams already through to London 2012 with host nation Great Britain following the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2010 in Kentucky, the likes of Australia, Japan and South Africa will be going all out at Blenheim to clinch Olympic qualification.
The team competition will run as part of the CCI 3* class, with just one nation from Groups F and G earning a qualifying spot for London 2012.
Chester Weber is presented with Jamaica’s embroidered cooler during the Live Oak International CDE. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)
Ocala, FL (April 6, 2011) – Jamaica, Chester Weber’s famous combined driving equine teammate, will go down in history as an award winning horse known for his tale of being rescued from a slaughterhouse before going on to compete with Weber in international events, driving away with numerous USEF National Championships and earning the most prestigious title in the country when he was named the USEF Farnam Platform Horse of the Year. Jamaica’s story, from near oblivion in Belgium to a world of travel and fame, captivated combined driving and equestrian fans across the world. This year a new chapter in the horse’s life began as Weber retired the bay gelding with the quirky attitude. Jamaica will spend the rest of his life grazing on the verdant rolling hills of Weber’s Live Oak Stud as a retired star and champion for rescue horses everywhere. Jamaica’s official retirement from competition was announced at the Live Oak International Combined Driving Event in late March.
A week later, Breyer, Makers of the World’s Finest Model Horses, recently honored Jamaica with a retirement ceremony at Live Oak. A Breyer portrait model of Jamaica was released during the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games when Breyer created a number of Traditional Series portrait models of key competitors from various disciplines.
The Breyer retirement party for Jamaica, who recently turned 20, was a star-studded affair that featured 200 “Committed Collectors” who were invited to share an experience that only Breyer could organize. “The 200 fans really enjoyed themselves. They were able to meet Jamaica and take a tour of the farm. Jamaica enjoyed the attention and showing off his new Draper Equine Therapy blanket which was embroidered and presented by Breyer,” Weber said, adding that Jamaica had developed quite a fan following over the years.
My Northeast Florida Dressage Association (NFDA) club’s Dressage on the First Coast Spring 2011 show is coming up this weekend (April 9-10th) and boy has there been a flurry of work to do to get everything ready for it. Everything else has had to be put on hold, even getting my newsletter out before the end of March. My attempt to get it out the week before that was thwarted by a frustrating technical issue of my ESP not ‘talking’ to my ISP which took me 4 days to finally get resolved. Hence my March newsletter has become my Spring newsletter or a March/April newsletter.
My wonderful husband offered to do an advertisement for the show program as the EVP of HorsesintheSouth.com. We were trying to decide what he would say in the program ad as I already have an ad for HorsesintheSouth.com in it, so we decided that we would just thank all of our current clients, banner advertisers and affiliates. My graphic designer, Beth Webb, who also did the show program for us on a last minute notice just told me to write up some text and she would make an ad out of it. Well, 3-4 hours later, I came up with this huge text-heavy ad that feels like I am thanking everyone for an academy award or something, it is so long! I didn’t know where to stop, I am so lucky to have such wonderful clients and advertisers. And, these are just the current ones! So I figured this would also be a good editorial so that all of the HorsesintheSouth.com readers and AHorseBlog.com readers will see these accolades instead of it just being confined to a horse show program.
It reads like this, but the layout that Beth did is gorgeous, as is the show program that she did for the Dressage on the First Coast.
ALGGraphics.com – Flexo and Screen printer of specialty labels.
DogwoodSportHorses.com – Breeders of excellent bloodline European cross warmblood sport horses for sale; featuring the branded Westfalen, and approved RPSI breeding stallion, Freedom Hall.
DressageontheFirstCoast.com – The website for the twice yearly recognized show; started for the 2005 Region 3 Championships held at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center.
Feedin’ Time – Animal feed & supply store. See the store link on HorsesintheSouth.com/feedintime
FloridaMaritimeLawyers.com – Florida-based law firm which concentrates in trial litigation in the field of admiralty, cruise line and maritime law.
James “Shea” Walsh – HorsesintheSouth.com/sheawalsh; 1988 Olympian represented Ireland. Instruction and clinics locally and abroad.
KDEquine.com – Kathy Daly — Classical Dressage trainer, clinician. USEF “r” Dressage judge; my first website started in 1997. I wanted to give back to Kathy for all of the wonderful training she had and has done for me and my horses. We still get many “phone” training lessons and I used to get “Kitchen Table” lessons when she would stay with me when I lived in Jacksonville and she would get to my place too late for a lesson. One day I am going to write a book for her on these lessons, she is that good at explaining what to do!
Sundance Farm – HorsesintheSouth.com/sundancefarm; Featuring Swedish Warmblood, AWS approved stallion, Synchronicity; Lupe Guarderas, owner, competitor, trainer and Dressage judge.
SuncoastBedding.com – Premium ultra-compressed pine shavings animal bedding.
TripleKBarC.com – Preserving the “Last Chance” naturally-gaited, old-time Albert Dement foundation line of Tennessee Walking Horses. Dement mares for sale to selected breeding homes.
Current Banner Advertisers and Others that we Support:
CanterburyShowPlace.com – Central Florida’s nicest equestrian showplace with an indoor covered and lighted arena, and 3 outdoor rings, 5 show barns, clubhouse and more!
ClassicCompany.com – Show management that we support; production of multiple shows throughout the South.
FlashpointMediaServices.com and FlashPointPhotography.com – Robbie and Greg Meisel who we love and support, specialize in performance and event portrait photography, and press releases for Classic Company, LLC show management.
JaneHeart.com – Gorgeous equestrian and dog lines of jewelry including Secretariat™ and Barbaro™ licensed jewelry.
KAMAnimalServices.com – KAM’s Equine Learning Circle offers FREE webinars every month and we list weekly tips each Monday and support them with a banner link.
MahanFarm.com – 113 acre boarding, show and clinic facility in Tallahassee, FL. Summer camp held in conjunction with Feather Oaks Farm. Brett Barteld, Owner
NagHorseRanch.com – Home of the Nose Shade, formerly called Nag Nose Shade to stop sunburned horses’ muzzles.
NFHJA.com/ North Florida Hunter Jumper Association – We support them, especially during the Jacksonville Winter Series.
RavenwoodFarm.net – Ravenwood Farm Foundation non-profit rescue corporation
SouthernFarrier.com – Brett Barteld; 2nd Generation Farrier; 1990 Oklahoma Horseshoeing School -Certificate Graduate Professional Horseshoeing; Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association Certified; American Farrier’s Association Member
SunHorseTack.com – Fancy and custom-made horse halters and stuff!
USET.org/United States Equestrian Team Foundation – We support them with a non-profit banner advertisement.
And, we have too many blog contributors to list here, so please see the Contributor category on AHorseBlog.com as these keep growing every day.
Jerry and Teri also wish to thank Sheila Van Dusen, honorary EVP, for all of the assistance she has provided since our beginnings in 2000, plus Jason Ellerbee, for his assistance as our Associate Editor and analyst, Chris Dunn and Linda Bourdow for their accounting assistance, Rob Bowman for his amazing photography, Charles Bryant for his amazing programming work on our website and blog, and Beth Webb for her amazing graphic design skills and assistance. Without their help, we would not have been able to keep this monster of a website and blog, plus our client sites and advertisers functioning.
Steffen Peters and Weltino's Magic. Photo by Jennifer M. Keeler.
Burbank, CA – California’s Jan Ebeling and Rafalca displayed not only their difficult grand prix freestyle routine during the final day of the Festival of the Horse CDI-W/Y/J in but also their readiness for the Reem Acra/FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Leipzig later this month. Earning a solid 73.025% and a ticket to the World Cup as one of two North American League representatives, Ebeling and the 14-year-old Oldenburg mare (Argentinius x Ratine by Rubinstein I, owned by Amy Ebeling) seemed very confident. “She’s gotten so much stronger and better this year, and she’s taken it to a whole new level,” said Ebeling. “She felt awesome! She’s finally come into her own now.”
Debuting their Intermediaire I freestyle, Steffen Peters completed his sweep of the small tour with Jen Hlavacek’s Weltino’s Magic (Weltino x Diva by Diamond Boy) by scoring a huge score of 79.417%. “The first word that comes to mind is ‘fun’,” said Peters. “I rode the freestyle a bit conservatively today since it was the first time, but he was right on.”
Meanwhile, Jamie Pestana rode her own Hanoverian gelding Winzalot (Wokenstein II x Frazisco) to a freestyle victory with a score of 67.250% to close out the Young Rider division.
WELLINGTON, FL – April 1, 2011 – The results of Round 1 of America’s Favorite Equestrian are in. Six equestrians in each of the eight disciplines that participated in the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games have moved onto Round 2.
America’s Favorite Equestrians Round 2:
Dressage: Todd Flettrich, Courtney King-Dye, Debbie McDonald, Leslie Morse, Steffen Peters, Guenter Seidel Driving: Tucker Johnson, Fred Merriam, Lisa Singer, Suzy Stafford, Rochelle Temple, Chester Weber Endurance: Garrett Ford, Becky Hart, Dave Rabe, Robert Ribley, Julie Suhr, Bill Wilson Eventing: Tiana Coudray, Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Karen O’Connor, Kimberly Severson, James C. Wofford Jumping: Margie Engle, Joe Fargis, Laura Kraut, Anne Kursinski, Beezie Madden, McLain Ward Para-Dressage: Jennifer Baker, Robin Brueckmann, Laura Goldman, Mary Jordan, Susan Treabess, Jonathan Wentz Reining: Casey Deary, Andrea Fappani, Shawn Flarida, Tom McCutcheon, Tim McQuay, Randy Paul Vaulting: Megan Benjamin, Ali Divita, Kenny Geisler, Devon Maitozo, Mary McCormick, Katherine Wick
Wellington, FL – April 1, 2011 – It was an important day for hunters at the 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. Sixty entries took their shot at a chance to compete in the $50,000 USHJA Hunter Derby, one of the biggest purses offered for hunter competitors in the world. The class began this afternoon in the E. R. Mische Grand Hunter Ring. With a large number of spectators standing by, each horse and rider combination took their turn over a course of eleven jumps, with four high option fences.
There were two teams of judges – Danny Robertshaw and Jim Clapperton (Panel 1 – tiebreaker), John Barker and Scott Williamson (Panel 2) – one team on either side of the ring. Each team of judges awarded a numerical score plus a bonus point for each high option fence that was jumped. The sum of the scores was given as each rider’s final score for the first round of competition.
Scott Stewart wasted no time getting down to business on the first of his six mounts in the class. Going fourth in the order, Stewart led the Fashion Farm’s entry Dedication to a combined score of 186, which was good enough to leave the pair in fourth overall going into tomorrow night. “Dedication is a First Year horse, who has been champion a few times here. He’s very scopey and very easy, but he just turned six, so he’s still pretty green. I was very happy with him,” beamed Stewart.
