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Archive for November, 2009Exquis World Dressage Masters 2010 Schedule Announced Moorlands Totilas ridden by Edward Gal in the victory gallop at Exquis World Dressage Masters in Hickstead, England in 2009. Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 – The 2010 schedule of the Exquis World Dressage Masters, the globe’s richest line up of competitions each with €100,000 (US$149,850) in prize money, was announced Monday. A WDM Rider Ranking award of €25,000 (US$37,000) is also offered by Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe at WDM in Munich in 2010. Munich will also be the venue for a WDM gala celebration. The 2010 schedule of confirmed competitions of the Exquis World Dressage Masters, founded by Exquis and also sponsored by Moorland Stables and Moorland Investments and Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe, is: * Feb. 4-6 – Palm Beach, Florida, USA * May 13-16 – Munich, Germany * July 29-Aug. 1, Hickstead, England AQHA to Host English Riders Forum at Judges WorkshopAQHA and USEF to discuss promoting English riding Wednesday, December 16. The American Quarter Horse Journal, November 25, 2009 – AQHA Professional Horsemen Association members who compete in English events or train English riders are invited to attend an AQHA open forum to be held during the AQHA judges workshop in December. The English forum will be Wednesday, December 16 at 8:30 a.m. The forum will inform members about AQHA’s alliance with the United States Equestrian Federation and discuss ways to cross-promote the American Quarter Horse in over-fences and flat classes outside of traditional AQHA show events. “We look forward to drawing from the knowledge of AQHA professionals and other interested people involved with the English division to improve AQHA classes and increase participation,” said AQHA Executive Director of Judges Alex Ross. “The discussion will include all over-fences and flat classes, consideration of equipment and attire regarding show rules, eligibility rules and establishing a defined purpose for each class.” Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=9012 US Department of Justice Postpones Wild Horse Round-up
November 25, 2009 – CHICAGO, (EWA) – The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) applauds the decision by the US Department of Justice to postpone the December 1 scheduled round-up of wild horses in the Calico Complex of Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has received in excess of 10,000 public comments on this round-up alone. The announcement of the postponement was reported this morning in a press release from In Defense of Animals (IDA) and EWA adviser Craig Downer: “The U.S. Department of Justice announced tonight that the massive roundup and removal of thousands of horses from public land in northwestern Nevada will be delayed until December 28 as a direct result of the filing of a lawsuit by In Defense of Animals and renowned ecologist Craig Downer on November 23.” The release continued, “Tomorrow, IDA and Mr. Downer plan to file a motion for a permanent injunction, with supporting affidavits from horse experts and eyewitnesses to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundups. The motion will ask Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the roundup altogether.” Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=9006 2009 AQHA World Show Sends Home ChampionsThe American Quarter Horse Journal, November 24, 2009 – The 2009 American Quarter Horse Association World Championship Show came to a close in Oklahoma City November 21, following 16 full days of competition. As the dust settled in Jim Norick State Fair Arena, 100 world champion trophies had been distributed among 3,464 entries, which came from 46 states, six Canadian provinces, Brazil, France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Exhibitors and owners competed for more than $2.7 million in cash and awards. Among the world champions, many other star exhibitors and horses were recognized with special awards. The Featherlite All-Around Amateur was again a highly contested race with 72 horse-and-rider pairs vying for the title. When Bank of America Amateur week concluded November 13, Jessica Johnson of Pickerington, Ohio, and her horse Royality In Blue emerged the winners. Johnson and Royality In Blue earned 58 points, competing in five classes. They won world championships in hunt seat equitation and equitation over fences. They also won a reserve world championship in hunter hack and had top-10 finishes in working hunter and pleasure driving. Featherlite presents the All-Around Amateur winner with a $25,000 voucher for a Featherlite custom award trailer. The All-Around Amateur also receives a WeatherBeeta embroidered blanket, specially commissioned bronze by Lisa Perry and a rose bouquet. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=9004 100 Organizations Call on USDA and Congress to End NAIS!Austin, TX — A 100-group coalition sent letters to Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture urging that the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) be halted. The groups urged Congress and the USDA to “support the limited use of NAIS funding to shut down the program, and to refocus the agency on measures that truly improve animal health and that respect the interests of both livestock owners and consumers.” In the 2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, Congress reduced NAIS funding to $5.3 million, but did not specify how those funds were to be allocated. “We respectfully request that the USDA recognize the fundamental flaws in NAIS and the public opposition to the program, and not use the $5.3 million appropriated for NAIS to further advance, in any way, this program,” states the letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=9001 Bobby Murphy Produces USEF Showcase at AQHA World Championship Show Phillip Dutton signed autographs during an Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games disciplines demonstration at the 2009 AQHA World Championship Show. Oklahoma City, OK – November 25, 2009 – This weekend the USEF highlighted its new National Affiliation with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) during a presentation of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) disciplines at the AQHA World Championship Show. Bobby Murphy of Kentucky Horse Shows LLC was brought in as the producing director for the USEF showcase, which was held on Friday, November 20. The event showcased the disciplines of eventing, show jumping, endurance, reining, dressage, combined driving, and para-equestrian. Top riders were flown in from across the country to represent each discipline. Phillip Dutton has been a member of two Olympic Gold Medal teams and four world championship teams in eventing; Will Simpson was a member of the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal in show jumping; Valerie Kanavy has participated in five World Championships and won Individual Gold twice in endurance; Pete Kyle was part of the 2008 Silver Medal Reining team at the World Championships; Holly Bergay is vying for a spot on the 2010 WEG Para-Equestrian Dressage team; and Mike McLennan is ranked 5th in the nation and is also vying for a 2010 team spot in Combined Driving. The event featured an exciting twist at the end, when Kyle re-entered the arena during the show jumping demonstration to the Toby Keith song, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” Kyle offered his cowboy hat and challenged Simpson to ride his top reining horse, Gimme More Bucks. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=8994 Colorado, A Mustang’s Story. . .from slaughter to celebrityColorado, a Spanish Mustang, was born wild in the Pryor Mountains of southern Montana, the son of the magnificent dun band stallion, Shaman. But, he was removed from his home in a round up and adopted out as a two-year-old in 1997. As one of the new equine additions to a large Montana ranch, he was put into the string of horses to be saddle broken. He was resistant to the rough ways of the insensitive ranch hands assigned to break him. After several brutal attempts to break his spirit, he was turned out as a hopeless case with Boomer, another Pryor mustang who was also rounded up in 1997 as a two-year old. (This is a reblog from a large 19Mb PDF from the Cloud Foundation so all can read this wonderful story.) Colorado and Boomer were left to fend for themselves for the next 8 years. When the rancher’s lease ran out on a portion of the ranch, he decided to sell Colorado and Boomer. They were run in from the expansive grasslands that had been their home and locked in a barn. Their owner planned to ship them to the killer buyer horse auction in Billings, Montana within a few days. Well, God had a hand to play, and the rancher made one call before shipping the two Pryor mustangs to the auction. Remarkably, he had saved a note from 1997 when he bought Colorado and Boomer at the BLM auction at the base of the Pryor Mountains. The note was from Ginger Kathrens, creator of the PBS programs about Cloud, a wild band stallion in the Pryors. Because of her concern for the future safety of the horses she had grown to love, she wrote a note to each buyer: “If you have to sell your horse for any reason, please contact me.” She included her phone number. Now, what are the chances of his finding her note over eight years later? To his credit, the rancher made that call. Within the week, Ginger was on the road to Montana to pick up the two horses. With some difficulty she and John Nickle, President of the Pryor Wild Mustang Center in Lovell, WY, found this isolated ranch and trailered Colorado and Boomer to Lovell where they over-nighted before coming the rest of the way to Colorado Springs. Instead or becoming expensive entrees for restaurant goers in Europe or Japan, these two Pryor mustangs became the wards of the highly regarded Front Range Equine Rescue where their training began. Once gentled and trained, the plan was to adopt the two to carefully screened adopters. Boomer, who took easily to training and had a more confident personality, found a home within a few months with Jaime Johnson, an expert trainer and rider who lives east of Colorado Springs. But a home for Colorado was harder to find. It is difficult enough to place young mustangs, let alone an older one with a deep distrust of humans. He washed out of training with two different trainers, one of whom he kicked in the leg. Then, during a training session, and contrary to instructions, an unsupervised cowboy/trainer roped Colorado around his hind legs, leaving him with painful rope burns and an even deeper distrust of people. Colorado was then written off as untrainable. . . yet again. That’s when Ginger found Juan Gonzales, a trainer near her Westcliffe, CO. He had seen the Cloud films and was fond of the great feet and bone of the pretty little bay mustang. He agreed to take Colorado on as a project. Slowly, with expert training, Colorado started to trust this human with a confident manner and a gentle spirit.  Sheryl Crow & Ginger Kathrens - click on image for larger view As fate would have it, Sheryl Crow and a couple of her friends happened to take a few days vacation to go horseback riding at the same time Colorado was under Juan’s care. They never imagined how this vacation would change their lives. Sheryl and friends, Sue and Donna were guests of Ginger Kathrens whose ranch sits at the base of the breathtaking Sangre De Cristo Mountains. (The girls had all met when a segment for “Trail Mix”, a two-hour Animal Planet special was filmed at Sue’s Red Horse Ranch near Dripping Springs, Texas. The program, which Ginger was producing, featured Sheryl and her exhibition horse Lady “C”. Sue was Lady “C” s trainer and Donna is an associate trainer at Red Horse Ranch.) Ginger invited them to come ride with her in Colorado. The mounts provided by Ginger for their July ride to above timberline in the Sangres were Spanish Mustangs, born wild in the spectacular Pryor Mountains of southern Montana. Two of the horses are owned by Ann Evans and are Cloud’s birth sisters, Smokey and Mahogany. Sheryl rode Smokey. Sue rode Mahogany. And Donna rode Ginger’s blue roan, Trace. The girls loved these compact, sure-footed horses who gave them one of the most memorable rides of their lives and won their hearts with their willing, loving natures. The girls listened, spellbound to Ginger’s stories of her adventures in filming “Cloud” and to the ongoing saga of the Pryor Mountain herd and her plans to fight for their preservation through the Cloud Foundation. Ginger also told them about Colorado, a bachelor friend of Cloud who, unlike Cloud, had lost his freedom. She recounted the story of his rescue from slaughter, his struggles to trust a human, and what was promising to be his training turnaround. When Sheryl heard his story she asked if she could help by adopting him and within several months the little bay horse was on his way to Red Horse Ranch for Equine Agility training. Sheryl has a passionate heart for horses and with her help Colorado’s life has gained a new and deep meaning. The road to trust has been a long one for Colorado but with folks like Sheryl Crow, Ginger Kathrens and Sue De Laurentis to look after him, he’ll never again have to walk alone. Mariana Tosca, Viggo Mortensen and Kevin Nealon join the unified call for an immediate moratorium on wild horse and burro round-ups
“Without a single dissenting vote, the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act was passed by Congress guaranteeing these animals protection from “capture, branding, harassment and death.” – Mariana Tosca November 24, 2009 – CHICAGO, (EWA) – Acclaimed actors Mariana Tosca (Christmas in the Clouds), Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings, Appaloosa, Hidalgo) and Kevin Nealon (Weeds) have added their voice to a growing 150 organizations and dignitaries from America, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa asking President Obama and Secretary Salazar to halt the round-ups of America’s wild horses and burros. The assault on America’s wild horses and burros must be halted until range studies can be performed and a solid plan is established for the management of these magnificent animals that represent our American heritage. Actor and social activist, Mariana Tosca, joined the unified call with the following statement issued to John Holland, President of the Equine Welfare Alliance. “With virtually no oversight, the BLM’s maneuvers are methodically cleansing the land of these animals who have become an inconvenience and impediment to the goals of the ranching, gas and oil industries. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=8988 Read the story about Sheryl Crow’s adoption of Colorado from the BLM (reblogged from a large 19Mb PDF so all can read this wonderful story) – Colorado, A Mustang’s Story. . .from slaughter to celebrity American Quarter Horse Racing at Hialeah Park Opens November 28The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal, November 23, 2009 – The officials at the legendary Hialeah Park Race Track are preparing to once again open the doors to welcome horsemen and patrons for the first time in eight years. The inaugural American Quarter Horse meet at the track near Miami, Florida, begins November 28. Hialeah Park, hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world and home to a legendary flock of flamingos, opened in 1925 and hosted some of the greatest horses in Thoroughbred racing history, such as Seabiscuit, Citation, Seattle Slew and Spectacular Bid. It was also the backdrop for a number of movies, such as the 1989 Richard Dreyfuss comedy “Let It Ride,” and had a cameo in the opening credits of the 1980s television series “Miami Vice.” The track, owned by John Brunetti, was shuttered in 2001. Since the meet was approved, workers have been pulling double shifts to get the track ready for next week’s opening, and things look promising. The 40-day meet, which runs through February 2, 2010, will feature eight American Quarter Horse races a day, with average purses of $100,000 per day. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=8978 USDF Executive Board Statement on Animal WelfareIn response to a recent incident at an international competition, the USDF Executive Board has issued the following official statement: The USDF does not approve of training techniques such as hyperflexion especially when taken to an extreme. While we recognize that we can not control how riders train at home, excessive techniques should not be tolerated at competitions. The USDF feels that it is very important that as a sport we police ourselves and encourage the USEF and FEI to call upon their licensed officials to ensure that cruel and abusive riding does not happen at our competitions. The USDF agrees with and strongly supports the FEI position as stated in the November 17 press release and in particular the statement: “The FEI acknowledges and welcome public opinion and will continue to ensure that the welfare of the horse, which has been central to this debate, will remain its absolute priority.” In addition, you can read the USDF Statement on Animal Welfare or the official announcement from the FEI. United States Dressage Federation |
