Pictured at the Draw Press Conference for the seventh leg of the 2010 Meydan FEI Nations Cup at Hickstead today were: (top) John Roche, FEI Director Jumping; Claire Walker, Sponsorship and Site Services Manager for Meydan, John Youngs, President International Ground Jury and (below) the Chef d'Equipes. Photo: Trevor Meeks.
FEI TV – You can watch all the action live on FEI TV tomorrow afternoon, Friday 30 July, beginning at 13.45 local time – go to www.feitv.org.
FRENCH FIRST INTO THE RING AT HICKSTEAD
Hickstead (GBR), 29 July 2010 – The French, 2009 series champions and leaders throughout the 2010 season, will be pathfinders when the seventh leg of the Meydan FEI Nations Cup series gets underway at Hickstead, Great Britain tomorrow afternoon.
The draw took place this afternoon, and the order-of-go for the penultimate leg of the 2010 series is as follows: 1, France: 2, USA; 3, Sweden; 4, Ireland; 5, Switzerland; 6, Great Britain; 7, Germany; 8, The Netherlands; 9, Spain.
John Roche, FEI Director Jumping, explained why the Polish team will not participate in the last two legs of the series. “I’d like to pay tribute to the great effort the Polish team have put into their campaign in the Meydan FEI Nations Cup this season. They have enjoyed participating in the series and we have enjoyed watching them compete. However unfortunately they cannot put a team together for the last two legs, here at Hickstead and again in Dublin next week, because they don’t have a sufficient number of horses. We are sorry to lose them – I believe we have all been filled with admiration for their sportsmanship and courage throughout this summer,” he pointed out.
We have heard you voice your complaints about the roundups.
We have listened to you share so many of your personal stories about your own adopted mustangs.
We have all sent thousands of letters via fax, email, and USPS to our Government officials, even to the point of their phone lines being unplugged and emails shut down due to the high volume of wild horse supporters on this issue.
We are doing all of these things daily, but there still has been NO change.
It’s time for the PONY EXPRESS!
I will personally hand deliver each and every letter that you write, via the Pony Express (one of our beautiful mustangs), to Washington DC. I am setting a goal of 20,000 individual letters to take with me. Americans, international supporters, animal activists, anyone who would like to tell President Obama, Secretary Salazar, and Bob Abbey that we aren’t going to sit by waiting until these roundups are over is encouraged to write. This is a very important issue to hundreds of thousands of people that have pleaded with our government to stop gathering our wild horses. This way they cannot unplug their phones, make their website impossible to send a comment to, or delete emails. These are GOING to get to Washington. I promise you that!
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!
July 27, 2010 – CHICAGO, (EWA) – As controversy swirls over the aggressive removal of horses from the range by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a more fundamental question has arisen over what is happening to the horses it already has in holding. Over the past several years, equine advocates have been scrutinizing the BLM’s horse population counts. Once again, the numbers don’t add up to their claims.
The BLM doesn’t make it easy to track horses being removed from the range or residing in short and long term holding. The taxpayers who pay for the removals and the subsequent care are not allowed to view the horses under the well worn excuse that they are being held on “private property”. Consequently, there are no checks and balances to verify information being reported.
It also raises a salient question. With 262 million mostly vacant acres under its control, why on earth is a federal agency such as the BLM wasting taxpayer’s money to lease private property?
SAUGERTIES, NY (July 27, 2010) — Olympic Gold Medalist McLain Ward and Goldika 559 won the $50,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, on Sunday, marking the third Grand Prix victory for the duo this year in the Strongid® C 2X Stadium at HITS Saugerties.
Ward, of Brewster, New York and 18-year-old mare Goldika 559, owned by McLain Ward & Blue Chip Bloodstock, were one of 27 horse-and-rider combinations to take the field on a course designed by International Course Designer Florencio Hernandez of Mexico City, Mexico, which saw just four pairs advance to the jump-off.
Hernandez’s first-round course proved challenging, as the first six competitors pairs failed to go clean, with a majority of faults coming in the two double combinations. The time allowed, at 83 seconds, was tight as well and caused many to incur time faults over the course.
In addition to $75,000 in prize money, the American Gold Cup CSI 2*-W, is an all-important World Cup Qualifier
Moreland Hills, Ohio – July 26, 2010 – Stadium Jumping, Inc, the nation’s oldest and most respected horse show production company, is pleased to announce the return of the famed American Gold Cup to the Metroparks Polo Field in Moreland Hills, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland.
The American Gold Cup will be the grand finale following two weeks of show jumping in the beautiful Chagrin Valley at this year’s Cleveland Autumn Jumper Series.
Obama Administration Asks for Public Comments on Reforming Wild Horse Program and Refuses to Accept Public Comments via Email – Please Mail Your Letter or Follow the Steps Below Today! Every Letter Counts!
Despite the Obama Administration’s claims that it wants to encourage greater public participation in government, this Administration is creating obstacles for Americans to submit comments on the Wild Horse & Burro program. The Department of Interior released its “Wild Horse & Burro Strategy Development Document” which outlines the Obama Administration’s direction for the program.
Instead of making it easier for Americans to submit comments, President Obama’s Interior Secretary has actually eliminated the public’s ability to submit comments via the traditional e-mail and fax methods – we are forced to submit comments in one of two ways: (1) U.S. postal service or (2) online with SPECIFIC directions below. We have received numerous complaints that people using the online software have had their comments deleted and lost.
Robert Duvall, The Road film photocall, Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto, Canada, 13 September 2009 (photo: Canadian Press/Rex Features)
27 July 2010 – American actor and director Robert Duvall has given his support to the annual awards organised by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the governing body of horse sport. The FEI launched the “Oscars of the equestrian world” last year to reward outstanding dedication to horse sport in five categories. Calls for nominations for the 2010 awards opened on July 16.
Hollywood legend Duvall is best known for his roles in The Apostle, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather and Tender Mercies. His performances have earned him an Academy Award, a BAFTA, two Emmys and four Golden Globe Awards.
Commenting on the 2010 FEI Awards, Duvall said:
“The FEI Awards give you the opportunity to nominate and celebrate those individuals who, without asking for recognition, should be thanked and acknowledged for their own contribution to equestrian sport around the world. As someone with a passion for horses, I urge you to nominate anyone you feel is worthy of the awards and help them to walk the red carpet at the 2010 FEI Awards in Taiwan.”
Adelina, granddaughter of Red Raven & Blue Sioux - June 2010
New Letter Calling on Salazar to Stop the Roundups
Wild horse and burro champions, Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), are currently circulating a letter that will be sent to Secretary Salazar with a cc to BLM Director, Bob Abbey.
Please take time today to ask your Congress person to sign on to this letter and show their support for protecting wild horses and burros on our public lands. Take this opportunity to contact your Congress person – the public’s voices must be heard and Secretary Salazar needs to place an immediate moratorium on roundups and removals of our wild horses! However, please do not contact Congressman Grijalva or Rahall or the House Natural Resources Committee (except to send letters or emails of support).
Find your Congress person’s contact information at www.votesmart.org. Currently this letter is only being circulated in the House but ask your Senators to start a letter on the Senate side as well.
Hickstead (GBR), 27 July 2010 – The pressure is intense ahead of this Friday’s seventh leg of the 2010 Meydan FEI Nations Cup series in Hickstead. The Sussex venue has staged the British Nations Cup since taking on the mantle of the Royal International Horse Show in 1992, but the atmosphere is expected to be more highly-charged than ever before as the top show jumping nations in the world battle it out for the right to remain amongst the elite in their sport.
This season’s Meydan FEI Nations Cup series has turned into an epic battle, because four of the 10 competing countries will be relegated to the Promotional League following the last leg in Dublin next week. After six of the eight competitions have been completed it could hardly be a closer-fought affair, and this Friday’s penultimate clash will be pivotal in deciding who stays in and who goes out. One country that is definitely destined to say farewell to superleague jumping in 2011 however is Poland. With no points accumulated after six courageous competitive efforts, and now unable to field a team, they have withdrawn from both Hickstead and the final leg in Dublin.
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