German dressage journalist Kim Kreling joins Chris this week to review the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final from Leipzig, Germany. Take a listen right here.
Dressage Radio Episode 102 – Show Notes and Links:
_______________________________________________
Listen, Download or Subscribe:
Loxahatchee, FL – May 4, 2011 – The Spring Horse Driving Trial at Port Mayaca Polo Club, Saturday and Sunday May 14th and 15th, will include a charity luncheon to benefit the new driving program at the Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center. The Luncheon will be held Saturday the May 14th during the Dressage and Cones portion of the competition in Okeechobee, FL. The competition will begin at 9 am and the luncheon will be served from 12 until 2pm. The competition is similar to 3 day eventing, including dressage, cones which is similar to the stadium jumping portion, and a cross country portion, including obstacles that will be driven on Sunday starting at 9am.
Proceeds from the luncheon will benefit the start up of VTRC’s new handicap driving program. The addition of a driving program will allow the center to meet the needs of people who may not be able to ride but will enjoy the camaraderie of the barn and the excitement of competition. VTRC Director of Development Susan Guinan has been committed to starting a driving program at VTRC for sometime. She began driving in the 1980s, and has competed at Gladstone and Devon and many other shows along the east coast. She continued her driving while living in England and was involved with the RDA driving program. She is pleased to be able to bring this opportunity to VTRC.
I’ve been in love a few times in my life. The most recent mare I fell head-over-hooves for was a beautiful palomino Tennessee Walker, named Annie. Oh my gosh, that girl was a beauty! Long blond hair, lovely big hip, with the most elegant sashay as she’d walk down the road. My heart went pitter-patter every time she and her person rode by our barn.
I’d not seen her in awhile. I would watch the road hoping she would come by, but nothing. Then, a long time after I’d last seen her, Annie’s person stopped by our barn and told a friend that Annie was gone. She’d gotten into something poisonous and had severely foundered. Her owner tearfully shared that they had tried for months to save her, but she was in so much pain and her coffin bone had rotated so far, that the vet had suggested that the kindest thing to do was to end her suffering and put her down. Her owner was still distraught about the decision, not sure she had made the right choice. Annie’s person’s guilt and self-doubt was tearing her apart.
It’s a blessing to us horses that we live in the moment. We don’t fear death because we don’t project our thoughts into the future and wonder what it will be like when we leave this physical existence. We are now. Being now also means that in spirit we don’t have judgment as to the reason why we may have left the physical world. Of course our natural instinct is to survive, and our fight and flight instincts will kick in if we are threatened, but that’s not a conscious thought. That’s programmed impulse.
West Palm Beach, Florida (May 2, 2011) – Many eager Florida dressage competitors awaited the announcement of the 2011 Shadow Trailer Give-Away at this past weekend Wellington Classic Dressage Show in West Palm Beach, Florida. A generous donation from Del-Raton Trailer Sales and Shadow Trailer Inc., Florida dressage competitors waited all season to see if they would be the lucky winner of the 2011 Shadow bumper-pull trailer.
FEI Dressage Rider and Trainer Bill McMullin happily accepted his new trailer. “The last group of horses just left this morning for Massachusetts and I wanted to make sure I made it to the show for the drawing. I have had a great season with my horses and clients, but it all went so fast. Winning this trailer is a great way to wrap up the Florida season!”
McMullin who resides in Wellington during the winter season and Stoughton, Massachusetts in the summer months rode Kim Quinlivan’s 9 year old mare, Rosabella, at the IHS Derby and Jim Brandon dressage shows. “What a great surprise. I want to thank the dressage show managing partners for organizing such great shows and Del-Raton Trailer Sales for making the trailer give-away possible,” McMullin added.
Hardeeville, SC – The weather gods smiled on the American National Riding Commission (ANRC) the weekend of April 14-17 at their 34th annual National Intercollegiate Equitation Championships hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). While other areas experienced tornados and downpours, the Ronald C. Waranch Equestrian Center just outside Savannah, GA, in Hardeeville, SC, was spared. Fifty-two riders from 10 colleges were able to enjoy the beautiful facility, meticulously groomed arenas, challenging medal courses, and imposing new hunter trials fences.
The ANRC National Championship is a member event of the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) Affiliate Equitation Awards Program. The championship showcases the American Forward Riding System and the sporting horse. Judged on equitation, it rewards diversified skills in a three-phase competition. Competitors complete a dressage sportif ride, an outdoor hunter trials course and a USEF Medal-type hunter seat equitation course. Riders ride the same horse throughout the competition, and jumps do not exceed 3 feet in height. They also sit for a written test on riding theory and equine science. Teams may consist of two or three riders (with the lowest of the three scores dropped in each phase). Individuals also may compete.
For the first time this year, a Novice Division with fences at 2’6” was offered in addition to the 3’ Nationals Division. Seven colleges fielded Novice teams or individuals: Goucher College, Midway College, SCAD, St. Andrews Presbyterian College (SAPC), University of Georgia (UGA), The University of the South (Sewanee), and Virginia Intermont College (VIC). Midway, competing at their first Nationals, swept the Novice Division winning the team Championship over VIC. Midway’s twin sisters, Alison and Erinn Born, were Novice Individual Champion and Reserve.
Continue reading 2011 ANRC National Intercollegiate Championship
Low Score Winner Becky Brown and EZ Win Nikon Camera
The riders couldn’t say enough nice things about Heart of the Carolinas Three-Day Event in Chesterfield, SC at Southern Eighths Farm. They loved the facility, the organization, the footing, the courses, the jumps – just everything.
When it was all over Jim Baker and Wings claimed the victory in the Beginner-Novice division (58.30). “The format and the organization were topnotch. I can’t say enough about it,” he readily commented.
Becky Brown and EZ dominated the Training level (32.90) and Anne Lane Maunder and Penny Lane (37.30) were the winners in the Novice division. As the Low Score rider of the event, Brown was in awe when she was presented with a Nikon D3100 Camera Kit. “I’m floored,” she commented. “I can’t believe I won this camera. We’ve all had our eye on it all weekend.”
Continue reading Heart of the Carolinas Three-Day Event Finishes to Rave Reviews
Lexington, KY (USA) – Mary King (GBR), a regular visit to the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event for many years, at last goes home with a coveted Rolex watch, plus the lion’s share of the prize-money. In a superb display of cool horsemanship, she finished first and second and now has a convincing 10-point lead over Badminton winner Mark Todd (NZL) after the second leg of the HSBC FEI Classics.
King, 49, who was third at Badminton last weekend on Imperial Cavalier, has made history as the first rider in modern times to win a CCI4* on a home-bred horse, Kings Temptress by Primitive Rising, coincidentally the sire of last year’s winner, Cool Mountain, out of King’s own mare Kings Mistress.
In addition, King joins an elite band of riders – Ian Stark (Badminton 1988), Mark Todd (Burghley 1987) and Blyth Tait (Burghley 1998) – to finish first and second at a CCI4*.
She jumped clear on both her horses, and, having ridden out of order on the Davies family’s 10-year-old Fernhill Urco, at his first CCI4*, had the luxury of knowing she was unbeatable before she entered the stadium on Derek Baden’s Kings Temptress.
Continue reading King Reigns Supreme at Second Leg of HSBC FEI Classics in Kentucky
Halpin Takes USEF National CCI4* Championship on First Try
Lexington, KY – Mary King was not going to be stopped in her quest to take a Rolex watch back to Great Britain. Lying first and second after the cross-country at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Bridgestone – with Kings Temptress and Fernhill Urco – she did not flinch in the final show jumping phase and jumped an immaculate double-clear round on both horses.
For the first time in history, the champion and reserve champion of America’s only CCI4* was the same rider. King was confident and excited coming into the show jumping, and she rode with a professionalism that was inspiring.
Kings Temptress added nothing to her fourth-placed dressage score of 47.7, they jumped immaculately around Saturday’s cross-country course and then sealed the win over today’s jumping track. King took home top honors with her 11-year-old homebred mare, who is now owned by Derek Rostron Baden. Her closest competition was her stablemate, Fernhill Urco, who emerged from his first CCI4* with second-place honors after only adding eight time faults to his dressage score. The Portuguese-bred grey gelding owned by Sue and Edwin Davies and Janette Chinn, jumped an immaculate clear round and really proved himself at the level. His clear round, jumped out of order due to the proximity of the placings, gave King great confidence to know that whatever happened with the second horse, the top honors were going home with the British veteran.
Continue reading King Crowned Champion of 2011 Rolex Kentucky CCI4*
Mary King (GBR) today, Sunday 1st May 2011, held her nerve, and her overnight lead, to finish in first and second position after the final Show Jumping phase at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, in Lexington.
William Fox-Pitt riding Neuf Des Coeurs finished in 4th position and Oliver Townend riding ODT Sonas Rovatio was 6th, with both riding clear rounds in the Show Jumping.
Quotes from Mary King/Kings Temptress: “I was much too excited to get much sleep last night – I ended up watching a film at 2am in the morning! I was fairly calm today, I always feel that with three day events that yesterday is the big day, you want to get through it and your horses to be well, and today whatever will be will be – you just have to go in there, try and keep calm, ride each fence and try and forget about all the crowds around, and you sort of feel whatever’s going to happen is going to happen and hope they are going to pick up their feet and that it all works out!”
Continue reading Mary King Takes 1st and 2nd at Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event
On April 30th the key day of the Heart of the Carolinas Three-Day Event took place with great results. Mother Nature was kind bringing beautiful weather for the Beginner-Novice, Novice and Training level divisions. When the day was over, Becky Brown rode EZ to the top place with a score of 32.90 in Training. Anne Lane-Maunder continued her lead on Penny Lane in the Novice division (29.30). Beginner-Novice rider Jim Baker with Wings completed the Cross Country to maintain his lead (54.30).
Debbie Williamson, Ball Ground, GA, Chief Veterinarian, was pleased with how everything went. “The day went really well. The horses were in good condition. Everyone got to go and the horses finished the Cross Country course with no accidents and finished well in the 10 minute box.”
Debbie is no newcomer to Three-Day Eventing and put the same care into this event that she does for the higher level events she does. “I set this vet box the same way I would at any FEI event and it went like clockwork thanks to an excellent group of volunteer help,” she added.
Continue reading Heart of the Carolinas Three-Day Event – Results after Cross Country