Tag Archives: Reining

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USET Foundation Honors WEG Athletes and Special Award Winners

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Jane Forbes Clark awards Whitney Stone Cup to Tucker Johnson with Brownlee O. Currey. Photo By: Rebecca Walton/PMG.

Wellington, FL – February 2, 2011 – The United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation Board of Trustees hosted a cocktail reception on Friday, January 28, 2011, to honor the equestrian athletes that represented the United States during the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG), the recipients of the Foundations’ Gold Medal Club Anniversary Awards, the Lionel Guerrand-Hermes Trophy, and the Whitney Stone Cup. The reception was held at Player’s Club in Wellington, FL.

The reception opened with lovely remarks by Foundation President Jane Forbes Clark, recognizing the efforts of all the equestrian athletes that represented the United States during WEG, as well as their team of supporters. The United States earned a Team and Individual Gold Medal and an Individual Silver Medal in Reining, an Individual Gold Medal in Vaulting, a Team Silver and Individual Bronze Medal in Driving, and two Individual Bronze Medals in Dressage.

The party also recognized members of the Gold Medal Club, the most loyal and generous supporters of the USET Foundation. These individuals have been a vital and essential source of support to the U.S. equestrian teams. Special awards were presented to those supporters recognizing their giving at the Gold Medal Club level for 10, 15, 25 and 30 years.

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Championships, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, Hunter/Equitation, USEF, Western/Reining

2011 IHSA National Championships – A Preview to the Road to Lexington

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Fairfield, CT — In poker it’s called re-shuffling the deck, and when the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) announced at the start of the 2010 semester that it had realigned its nine Zones to eight – changing the geography of its competitive regions and impacting coaching strategies – it promised to make the road to the 2011 IHSA National Championships, May 5-8, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, an interesting one.

With Regional and Zone Championships, and Western Semi-Finals, still ahead for the 370-plus schools and more than 8,700 students competing this 2010-2011 season, a lot can happen between now and May. But with the close of the fall semester, team and individual performances are beginning to suggest where Nationals candidates might emerge.

Zone Hunter Seat Championships and Western Semi-Finals this spring represent the final step for qualifying IHSA teams and individuals. Each Region sends its top individual riders and one team to their respective Hunter Seat Zone Championship; at Zones, the top two individual riders and top two teams move on to Nationals.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Awards, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, USEF, Western/Reining, World Equestrian Games

McCutcheon Scores 2010 USEF Equestrian of the Year Title; Harris Honored for a Lifetime of Excellence

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Tom McCutcheon, Don Harris and Kelsey Kimbler. Photo: Geoff Oliver Bugbee/USEF

Lexington, KY – In a year that equestrian sport was forever changed in the United States, an all-American horseman was honored for his golden achievement. For the second consecutive year, the voters for USEF Horse and Equestrian of the Year have crowned a horse and his rider as champions in both categories.

Tom McCutcheon, the only American double Gold medalist at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games had barely finished celebrating the achievements of Gunners Special Nite as 2010 Farnam/Platform USEF Horse of the Year on Friday evening at the USEF Annual Meeting, when he would find himself on stage again, this time picking up an honor all his own.

McCutcheon wrote his place in history, becoming the first reiner to be crowned USEF Equestrian of the Year.

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Double Gold Medalist Gunners Special Nite Named 2010 Farnam/Platform USEF Horse of the Year

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Gunners Special Nite. Photo: Shannon Brinkman/USEF

Lexington, KY – The city of Lexington was largely defined by the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010, so it proved a fitting setting to crown the 2010 Farnam/Platform USEF Horse of the Year.

And the winner couldn’t be more all-American.

The only multiple Gold medal-winning horse for Team USA, Gunners Special Nite, a six-year-old American Quarter Horse, brought the sport of reining to the forefront of the American equestrian community. People who had never heard of reining watched Gunners Special Nite put in a foot-perfect effort to cruise to victory with the Adequan U.S. Reining Team on NBC’s Broadcast. The team won a Team Gold medal by the largest margin in history.

But it was the Individual Championship where Gunners Special Nite stood out above the rest of the field. His performance with steely veteran Tom McCutcheon brought down the house in the Alltech Arena and secured Gunners Special Nite’s place in the history books.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=13065

Community/Charity, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Driving, Endurance Riding, Eventing/H.T., Events, Hunter/Equitation, Para-Equestrian, Show Jumping, USEF, Vaulting, Western/Reining, World Equestrian Games

52 Weeks in the Pursuit of Excellence

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With every eye on the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, 2010 was the Year of the Horse in the United States as the world arrived on our doorstep in Lexington, KY, for 16 days of competition, demonstration and fun. It took years of planning and didn’t kick off until the end of the ninth month of the year.

Here is how 2010 unfolded before, during and after the Equestrian Event that stopped the American Equestrian community in its tracks. Anyone who makes a life with horses knows it’s not only about the few days a year when the world is watching – it is about every day of every year.

January: 2010 began with honoring the champions from the previous year at the 2010 USEF Annual Meeting. Dressage superstar Steffen Peters repeated as Equestrian of the Year. It was a monumental task to get him from a horse show in California to Louisville, but it was all worth it when he was there, in person, to accept his Dressage award. The night before, his beloved horse, Ravel, was honored as the Farnam/Platform USEF Horse of the Year after storming through 2009 winning on both sides of this country (including the Rolex/FEI World Cup Final) and sweeping the CHIO Aachen in Germany – a first for an American combination. Owner Akiko Yamazaki was on hand to collect the award honoring America’s champion of 2009. Find the details here: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=5264&star=true and http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=5265&star=true. There would be even bigger plans for this pair in 2010.

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Awards, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, FEI, FEI, Racing, Show Jumping, Western/Reining

FEI Month in Review – December 2010

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12/01/2010 Malmö to host inaugural FEI World Reining Finals in 2011

12/03/2010 Guatemala to stage FEI World Jumping Challenge Final

12/05/2010 Ultimate win for Ulrich in Budapest

12/11/2010 Swiss Jumping team presented with 2008 Olympic bronze at 50th anniversary Geneva show

12/12/2010 Journalists to vote for best press office in Rolex FEI World Cup Western European League 2010/2011 season

12/13/2010 FEI President names Executive Board members

12/16/2010 FEI and Reem Acra give Christmas treat to children from inner city London horse charity

KEY EVENTS, ITEMS AND MEETINGS – DECEMBER 2010

Clean Sport presentation and FEI Veterinarian Course, Budapest (HUN), 1-2 December

FEI Veterinary Director Graeme Cooke presented Clean Sport to members of the Hungarian NF and gave an official FEI veterinarian course.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12844

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Flarida Is NRHA’s First Four Million Dollar Rider

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Shawn Flarida riding Wimpys Little Chic in the $100,000 added NRHA World Championship Shootout. NRHA/Waltenberry

Oklahoma City, OK – December 16, 2010 – Just two short years ago, Shawn Flarida became the National Reining Horse Association’s first Three Million Dollar Rider with earnings accumulated at the 2008 NRHA Futurity. History repeated itself when the gates closed on the 2010 NRHA Futurity and the results were announced. With rides in the finals aboard Quistador (owned by Augustine and Gaynia Revenberg) and Shine Chic Shine (owned by Amabile & Strusiner), plus a tie for third in the $100,000 added NRHA World Championship Shootout on Wimpys Little Chic (owned by Arcese Quarter Horses USA), Flarida scooped up more than $100,000 to become NRHA’s first Four Million Dollar Rider. Flarida’s official NRHA earnings are $4,023,885.

Flarida, of Springfield, OH, became the second rider in history to break the $2 million mark in 2006 at the FEI World Reining Masters in Denver, CO. Bill Horn was the first rider to earn in excess of $1 million. Tim McQuay, Craig Schmersal and Andrea Fappani are the only other riders to cross the $2 million earnings level. Only thirteen other riders have crossed the $1 million earnings plateau in addition to Flarida.

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*Featured/Spotlights, Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Dressage, Driving, Endurance Riding, Equestrian Assistance, EQUUS Foundation, Eventing/H.T., Events, Para-Equestrian, Phelps Media Group, Show Jumping, USEF, Vaulting, Western/Reining

The EQUUS Foundation and the USEF Launch America’s Favorite Equestrian

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WESTPORT, CT – December 17, 2010 – America’s Favorite Equestrian is an interactive fundraising effort presented jointly in partnership by The EQUUS Foundation and The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) to raise funds to advance the equestrian sport on an annual basis.

Using mobile texting, you can vote to select America’s Favorite Equestrians and support The EQUUS Foundation with a $5 gift. 100% of all donations will be used to support charitable causes. A minimum of $10,000 in “sport welfare” grants will be awarded, with an additional $5,000 grant awarded to the equestrian discipline generating the most votes.

The objective is for the America’s Favorite Equestrians to be an ongoing program with all equestrian disciplines/breeds represented and the winners recognized in a permanent “Hall of Fame”. The original intent was to launch the inaugural program in conjunction with the World Equestrian Games, which is why initially the eight disciplines of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, para-dressage, reining, and vaulting were selected. The affiliates of the United States Equestrian Federation representing these disciplines selected the equestrians.  But, there were some logistics involved in establishing the mobile texting system and developing the website, which delayed the launch until December.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12751

Associations/Breeds, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, Racing Sources, Western/Reining

AQHA 2011 Rule Changes

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New rules to take effect January 1.

At the 2010 AQHA Convention, many showing rules were voted on that will take effect January 1, 2011. Check out which rules have changed before next year’s show season starts.

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Previously, only two horses could be shown per exhibitor in classes that are worked individually. Beginning January 1, exhibitors can show three horses in individually worked classes.

“If the open classes are combined into an all-ages class at a weekend show, then it goes back to four horses total,” according to Charlie Hemphill, AQHA senior director of shows and new events.

In grouped classes, such as horsemanship, Select exhibitors can show one horse in the amateur class and a different horse in the Select.

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Championships, Competitions, Contributors/Press, Disciplines, Events, FEI, Western/Reining

Malmö to Host Inaugural FEI World Reining Finals in 2011

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Lausanne (SUI), 1 December 2010 – The FEI has announced today that Bökeberg, near Malmö (SWE), will host the inaugural FEI World Reining Finals in May 2011. Qualified riders will compete for the title of World Reining Champion at the Finals in Malmö, where $100,000 in prize money will be on offer.

The FEI World Reining Finals, which are a reworking of the FEI World Reining Masters, will be held on 22 May 2011 at the well-known equestrian facility at Bökeberg, just outside Malmö. This is the first time that the annual individual final has been held outside North America since 2005.

Bökeberg has hosted major FEI championships in the past, including the 2009 European Vaulting Championships. It has also hosted the Swedish National Reining Championship.

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