All The Makings for a Serious Upper Level Winner

By Leslie on , Filed Under Area 6, d) $30,000-$50,000, Sport Horse Nation and , ,

Description: Governess is a coming 11 year old Belgian Warmblood/ Selle Francais mare who is by Jamestown, a Quidam de Ravel son out of Black Diamond, a Darco mare. Zara competed through Prelim with amateur owner and competed through intermediate with a professional. She is ready to continue her upper level career with an ambitious amateur or professional. She has schooled through fourth level dressage, she has natural presence in the ring, and dressage judges love her. She would also excel in the jumper ring, as she is ready to show in the level 6’s, and she would shortly advance to the Mini-Prix’s. Zara has scope to spare and has fantastic technique. Very sweet, she is an easy horse to have in the barn, as she is absolutely not “mareish.”

Adjectives: FEI, Intermediate, Experienced

Price: $40,000
Location: Martinez, CA
Contact: Tracy Bowman at 925-917-3276 or kismetfarms1@gmail.com

Dressage

Show Jumping

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FEI sets minimum strength for frangible fences….

By ESJ on , Filed Under Eventing Nation and , , , , , , , , , , ,

A new era in Eventing has slipped by without fanfare or even a press release, the FEI have finally released a copy of the "Standard for the minimum strength of frangible/deformable cross country fences", a mouthful I know.

This standard which came into effect on 1 January 2012, yes I know it was released on 22 March 2012, sets out many of the criteria for how a frangible/deformable device should be designed, tested and put into the market place i.e. in a XC course near you.
In true FEI style this document has been written in a manner that isn't accessible to the average consumer. That said it isn't aimed at the average consumer but the manufacturers and future manufacturers of frangible devices and in many ways FEI Officials. 
However, personally I see two roadblocks that exist.
  1. To date, the Register of Products, is not public. That means that we don't know which products meet the standard and which do NOT. What frangible devices will you see on XC this weekend?
  2. The Instructions for each device need to be accessible, this is particularly critical to allow in field assessment by Officials to ensure a device has been correctly installed. This information is listed as key for the supplier to provide but is critical for the FEI to share with all relevant parties.

What does this mean in practice for you as a rider, whether weekend warrior or four star gold medalist? 

Well, in theory from now on when you step onto XC and see a frangible device you will know it has been tested to meet the standard and is stamped accordingly. Under the standard each device must be marked with;
  • Country of manufacture
  • Manufacturers name
  • FEI registration number

In practice until the Register of Products and Instructions are public and available to both rders and officials this standard will mean little.

What does surprise me is they have dropped the idea of a fail strength. Instead they have created a minimum strength, this is based on a specific test with essentially a standardised pendulum strike.
Under this standardised test, the device MUST NOT fail. However the device must fail at levels between 10%-25% above this standardised test. That is no earlier than 10% above the minimum and must fail before 25% and every time over 25% over the standard level.
I think we have a way to go before this all works in a practical sense and I must applaud all those involved for getting this far.
The word around the campfire is not all of the current devices in circulation meet the standard which I believe is one of the reasons for the delay in the publication of the Standard. The coming weeks and months will hopefully provide more clarity.

Yours in Eventing and interesting FEI documents,

ESJ
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2010 WEG eventing team applicants list

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation and , , ,
Almost anything in life starts with filling out an application--getting a library card, going to college, getting paroled, and yes, representing the United States at the 2010 World Equestrian Games.
Below is a list of the 2010 US WEG applicants.  Applications must have been submitted online, faxed, hand delivered, or postmarked by April 30th.  So it's possible that one or two names might be missing from the list if their snail mail application has not been delivered yet.
As you will note, some of the names on the list have not obtained their "certificate of capability" yet, which is achieved by a qualifying score at either one CCI4* or a CCI3* and a CIC3* together.  According to FEI rules, applicants have until August 16th to achieve their certificate of capability.
Anyone who didn't apply by April 30th, will not be representing the US at the WEGs.
Last Name   First Name    Horse                                      Last Name   First Name   Horse
Blackman    Madeline       Gordonstown                            Hudspeth     Holly            Last Monarch
Bradley        Stephen        Brandenburg's Joshua              Martin          Boyd            Rock On Rose
Byyny         Jan               Waterfront                                Martin         Boyd            Remington XXV
Byyny         Jan               Syd Kent                                 Martin          Boyd            Neville Bardos 
Byyny         Jan               Inmidair                                   Mittleider      Sara            El Primero
Coleman      Will               Twizzel                                   Nunnink       Kristi            R-Star
Davidson     Bruce Sr.       Cruise Lion                              Nunnink      Kristi            Corner Street 
Davidson     Buck             Ballynoe Castle RM                 O'Connor     Karen           Mandiba
Davidson     Buck             My Boy Bobby                        Pollard         Michael        Wonderful Will 
Davidson     Buck             Titanium                                 Pollard         Michael        Icarus
Davidson     Buck             May I Tell Ya                          Prather        Kelly             Ballinakill Glory 
Davidson     Buck             LA Albert                                Schmolze    Kristen         Cavaldi 
Davidson     Buck             Cruise Lion                             Severson     Kim              Tipperary Liadhnan 
Dean           Mara             High Patriot                            Springer       Allison          Arthur 
Dutton         Phillip           TruLuck                                  Tryon           Amy             Coal Creek 
Dutton         Phillip           Woodburn                               Tryon           Amy             Leyland
Dutton         Phillip           The Foreman                           White          Heidi             Northern Spy  
Dutton         Phillip            Kheops Du Quesnay               White          Sharon          Rafferty's Rules
Dutton         Phillip           Connaught                               Williams      John            Sweepea Dean 
Faudree       Will              Pawlow                                    Wooten       Jennifer        The Good Witch
Holder         Becky           Courageous Comet    
Note: It's important to think of this list as a comprehensive list defining possible candidates.  Of course, not all the horses on this list are equally likely to make the team--not by a long shot.  I'll leave most of the analysis for the comments, but I haven't heard anything since last week that changes my opinion that there are 13 primary horse candidates for the WEG team right now, and that everyone else is on the outside looking in.  Go eventing.
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Need to Know Wednesday

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , , ,
Mark Phillip's criticizes the use of Greenwich Park for the London 2012 equestrian events due to rising costs in the latest H&H. 
The FEI has warned riders that they face a 2-year ban if they are caught using banned substances.  I believe that a two year ban for a first offense is consistent with most other Olympic sports and seems like an appropriate length of time to me because anything shorter that a half-year lets offenders time the enforcement so they don't miss any three-days, and anything much longer would be overly punitive and probably completely ruin someone's career, although if you get caught cheating then I don't really care. 
Courtney-King Dye is making great strides in recovery, and is fully alert and talking, according to one of Lendon Grey's Facebook page updates.  You can see an amusing difference in coverage from this article and this article.  
*Land Rover had become the official vehicle of the USEF.  Even if you have already heard about this, you want to read this particular story.
Meningitis can't keep Francis Whittington out of Badminton, Sara Stretton withdraws

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The FEI and USEF have initiated possible abuse charges against show jumper Michael Morrisey for beating his horse repeatedly.  A few thoughts: first, this shows the extraordinary power of video combined with members of the new media.  As Fran Jurga explains in her article, blogger Karen Robinson of the Straight Up blog was the first to write about the incident.  However, without the video, she was just a writer telling a story.  Once the Youtube video (below) started being seen by other members of the equestrian new media, we (The Carrot, Eventing Nation, and others) started writing about the incident and publishing the video.  Eventing Nation linked to the video on Monday and it had 1,000 views at the time.  Just two days later it has 17,000, and the amazing thing about those numbers is that, generally, the major members of the equestrian media completely ignored the story until the FEI sent out its press release yesterday.
My second thought is that the FEI deserves credit for making the right decision even if they were a couple of weeks late.  Policing so many horse sports at competitions across the globe is a very challenging task, and, while the FEI should have been faster to initiate charges, they ultimately made the right decision, which is the most important thing.
Third: from here on out, riders need to assume that the camera is always rolling at competitions.  Anything you say or do can and will be plastered all over the internet and used against you in the court of public opinion.

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Best of the Blogs: Laine Ashker likes her Rolex number, Steph Rhodes-Bosch is starting to believe, *what Chelan learned from watching a lesson with David.  Note: Chelan's blog entry is one of my favorites by a rider: she uses her personality to tell about an experience that is very educational to the reader.
I'm Feeling Lucky~from Andrea
News of the Weird: Drunk man rides horse into Tennessee mule festival.  How did police know he was drunk?  He was asking for beer.
A giant horse as high as the Statue of Liberty is being built in England: "It has been created by Mark Wallinger, who once dressed up in a furry bear suit and wandered around a Berlin gallery in the name of art."

Paca Poo: "The music booster club at Central Community Unit School District 301 in St. Charles isn't bothering with bake sales and car washes this year. Instead, it's selling bags of something promoters call 'paca poo'." ~ Courtesy of BC.

Perhaps more than ever, crap labeled with a cute name is still crap.  What's wrong with bake sales?
4 Comments

Friday Notes and News

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , , , ,
Kentuckians will get to purchase Ground Passes (tickets to get into the Horse Park) for the WEGs at the discounted price of $15 on April 15th, but XC day is excluded.  Ahhh, the joys of extracting consumer surplus.
Courtney King-Dye has spoken her first words, and said "thank you for your hard work" to one of her nurses.  Courtesy of Horesetalk.co.nz
The field is set for the Grand National Chase in GBR.  I spoke with a gentleman from the UK several months ago who explained to me that the Grand National is a truly incredible test of the horse and is a very big deal in Great Britain.
The Tennessee horse slaughter bill passed a subcommittee by a slim margin, and moves onward in the legislative gauntlet.  
The Melbourne Cup is seeking to reunite the remains of the incredible racehorse Phar Lap, whose hide is in Melbourne, heart is in Canberra, and skeleton is in New Zealand.
TJR: FEI to release clarification of difference between rollkur vs LDR and explain "aggressive riding"
Unsurprisingly, the mass polo pony deaths in Florida have led to a huge law suit.
In a joking text conversation, the Chattahoochee course designer says "April easy May carnage is the plan," so get your May entries in now.
*Check out this incredible video of the real 2009 Grand National, and then the Pony Grand Nationals...

Best of the Blogs: Alex Hua Tian
3 Comments

Monday News an Notes

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , ,
Happy day after Easter Eventing Nation!  It's a big news day throughout the equestrian world, so lets jump right into it:
--First and most importantly, because today is the day after Easter, marshmallow Peeps go on sale throughout the World.  Are Peeps candy, are they dessert, are they dinner, or are they post-armageddon survival food?  I have no idea, but they are just as tasty today as they were 24 hours ago, so take your truck and trailer to Wal Mart and stock up for the year.  Peep Research, Peeps diorama contest, 100 ways to kill a Peep
--Secondly, *drumroll* the FEI's new anti-doping regulations go into effect today.  The new lingo is that "Prohibited Substances" are substances that are not allowed at competitions, "Banned Substances" are substances that "have no place in equestrian sport," while substances commonly used in equine medication but that are prohibited in competition are "Controlled Medication Substances."  Easy squeezey lemon peasey, right?  FEI Press Release, Prohibited Substances Database, Prohibited Substances List, Rules

As an interesting test of your vet's sports medicine orientation, you could ask them what they think of the FEI's new anti-doping regulations.  If they enter into a long talk about the nuances of Bute's time levels in the bloodstream and the effects of mixing drugs, then that's great.  If they seem surprised that things have changed, you might want to get ahold of another vet to help you before three-days.  If they ask "what's the FEI?" then you might want to move out of North Dakota.

--If you missed this last Friday, Shelby French had an interesting article about the different intercollegiate riding programs for the COTH.
Barn politics are the number one reason people change barns.
Happy belated 150th anniversary to the Pony Express.
Best of the Blogs: Laine Ashker's Fork recap, Chelan Kozac.  Note: if you write great blog entries and want them to be featured as part of our Best of the Blogs, shoot me an email with a link to the blog and I'll have a look.
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TJR: FEI Rollkur Decision Reactions from the Horse World

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Random and , , ,
As we all know, the FEI decided to allow LDR (Long Deep Round) and ban Rollkur under the definition that Rollkur is "flexion of the horse's neck achieved through aggressive force."  Fran Jurga, who operates The Jurga Report, which is my favorite source for horse health news, has produced an excellent aggregation of reactions to the FEI's decision.  This gets its own post because Fran was kind enough to link to our post 'Rollkur: Why Should I Care?'

One of the things I have enjoyed most about developing Eventing Nation is watching how different members of the equestrian media have responded to our presence.  Some folks, such as EventingUSA, Samantha Clark of the HRN, the Chronicle Forums and now Fran Jurga have been extremely generous and have dramatically helped our growth, but other people have chosen to ignore us completely.  Understand that I don't have any ego in this respect; some people are just not comfortable with a site that covers eventing news in real time, or that does everything possible to get the fans involved, or that mixes humor with news, etc.  Of course, these are the same people who think newspapers will still be around in 20 years.

Thankfully, most eventers don't seem to share those concerns, and our rapid growth has blown away my expectations.  With 1000 readers constituting a slow day, and a growth rate of doubling our daily visitors once a month since our inception, I feel a lot of pressure to deliver great content each day.  Try feeling like you let 1000 readers down on a slow news day; it's not fun.  Getting links from excellent journalists, such as Fran, makes me feel like we did a good job and gives me a sense of excitement because I know that more people will get to enjoy the content that we work so hard to produce.  
Eventing Nation is fundamentally a community, and all of our readers are part of the process, whether by telling your friends, sending us feedback, or just enjoying the experience.  My point is that when people help to spread Eventing Nation by linking to us, I feel a great sense of gratitude and I hope you do too.  So, thanks for the link Fran, and thank you everyone for being part of Eventing Nation.  Go eventing.
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Need to Know Wednesday

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , ,

Poplar Place recap: regular EN contributor and rising freelance journalist Leslie Threlkeld covered Poplar Place this weekend for the USEA. 


FEI bans Rollkur: A roundtable group of FEI officials has declared "any head and neck position achieved through aggressive force to be unacceptable" and "redefined hyperflexion/Rpllkur as flextion of the horse's neck achieved through aggressive force.  FEI press release.  "The technique known as Low, Deep, and Round, which achieves flexion without undue force, is acceptable.  Full FEI press release.  One thing to remember is that this whole issue really gained momentum after footage of Patrick Kittel (below) hit the internet.  After reviewing this footage and additional information, the FEI concluded that there was no evidence that Kittel used "excessive" techniques.  So if "excessive force" is no longer legal, but Kittel wasn't excessive, then has the problem been solved?
 

FEI dressage director speaks on the outcome of the roundtable

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The History of the Acronym Event, FEI WEG

By Leslie on , Filed Under Eventing Nation and , , , ,

he 2010 WEG in Lexington, KY are nearly upon us.  EN is going to do its best to bring you the latest news and information about the Games up until the opening ceremonies (and hopefully we'll be there to report live!).  This week, we bring you a brief history of the games.

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for FEI1.gif
In the Beginning
The idea of the World Equestrian Games was first proposed to the FEI in 1983 by HRH Prince Philip, the then-FEI President.  The original concept of WEG was to give fans of one discipline a chance to see another and decide all FEI Champions at one time and place.


WEG90_Stockholm.gif

1990 Stockholm, Sweden
The first WEG was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1990.  37 countries participated, and six disciplines were involved: Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance and Vaulting.  A study conducted after the Games showed that the 1990 WEG had produced a positive impact on the Stockholm economy.  The Games also had a "tremendous influence on the development of equestrian disciplines in Sweden."


WEG94_TheHague.gif
1994 Netherlands

The second WEG was initially allocated to Paris in March 1991, but the French project fell apart, and the second-place bidders from Holland took on the task.  After the tremendous success of the first World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, then FEI President, HRH Prince Philip had warned that "three years is insufficient for any Federation to put together the very large and sophisticated organisation that is needed to manage such an event."  The second WEG took place at the Hague in the Netherlands in 1994, and Prince Philip's words rang true as the event was plagued by "organisational and administrative chaos." The event ended in financial bankruptcy.  



WEG98_Rome.gif

1998 Rome, Italy
Leading up to the 1998 WEG, the future of the event was uncertain. The city of Dublin, Ireland pulled out at the last minute, leaving Rome, Italy to organize the event in just one year.  Rome took on the task of planning, organizing, and funding the Games in a seemingly impossibly short amount of time.  Rome embraced the challenge, and produced an excellent event against all odds.  42 countries participated in five disciplines in Italy;  the Endurance championships was held separately in Dubai.



WEG02_Jerez.gif

2002, Jerez de Frontera, Spain
The next Games were held in Jerez de Frontera, Spain in 2002.  All six traditional disciplines were included, and Reining made an appearance for the first time.  Under heavy scrutiny, the Spain Games were well organized and hailed as a great success.  While a daunting task to organize, a successful Games again proved beneficial to the host country due to media attention and spectator attendance.



WEG06_Aachen.jpg

2006, Aachen Germany
The Games were held in Aachen, Germany in 2006, and for the first time, the organization broke even. Sixty-one countries took part in seven disciplines with approximately 800 athletes and 850 horses competing.

The Aachen Games were specifically influential for the Eventing community as the first four-star Championship without steeple chase. Despite torrential rainstorms, the event was a success!  The following numbers were obtained from the official FEI website:

Local economic impact at Aachen Games: $328 million; 570,000 spectators from 61 nations; 1,700 employees and volunteers; 130 judges; 76 stewards; 100 veterinarians; 965 grooms; 1,200 journalists; 300 photographers; 380 TV crewmembers; 70 hours of television coverage broadcast in 157 countries; 2,500 bales of straw; 5,000 bales of shavings; 66,635 lbs. of hay; 40,000 catered meals; 6,000 honorary guests; 100 hostesses; 300 service/kitchen staff; 270 exhibitors; 68 car and van service vehicles; 120 drivers.



kentucky.jpg

2010, Lexington, KY, USA
We have all been looking forward to the 2010 WEG in Lexington, KY from September 25 to October 10.  This event will bring about a string of firsts: this is the first time the Games will leave Europe;  Para Dressage, the newest FEI discipline, will compete together with the other seven disciplines for the first time; this will also be the first time all 8 disciplines will be hosted at a single site.  The Horse Park definitely has their work cut out for them, but the benefits will be worth the effort and expense.

According to the FEI website, the 2010 Games are expected to have an economic impact of $150 million and it is anticipated that 500,000-600,000 tickets will be sold over the 16 day competition.  The location of the Games will also prompt the largest horse airlift in history for competitors traveling overseas.

Volunteers are still needed for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games!  It's not too late to be a HERO!  Visit the Volunteer Webpage for more information!

2 Comments

USEF Convention Recap

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , , , , ,



The top story story lines at this year's USEF convention:
1) The domination of Steffen Peters and Ravel, winning both 2009 Rider of the Year and Horse of the Year.  USEF Ravel Press Release, DN Ravel, DN Peters, DD: Ravel, DD Peters, COTH Ravel, COTH Peters

COTH: "In a nutshell, the two new changes to GR 410 Equine Drugs and Medications will work in concert to allow an interim time to collect data and educate the membership. But effective Dec. 1, 2011, only one NSAID will be permitted.
Other details include:

    • From April 1, 2010, to Nov. 30, 2011, two NSAIDs will be permitted. If a horse receives two NSAIDs, a USEF NSAID disclosure form must be filled out and filed for data collection.
    • A first offence in not filling out the form will result in a warning. Thereafter, failures to fill out the form will result in an administrative penalty..."

Quick Take: This brings the USEF rules closer into compliance with both the current FEI zero-tolerance policy, and the proposed progressive list which allowed 3 NSAIDs but only one to be present in the horses system at a time, I believe.  Good decision.
3) Jessica Ransehousen received a lifetime achievement award.  DN coverage, DD

4) COTH: USEF Customer Service and WEG Update: 

"Jamie Link, the CEO of the World Games 2010 Foundation Staff, provided an Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games update. As of today, 251 days until the WEG begins on Sept. 25, the figures include:

    • WEG has reached 57 percent of overall revenue goals.
    • 86 percent of sponsorship goals.
    • 46 percent of hospitality goals.
    • 52 percent of tradeshow goals.
    • 45 percent of ticket sales goals."

"There have been six rider fatalities at 2.3 million fences jumped in international Eventing competitions since 2004."  

"The Action Plan includes:
- Statistical database, to include medical and veterinary data on falls
- A standardised template to achieve consistency in the collection of international data (this will be produced twice a year)
- Compulsory appointment of a National Safety Officer (NSO) by all countries organising international Eventing fixtures to collate statistics and gather information for the FEI in the event of a serious accident
- FEI guidelines on cross-country course design aimed at minimizing risk
- Continuing work on frangible pins and deformable structures for cross-country fences
- Education of everyone involved in the sport of eventing - riders, officials and course designers; risk management will become an integral part of all national seminars
- Increased focus and education about the definition of dangerous riding."

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