William Fox-Pitt and Oslo, winners of the Pau CCI**** in 2011.
Good morning EN! Across the pond in France Pau kicks off today with the first horse inspection. In case you missed the coverage yesterday, Americans Colleen Rutledge and Buck Davidson are both repping the red, white, and blue on Shiraz and Ballynoe Castle RM respectively. Riders from 17 countries will compete in the CCI**** this weekend, including the Terminator Michael Jung and Japanese Olympian Kenki Sato. 66 riders will compete in the four-star and 49 in the CIC** division. According to the Pau website, 40,000 spectators, 350 volunteers, and 80 journalists and photographers will converge on the grounds this weekend. Check out the official website for a virtual course walk and more. [Pau Official Site] [Entries]
Your weekend event preview:
Chattahoochee Hills CCI and HT [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times]
Holly Hill HT [Website] [Entries/Times]
Waredaca Training Three-Day [Website] [Times]
Heritage Part HT [Website] [Entries/Times]
Ram Tap hosted the IDHSNA USEA Future Event Horse West Coast Championships last Friday. This program focuses on 2- and 3-year-olds and judges them on confirmation and gaits. Shee’s Magic, a 3-year-old TB filly, won the 3-year-old filly division and earned the highest score of the championships with an 83.3%. Click to read about other winners and their bloodlines. [USEA]
New Zealand and Australia are petitioning the FEI to designate the two countries as a separate continental entity from their current zone, Group 8, composed of 28 nations mainly in Southeast Asia. Currently, as Group 8’s focus is mainly on Asian horsemen and their interest, New Zealand and Australia’s interest in European and American riding is forced to take a back seat. The FEI recognizes a similar continental grouping already (the European Equestrian Federation) and the Pan American Equestrian Federation is growing more active. The two countries will meet with FEI Secretary General Ingmar De Vos in Istanbul next month. [Horsetalk]
Speaking of next month’s FEI General Assembly meeting, Horsetalk has done a piece about the politics that split the organization, specifically over the issue of next year’s show jumping Nations Cup. Here’s the gist: the current structure of the event makes it very difficult for countries outside of Europe (aka the most prominent and wealthy jumping countries) to enter the prestigious event. The Nations Cup has very generous sponsors- had that is, because last year the Meydan group pulled out at the last second, and in order for the event to go on the FEI stepped up and covered the 2 million euro deficit out of its own bank account. Now the newly created Saudi Equestrian Equestrian Fund has stepped up to cover the expenses, but they want the competition to be “remodeled” -i.e. changed to allow more global participation, namely a Saudi team. Obviously the Europeans won’t like that. Sound like a soap opera yet? Click to read more, but you will have to wait until next month for the conclusion. [Horsetalk]
And you thought Fair Hill was muddy: Australian eventers competed at the CCI/CIC*** level in the snow last weekend at the NSW Eventing Championship. No wonder they come over here and do so well. [Weekly Times]
Good news from Ireland: though it looked like Tattersalls would no longer run due to lack of funding, a private donor has stepped up to cover the gap in funding and allow the event to continue to run. The event still needs a sustainable funding mechanism in order to be preserved indefinitely. [Horse and Hound]
The German branch of PETA is suing Totilas’ owners, Paul Schockemöhle and Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff, because the horse is allegedly being ridden in rolkur by Matthias Rath and they consider the practice torture. According to PETA, Rath tried to justify the technique because the horse had been trained with it in the Netherlands, and he needed more control over the horse. [COTH]
As previously reported, the FEI is now requiring all horses who are registered with the organization after Jan 1, 2013, to be microchipped. They also recommend you check your horse for an already implanted microchip before putting in another. [USEA]
Dr. Alex G. Emerson tells us what we all know too well: horses do things to hurt themselves on a way too frequent basis. [COTH]
Do you have an Eventing stallion that you want to show off? What about a promising foal? Make sure to get your advertisements into the 2012 Eventing USA Annual Breeding and Stallion Issue, the deadline is fast approaching. [USEA]
Random link of the day: take an equine personality quiz for your horse and determine what kind of training methods will be most effective. [Horse and Hound]
Best of Blogs: Fall 2012 update from Chesterland North
DPEquestrian’s Fair Hill report and podcast
We leave you with another Gangnam Style interpretation, this one from the crew at Rocky Mountain Show Jumping. That’s all for now EN, thanks for reading!
