by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 14, 2022
The way forward for the USA to achieve top level eventing aspirations will be examined by a new panel, the Eventing Elite Program Task Force, which includes some of the discipline’s biggest names, announced today by the U.S. Equestrian Federation.
Riders such as Aachen winner Will Coleman and Lynn Symansky will be working with Olympic cross-country course designer Derek di Grazia, U.S. Eventing Association President Max Corcoran, U.S. developing eventing coach Leslie Law, who won Olympic gold for his native Great Britain, will work with representatives of other interests in the sport. That includes Christine Turner, who owns several of Boyd Martin’s horses, and physician Dr. Mark Hart.
Olympic course designer Derek di Grazia is on the new U.S. eventing task force. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
The task force will be aided by a facilitator in figuring out the best procedures for moving the U.S. eventers toward earning their first Olympic team medal since 2004. Erik Duvander, who held the performance manager title from 2017 until last month, did not have his contract renewed.
There is a question as to who should lead the effort to get the country’s eventing effort back on track. Will it be a coach, someone more akin to a team manager or perhaps a person playing another role? USEF Director of Sport Will Connell is going to act as the staff liaison for the task force.
The task force has to work fast, with the world championships in Italy on the horizon this summer, and the 2004 Paris Olympics on the horizon as well.
USEF is eager for input from its constituency, asking that all comments be directed to the USEF Eventing Elite Program Task Force on email, EEPTaskForce@usef.org.
Others on the task force are riders Ariel Grald, Liz Halliday-Sharp, and Eric Markell, one of the owners of Tamie Smith’s Mai Baum. USEF President Tom O’Mara and CEO Bill Moroney will attend all the meetings. USEF also is looking for a managing director of eventing to fill the vacancy left by Jenni Autry.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 23, 2022
There’s a question about whether the FEI World Cup finals will be able to run this spring in Leipzig, Germany, because of the Covid situation and resulting government restrictions. A number of indoor shows in Europe already have been cancelled or are being held without spectators. The latest cancellation, announced today, is Gothenburg, Sweden.
Will there be enough qualifiers in Western Europe to enable a finals, or will it be cancelled for the third year in a row? Central Europe had a full complement of qualifiers, and North America is also on the way to completing its lineup.
But if you’re looking for a sure thing, bet on Omaha’s Cup finals.
McLain Ward won the Longines FEI Jumping Final in 2017, the last time it was in Omaha. (Photo © 20217by Nancy Jaffer)
The Nebraska city that held a universally praised finals in dressage and jumping in 2017 is doing more than an encore next year. Not only will it be offering the dressage and show jumping Cup finals, it is adding vaulting. If you haven’t seen the gymnastics on horseback, you’re in for a treat–especially when it comes to the costumed freestyles.
Costumes and artistic grace are highlights of vaulting that make it intriguing for spectators. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
But if you want the best seats and perks in Omaha April 4-8 next year at the CHI Health Center Arena and Convention Center, you need to make plans. There’s an April 1, 2022 deadline to purchase or upgrade your membership in the World Cup Club. Extras include a private reception and discounts on merchandise.
To join, click on this link and fill out the form.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 21, 2022
As the International Modern Pentathlon Union debates what should replace show jumping in its sport line-up for the 2024 Paris Olympics (apparently some sort of cross-country obstacle race is being considered), German prosecutors dropped their investigation into two controversial figures whose behavior sparked outrage during the competition in Tokyo.
Pentathlete Annika Schleu and her coach, Kim Raisner, got worldwide headlines after Schleu threw a fit when her horse refused to jump and Raisner punched the animal. Prosecutors let the matter rest after the rider and coach were told to make a charitable donation.
The German Animal Welfare Federation filed a criminal complaint against the pair after their actions at the Games, but they were not charged. Schleu had been leading the women’s modern pentathlon competition before her mount, Saint Boy, would not jump. The rider was criticized for overuse of whip and spurs.
The public prosecutor, quoted by the publication Pferderevue, said the pentathlete and the coach “only had a short-term effect on the riding horse and were in an exceptional physical and psychological situation of the Olympic competition. In addition, no injuries were inflicted on the competition horse.
“In view of the minor impact of the crime and against the background of the continued media reporting, it can be assumed that the investigative proceedings have had a sufficient impact on the suspects who have not yet appeared criminally.”
The German Animal Welfare Association said it had aimed to initiate “a social discussion about how to deal with horses in competitive sport”.
“We have undoubtedly succeeded in doing this, as the announced changes in the mode of modern pentathlon show,” it stated, quoted by Deutsche Welle.
Although the scandal pointed out the problems of requiring people to ride horses under pressure when many are inexperienced at equestrian sport, more than 650 pentathletes signed a letter seeking the resignation of the pentathlon union’s president after riding was removed from the format.
The sport, which has been part of the Games since 1912, is not on the program for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. In order to be considered for inclusion, it must replace riding and present its overall competition formula, which at this point includes only swimming, fencing and the laser run, which combines running and shooting..
Raisner was found guilty by a disciplinary panel of violating a rule under which a “pentathlete or team is disqualified for rapping or beating a horse and all other cases of cruelty and/or ill treatment of a horse”.
She was ordered to attend a “coach education seminar” which offers a “humane treatment of animals” module before returning to a UIPM competition.
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 17, 2021
Olympic eventing individual gold medalist David O’Connor, the first president of the U.S. Equestrian Federation, was presented with the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Exemplary Service Award by the U.S. Olympic Endowment at its annual award ceremony in Colorado Springs at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum. He is the only equestrian ever to receive the honor.
The award was given in recognition of his continued service and commitment to equestrian sports within the Olympic and Paralympic movements. The award recognizes those whose “commanding presence and endeavors have advanced the ideals of the Olympic Movement, and whose commitment to relevance is reflected in a legacy of dedication to the service of others.”
David O’Connor carried the American flag on his victory gallop aboard Custom Made after winning individual eventing gold at the 2000 Olympics. (Photo © 2000 by Nancy Jaffer)
David became USEF president as the organization formed in the resolution of differences between USA Equestrian and the U.S. Equestrian Team, which became a foundation.
He set the standard for USEF’s key strategic initiatives and growth during two terms as president from 2004 through 2012. He was the technical advisor for the U.S. eventing team and chairs the FEI Eventing Committee.
“David has represented the equestrian community, both in competition as an athlete, and in governance as a leader, with confidence and complete dedication, always putting the best interests of our sport at the forefront of everything he does,” said USEF CEO Bill Moroney.
“He is most deserving of this recognition and his devotion to ensuring the continued success of the equestrian disciplines has been instrumental in the shaping our community and sport here in the United States and around the world.”
David was on the silver medal team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga., followed by taking individual gold and team bronze at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.. He led the U.S. to team bronze at the 1998 World Championships in Rome, and team gold at the 2002 World Championships in Jerez, Spain. David was a three-time winner of the Kentucky Three-Day Event, and participated on nearly every U.S. eventing team named between 1986 and 2004.
He was inducted into the United States Eventing Association Hall of Fame in 2009, along with the two horses on which he achieved much of his international success, Giltedge and Custom Made. He is a two-time USEF Equestrian of the Year, in 2000 and 2002.
He has continued to serve the equestrian community for more than four decades and is an instrumental leader in the growth and visibility of equestrian interests across the Olympic and Paralympic movements. He remains a coach and mentor to many athletes and facilitates successful competitions across the U.S., while supporting the long-term success of the U.S. eventing program.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 23, 2022
It was Laura Chapot’s turn to shine under the Saturday Night Lights yesterday as she and Chandon Blue won the $50,000 Marshall & Sterling/Great American Insurance Group grand prix in the impressive atmosphere of the International Arena at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
The rider from Neshanic Station, N.J., topped an 11-horse jump-off with a time 1.24 seconds better than runner-up Shane Sweetnam on James Kann Cruz.
The international show jumping for the wee was held a half-mile away at the Equestrian Village, so that gave the national riders in the field of 45 a rare opportunity to contest the Saturday feature at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.
Laura Chapot and Chandon Blue winning at WEF. (Sportfot photo)
The victory was a great statement from Laura, who was out of action last year after she broke her arm and underwent intensive rehabilitation. She thought the class would be a great opportunity for the son of Chacco Blue, a gelding she owns with her mother, Mary.
“He loves the excitement and the crowds,” said Laura of her mount.
“He was so focused tonight. I was pleased because he was probably as rideable as he’s been the whole time he’s been down here.”
Laura has gotten help from Irish rider Cian O’Connor with the horse, noting Chandon Blue “does feel like he really senses that he’s done well.”
She said the 17-year-old Oldenburg is “little bit over-exuberant right now. He’s so glad to be back in action. He’s always been a real trier, and he’s got a huge, huge heart. I think that always helps keep the horses’ interest and keep them going strong.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 10, 2021
Bill Moroney, CEO of the U.S. Equestrian Federation, spoke to the U.S. Eventing Association today about plans for the organization’s eventing program. You can read about it by clicking this link to my Horse Sport story.
USEF decided last week not to renew the contract of Erik Duvander after he put in four years devoting himself to American eventing as the disciline’s performance director. Read my story about it on the Horse Sport website. Here is the link . And as part of the big change, Peter Wylde, who coached show jumping for the eventers, also didn’t have his contract renewed. Read the details here .
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 21, 2022
It all started just a week ago tonight.
Lars Petersen competing at Grand Prix with his special mount Succes. (Photo © 2007 by Nancy Jaffer)
Lars Petersen was at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Fla., for the Friday Night Lights freestyle and walked over to speak with his old compatriot, Andreas Helgstrand. Lars, a Danish Olympian who is now a U.S. citizen, had recommended that Andreas replace him as a rider when he left Denmark’s Blue Hors dressage breeding, training and competition facility in 2002.
Andreas, now CEO of the Global Equestrian Group that last year bought the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, opened Helgstrand Dressage in Wellington after buying a farm in the village in 2020.
Last Friday, during their casual conversation, Andreas asked Lars whether he’d be interested in helping train a few of his riders, and Lars said he would.
The next question was, would you be interested in working there full time? That’s according to Lars’ wife, Melissa. Lars said yes, and as of April 1, Lars will be Helgstrand Dressage USA’s general manager, and he’ll be overseeing the riding and training of all the riders there. Melissa will be stable manager of the facility.
“It is crazy exciting. Life has taken almost a full circle for Lars. It’s almost like fate,” said Melissa.
Lars and Melissa Petersen. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
She explained it had been coming to the point for the Petersens where they were going to have to make a decision on whether to buy the farm they were leasing or find another property.
“And then this happened. It all kind of happened for the right reasons, everything is falling into place,” she observed.
It was fast. They sat down and talked last Saturday and signed the contract Wednesday.
“It’s a dream come true for us,” said Lars.
“We are very overwhelmed by this opportunity. ”
As he noted, who does not want “to be a part of something so big–we will at least do our part to make Helgstrand even more successful here in Wellington and contribute to many more riders getting their dream come true.”
The Petersens will be bringing their horses, grooms and riders with them to Helgstrand, but they will stay in their own home.
“A lot of the Europeans who had horses through Helgstrand will want to come, so it will be opening the door to bring more competitors over,” Melissa said when asked about the prospects for what Helgstrand Dressage can do for the area.
Lars is busy riding himself and has horses in his string that are developing, but nothing at Grand Prix at this moment.
“It’s just kind of that in-between phase,” Melissa said.
“We are not the type that go and buy a Grand Prix horse, we make them up from young horses.”
The new arrangement is quite a whirlwind.
“It happened so fast and of course, there are a lot of little details that need to get worked through. We just decided we’re doing this and then we take the step, take a little bit of time to work things out,” Melissa said.
Earlier this month, Andreas indicated his company might buy the Equestrian Village where the Adequan Festival is held. At the time, he said, “At the moment, we only own the jumping part, so of course, we put all our efforts into the jumping,” he said, referring to the massive improvements made to PBIEC after GEG took over last summer.
And then today we were told that the Grands Prix of the 5-star dressage show at the end of next month will be held at PBIEC rather than Equestrian Village.
The qualifiers for the Grand Prix Special and Freestyle will be held on Wednesday night Feb. 23, with the Freestyle and Special under the lights two nights later.
Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper in the June 2021 observation event for Olympic dressage candidates at PBIEC.
“We look forward to welcoming international dressage back to Palm Beach International Equestrian Center show grounds,” said Equestrian Sport Productions President Michael Stone.
“With the success of hosting dressage in the International Arena…(for the final Olympic dressage team observation competition last June), we aim to promote dressage and want to provide another spectacular venue for riders and spectators to enjoy.”
The last time a 5-star was held at PBIEC was in 2010.
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 10, 2021
Show jumping, dressage and eventing are all set for the 2028 Olympics, with equestrian just accepted as one of the core sports of those Games–along with skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing.
But not modern pentathlon. It has a possible pathway in 2023 to get a place for Los Angeles 2028, though its fate is tied to what happens with its show jumping component. Although the pentathlon association’s board decided to drop riding as one of its group of five sports, hundreds of athletes are protesting. They maintain riding is an integral part of the event. Yet the leadership just plowed ahead and said it would substitute something else; what that is has yet to be determined.
Pentathlon’s troubles prompted PETA and the like to say horses should not be part of the Olympics at all, even though there is no relationship between pentathlon and the traditional Olympic equestrian sports. Although it’s not always easy to make non-horse people understand that.
Pentathlon’s troubles with its equestrian element came in Tokyo, when the athlete who was leading in the women’s competition couldn’t deal with a horse that refused a fence. She burst into tears and her coach punched the horse, which set off a chain reaction that was a public relations nightmare and threatened pentathlon’s continued presence in the Games after Paris 2024. As we see. What would have made more sense for pentathlon was to lower the fences, find better horses and make sure they are ridden by only one athlete and not two in the same competition.
The fate of pentathlon is up in the air, but I’m betting equestrian will be part of the Games past 2028 and on to 2032 Brisbane. Australia, after all, is an equestrian-friendly country. While eventing often has been tabbed as the equestrian discipline that might be dropped from the Olympics first (the cost of building a cross-country course is a problem for those worried about the ever-soaring price of staging the Games) it won’t happen in Brisbane. Eventing is the sport at which Australians excel.
Oliver Townend of Great Britain’s gold medal team in Tokyo jumping through the water.
But look for even more non-traditional sports to make the Olypic program as years go by, which means other sports of long- standing may have to go to make room for them. Speaking about the sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said, “These sports will bring fresh excitement and relevance to the Olympic Games in America and connect the Olympics with younger fans across Los Angeles and around the world.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 22, 2021
The Sonoma (Calif.) Horse Park announced it will hold six 2022 hunter/jumper shows from May to September under the auspices of the National Snaffle Bit Association, rather than the U.S. Equestrian Federation.
“Sonoma Horse Park has withdrawn all licenses and applications that have been submitted to the USEF for 2022,” USEF said in a statement today. It added, “Notably, the Split Rock Jumping license for Split Rock Sonoma 9/7/22-9/11/22, is still on the calendar and has not been withdrawn by the licensee.”
USEF had been seeking clarification from Sonoma in respect to USEF-licensed events and pending mileage exemptions at the horse park.
Last week, word from the park was that it would not run USEF shows until that organization’s mileage rule, which currently requires 250 miles between shows in Sonoma’s region, instead permits shows within 50 miles of each other.
The circumstances brought to mind the situation between USEF and the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla., where the facility couldn’t get all the USEF hunter/jumper shows it wanted last winter and went with the NSBA instead. When WEC did get USEF dates for later in the year, it turned them down and signed up with NSBA again instead, a decision that also applied to WEC’s facility in Ohio.
Howard Herman, the Sonoma CEO, stated his case about the mileage situation at a Zoom meeting Nov. 15 that drew approximately 50 riders, owners, trainers and other interested parties.
“We have known about the mileage rule for 30 years, but I didn’t really understand it until I got involved in the process,” he said.
Former Sonoma manager Sally Hudson of Headlands Management, the license holder for a number of the Sonoma shows, took her licenses to Rancho Murieta’s Murieta Equestrian Center, the state’s largest equestrian facility.
Sonoma then applied for USEF show licenses for the same dates as those held by Headlands, as well as a new competition at Sonoma, MGMT Giant Steps Charity Classics, according to USEF.
Murieta is about 100 miles from Sonoma, too close for the park to qualify for its own shows on the same dates as the equestrian center without a mileage exemption. As a result of the applications being for the same dates for both facilities, a mileage conflict was created and the two Sonoma requests would have had to follow the mileage exemption processed contained in Chapter 3 of the USEF Rule Book if the Sonoma had wanted to continue pursuing USEF licensing.
Herman noted it is hard to plan without knowing well in advance which shows USEF will approve.
“Sponsors and vendors want to provide an adequate season,” he commented. Sonoma previously staged the Adequan/USEF Junior National Hunter Championship West and a week of World Championship Hunter Rider competition under USEF auspices.
“At 80 years old, I’ve been given a voice,” the CEO said, explaining he could not live with himself if people in his community were shortchanged because of the mileage situation.
He feels an area that is home to 13 million people should be entitled to more in the way of USEF shows. Herman cited how expensive it is for northern California residents and people from the Pacific Northwest to go to the Thermal circuit in Southern California.The Sonoma Horse Park presents a closer alternative.
With the NSBA shows, “We are committed to offering comparable prize money and special classes as we have in seasons past and a schedule that is consistent with what exhibitors and trainers have come to expect at shows that Sonoma Horse Park provides. We are looking forward to a new circuit, complete with circuit championships and prizes as per Sonoma Horse Park tradition,” stated Sonoma manager Sarah Appel.
A USEF statement released last week noted, “USEF staff held a Zoom meeting with Mr. Herman, Ashley Herman (Herman’s daughter) and Sarah Appel on November 4 to obtain additional information about their (miledate exemption) request. After Mr. Herman discussed multiple competition scenarios, Ms. Appel indicated she would provide USEF with a list of the competitions SHP wished to operate immediately after this meeting.” USEF never received the list from Appel.
The statement continued, “Even though Mr. Herman has publicly stated that SHP (Sonoma) is not interested in holding USEF licensed competitions until the rules governing mileage are changed to meet his needs, USEF has repeatedly communicated with SHP to confirm their interest in moving forward with the two active mileage exemption requests the.”
USEF said the park’s lack of response to USEF inquiries about the licenses impeded the federation’s ability to process the mileage exemption requests.
The USEF added, “The rules governing mileage cannot be amended upon demand of the SHP. Amendments to USEF rules must follow the procedures contained in the USEF Rule Book.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 17, 2022
Maybe you didn’t appreciate it, but the U.S. Equestrian Federation has hit a new dynamic gear and is offering so much more than shows, rule and high score awards. Those are important, but they are not everything the federation has to offer.
From money-saving member perks, to alll kind of insurance and a vast array of educational videos, as well as a new initiative for under-served communities, USEF is reaching up and out.
Read about what happened at USEF’s annual meeting by clicking on this link
