by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 14, 2021
The Pennsylvania National Horse Show will have a new look for its 75th anniversary this October, and new management to go with it.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg, its longtime home, has been through a $21 million re-do, according to the show’s executive director, Susie Webb.
And Pat Boyle is taking over as manager from Peter Doubleday, who is retiring from the show after 45 years, a period during which he also served as an announcer. Peter, whose foundation has contributed $230,000 to the show over the last 18 years, will still be active elsewhere, continuing in management with Devon and the Royal Winter Fair, as well as announcing at a variety of competitions.
The manager of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s successful year-end championship show in Las Vegas, Pat has ties to the Penn National that go beyond his new job. He and his children both rode in the show and he brought students there when he was a trainer.
The U.S. Equestrian Federation has awarded the Pennsylvania National its traditional two featured events for junior riders, the Dover Saddlery/USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final and Neue Schule/USEF Junior Jumper National Championships. They will run at the show through 2023.
Until 1966, the Medal was held with the ASPCA Maclay at the National Horse Show in New York, but that year, it made the trip west. It draws the biggest field of any hunt seat equitation championship.The 10-day Penn National had to scale back in the face of Covid last year, when it staged the venerable junior features at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in North Carolina after the Farm Show Complex was not available due to the pandemic.
The original idea was for all three shows on the U.S. portion of the North American Fall Indoor Circuit to take place in Tampa, but that didn’t work out and the National went to its usual home in Kentucky, while Washington and the Penn National migrated to TIEC.
“It was nice that Tryon was able to allow us to do this; I was determined to make this Medal finals happen and keep our foot in the door. We were persistent and dedicated to make it happen,” Susie explained.
“Things couldn’t have worked out any better in our favor on the day of the Medal finals,” She recalled.
“The kids had to school outside in the rain and come inside, where they actually competed. Everybody said, `We really miss the Farm Show facility. We never thought we’d say that,’” she chuckled..
Susie said she has been told by personnel at the Farm Show venue, “you’re not going to recognize the place” following its re-do.
Having a second competition ring for the first time means the show can add some divisions and raise the number of entries in the divisions.
“We’ve been listening to the people saying, `We don’t have things to do,’” Susie noted.
“We’ve taken into consideration the kids who come for the Medal and the horse puts on on the brakes at the first fence. What can we do to have these kids have a better experience and feel like they accomplished something and not be disappointed when they leave?”
The answer was a chance to compete and practice more, as well as getting into the ring before riding in the Medal.
“We want to make it a better experience for everybody involved,” said Susie.
She noted that for all the bad things about 2020, “it taught us think outside the box. At this time last year,” she pointed out with a chuckle, “the words `social distancing’ weren’t even in our vocabulary.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 13, 2021
There will be a Celebration of Life for trainer/author/clinician Kip Rosenthal on Sunday, January 17 at 5 pm Easter Time via the Zoom link below. Contact Abby Lowe if you would like to speak or share your screen during the service, contact (Abby.R.Lowe@gmail.com). There may be room for additional speakers at the end of the service. Additionally, please send her any photos or videos that you have so they can be added to the slideshow during the service.
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by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 12, 2021
This was supposed to be the month that tickets for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event were to go on sale. But it won’t be until next month that they can be purchased–that is if they are for sale. Organizers need to get permission for spectators to attend the 5-star, and that requires coordination with the state of Kentucky and the U.S. Equestrian Federation. What will happen to the event if it is cancelled for the second year in a row.
Find out more at this link.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 9, 2021
The Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association’s national championship show has been cancelled for the second time, due to Covid 19, as the organization’s board made the decision to follow the same protocol as in 2020 “with the safety and well-being of the membership in mind,”
IHSA Executive Director Peter Cashman cited the increasing numbers connected with the pandemic, which also led to scrapping the 10,000-member group’s entire post-season, including the Hunt Seat Zone Finals and Western Semi-Finals.
“With the ongoing pandemic and numbers on the rise, the board voted with the safety and well-being of the membership in mind,” said Peter Cashman, IHSA executive director. “We understand how disappointing it is to membership, many who have been unable to compete this academic year.”
The championship show is usually scheduled for early May.
“The board has agonized over this situation that has forced us to decide to cancel the IHSA postseason for the second consecutive year. We look forward with the hopes that the vaccine will prevent the spread and allow the country to relax restrictions and allow the schools to resume competition in the fall,” the executive director said.
IHSA will offer two online horse shows through DigitalHorseShow.com during the spring semester. The Inaugural IHSA Online Horse Show was successfully held during the 2020 fall semester, providing an opportunity for those members and teams who continue to ride and practice to compete across the membership. The spring events will again be open to all IHSA undergraduate and alumni members and will include a horsemanship element. Show dates and prize lists will be available soon.
The board of directors will present a live webinar on the state of the IHSA on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 5, 2021
Dressage clinician, coach, motivational speaker, ballroom dancer, international rider and author, the multi-talented Jane Savoie died yesterday at the age of 71.
Even though she was ill with multiple myeloma for years, this shining light always kept going, and her final book was published just a month before her death.
Jane Savoie. (Photo courtesy U.S. Dressage Federation)
A member of the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame, Ms. Savoie was the dressage coach for the 1996 and 2004 Canadian Olympic eventing teams. She also coached her friend, Sue Blinks, to team bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Devoted to adult amateurs, she motivated thousands of them with her first book, “That Winning Feeling! Program Your Mind for Peak Performance,” published in 1992. Her positive nature was contagious.
The Vermonter also wrote fiction and her final nonfiction work, “Dressage Between the Jumps: The Secret to Improving Your Horse’s Performance,” was published in 2020. Her first novel, “Second Chances,” came out shortly thereafter.
Survivors include her husband, Rhett.
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 30, 2020
Sparks flew in November when the U.S. Equestrian Federation reacted to the new World Equestrian Center’s announcement that 10 of its 12 winter 2021 shows would be governed by the National Snaffle Bit Association.
In response, USEF yanked the show licenses it had awarded the Ocala facility, which in turn announced that its entire January through March Winter Classic Spectacular hunter/jumper series would be part of the NSBA circuit, and that it was offering free stalls.
USEF warned that FEI registered riders, horses officials and horse owners might face sanctions from the FEI (International Equestrian Federation) if they competed in the series. The situation felt ugly, and it seemed a shame that FEI riders who wanted to show at the amazing new venue with its 5-star hotel, climate conditioned indoor rings and huge stadium might be penalized if they did so.
The World Equestrian Center in Ocala.
On.Dec. 9, USEF CEO Bill Moroney and incoming USEF President Tom O’Mara talked about the federation’s mileage rule and the WEC situation in a video forum for the general public, but there was no indication on how the controversy might be resolved.
And then, at 5 p.m. on the day before New Year’s Eve, word came (interestingly, via an independent public relations agency) that a provisional resolution had been reached. USEF and WEC “agreed to work together on a plan for WEC to host USEF-sanctioned competitions in the future. USEF and WEC agree that it is in the best interest of the sport for them to work collaboratively.”
Talks will continue as the shows run for the winter season under the NSBA banner. It’s expected to take some time to come up with a permanent answer “prioritizing horse and rider welfare and operating under the rules that govern all USEF organizers.”
In the spirit of good will and to facilitate negotiations, USEF has withdrawn its request to the FEI to declare the WEC series unsanctioned. That means riders, officials and horses may compete there this winter without being penalized by the FEI or USEF.
Tom Struzzieri, whose HITS winter series runs eight miles from WEC, said he thought the interim arrangement “seems like it was the right thing to do for the exhibitors at this point, and what’s good for exhibitors is good for us.”
Both he and Roby Roberts of WEC said they could see exhibitors going back and forth between HITS and WEC as they pick and choose the classes that suit them, although Tom mentioned, “We’ve got a pretty full horse show.”..
HITS is USEF-licensed, which means exhibitors will earn points there for Horse of the Year and qualification for indoor shows and Devon. Those showing at WEC will not get points, since the shows are not USEF-licensed. Although Tom didn’t see coordinating his schedules with WEC’s, he noted, “clients of mine have told me there’s a possibility to jump in some of their classes and not miss our big classes.”
The USEF mileage rules are geared to limit licenses for shows in close proximity to one another, but they have been bent this year with presidential modifications due to the cancellations and reshuffling because of Covid. In the announcement, USEF noted, “Assuming development of a mutually agreed upon plan, WEC has agreed not to host any other new competitions that are not authorized by USEF.”
Although Bill Moroney at one point cited “safety” reasons for originally deciding that USEF and NSBA shows should not mix in a series, the statement noted, “USEF recognizes WEC’s existing relationship with NSBA and that WEC will endeavor to include NSBA within such authorized competitions,” the statement said.
When WEC and USEF come up with a permanent plan for how to proceed, it will be made public, according to their statement.USEF already has licensed dressage shows and an eventing competition at WEC that are not affected by what happens with the hunter/jumper shows..
In agreeing to the interim measure, the USEF considered how important it was for its members to have a number of competition opportunities this winter, since so many 2020 events were cancelled because of Covid-19.
Working with the USEF,, the FEI will look at potential alternative plans for the U.S. leg of the 2021 FEI Jumping Nations Cup™, as the CSIO5* scheduled to run at the WEC from March 16-21 will now not take place…
