(USPEA by Lindsay McCall) – Houston, Texas-November 27, 2012- The Great American Insurance Group/ United States Dressage Federation Region 9 Dressage Championships brought forward the highest caliber of riders November 1-4, 2012. The Houston Dressage Society proudly hosted the USDF Region 9 equestrians at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, Texas where the weather maintained warmer than average temperatures over the weekend except for a Saturday afternoon thunderstorm that disrupted the outdoor classes. Among the top performing riders were Professional rider Claire Darnell of Georgetown, Texas, junior rider Anna Campbell of Wylie, Texas, and Elizabeth “Bit” Fingerhut of Houston, Texas. In addition to the championship presentations, multiple riders were recognized for their accomplishments in 2011-2012. Para-equestrian Jonathan Wentz, who passed away at the end of September, was also recognized for the highest Region 9 honor. Wentz was recognized for his achievements during the year and his outstanding performance at the 2012 London Paralympics.

Over four days Region 9 riders competed for 2012 year-end championships and multiple 2013 qualifying opportunities including:

-Official qualifying competition for the 2013 Great American Insurance Group (GAIG)/USDF Regional Dressage Championships and the 2013 Southwest Dressage Championships

-Official qualifying competition for the 2013 FEI North American Junior and Young Riders’ Championships and Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Junior, Young Rider & Brentina Cup Championships

-Official qualifying competition for the 2013 Dover/USDF Adult Amateur Medal Program.

Eight dressage judges were on hand to score the competition including: Janet Foy, USEF “S”, FEI “4*”from Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lorraine McDonald, USEF “S”, FEI “4″, from Caledon, Ontario, Canada; Lilo Fore, USEF “S”, FEI “4*”of Santa Rosa, California; Bill Solyntjes, USEF “S”, from Hamel, Minnesota; Mike Osinski, USEF “S”, Lacey, Washington; Sue Mandas, USEF “S”, of Dayton, Ohio; and Dolly Hannon, USEF “S”, from Arvada, Colorado; and Janine Malone, USEF “R”, from Zebulon, NC.

One of the top open riders at the Region 9 championships was Claire Darnell. Claire is the professional rider for Darnell Dressage, a lesson, training and sales barn she runs with her mother, Joan Darnell, a USEF “S” Dressage Judge. Claire rode multiple horses at the show but had her greatest successes on Calimar, a 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Contucci, and Flintstone, a 9 -year-old Oldenburg gelding. Calimar won the GAIG/USDF Intermediare II Open Championship with 66.316% and was third in the FEI Extreme Freestyle with 67.312%. Claire says Calimar is fun, but challenging. She purchased him when he was 18 months old. Her mother has helped with his training but Claire is the only rider who has shown him. Claire Darnell commented, “Calimar finally figured out how to piaffe during the show’s awards ceremony. Some of his Grand Prix movements are green so getting piaffe has been hit-or-miss until now.”

Flintstone was the GAIG/USDF Third Level Open Reserve Champion with 68.462% and the GAIG/USDF Third Level Freestyle Champion with a score of 73.917%. Flintstone was imported as a jumper after being purchased at the Oldenburg auction in Germany. With a height of 15.3 hands his show jumping career came to an end when the jumps became too big for him. Darnell noted, “Flintstone is a firecracker who likes to bolt and buck.” Claire quickly moved him up to Third Level in 2012 to keep him busy and rides with a double bridle to help keep his enthusiasm under control. In the National (Training to Fourth Level) tests, Claire wore a purple riding coat she custom ordered in England to “have some fun.” It was the first show for the purple coat and was easy to spot in the warm-up ring. In spite of her show success, Claire had a few tense moments including a show boot mishap and a technology nightmare as she was copying her freestyle music for the horse show office.

Among the Region 9 junior dressage riders Anna Campbell made 2012 a year to remember. Anna Campbell of Wylie, Texas was a member of the first-ever Bronze medal winning Region 9 Junior Rider Team at the 2012 NAJYRC. Campbell noted, “NAJYRC was certainly a highlight for the year and it was pretty special to ride in the same arena as the greats.” She continued, “However, the GAIG USDF Region 9 Championships at Great Southwest Equestrian Center are familiar and feel like home because I have shown here so often and have so many great memories here.” Campbell plans on competing as a junior for one more year through 2013.

Over the November Championship weekend, Anna Campbell showed horses Mai and Wandango 12 winning multiple accolades. Campbell was the GAIG/USDF Championship winner of Prix St. Georges Jr/YR on Mai with 65.78% and Reserve Champion of the GAIG/USDF Junior Team Test on Wandango 12 with a score of 63.446%. Campbell also earned her USDF Rider Achievement Silver Medal at the show.

Campbell’s Mai is an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare born in Denmark during the month of May which is spelled “Mai” in German. She explained, “Mai is a ‘love child’ because no one knows who her sire is. Her dam became pregnant while pastured next to a field of young colts.” Mai is sensitive and had a spook from crowd noise during the Prix St. George shoulder-in on one side but managed to recover quickly. Also, Campbell almost went off course but caught herself just in time. Wandango 12, Campbell’s horse for the Junior Team Test Championship class, is usually ridden by her older sister, Rachel. However, Rachel has been busy with school, so Anna has ridden the 17.3 hand gelding in several shows during the 2012 calendar year. Wandango 12 is a 14-year-old Hanoverian imported from Germany by Kai Handt of North Texas Equestrian Center. Campbell commented, “I enjoy riding both horses but they are very different. Wandango’s large size makes him more difficult to maneuver in the arena while Mai’s downhill balance can be challenging.”

Amateur rider Elizabeth “Bit” Fingerhut topped her division earning the GAIG/USDF First Level Adult Amateur Championship on Vanessa Mae with a score of 69.677%. Vanessa Mae is a 10 year-old Dutch mare by Ferro. Pennock Point Sport Horses in Reddick, Florida bred Vanessa Mae for the original purpose of becoming a broodmare. She had one foal and was put under saddle to earn her IBOP (mare performance test) breed score. However, when the economy slowed, Vanessa Mae’s breeder decided to downsize and found it was easiest to sell the horses under saddle. Fingerhut purchased Vanessa Mae two years ago and plans to move her up to Second Level in 2013. In the First Level Championship class, Fingerhut had a “fabulous, relaxed” ride but ended up tied with another rider at the end of the class. Fingerhut and Vanessa Mae had higher collective marks for the win. In the past, Vanessa Mae has stressed at shows, stopped eating and hid her head in the stall corner. “This was the first show the mare seemed more comfortable which translated into more relaxed rides,” smiled Fingerhut. A former President of the Houston Dressage Club, Fingerhut faces many of the same challenges as other amateurs trying to balance riding with family and career. She works long hours as the Controller for an independent oil and gas company, Renaissance Offshore. Fingerhut lives with her husband, Steve, in an airpark over 50 miles from her office. This means she only has time to ride Vanessa Mae three times per week. Fingerhut’s trainer, Julie McGee Harkness, rides Vanessa Mae the other days.

The Region 9 Championships were also an opportunity to celebrate the region’s rider accomplishments throughout the 2012 competition year. Over 65 USDF Rider Achievement medals were earned and three new Century Club Members were named in 2012. During the Collecting Gait/USEF National Dressage Championships, Festival of Champions held in Gladstone, NJ, Ayden Uhlir riding Sjapoer of Arlington, Texas earned the National Junior Championship. Ayden also conquered the North American Junior Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) winning an Individual Gold Medal in Lexington, Kentucky. The Region 9 Junior Team was quite successful as well at the NAJYRC winning the Bronze team medal for the first medal in Region 9 history. Another Region 9 standout was Emma Patterson riding Wynshire’s Valiant who earned the National Champion 13-and-under division at the Dressage Seat Equitation Medal Finals held in Lamplight, Illinois.

The highest Region 9 honor went to para-equestrian Jonathan Wentz, the USEF Para-Equestrian 2012 Reserve Champion and 4th placed individual Paralympian in London. Jonathan was the highest placed United States equestrian athlete at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With 2013 approaching, Region 9 and the Houston Dressage Society look forward to another exciting calendar year hosting multiple dressage shows as well as clinics with world-renowned instructors.

For more information please visit the Houston Dressage Society at http://houstondressagesociety.org. For press inquiries please contact press@houstondressagesociety.org.

About the Houston Dressage Society:

The Houston Dressage Society (HDS) is 501 (c)(7) social non-profit organization. HDS was incorporated in November of 1977. The club is dedicated to furthering the art of dressage through education for its members and by hostingshows in order for its members to achieve their goals. HDS is a Region 9 Group Member Organization (GMO) of the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) and an Affiliate Member of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF).

Photo Courtesy of USPEA by Sue Stickle – Claire Darnell and Calimar

(USEF) – The United States Equestrian Federation mourns the loss of a great innovator, ambassador and leader in equestrian sport with the passing of Don Burt on November 25, 2012. Burt served the discipline of reining and equestrian sport as a whole within the U.S. and abroad for over 50 years. Known for heading the effort to secure the approval of reining as the FEI’s first Western discipline, Burt served on the USEF Reining and High Performance Reining Committees.

Burt also served as President of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2004.

His influence reached outside the reining and Quarter Horse circles as Burt showed and judged in almost every major breed division.

For his decades of services to the equestrian industry, Burt was awarded the USEF Lifetime Achievement Award and the Jimmy A. Williams Trophy in 2007. He was also added to the Honor Roll of Distinguished Officials in 2011.

“The Federation sends our deepest condolences to the Burt family. Don was driving force in the sport of reining and advocate for equestrian sport,” said USEF CEO John Long. “He has left an outstanding legacy and his influence will be felt for years to come.”

Further information regarding memorial services will be posted on usef.org when available.

Photo Courtesy of USEF by Geoff Bugbee

Lexington, KY- Pending final FEI approval, the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by …

Lexington, KY- The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) is pleased to announce that, pending approval from the High Perf …

(British Dressage) – Carl Hester’s former grand prix horse Donnersong (pictured) has been put to sleep at the age of 22. Carl and Kate Carter, Donnersong’s owner and breeder, have had to say a fond farewell to the charismatic stallion who had been suffering from laminitis.

Donnersong, known as ‘Otto’ to his friends, was the first horse Carl trained to grand prix. The pair’s illustrious partnership was formed when Carl moved to Kate and Stuart Carter’s yard in Stow-on-Wold where Carl ran his own training business at the time. Otto, by Donnerhall out of a Pik Trumpf mare, was a vivacious three-year-old – “quite a terror as a young horse!” says Carl affectionately.

Four years later, Carl and Otto took the advanced medium title at the national dressage championships in the horse’s first year of competition, attracting a large fan base in the process. His obvious talent, personality and legendary antics during laps-of-honour, will stick in the minds of admirers for a very long time.

In 2000, Carl and Otto dominated the small tour classes at the Spanish Sunshine Tour, and throughout that year won a total of 12 international classes. The next year they posted their first national grand prix victory. Following a successful international grand prix career, which included wins at Hickstead CDI, Donnersong was retired from competition in 2006 to focus on his stud career.

“Donnersong was one of the most prolific small tour horses ever and was very special to me,” says Carl. “He was also a real character and gave us more heart-attacks than any other horse!”

“One year, we had taken him to Munich to compete. When we got there we took him into a small, secure paddock for a hand graze. He still managed to get away, jump the fence and decided to career around the park at full speed. There were children and grannies everywhere – it was terrifying!” recollects Carl. “He then shot out of the park and proceeded into the nearby shopping precinct where, to our relief, he was caught by two builders!”

Donnersong had enjoyed a wonderful retirement with Kate and Stuart Carter at their Hooze Farm home in Tewkesbury, where he was regularly ridden by Kate. “He didn’t enjoy going in the field much,” says Carl. “He just loved his stable, right next to Kate’s house.”

“He was such a boost for Kate’s breeding programme and comes from a very special family. He and his full sisters, Donner Dancer and Donner Rhapsody were all international grand prix horses, and he leaves a great legacy – he has got some very nice children including event horses too.”

(FEI) – General Johnson Kim (KOR), retired FEI judge, passed away recently at the age of 85.

General Kim was born in 1927 and his involvement in equestrian sport dates back to his school years when he won various national competitions. After graduating from Korea University, he joined the national military academy to prepare for the 1952 Olympic Games but was prevented from doing so by the Korean War.

Until his retirement from the FEI in 1997, General Kim was an FEI official international judge in Jumping, an international judge in Dressage, an international candidate judge in Eventing as well as an international course designer in Jumping. He served as chef d’équipe to the Korean team at several major international events, including the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He was member of the ground jury for Jumping at the 1988 Olympic Games in his home city of Seoul and also acted as the course designer for the equestrian portion of modern pentathlon at the same Games.

General Kim translated the FEI Rules for Jumping Events into Korean and between 1970 and 1984 represented his country at numerous FEI General Assemblies.

“General Kim was a man ahead of his time,” FEI Director of Jumping John Roche said. “The welfare of the athletes was of great importance to him and he proposed that military riders should wear protective headgear in competition over 20 years ago.”

The FEI expresses its sincere condolences to General Johnson Kim’s family, the Korean Equestrian Federation and the Korean equestrian community.

Photo Courtesy of FEI – General Johnson Kim (KOR), left, with FEI President HRH Prince Philip in 1986 in Korea

(Phelps Media Group) – The Global Dressage Forum North America (GDFNA)** will present their Lifetime Achievement Award to Klaus Balkenhol of Germany at the GDFNA to be held at the Jim Brandon Center in West Palm Beach, FL, on January 28-29, 2013.

Balkenhol is one of the world’s foremost educators in dressage and the author of several dressage books. He is a German Olympic champion, winning a team gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and he also coached the U.S. Olympic Team to various international arenas.

Balkenhol has confirmed he will attend the GDFNA to accept the award in person and U.S. Olympic Team rider Steffen Peters will present the award.

The GDFNA Lifetime Dressage Achievement Award will be presented on the second day of the program immediately before the training demonstration by German international trainer, Wolfram Wittig.

Andreas Stano, Executive Director of DressageClinic.com and founder and producer of the Global Dressage Forum North America, said, “We are very happy to be presenting this Lifetime Achievement Award to Klaus Balkenhol. We are also very happy to have Steffen Peters present the award to Klaus. It really is an honor to have both gentlemen in the presence of our audience.”

Stano and Florida organizer, Noreen O’Sullivan, Managing Partner of Wellington Classic Dressage, are putting together what is expected to be the highest profile educational gathering ever held in the U.S. and Canada. This dynamic duo will present a program schedule featuring top international dressage professionals from the U.K., Germany, Holland, Denmark and Canada held immediately following the World Dressage Masters CDI5*.

The GDFNA will feature Ingrid Klimke, Steffen Peters, Wolfram Wittig and Rudolf Zeilinger and as they present and demonstrate their theories, philosophies and methods on the training and development of dressage horses and riders.

Additionally, Arthur Kottas will demonstrate work in hand and Bo Jena will demonstrate the double long lines. Dr. Hilary Clayton will explore maintaining soundness in the dressage horse, Dr. Grant Moon, a six-time World Champion farrier, will explain the science of shoeing the competitive dressage horse, and Dr. Ina Gosmeier will discuss natural medicine and acupuncture for the sport horse. Dr. Juan Samper, a leading authority on breeding, will explore the art and science of breeding a dressage horse.

Panelists will include Christoph Hess, Stephen Clark, Wim Ernes, Gary Rockwell, Lendon Gray, Sue Blinks, Anne Gribbons, Kathy Connelly, Betsy Steiner, Leslie Reid, Jan Ebeling and Felicitas von Neumann Cosel.

All in all, six clinicians, four lecturers and 12 panelists will be featured in the intense, two-day educational event for every dressage enthusiast. Receptions, shopping opportunities and fun in the sun will also highlight the event.

For a schedule of events, go to: www.globaldressageforumna.com/event-program.

For information and tickets, call 561-227-1525.

For VIP tickets, call International Polo Club Palm Beach: 561-282-5334 or 561-282-5301.

Or, you may purchase tickets online at www.DressageClinic.com, www.GlobalDressageForumNA.com or www.WellingtonClassicDressage.com.

**The Global Dressage Forum North America is a unique educational forum organized for the betterment of the sport for North American riders and trainers, and is not related to, or affiliated with, the Global Dressage Forum of the Netherlands.

Photo Courtesy of Global Dressge Forum by Carole MacDonald