14th Annual Mt. Adams Endurance Ride and Mt. Adams Ride & Tie Saturday, May 15, 2010

Saddle up and ride the glorious trails of the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest and the surrounding timberlands. Everyone's welcome to participate in the 14th Annual Mt. Adams Endurance Ride. We have events for all levels of trail riders: 12- to 25-mile trail rides for beginner endurance riders to 50- or 75-mile divisions for the more experienced competitors. Due to unexpected logging operations on a few of our trails, we will not be holding the 100 mile distance this year. Riders could also opt to compete in our 12- or 25-mile Mt. Adams Ride & Tie division where one horse and two rider/runners make a Ride & Tie team. News flash: The Ride & Tie World Championships will be held here in 2010.

Ride Camp Location: The ride camp is located at the Mt. Adams Horse Camp in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Trout Lake, Washington.

Directions: From Oregon's I-84, take exit 64 (Hood River), go north across Columbia River, west on Hwy 14 for 1 mile, north on Alternate Hwy 141 for approximately 4 miles, continue north on Hwy 141 about 20 miles to Trout Lake. In Trout Lake, bear right at Chevron and follow signs to ride camp or the Mt. Adams Horse Camp.

Weed Seed Free Hay is now required in the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest. We will have a flatbed of certified WSF hay for sale at the ride site on Friday and Saturday. It will be a grass/alfalfa mix. There should be plenty for everyone who needs it.

Trail: Ride through the forests above Trout Lake Valley in the shadow of a snowcapped 12,276-foot volcano. Excellent trails and old forest service roads. Good footing, beautiful loops, and views.

Vets: Head vet: Mike Foss, DVM. Vet-in starts at 3 pm, Friday, May 15th.

Meetings: Pre-ride meeting 7 pm on Friday. Awards are Sunday morning.

Meals Included With Entry Fee: Friday and Saturday dinners are included with ride entry. Additional meals for non-riders may be purchased on site. Proceeds from meals go to support various classes at Trout Lake School and/or Trout Lake 4-H.

For more information see www.troutlake.org

Horseman recalls Pony Express centennial

StJoeNews.net - Full Article

by Ken Newton
Thursday, December 31, 2009

Lee Shifflett tells the simple story of a man and his horse.

He would be the man, and Tony Boy would be the horse. But the story also has 55 other horses and 51 other riders. Plus 31 vehicles, a parade of horse trailers, a veterinarian, a press contingent and a trailing truckload of picked litter.

Trying to keep this circus in motion, the sleepless horseman also had to dispel rumors of a roped antelope.

Oh, yeah, and revisit history.

"They thought I was crazy," Mr. Shifflett says, "and they had me convinced I was crazy."

History recalls Johnny Fry as the first westbound rider of the Pony Express, departing St. Joseph on April 3, 1860. One hundred years later, give or take a few hours, Lee Shifflett mounted Tony Boy with a mochila of mail and headed for the Great Plains.

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New Zealand: Bring it on, says endurance rider

Marlborough Epress
24/12/2009

Few riders in next month's South Island Endurance and Competitive Trail Riding Championships will be more familiar with the course than Kim Swan.

While the Chestnut Valley course may be a long way from her Rai Valley home, Swan has covered most of Marlborough either on foot or horseback.

An avid pig hunter, Swan took up trail and endurance riding 12 years ago and hasn't looked back.

"Basically I was widowed and had my hunting, but nothing else I was committed to. Del Bissell found me an endurance horse. He was a big fat blob and getting him back to work and into shape gave me incentive to ride."

Riding with the Marlborough Endurance and Trail Riding Club, Swan quickly moved into the open grade for trail riding and has since graduated to endurance rides.

For the January 9-10 South Island champs, Swan will ride 12-year-old mare Roselea Shady in the 103km endurance event.

Swan said it was hard to judge how long the ride would take, but the maximum cut off time was 10 hours.

The prospect of spending long hours in the saddle may not be thrilling to all, but Swan said she was attracted to trail and endurance riding by its laid-back nature and because it was illegal for riders to use whips or spurs, meaning horses weren't forced to do anything they didn't want to.

"It's a horse sport anyone can do. If I can do it anyone can. I've never been to pony club or anything. You can ride any horse and wear any clothing. There's no dress code or uniform."

Swan also found her vast knowledge of the Marlborough back country gained through years of hunting and working in the forestry industry was in demand when it came to finding tracks for rides.

[...more]

USEF Announces Date and Location for the 2010 Adequan FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships Pending Final FEI Approval

Release: November 12 2009
Author: By Joanie Morris

Lexington, KY – Pending final FEI approval, the USEF is announcing the following date and location for the 2010 Adequan FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC). The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has received preliminary approval and is awaiting final allocation from the FEI Bureau.

Pending this approval, the NAJYRC will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park July 28-August 1, 2010. This is a unique opportunity to use a venue which has been completely redesigned. Less than two months later, the world will begin to arrive in Lexington, KY, for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

As competitors begin to plan their 2010 competition seasons the USEF is providing this information so juniors, young riders and their chef d’equipes can plan accordingly. In 2009, the Kentucky Horse Park welcomed a record number of juniors and young riders for these championships in the three Olympic disciplines of dressage, eventing and jumping and the Western discipline of reining.

Vaulting will again hold an exhibition during the championships and endurance will run a CEIY** concurrently in Louisville, KY.

For more information, please contact Joanie Morris at jmorris@usef.org.

365 Days of Excellence in Equestrian Sport: USEF Athletes Win Around the World in 2009

USEF.org

Release: December 22 2009
Author: Joanie Morris

Lexington, KY – Talk about busy. 2009 has been a whirlwind, new champions of all kinds, title defenders, legends and innovators made headlines this year. The line between winning and losing has become increasingly fine as all the USEF competitors in every discipline continue to up their game, hone their skills and make the US Team proud both locally and across the globe. With the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) looming on the horizon, less than a year away – all eight FEI disciplines have been busy making sure that medals won’t leave our home turf without a fight as the WEG leaves Europe for the very first time.

Here’s how the year unfolded, January seems like a very long time ago:

January:
The US sent four of its most promising show jumpers to the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. Taylor Land, Mavis Spencer, Jennifer Waxman and Kylie Wright went across the world, rode borrowed horses and Land came home with an Individual Gold medal. The team barely missed Team Bronze, after jumping off with Great Britain – they settled for fourth: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4011&star=true.

The USEF annual meeting crowned all kinds of champions, none more deserving than Chester Weber’s Jamaica who was named the 2008 Farnam®/Platform™ USEF Horse of the Year. The 18-year-old KWPN gelding was rescued on his way to a slaughterhouse in Europe after misbehaving in the tourist carriage industry. He was the stalwart of Weber’s 2008 Silver medal-winning World Championship Team: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4009&star=true. Relive Jamaica’s achievement: http://www.clubequestrian.com/videos/watch/1002639701.aspx and see Weber’s acceptance speech: http://www.clubequestrian.com/videos/watch/1002309339.aspx.

The next night, Gene Mische was honored with the USEF Lifetime Achievement Award. No one may have discovered Wellington, FL without Mische, whose Stadium Jumping Inc. took the sport of jumping and turned it into an industry. Mische’s acceptance speech: http://www.clubequestrian.com/videos/watch/1006266323.aspx .
Look back at his amazing life: http://www.clubequestrian.com/videos/watch/1006325585.aspx.

Steffen Peters won Equestrian of the Year for his amazing accomplishments with Ravel in 2008 – but also for his uncanny sportsmanship. He accepted his award remotely, as he had a longstanding commitment in Florida to honor: http://www.clubequestrian.com/videos/watch/1006266320.aspx.
Vaulter Mary McCormick headed to Europe at the end of the month and took the CVI Leipzig by storm. She vaulted her way to the top of the standings with Tjekko. http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4032&star=true.

The final major event of January was the inaugural Exquiss World Dressage Masters in Wellington, FL. Peters proved how much Ravel had matured since the Olympic Games, beating Individual Gold Medalist Anky van Grunsven in the Grand Prix, US rider Michael Barisone opted for the Grand Prix Special and was rewarded with the win on Neruda: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4047&star=true.

February:
WEF in Wellington and HITS in California and Ocala were busy places as horses and riders jumped in World Cup classes. Ashlee Bond’s name was heard more and more as the 24-year-old dynamo was winning at an alarming rate in California. Beezie Madden won the first Palm Beach Jumping Derby with Crème Brule and Todd Minikus won the ESP CSI2* Grand Prix – momentum was picking up across the country: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4147.

March:
Sapphire stormed to victory in the $150,000 CN CSIO Grand Prix for McLain Ward. The 14-year-old mare was nearly invincible in 2009; it started in Palm Beach: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4165. The following week the pair won the $200,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix CSI4* presented by CN, proving that their Gold medal form from 2008 was holding: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4178. Sapphire completed a trifecta picking up top honors (and a big check) winning the $400,000 FTI Finale Grand Prix CSI5*: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4237.

The Pin Oak Charity Horse Show in Texas was the first to receive USEF Heritage Competition Designation: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4205&star=true.

April:
The Rolex/FEI World Cup Final was the first major international championship of the year and Steffen Peters and Akiko Yamazaki’s Ravel swept the Dressage title. Dry eyes were hard to find and the entire Thomas & Mack Arena shook at the conclusion of his freestyle. He was the first American World Cup Champion to be crowned in the US.

Not to be outdone, Sapphire continued her assault on the Jumping title for McLain Ward. She was unfortunate enough to come up against two-time champions Shutterfly and Meredith Michaels - Beerbaum. Ward and Sapphire settled for second despite faultless jumping.

US Dressage legend, Brentina was retired in front of thousands of her adoring fans.

All the World Cup coverage(photos, blogs, photos, videos and news) is available here: http://www.clubequestrian.com/coverage/fei_world_cup_2009.aspx.

The next week brought the eventing community to the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, and Australia’s Headley Britannia took home top honors for Lucinda Fredericks. Buck Davidson was crowned USEF National Champion with Carl and Cassandra Segal’s My Boy Bobby. Relive it here: http://www.clubequestrian.com/coverage/rolex_3day_event_2009.aspx.

Before the month was over, Team USA had won Team Silver at the 2009 Pan American Endurance Championships: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=4353&star=true. The Team of Steve Rojek, Valerie Kanavy, Gabrielle Mann and Cheryl van Deusen put in an amazing effort in Uruguay and were just six minutes off the Gold medal pace.

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Great Britain: Experienced Dalton rider Penny Pearce has won Cumbria’s top award for endurance.

nwemail.co.uk

19 December 2009

Pearce gained the most competitive mileage points last season, riding her horse Oakthwaite Suddara.

She won the Best Arab trophy, from points accumulated from riding 834 kilometres in competitive rides and gaining 1,645 points.

Pearce and Oakthwaite Suddara did so well they were placed in five other trophies at the recent Cumbria Endurance Society's AGM awards.

Said Pearce: "I'm so chuffed about it. I finished fourth last year and I so wanted to win it this year."

Pearce, who has been riding for 20 years and competing in endurance rides for 15 years, is a Cumbria committee member and promotes the endurance riding sport as a great way to keep fit, and enjoy riding over beautiful terrain.

She said: "We're trying to encourage as many people as possible to have a go at the sport, which is great fun."

Riders and horses can compete in anything, from 15km pleasure rides to 160km day treks, and you don’t need a special horse. For more information contact www.egb.co.uk

2009 Hoof Boot Contest Winners Announced

The 2009 EasyCare $10,000 Hoof Boot Contest has come to an end and it's been quite a year! We are pleased to announce this years winners. These riders have done an incredible job not just logging impressive mileage but representing EasyCare and showing just what our hoof boots can do! They've done great at every distance. From single day 50's and 100's to multi-day rides of 250 miles or more. Proving yet again that it is possible to ride distances in Easyboots!

Each year our contest grows in popularity. This year we had 63 riders logging an incredible 21,301 miles using Easyboots over bare hooves! That's over 4,500 miles more than last year! Top ten riders are being awarded a total of $10,000 in cash. Seven riders also qualified for bonus mileage payouts throughout the 2009 season. A total of $5,100 was given out in bonus cash.

Carla Richardson 1,560 miles $3000
Terri Tinkham 1,525 miles $2000
Christoph Schork 1,330 miles $1000
Natalie Herman 1,115 miles $850
Dian Woodward 845 miles $750
Kadee Felton 823 miles $650
Kerry Greear 810 miles $550
Carol Layton 721 miles $400
Joyce Stoffey 660 miles $400
Laurie Birch 530 miles $400

It was a neck in neck competition for first place but Carla Richardson and her horse SS Kharady Khid are the winners this year! They beat out last years first place winner Terri Tinkham and horse Oliver Twist by just 35 miles! Carla and SS Kharady Khid logged 1,560 miles this year. What a team! Way to go!

The 2009 contest may have come to an end but the 2010 contest has just begun. EasyCare will award a total of $10,000 to the riders who complete the most American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) or Australian Endurance Rider Association (AERA) miles during the 2010 AERC ride season (Dec. 1, 2009-Nov. 30, 2010) using two or four EasyCare hoof boots over bare hooves. Throughout the year special promotions and discounts will be made available to those participating in the EasyCare Hoof Boot Contest. Riders will also be elegible for bonus cash after completion of 300 miles (482km) and 400 miles has been reached. So get out there and ride, ride, ride! Click here for contest information and entry forms.

For more information about hoof boots or natural hoof care please call EasyCare, Inc. at 1-800-447-8836, or e-mail: admin@easycareinc.com

Denmark: Mosridetet 2010 - FEI***

Denmark will be hosting a CEI*** event in June. Enclosed is the latest newsletter regarding the danish endurance-ride Molsridtet.

Download newsletter (pdf)

My horses have taken care of me

Thenational.ae - Full Story

December 03. 2009

My work is my passion, and my lifestyle.

When I left school at age 16, in 1987, I had no qualifications. I never really thought about money or having a job to guarantee me a good salary. It was the opposite: horses were my passion, what I wanted for my life.

I was born in Biarritz, in south-western France, and started riding when I was seven or eight. I'm now 38. I don’t know where my love of horses came from. No one else in my family rode.

I now work as the senior riding instructor at the Royal Stables in Abu Dhabi, and I manage all the horses there. We have about 100 altogether, including 40 liveried horses that we stable, feed, groom and take care of for a monthly fee.

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APEX 2010 Clinics

APEX (A Partnership for Endurance Xcellence) is pleased to announce three clinics have been organized (thus far) for 2010. We hope you can join us!

Clinic 1 (classroom): January 9: Equine Digestion and Nutrition

January 10: Conditioning Performance Horses

Location: outside Atlanta, GA



Clinic 2 (with horse): March 14: Susan Harris and the Painted Horse, followed by Centered Riding

March 15: Susan Harris and Centered Riding

Location: Biltmore Equestrian Center, Asheville, NC



Clinic 3 (classroom): April 29: Endurance in the Future

Location: Biltmore Equestrian Center, Asheville, NC

More Information here

Stephen Rojek Wins 2009 Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Award

Hunterjumpernews.com
December 9, 2009

Lexington, KY – Endurance athlete Stephen Rojek was named the recipient of the 2009 Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Award. The award, sponsored by Gold Medal Farm’s Larry and Valerie Kanavy, is given out annually to the Endurance Rider who earns the most points in a competition year at designated FEI Endurance competitions.

Rojek (South Woodstock, VT) won the Ocala CEI3* with Sambet and had top 10 finishes at the Williston CEI2*and the Morriston CEI3*(both in Florida) and at the Chester CEI3* in Georgia.

Rojek was honored to receive this award in honor of his great friend Maggy Price. Price is considered by many to be responsible for bringing USA Endurance into the international spotlight. The Endurance community suffered a huge loss when Price passed away in 2007.

"Maggy was a great friend of ours," said Rojek. "I met Maggy and her daughter Meg in a corn field in Maryland while we were on a 100 mile Competitive Trail Ride in 1977. The following year we traveled together to ride and complete the Tevis Cup and we have been great friends ever since. Dinah and I traveled extensively with Maggy to exotic places like China, Tibet, Morocco, India, Ladakh, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. It was Maggy Price who urged USEF to acknowledge Endurance Riding as a recognized discipline. Maggy Price exemplified Endurance Riding with class and flair and it is a real honor to accept this award."

Written by Joanie Morris

First Coal Strip Mine in Utah Threatens Air, Water, Tourism and Bryce Canyon National Park— Environmental Organizations Challenge Permit

Suwa.org

Salt Lake City, Utah - Local and national environmental organizations filed
a petition yesterday afternoon to halt the proposed Coal Hollow coal strip mine, which would sit just west of Bryce Canyon National Park. They argue that plans for the strip mine fail to adequately account for the potential for harmful impacts on the area’s water, air, wildlife and cultural resources.

The petition was filed with the Utah Board of Oil, Gas and Mining by the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Parks Conservation Association.

On October 19, 2009, the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining of Natural Resources approved the permit for the Coal Hollow strip mine, which would be the first coal strip mine in Utah. The permit allows for mining of 2 million tons of coal per year for approximately three years. The permit was approved shortly after a meeting between the mine developer—Alton Coal Development—and Utah Governor Gary Herbert.

"We are taking this action in response to concern from local residents and others that this mine will damage the pristine air and water quality and wildlife of the area, increase dangerous truck traffic and have negative impacts on tourism and the visitor experience at Bryce Canyon National Park," said Clair Jones, of the Utah Sierra Club.

Hatch resident Tom Stechschulte also opposes the mine. "If this mine opens it will affect all of the surrounding communities, and will result in the irreversible transformation of our pastoral, peaceful environment to one that is dominated by coal dust, diesel fumes and noisy trucks," he said.

Mining operations will require up to 300 coal truck trips per day traveling 110 miles one-way from Alton to Cedar City, which could result in one truck leaving the site every seven minutes. The coal-haul route would run through several small towns along State Highway 89, including Panguitch, a town recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"It is a documented fact that when coal mines come into communities, there is a negative impact on "Mom and Pop" retail businesses,” said Bobbi Bryant, a small business owner in Panguitch. "I own a shop that is right next to the haul route, and the noise and fumes from the trucks will make traveling to Bryce Canyon less pleasurable and much more dangerous. Most shop, restaurant and motels owners, myself included, will not get as many customers, and we could be faced with closing our business."

David Nimkin, Southwest regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association also opposes the permit because of the impact it will have on the park. "Bryce Canyon National Park is one of Utah’s greatest assets. Its pristine night skies, clean air and magnificent views are threatened by the dust and light pollution generated from this proposed mine only 10 miles from the park boundary. These mining activities will most certainly impact the quality experiences of over 1.5 million visitors to Bryce each year."

"Because I have asthma, my husband and I spent years looking for the perfect place to spend our retirement before finding our home in Panguitch. This mine will essentially shatter our dreams of living in a pristine and beautiful place with good air and water quality, and if the strip mine ever opens, we will be forced to leave the town that we thought we would grow old in. I never would have thought we would face this kind of threat living so close to so many public lands," said Panguitch local Luella McMahan.

"This initial approval by the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining is just the camel's nose under the tent," said Stephen Bloch, Conservation Director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "The Bureau of Land Management is currently analyzing a proposal by Alton Coal Development to lease a larger tract of public land immediately adjacent to the just-approved mine, one that would vastly expand the size of the project to the tune of 46 million tons of coal that would be strip mined over the next 15 years."

"This strip mine would be huge step backwards," said Sharon Buccino, Director of the Land and Wildlife Program for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "There's no need to threaten the environment and economy around Bryce Canyon with one of the dirtiest, damaging, and out-dated fuels out there. The region is blessed with incredible renewable energy potential to take advantage of that would be far preferable and safer for the surrounding communities."

More information, and to see the petition, look here.

The $5 Horse Endures!

Ibn at AHA Distance Roundup Ride in March

Midsouthhorsereview.com

A "Horatio Alger" horse story

By Nancy Brannon
Everybody loves a good "Horatio Alger" horse story, and Steffanie Waddington has one about her Arabian endurance horse.

A few years ago a woman she knew passed away from cancer, and part of her husband's job in finalizing the estate was to find a home for his wife's two horses. Steffanie’s friend Jana Smith found out about the horses, got the husband's phone number, and the two made plans to go see the horses. Both were Arabians, and she and Jana liked what they saw and decided each would adopt a horse. The husband didn't want to give them away, but thought some meager compensation would be acceptable. So Steffanie paid $5 for the horse she chose: a bay gelding named Ibn Tom Terrific. "In Arabic, Ibn means 'son of,'" Steffanie explained, "and he is the son of TC Tom Terrific. He was bred in Williston, TN and born in 1993."

Steffanie took Ibn, boarded him at Cherokee Valley Farm and Stable in Michigan City, Mississippi and started taking riding lessons on him. The folks at Cherokee Valley specialize in endurance horse training and conditioning. Meanwhile, Steffanie was competing in 25- to 35-mile endurance rides on Rumor, her other horse.

In March 2008, Steffanie planned to ride Rumor in the City Slickers Endurance Ride at Shelby Farms in Memphis, TN, but a week before the ride, Rumor was injured. So Steffanie had to take Ibn instead, on the 25-mile ride. She rode with a friend whose horse was in good condition, but the rider was not. Before completing the ride, her friend dismounted, said she could not ride a step further, and encouraged Steffanie to finish the ride. Steffanie did, but came in dead last - 41st! However, their next ride one month later was a different story: Steffanie and Ibn placed fourth in a 30-mile ride.

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Older Horse Elmer Bandit Ready for Winter

Thehorse.com - Full Article

by: Marsha Hayes
November 29 2009, Article # 15364

With four days of consecutive dressage lessons that ran from Nov. 20-23, Elmer Bandit, the 38-year-old National Competitive Trail mileage holder, observed Thanksgiving by resting at his Independence, Mo., boarding stable home.

How has Elmer prepared for winter?

"He has grown an inch of hair, at least, and is very soft and furry," reported his lifetime owner, Mary Anna Wood. With the fluctuating Kansas temperatures, Wood hosed sweat off the gray half-Arabian gelding after one of his recent dressage workouts. Elmer has donned his special blanket from his fans at TheHorse.com twice already this fall.

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