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Highlights from the Summer Shows at Showpark |
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Season Your Show Savvy with Blenheim EquiSports
Welcome to August in Del Mar and San Juan Capistrano. Over the summer season into early fall (June 9 - Sept. 19) Blenheim EquiSports presents twelve grand prix events, numerous young jumper classes, three medal finals - CPHA, CPHA Foundation and ASPCA Regionals - Zone 10 Pony Hunter Finals, the West Coast Junior Hunter Championships, the Western League Young Jumper Championships, International Hunter Futurity Classes, Hunter Breeding Championships and two USHJA International Hunter Derbies. Plus a full schedule of rated divisions in every discipline. Summer has seen some super classes in So Cal.
SHOWPARK RACING FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:
The $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby
Saturday afternoon boasted blue skies and perfect weather in the 70s, making the grass grand prix field an ideal setting for the thirty-one high performance hunters...
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Double the Glory in the $25,000 Racing Festival Grand Prix
The $25,000 Racing Festival Grand Prix on the first of August welcomed forty-six horse and rider couples from six different countries onto the grass field. With seven clean rides representing four countries in the jump-off, Canada’s Chris Pratt claimed two of those spots. Going double clean aboard both horses...
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SHOWPARK AUGUST FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:
The $25,000 August Festival Grand Prix
Forty horse and rider combinations came to play on the grass field at the Del Mar Horse Park Saturday afternoon August 7th in the $25,000 August Festival Grand Prix. The sixteenth pair on course, Jaime Azcarraga of Mexico City on Selcius, was the first clean and the only double clear performance for the win.
“[The course] didn’t look very difficult but as it turned out, it was,” noted Azcarraga...
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Discipline: Hunter
Some of the best of the west in the Junior Hunter arena have the spotlight in San Juan Capistrano at the two-day USEF National Junior Hunter Championships - West Coast this week. Within a few days after that competition is the $100,000 The Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Note that this year the finals will be held in the indoor facility, which will highlight another type of talent. Just as there are high performance jumpers who are better indoors than out or vice versa, we will see the same with the hunters. Watch it live online at EquestrianLife.com.
Discipline: Equitation
Medal riders are beginning to prepare themselves and their mounts for the high pressure of finals season. Practicing all the potential tests that may be asked is one way to be ready; another is to focus on the mental aspect. As hot shot junior rider Reed Kessler expressed in her interview, medal finals prepared her to be a better rider in the jumper ring, teaching her how to handle difficult and technical courses in an intensely competitive situation. From CPHA to ASPCA and all in-between, we wish the best of luck and nerves of steel to all the competitors from amateur to junior, east to west. We will bring you the highlights and stories as they unfold.
Exclusively for EquestriSol
Plenty of the worlds top show jumpers flocked to Spruce Meadows for the summer. Read about the keen competition in the Spruce Report by Jennifer Wood of Jennifer Wood Media. On to Aachen Accolades, world-traveler Jennifer Wood reports on the happenings at this world-class venue as well.
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EquestriSol News |
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Europe, WEG and Where is Tristan?
Our Nation in Europe
On the International side of equestrian sport, the 2010 Meydan FEI Nations Cups Series is complete. With the riders chosen for the long list split into three Nations Cups tours, the United States had some stellar performances, including the all-girls team winning in Rotterdam and two second place finishes, one early on in La Baule and one at the last show in Dublin...
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Less Than 40 Days Until the WEG
The Selection Committee has officially chosen a short list from the long list to represent the United States at the World Equestrian Games. And one name won’t be on it...
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Developing Young Talent |
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Reed Kessler
Back at WEF this winter we had the chance to meet the Kesslers, a true equestrian family. All three love horses, the sport and are keen competitors. We spoke to Murray about his involvement with NARG, visited their Wellington barn and interviewed Reed about her horse life...
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Report from Spruce Meadows |
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North American Tournament
American riders always put in a strong showing at Spruce Meadows, and this year’s North American Tournament was no different. Of the 10 FEI ranking classes held that week, Americans won five. In the biggest class of the week, Saturday’s $200,000 ATCO Power Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Americans finished second, third, and fourth. Course Designer Guilherme Jorge (BRA) put riders to the test in the International Ring...
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Aachen Accolades |
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American Show Jumpers Experience Positive CHIO Aachen
The U.S. sent five show jumpers to Aachen, Germany, to compete at the CHIO, one of the most prestigious competitions in the world. As part of the “second tour,” these riders were there due to their strong finishes in the USEF World Equestrian Games Show Jumping Trials, held this winter at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. After winning the Meydan FEI Nations Cup at the CSIO Rotterdam a month earlier, the team became known as “George’s girls” - Laura Kraut, Lauren Hough, Nicole Simpson, and Candice King. Joining these top four females was two-time Olympic gold medalist Beezie Madden...
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Conversations with Equestrians |
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Nicole Shahinian Simpson on Tour
High-pressure situations are not new to Nicole Shahinian Simpson. Her reputation for catch riding began during her successful junior years, which culminated with winning both the AHSA (now USEF) and ASPCA Maclay Medal Finals. As a professional she continues to win at the highest levels, including competing in seven World Cup Finals and as a member of the 2002 WEG Team...
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