World Endurance Championship Winners

Monday September 27 2010

No time to go through any photos yet - Best Condition judging was this morning (in the rain - we lucked out with great weather for the endurance ride this year!). All the 5 horses that showed for Best Condition looked good, including Nobby (up top winning with Maria Alvarez Ponton), but it was 4th place Jean-Philippe Frances from France and the gray Hanaba du Bois (pictured below) who won BC.

More to come.

World Champions - Again!

September 26 2010

We all saw a pretty amazing horse and rider win the 2010 World Endurance Championship at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky.

Spanish rider Maria Alvarez Ponton and Nobby duplicated their 2008 World Endurance Championship win in Malaysia, and their European Championship win in Italy in 2009.

Nobby looked great throughout the day, always near or at the front dozen of the pack, and hounded most all of the way by other horses. Maria said this ride was much harder than Malaysia because of that.

The US Team went into the ride with high hopes, but one by one they fell, Jan Worthington and Leon (my favorites), and Lindsay Graham and Monk at vet gate 3 (also my favorites), Meg Sleeper after vet gate 4, and Heather Reynolds and Ssamiam, crushingly, at the finish after outracing France's Jean Philiippe Frances for 4th place. Deb Reich was the only US finisher, in 18th place.

Other highs and lows, and everybody with a story - but none better than that of the little bay super horse Nobby.


(Many photos, and way more coming, at http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2010WEC/, and more stories coming here!)

2010 World Endurance Championship - Day Before

Saturday September 25 2010

It's just impossible to cover an event of this size by yourself. Lots of time spent just walking to get somewhere (and lots of lusting after people whizzing by in golf carts - if you can grab a seat in one you're lucky). The logistics of transport, parking, walking, finding out when something is happening, taking photos, taking notes, trying to talk to people, trying to walk somewhere to say hi to someone when someone else stops you (all of whom I am happy, and in some cases, thrilled to see again), and another person whizzes by in a golf cart before you can say - "Mercedes! Wait!!" and you might not see them again... So many people I wanted to talk to and haven't even seen yet...

Hard to keep an eye on all the horses vetting in - they came by countries, somewhat in alphabetical order - and hard to know who everybody is, since the horses get numbers on their butts after they successfully vet in, and though the grooms wear numbers, I don't recognize all the grooms, and we don't get a list of those numbers anyway.

(Try slipping a lunch in there somewhere...)

In the afternoon I parked by the training course where I watched some of the horses and riders go out for their final exercise. Previous World Endurance Champions Maria Alvarez and Nobby were looking excellent.


Penny Toft and Don went for an easy trot - after Peter lunged him in the arena so he could get his leaps and bucks out.


The Japanese, Belgian, French, Qatar, Great Britain, German, and Brazil teams went out together. France looks to have a very tough team this year, and the UAE's strengths goes without saying. Keep an eye on the Netherlands' lone rider Carmen Romer. She's a young but smart and experienced rider, riding American horse Tuff Enuff FA, which she rode to a second place in a 100 mile ride in Florida last year. She's also ridden Val Kanavy's King Ali Gold to a 3rd place and BC on a 50 in Florida this year - enough said.

Closing ceremonies were entertaining, with some excellent horsemanship and music including opera and New Orleans jazz. It was a long ceremony - 3 hours and sadly by the end half the stands were empty - the excellent music was probably lost on some of this crowd, and most of the riders and grooms had to get to bed!

Start time is 7:30 AM tomorrow.

(Many more photos, and more stories to come at
http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2010WEC/

Kentucky Horse Park

Friday September 24 2010

We've arrived in Lexington for the World Endurance Championship part of the World Equestrian Games. We got our basics out of the way this afternoon - stop at a camera shop; pick up our credentials (later to discover that photographers Genie and Shelley got credentials only for journalism, not photography!! - which was soon worked out); figure out the shuttle/car parking/walking thing at the Kentucky Horse Park; get our bearings on the course, media tent, vetting in area, and stables; find our hotel; eat; try to fix my broken computer (and fine timing that was.)

Computer is now fixed (knock on wood)(after a trip to Walmart for tools). It's late, and tomorrow will be an early experiment in catching the 45 minute shuttle to the Kentucky Horse Park for the vetting in, which begins at 9 AM.

The Kentucky Bluegrass is more Brown Grass - it must be very dry here - but a 'cold front' is moving through, dropping a little rain tonight, and dropping the temperatures from 95* to 75*. I optimistically did not bring good rain gear, so I expect it won't rain for the Endurance Race on Sunday. Forecast is for clear skies and 76*.

We've heard rumors that Jean Louis LeClerc, the French chef d'equipe was fired on Monday but nobody knows why. We heard a Dutch horse colicked and died, but it wasn't an endurance horse. Belgian rider Karin Boulanger's endurance horse Poespass did colick in quarantine in Cincinnati and was operated on there - no word on how he is doing. We just heard Ellen Rapp's horse Smokey Berjo came up lame so she is out of the WEC - alternate Deborah Reich and DJB Juniper will be on the US Team. Tough luck for Ellen! (But good luck Deborah!)

Endurance horses have moved from other training grounds (like the US moved from Shaker Village) into the Kentucky Horse Park today.

You can follow tweets from Endurance.net and others at
http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2010WEC/

Otherwise, I'll be posting endurance stories and pictures as I can get to them - probably in the evenings!

Glide Ride

Tuesday September 21 2010

The Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois might look flat and boring from above (like from a Cessna 402 flying 5000' above the ground) but hiding beneath the canopy are trails through winding canyons over some challenging terrain, with hidden caves


and sinkholes, sandstone bluffs


and cliffs,

mazes of boulders.

Equine journalist and photographer Genie Stewart-Spears from Illinois and her friend Chris took me out for a ride on Chris' gaited horses: Chris and I rode Spotted Saddle horses, and Genie rode a Racking horse. They wanted to show off their riding grounds: the hidden gem that is the Shawnee National Forest.

We rode in the Lusk Creek Wilderness, 6293 road-less acres of the Shawnee National Forest, dominated by oak, beech, hickory and maple trees. Lusk Creek runs year-round and keeps fishermen busy angling for bass and bluegill.



Native Americans activity dates back up to 10,000 years in this area. The 160 mile River to River Trail, completed in 1996, passes through here, connecting the Ohio River to the Mississippi River. The numerous horse camps are privately owned on property bordering the forest, and places to highline your horses for a picnic or to hike to scenic overlooks are maintained by the Forest Service and volunteers.


And what better way to see the rugged trails but from the back of a ground-covering, sure-footed Spotted Saddle Horse. Chris said that during the Second World War, spotted ponies were bred to Tennessee Walkers to get colored horses that were gaited. Once the color was established, breeders started breeding for a bigger sized horse, introducing other gaited breeds - Missouri Fox Trotters, Racking horses, Peruvian Pasos, Paso Finos. There are two breed registries now for the Spotted Saddle horse, established in 1979 and 1985.


My horse Kate hadn't been out on the trails a whole lot yet, but she was very sure footed, sensible, very forward and willing, and a blast to ride. She paced (as opposed to a trot, both legs on the same side move at the same time) which produces a side to side rocking motion. It wasn't uncomfortable until she got going real fast - then neither she nor I were quite sure exactly what her legs were doing down there. But she still glided right along - a "glide ride" as Genie called it.

It was such a treat riding a gaited horse in this richly botanical, geological, and cultural National Forest Wilderness - could I become a Gaiter one of these days...?

Photos of me by Genie Stewart-Spears!



















For more information on horse camping and riding in the Shawnee National Forest, see:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/shawnee/recreation/horseriding-camping

How Low Can You Go?

Sunday September 19 2010

Depends on if you're marking trail with ribbons before an endurance ride, or if you're pulling ribbons after an endurance ride.

If you're pulling ribbons after a ride, it's easier. As you lean way down off the side of your horse, you just have to get two fingers on a ribbon to be able to yank it off the branch. You can hang onto your horse with your other hand, so you can lean a long way down.



(Connie actually fell off here : )

If you're marking trail, it becomes a little more challenging. Unless you are gifted with the talent of tying a ribbon with one hand (I am not), you've got to use 2 hands to do it. And if the bush is short, you have to lean way over your horse to one side, with both hands. Nothing to hold onto, all your weight in the one stirrup, and a lot of balance, and a horse who stands still and braces himself against the weight shift.

Here Carol ties a ribbon on a Granny Bush on her Granny Horse (tall bush, short horse.)


They said I was the youngster of the group and I had longer arms so I had to do the shorter bushes. Jose was good about me leaning way over.

Karen Bumgarner photo

Can your horses do this - stand still while you pull or hang ribbons, lean way over in the saddle? It's great training.

(And that's all the trail marking I get to do for the 5-day Owyhee Canyonlands endurance ride on September 28 to October 2. I'm off to Kentucky to cover the World Endurance Championship at the World Equestrian Games.)

Hot Day Cool Horse

Saturday September 18 2010

Were you one of those kids who played outside in the sprinkler on a hot summer day?

Jose is.

















Sometimes once isn't enough.