Blue Hors Matine as Broodmare? We'll Always Have Aachen...and YouTube

by Fran Jurga | 16 August 2009 | The Jurga Report

Make it nine million and one.

Say it isn't so!

European news sources, including our friends at London's Horse and Hound, are reporting that the Danish Blue Hors Stud has decided to retire the spectacular mare Blue Hors Matine to their breeding program.

I'm sure many others, like me, were waiting for this horse to make a huge comeback for the 2010 FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. The Alltech European championships later this month at England's Windsor Castle would have been the natural re-entry point but the decision was made instead to retire the mare.

A van loading accident at the 2007 FEI World Cup in Las Vegas led to a long layoff from competition for the gray mare. Now, after two years, the decision has been made to remove her from competition consideration altogether.

Matine captivated the world in 2006 when she literally danced her way around Aachen's huge arena in the World Equestrian Games freestyle with rider Andreas Helgstrand.

Television commentator Richard Davison ran out of superlatives. A star was born, albeit a star whose light shown in a most unusual way: A virtual unknown to mainstream dressage fans around the world, Matine became a YouTube star, possibly the fist viral equine celebrity.

Matine's video has been viewed more than 9 million times. (Stacy Westfall's viral reining video, by comparison, is considered huge at 300,000 views.) I'm pretty sure that the video was illegally posted from an off-the-air recording by an Australian television viewer named Dan. The rest is history.

After all this time, I was finally get the pronunciation memorized on her name. It is "mah-teen-AYE". I only know that because, like so many others, more than one of those nine million views was mine.

Have a nice life, Matine. We'll see you on YouTube, again and again and again.

Big Weekend for the USA Dressage in Aachen: Steffen Peters Sweeps World Equestrian Festival!

by Fran Jurga | 5 July 2009 | The Jurga Report

Europe's premier horse competition, Aachen's World Equestrian Festival, is the latest feather in the top hat of US dressage rider Steffen Peters. Riding his 2009 World Cup winner Ravel this weekend, the pair won it all for the USA. The final victory came on Sunday with a slim victory over Holland's Anky van Grunsven and Salinero in the freestyle to music. Van Grunsven had set the score to beat at 84.50 percent with a highly technical choreography. And yet Steffen Peters still managed to go one better, claiming his third victory at the Festival with a score of 85.60 percent.

After winning the Grand Prix, Grand Prix Spéciale and the Grand Prix Freestyle, Ravel and Peters also secured the title of Dressage Champions Aachen 2009.

Ravel's freestyle routine was packed with technically difficult exercises: it began with the canter tour with flying-changes on a curved line. Also remarkable were the direct combination of a pirouette, piaffe and the extended walk.

Remember, Steffen is originally from Germany, and he first discovered Ravel at the World Equestrian Festival. Just watch, and listen to the enthusiasm of the announcer:



Thanks to Mary Phelps and Dressage Daily for the heads up on the video posting. Mary was there!

Aachen is a horse-friendly city on Germany's Dutch border and was the site of the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games. Each year, Aachen hosts the CHIO World Equestrian Festival, and invites teams and individuals to compete in showjumping, dressage, eventing and combined driving.

Here's a little video about the city and their equestrian event facilities. If you have a chance to visit, you won't forget it!

Aachen Prepares for Drug-Free Competition, Dressage Without Isabell Werth

The largest competition in showjumping and dressage in Germany, the World Equestrian Festival, begins in a few days in Aachen, Germany. The show has already geared up with perhaps the most tight anti-drug security of any show in the world. News of dressage star Isabell Werth's charges for violation of FEI rules has shocked the competition scene, but Aachen's latest news release says it is time for a new beginning. And their show will be the first step.

Here are some excerpts from their news release, which was provided in English:

CHIO organisers: "No alternative to our stance"
The Isabell Werth case underlines the need for a new beginning

The organisers of the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen, see the positive doping result of Isabell Werth's horse Whisper, announced today, as confirmation for their stance in their rigorous anti-doping battle.

"The Isabell Werth case proves that there is no alternative to our viewpoint. The equestrian sport needs a new beginning," commented Michael Mronz, General Manager of the Aachener Reitturnier GmbH.

This new beginning is to be guaranteed by an independent Commission implemented by the German Olympic Sports Association, under the Chair of the former Constitutional Court Judge, Udo Steiner. "We supported the German Equestrian Federation from the very beginning in their decision to disband the German team and install this independent Commission. The current development shows that this is the right approach," said CHIO Show Director, Frank Kemperman.

"We welcome Isabell Werth's preliminary suspension by the FEI," continued Kemperman. Subject to the decision of the FEI tribunal, Isabell Werth will thus not be competing at the CHIO Aachen (June 26th - July 5th, 2009).

Independent of the Commission, the CHIO organisers already decided several weeks ago to intensively expand its anti-doping battle during the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2009. 42 stewards will be in action, statistically speaking, that is one steward for every eleventh horse. The staff members of the "Horse Watch Service" will be on duty at night to guarantee the round-the-clock monitoring of the horses.

The number of doping tests has been considerably increased, in this way every eighth horse in Aachen will be tested. All testing will be carried out by the independent doping inspectors of the MCP (Medication Control Programme). This guarantees the maximum quality and indefeasibility of the testing.

In addition, a thermographic camera will be put to use in Aachen, which can detect irregularities on the legs of the horses. "Should any suspicion arise that substances have been applied to the skin of a horse, the veterinarians can immediately carry out further on-site inspections," explained Frank Kemperman.

Where I Wish I Was Tonight: Hoofing the Light Fantastic in Aachen!

It's a special night in Aachen, Germany. As I write this, the Symphony Orchestra Aachen, directed by Marcus R. Bosch, is tuning up in Aachen's beautiful Deutsche Bank Stadium. The program will include Tschaikowsky's "Swan Lake" and waltzes by Strauss as well as parts from the musicals "West Side Story" and from "My Fair Lady".

But the orchestra will be on the sidelines. In the arena will be celebrity riders like dressage great Olympic Champion Monica Theodorescu and current World Champion in Vaulting, Kai Vorberg. They'll be riding under theater lighting, and interpreting the music with their horses.

The concert is one of many star-studded events that make up the World Equestrian Festival, which opened last night in Aachen. Many of the world's top equestrian athletes will compete over the next week at the Festival, which will be a final test before many of the horses enter quarantine for the Olympics in Hong Kong.

Aachen is the quarantine site for many of the European and American horses who have qualified for Hong Kong.