60 Days. 150 Words. One Winner. Then Enjoy the Ride.

by Fran Jurga | 2 October 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

How much do you love your horse? If you can articulate it in 150 words or less, you might be on your way to an all expenses paid trip to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky next fall, courtesy of Bayer Animal Health, makers of Legend. But no, you can't bring your horse.

When I first heard about this contest, I was tempted to keep the news to myself and cut down on the competition.

Here's the deal: You have the next 90 days to write a 150-word essay (that's more like a blurb than an essay) and send it to Bayer, makers of Legend. All you have to do is explain how much you love and care for your horse and what your horse gives back to you every day in return.

Judging will be based on three criteria: 1) ability to clearly articulate passion for riding and caring for their horse(s) (50%); 2) creativity/originality related to theme (25%) and 3) organization /spelling /grammar/punctuation (25%). Entries can be submitted at www.enjoytheridecontest.com or mailed to: Bayer Animal Health, Enjoy the Ride Contest / Equine CAF3, PO Box 390, Shawnee Mission, KS 66201-0390.

And what do you win? Ah, yes, the prize: An all-expenses paid trip for two people to the AllTech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington next fall. The four-day, three-night trip consists of airfare, accommodations, event tickets and a $500 American Express gift card for the winner only, which may be used toward the purchase of meals and for other expenses.

See? That motivated you to go scrambling for a pen, didn't it?

For more information about the contest, including contest rules and specifics, visit www.enjoytheridecontest.com. Like most contests, you have to follow the official rules and there's an official entry form at that web site.

Show jumper Ashlee Bond is promoting the contest for Legend, and its parent company, Bayer. I think this is a great idea and I hope that a lot more companies are planning contests like this so that some of us "real people" will be able to afford to attend the Games. I've heard that 100,000 tickets have already been sold, and that was as of a few days ago!

PS I took this photo of my pal Bubba getting a kiss from his adoring friend Beth on the beach. I thought it was quite romantic that they both closed their eyes during the kiss. More likely, Bubba was just exhausted because he had just been for a swim in the icy Atlantic as part of his laminitis therapy.

Warmblood Migration: European Championships Draw Best Jumpers and Dressage Horses to England's Windsor Castle

by Fran Jurga | 22 August 2009 | The Jurga Report

Anky van Grunsven's Euro Championship qualifying horse Salinero with his faithful groom, Willeke van Uden, who will be caring for him at the competition.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your big, luxurious European horse vans! One of the most serious equestrian competitions in recent years begins on Monday at Windsor Castle outside London, as the best horses in Europe compete in the Alltech European Championships in show jumping and dressage. Today, they are driving across the continent and loading onto ferries and airplanes to get them to the Castle in time for Monday's vet checks.

In many ways, this will be a more true championship than the Olympics, since many countries were unable or chose not to go to Hong Kong last year.

But alas, the dominant German team is not up to its usual level, thanks to a combination of injuries in top horses ridden by Nadine Capellmann and Hubertus Schmidt and the disqualification of Olympic gold medalist Isabell Werth.

The Netherlands is expected to dominate, but Great Britain has been doing very well in recent months and, for the individual medals, stellar individual performers like Kyra Kyrklund must never be discounted. I'll be keeping my eye on the senior citizen, Balagur, the Orlov Trotter former police horse who piaffes so beautifully for Russia, and also on the Spaniards and Portuguese riders, although I think they will be riding warmbloods this time rather than Iberian horses.

As usual, Anky van Grunsven has been keeping us informed of her plans, although often in Dutch. What I've been able to get in English tells me that her groom Willeke van Uden left Holland this morning with the horse van carrying Salinero. They headed to Calais in France, where they drove onto the ferry that would take them to Dover in England. The trip would have taken about eight hours. I'm not sure why they chose the ferry over the Chunnel (tunnel under the English Channel) but I know that I wouldn't want to be stuck in a tunnel with a horse van if there was a traffic tie-up or an emergency!

Willeke went through special training to obtain her horse van driving license and animal transport certificate, although Anky also employs van drivers. When leaving the Olympia show in London at Christmastime in 2007, Anky's van was involved in an accident in England and the horses had to spend a night in a nearby vet clinic while a second van was dispatched from Holland to fetch them. (Click here to read The Jurga Report's coverage of the accident.)

By the way, Salinero is now just plain Salinero, as Anky has ended her sponsorship with IPS, except for the stallion IPS Painted Black.

Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas also left Holland this morning. They are returning to England after their heart-stopping musical freestyle performance at Hickstead last month, where they earned the highest score ever awarded by dressage judges.

This is one of the many spectacular publicity photos for the event; can anyone tell me what that unidentified flying object is trailing the horse's right hind hoof?

Favorite Art: A Perfect Horse for the Fourth of July and a Preview of One of This Summer's Leading Events

Don't you agree? This red-white-and-blue gesture depends a lot on negative space to create the unmistakable image of a horse's head, and it's one of my favorite logos in a long time.

Just when you think you have seen a horse's head interpreted every possible way, some creative mind takes it to a new dimension!

Surprise, surprise, though--this horse is not an American creation at all.

This image will represent the Alltech FEI European Dressage and Showjumping Championships, which will take place at England's famed Windsor Castle outside London in late August. Yes, the Queen Herself has invited everyone over to her suburban home for a very special competition.

With the announcement of title sponsorship by the American-based international animal nutrition giant Alltech, the Europeans have more of a tie to the USA than previously thought. Alltech, of course, is also the title sponsor of the FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky next year.

This beautiful artwork was created by Brand Electioneering, a British marketing firm.

To learn more about the plans for the Alltech FEI European Championships, watch this little video of the announcement of Alltech's sponsorship, hosted by the event's managing director Simon Brooks-Ward with Dr Pearce Lyons of Alltech...and some surprise guests at the end.



A press release about the event deems it "the most important equestrian event to be held in the United Kingdom this decade". Some US riders may qualify to compete in the non-championship events.

Thanks to Showjumping Unplugged for releasing this tape.

WEG Stadium Shapes Up at Kentucky Horse Park

The main stadium for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is under construction at the Kentucky Horse Park outside Lexington, with an opening scheduled for this April's Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event.

A firm (but not too firm) foundation is being laid with mat-based footing from German consultants OTTO Sportund Reitplatz GmbH.

News today from Kentucky tells us that work is progressing on the main outdoor stadium at the Kentucky Horse Park, which will be the center stage for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) next year in Lexington.

The almost 130,000 square-foot arena and an attached warm-up area of 40,000 square feet are the focus of construction for the German firm of OTTO Sportund Reitplatz GmbH. The work is likely to be finished this month, and the official inauguration will be during the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day-Event at the end of April 2008.

The arena design is based on OTTO Riding Arena Mats which were also used in the arena at Aachen, Germany for the 2006 WEG. The mats are covered by 2,800 tons of a special riding sand mixture. The combination of silica sand, synthetic fiber and mats is designed to give horses a more secure and less stressful stride, and the mix even has a moisture control system to prevent dust. Proper drainage is another aspect that has been researched by the consultants.

Once the OTTO group finishes the main arena, they won't be able to relax; there are more arenas to be built in time for WEG at the Horse Park, but having the main arena available for Rolex is a schedule priority.