FEI Assembly Response to "Blue Tongue Dressage" Uproar: Steward Control, Partners with World Horse Welfare for More Studies on Hyperflexion

The follow statement was received today from the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) General Assembly meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. The statement is in response to international furor over a clip of videotape from a warmup arena at an FEI World Cup dressage competition last month, as featured on this blog.

The clip has become known around the world as "blue tongue dressage" and refers to a horse ridden harshly (in the opinion on many people) on the curb rein so that the horse's tongue turned blue, as seen when it flopped out of the horse's mouth for a moment and just happened to be caught on video. The tight frame exhibited in in the video is known as hyperflexion of the neck, formerly called "rollkur" or "bite the chest".

Here is the exact statement from the FEI, released today:

"The FEI condemns all training methods and practices that are contrary to horse welfare. The welfare of the horse has always been and will always be at the core of every aspect of the Federation’s work as the international governing body for equestrian sport.

"During its meeting in Copenhagen (DEN) on 15 November, the FEI Bureau had extensive discussion on the issue of hyperflexion. The FEI Bureau insists that, with immediate effect, stewards in all disciplines use the disciplinary measures available to them, such as verbal warnings and yellow warning cards *, to prevent any infringement of FEI rules.

"The FEI is now engaged with World Horse Welfare, a leading international equestrian organisation, in addition to continued consultation with riders, trainers, officials and veterinarians to thoroughly research the issues. The further education of stewards will also continue to ensure that welfare issues at FEI events are dealt with promptly and professionally.

"The FEI acknowledges and welcomes public opinion and will continue to ensure that the welfare of the horse, which has been central to this debate, will remain its absolute priority.

"* If a rider receives two yellow warning cards within one year, he / she is automatically suspended for a period of two months immediately following the event at which the second yellow warning card was received."

The Jurga Report will have more on this important news story as more information is released. Please check back.

Blue Tongue Dressage: British Horse Society Protests to FEI President, HRH Princess Haya

by Fran Jurga | 3 November 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

It's not always easy being a blogger. On Friday, October 23, I took a deep breath and posted on this blog a video I had been sent by a colleague in Europe. I posted the video and simply asked people what they saw, and explained the furor that the video was causing in Europe. Click here to read that post.

American dressage fans had a similar reaction. I didn't know if the story would escalate or just go away, as so many things do. "Blue tongue dressage" became one of those viral news stories that took on a life of its own. It was the horse world's equivalent of "balloon boy". Everyone knew immediately what you were talking about when you said "blue tongue" at the barn.

And they chimed in with their take on a few minutes of video taped half a world away.

It's hard to think of the sport of dressage as having a grass roots level--it's more like a carefully-laid strip of seeded sod--but it has been activated, with opinions running from "leave the professionals alone" to "boycott Rolex and other FEI sponsors". A white-hat protest has been proposed for the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games in Kentucky; after all these years of preparation, will the Games be shrouded in controversy?

And last week at the Global Dressage Forum in Holland, the FEI representative announced that the world body of horse sport would be looking into the matter. On Monday, this statement was released to the media:

"The FEI is aware of the video filmed at the FEI World CupTM Dressage qualifier at Odense (DEN) and posted on YouTube. FEI’s main concern has always been and will always be the welfare of the horse. We are taking the issues raised in the video and in the comments made by members of the public on social media and by email very seriously and have opened a full investigation. The conclusions of this investigation will be made public in due course."

The problem, if there is one, is that the FEI has already looked into rollkur, or hyperflexion, and decided that there is no concrete evidence that it harms the horse. They do advise that it not be maintained continuously over a long period of training, as has been claimed that the rider in Denmark did in the presence of stewards at an FEI World Cup qualifier. There are no hard and fast rules about rollkur, only a vague advisory.

Click here to read the FEI's advisory on hyperflexion/rollkur.

But the forthright British took things a step further this week with a formal letter to HRH Princess Haya, president of the FEI. It is laced with classic British understatement and yet expresses determination to uphold their reputation as defenders of the welfare of the horse.

Your Royal Highness,
You cannot be unaware of the disquiet – not to say anger – which has arisen following the depiction on Epona TV of Patrik Kittel’s horse in apparent distress as it competed in Odense on 18th October.

As you are doubtless aware, in terms both of membership and breadth of interest, The British Horse Society (BHS) is the largest single equestrian organisation in the UK. Our examinations system, and the training and education which underpin it, have earned for the Society international recognition.

No less important is our work to promote the highest standards of equine welfare, which suffuses every facet of our work. I am pleased to report that our commitment to equine welfare is shared by all our colleagues within the British Equestrian Federation, although on this occasion I am writing solely on behalf of the BHS.

Let me acknowledge straight away that no representative of the BHS was present in Denmark to witness the horse’s apparent distress, nor do we have the benefit of a contemporaneous veterinary report. Moreover, we do not for one minute suggest that Patrik Kittel at any time sought to treat his horse other than with proper care and respect.

Nevertheless, in matters of equine welfare, the precautionary principle must always apply: if, despite the absence of conclusive proof, the wellbeing of a horse is called into question, there will exist a strong moral obligation on the FEI to respond immediately.

In our view, the concerns so widely expressed are reasonable and therefore deserving of an urgent two-part investigation: first, an inquiry into the treatment of this particular horse on this particular occasion; and, second, a broader inquiry into the ethics and consequences of hyperflexion.

In this second aspect The British Horse Society stands ready to assist the FEI in any way it can.

Please note that we pass no comment on the aesthetics of seeing a competition horse contorted in a way it never appears to choose for itself when in its natural state. Our concern is only to speak out when we believe that the welfare of horses demands it.


Yours sincerely,
Patrick Print FBHS
Chairman, The British Horse Society

This carefully crafted letter was delivered to Princess Haya just two weeks before the opening of the 2009 FEI General Assembly. Will other countries take similar polite but firm first steps? Will the USA speak up on this issue?

By pure coincidence, the FEI's meeting will take place in Denmark, where the Blue Tongue videotaping took place.

Something tells me we haven't heard the last of blue tongue dressage.

Blue Tongue Dressage Outrage Goes Viral and Global; Rollkur Opponents See Abuse on Video, What Do You See?

by Fran Jurga | 23 October 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com



It was just a video clip posted on YouTube. But in a few days, 19,835 people all over the world had seen it.

It was just a group page on FaceBook. But within 24 hours, 841 people had joined it, again from all over the world.

The viewers and Facebookers are gawking at the four minutes of warmup arena action you see posted here. This latest incident in the moral outrage of the rank-and-file horse sports supporter has surpassed the snarly debates over eventing safety, Isabell Werth medicating her horse and Big Brown (who?) losing the Triple Crown combined. And it did this only by showing a horse's discolored tongue, swishing tail and unnaturally bent neck. They took it from there.

This video clip was shot at an FEI World Cup Dressage qualifier in Europe last week. Videographers Luise Thomsen and Julie Taylor from Epona TV were surprised that a rider at this level schooled this stallion for as long as two hours in a hyperflexion frame.

They grabbed the camera when they noticed that the horse's swollen tongue had turned blue. The horse's lips were curled and apparently even the rider could see it, as he stopped and put the horse's tongue back into its mouth.

Apparently the schooling ring steward did not see anything wrong with this rider's method.

Click here to read the full story about this videotape and about the effects of the curb bit of a double bridle on the horse's tongue.

FEI rules discourage what is called hyperflexion, rollkur or "bite the chest"--riding with the horse in an overbent neck and head position for a prolonged period of time. The practice is the subject of last year's best-selling horse book, Tug of War: Classical vs Modern Dressage by German veterinarian Gerd Heuschmann.

Rollkur first made the news a few years ago when Dutch Olympic dressage champion Anky Van Grunsven was videotaped in a warmup arena riding her horse in the allegedly abusive manner. A German dressage magazine pumped up the volume and an international outcry concerned the FEI that it was not protecting the welfare of horses at its competitions.

A panel of world-class biomechanics and equine anatomy experts met in Switzerland on January 31, 2006 to discuss the problem with the FEI, who concluded that there was no evidence that rollkur caused direct harm to the horse, stating in a press release, "There was clearly none evidence that no structural damage is created by this training exercise, when used in the right way by expert riders." They did add, however, that it could cause harm if used incorrectly by inexperienced riders and that hyperflexion cannot be self-maintained by the horse for an extended period of time.

Since last spring, Heuschmann's DVD If Horse's Could Speak has been on sale and goes even further than the book to tie overschooling, disconnected riding and especially overflexion/rollkur to unsoundness and musculoskeletal injuries in dressage horses. But it is very, very hard to prove the dots are connected.

In a special interview with Olympics champion Anky Van Grunsven on Epona TV, filmed at the same FEI World Cup qualifier as the blue tongue, Anky defends her use of hyperflexion as a training method, saying that she uses it for a few minutes at a time, then lets the horse relax, but that she only uses it on her advanced horses, and horses that are strong enough to do it, and for whom it is easy to go to that frame.

In other words, she paraphrased the parameters under which rollkur is more or less allowed as a warmup method by the FEI.

The FEI can only rule on what has been proven by research, even though some things seem very logical. "Welfare" and "comfort" may not mean the same thing in translation...or in a court of law.

But after this weekend, stewards may be more aware of blue tongues in the warmup rings. The blue tongue dressage virus will make sure of that. No one will be immune to this one.

Thanks to Romy from my dressage group for infecting me with the blue tongue virus and to EponaTV for allowing the video to be embedded here.

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.

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.

Five-Time German Dressage Olympian's Horse Tests Positive for Banned Medication

Just a few weeks ago, Germany's equestrian federation sent seismic shock waves through the horse showing world by disbanding its national teams after show-jumping riders began to tell shocking tales of medication and manipulation of their horses to bring home gold medals. Germany promised heads would roll.

So this morning's news was more shocking than ever, read through that lens.

According to the Associated Press and confirmed by Horse and Hound and English-language newspapers in Germany, double Olympic gold medalist Isabel Werth has been suspended from competition and will attend a hearing later this week to answer charges that her horse Whisper tested positive for an anti-psychotic medication at the competition at Wiesbaden on May 30, 2009.

“This is a catastrophy for equestrian sports," said Breido Graf zu Rantzau, president of the equestrian federation, in the Associated Press report.

All sources confirm that Isabel has been suspended; however the system includes a backup: the "B" sample may still be tested and prove her innocent of illegal doping. While the investigation continues, she will not be able to compete at Aachen, the biggest competition for German riders in the run-up to this summer's European Dressage Championships.

Should the "B" sample test positive, Werth would face punishment by both the FEI and German authorities.

Up to this time, most emphasis on doping has centered on show jumping.

Surprise at the Dutch National Dressage Championship

by Fran Jurga | 7 June 2009 | The Jurga Report

On Saturday, June 6th, Anky Van Grunsven's long reign as the national champion of dressage in The Netherlands came to an end. It ended not because she and her Olympic champion Salinero failed at the national championships at Brabant. Quite to the contrary, they were their usual selves, technically perfectionist, and scored an astounding rack of 9s, to total 84 on the freestyle on the final of the three days of competition.

Can you imagine scoring an 84...and losing?

Their problem was the exquisitely tailored Edward Gal on the Dutch stallion Moorlands Totilas. As tightly wrapped as was Salinero, Totilas was equally unwrapped. He moved like a horse with tendons not of steel but of true elastic. A horse reminescent of Blue Horse Matine at WEG 2006, Totilas is a nine-year-old Dutch stallion by Gribaldi who may be ready to take on the world. He will surely be aimed at the European Championships this summer and perhaps at the WEG in Kentucky in 2010.

The judges unanimously scored Totilas higher than Salinero, with an ending score of 86.7 on the freestyle, which Gal rode wearing a new buff-colored coat with contrast piping to enhance the horse's coloring. Dressage coats are traditionally dark colors and the light color with contrast piping really helps embolden the dark horse's frame.

One of the most interesting facets of this horse is what his rider calls his relaxed attitude, which certainly shows. Gal told Claartje van Andel of Dressagedirect.com that the horse progressively relaxed through the test in the huge indoor stadium, unlike other horses in the competition, and that "He enters the ring all sweaty, during the test relaxes and departs from it all dry! It’s not as if it doesn’t take any effort".

Anky was gracious in defeat, and complimentary of her competition. She will be back; this was only Salinero's second show since Hong Kong last August. Click here for all the scores.

Edward Gal posted this video of his new freestyle with Totilas on his web site, which has English pages where you can learn more about him and his horses.

Tears of Joy and Sorrow for Americans at Historic Dressage World Cup as US Horses Alternately Win...and Stumble

by Fran Jurga | 16 April 2009 | The Jurga Report

I'm gobsmacked again: the American flag is flying high over the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas tonight, where the American combination of rider Steffen Peters and the black 11-year-old Dutch gelding Ravel put in an astounding performance to beat the best that Europe and the world could send to our desert to compete.

For those of you not familiar with international dressage: this is one for the record books and would be like the USA winning the soccer World Cup! It's not over yet; tonight's Grand Prix was like the short program in ice skating; the freestyle on Saturday night will give the Europeans some chances to catch up, should Peters lose form.

Peters and Ravel not only bested Olympic gold medalists, World Cup winners, World Champions, and European Champions tonight, he beat his closest rival, defending champion Anky Van Grunsven of Holland, by almost four full points.

As elated as we all should be for Peters, save some concern for his teammate, Leslie Morse, whose horse Kingston started his test without incident and suddenly went lame in the arena.

USEF Dressage veterinarian Dr. Rick Mitchell has had the 17-year-old stallion under his care since the horse arrived in Las Vegas on Monday and said in a statement provided by the US Equestrian Federation that Kingston had been training well and looked very much on form in Wednesday’s training session in the main arena.

Dr. Mitchell, in his typical routine at a horse show with the US horses, observed Kingston in the warm-up and then went to the arena to watch Morse’s fellow American Jan Ebeling. And with good reason: Ebeling and the 12-year-old Oldenburg mare Rafalca were the lead off combination for the entire Grand Prix. Rafalca, owned by Ann Romney and Beth Meyer, was clearly unsettled by the environment and atmosphere in the arena and was fractious in the arena, according to a memo from USEF. Rafalca's low score will not allow that US combination to continue on to Saturday's freestyle.

When Kingston began his test it was clear that he had some discomfort in the left front leg, something that was a surprise to all connected with the horse, as he has had no problems in this leg during the preparation for this competition.

Rider Morse said: "I could tell in the first corner, he felt unbalanced and I knew he wasn’t right. We respect the Ground Jury’s decision to ring the bell and we all agreed it was absolutely in the best interest of the horse which is always the most important consideration. Kingston has just been a gift for the last nine years and has introduced me to this level of competition.”

“We need to further examine Kingston to determine the nature and extent of the injury,” said Dr. Mitchell. “Everyone is devastated for Leslie and the horse.”

Thanks to Joanie Morris of the US Equestrian Federation for her assistance with this post.

History Repeats Itself in Las Vegas: Crowd Favorite Goes Lame Before Dressage World Cup

The headline this morning on Dutch dressage rider Anky Van Grunsven's web site says it all: "Parzival teruggetrokken!" (Parzival withdrawn!)

The last time the FEI World Cup was held in Las Vegas, we were all eager to see the sensational Danish mare Blue Hors Matine perform. She had been runner-up at the World Equestrian Games in 2006 in Aachen, Germany; could Andreas Helgstrand and the graceful gray beat Anky van Grunsven and Isabel Werth? The world was interested....and then devastated. The horse was injured before the event even began.

And this year, we have the same situation. Holland's Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival made the trip after winning three qualifiers at home in Europe and being runners-up to Isabel Werth at Aachen in 2008. They are the sensation of Europe and are actually placed higher in Las Vegas than Anky, who is there as defending champion but had limited competition this year because of her sore back.

But on Wednesday the 12-year-old Parzival was taken to the veterinary area when he appeared unlevel. According to the Dutch Warmblood news society (KWPN), an ultrasound revealed a tendon injury and Cornelissen has withdrawn him.

Adelinde has only recently become a professional rider, after traveling to Hong Kong as the Dutch team's reserve rider. She speaks perfect English and will be a great ambassador for Holland wherever she goes but, had she been able to ride, she just might have changed the course of dressage history.

Remember her name, and let's hope that Parzival's injury is only minor. This horse has true star power.

I'm gobsmacked.

The Drama of Dressage: DVD from Germany Peels the Paint You Watched Dry All Those Years

by Fran Jurga | 14 April 2009 | The Jurga Report


This subtitled trailer is a bit outdated; the new English soundtrack version was launched in the United States this month, but you'll glimpse some of this DVD's lavish effects and drama.

If you're like me, you have often heard people (especially men) make jokes about going to a dressage show being as boring as "watching paint dry". Well, now we have something to wake those people up and get them to pay attention. In fact, we can now roll up our sleeves and have a good argument because German veterinarian Gerd Heuschmann has set the stage for the rollkur/overflexion debate of recent years to continue. With this DVD, the classical vs modern dressage discussion rolls out of the lecture halls and academia and into the streets; everyone is sure to have an opinion after watching this DVD.

Heuschmann comes at the competition/sport side of dressage--trainers, judges, riders, owners, breeders--with charges of "foul!" and uses the sacred texts and artifacts and even icons like the chief rider of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna to help him make his case.

But is this passionate young German a modern-day Don Quixote, tilting at judging box windmills astride a perfectly collected horse? Book buyers who made his Tug of War hardcover book an equestrian bestseller--it is now sold in four languages--certainly thought he had something worthy of their attention and purchasing power.

Heuschmann's best ally in his plea for un-tense, free-moving dressage horses is his producer, Isabella Sonntag. Sonntag spared no expense in creating powerful graphics and very high-tech 3-D computer animation. She also hired a masterful sound editor whose dramatic soundtrack, as evidenced on the trailer, makes you feel that grand prix dressage may be as big a risk to a horse's health and safety as navigating a four-star event course.

This DVD is not without its flaws. It is a one-sided argument: the mainstream "sport" dressage community does not have a chance to defend itself, nor does Heuschmann give us the background of existing biomechanical research on the horse's back and neck, conducted at the University of Utrecht, France's CIRALE, Sweden's Uppsala center or our own McPhail Center at Michigan State University.

In many ways, Heuschmann is debating an enemy who didn't show for the battle. For those who have decided that an about-face return to classical dressage is the answer to dressage's problems and that massive reform is needed in the sport, this DVD will be the flagship to show and share with others. For those who want to learn what rollkur/overflexion is (and isn't), this video will certainly give you a very strong opinion of why the practice has been discouraged by the FEI. Some people from outside the sport will nod their heads all the way through, and embrace Heuschmann for saving horses from a sport they didn't even know could be so perilous, and that is certainly his intended mission.

For all his persuasiveness and all the DVD's drama, the subject is part of a much larger picture of equine biomechanics that is unfolding within the relatively new field of equestrian sport science. Over the next few years, science may well prove that Heuschmann and the Old Masters were right all along, Ms. Sonntag's money was well-spent, and the DVD's high-stakes drama is reality, after all.

This graphic is a still capture from one of the DVD's many anatomy animations.

Yet it is not enough to feel betrayed that a sport's leaders and stars are damaging horses and shortening their careers with rushed training and harsh methods. The public needs to know what to do: where's Heuschmann's plan to reform dressage? I'm sure there is one, perhaps rooted in the great mind of the esteemed Xenophon Society in Europe--great minds that include Dr. Gerd Heuschmann's.

Don't miss this DVD, and the chance to form your own opinion. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though the anatomical/biomechanical detail may be more in-depth than some people are seeking (that's why the remote has that fast-forward button) and we never did find out exactly why that horse in the promo trailer was having surgery on its leg and how it was connected to improper dressage training. But it certainly was dramatic!

Specifics: • 75 minute DVD format in English • USA DVD format (may not play on Euro systems) • "Starring" Dr. Gerd Heuschmann with commentary by Chief Rider Johann Riegler of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Professor Heinz Meyer, Peter Kreinberg, and David de Wispelaere, with introduction and epilogue by equestrian historian Hans-Heinrich Isenbart. • Special effects and animation by Pixomondo • Produced by Isabella Sonntag and Wu-Wei Verlag • Released April 2009 by Trafalgar Square Books

Retirement Ceremony for Dressage Star Brentina Announcement

US Equestrian Team star Brentina and rider Debbie McDonald

The United States Equestrian Federation just announced the official timing for the retirement ceremony honoring the great dressage mare Brentina. Her final public appearance will take place on Friday afternoon, April 17 at the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Finals. The World Cup will be April 15-19, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Along with Brentina's rider Debbie McDonald, owners Peggy and Parry Thomas, for whom The Thomas & Mack Center is named, will be honored.

Brentina and McDonald represented the United States at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, they led the U.S. to the Bronze medal. In 1999, McDonald and Brentina put in an amazing performance at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, winning both the Individual and Team Gold medals.

Brentina recently recovered from colic surgery, as reported in January on The Jurga Report.

Just for Fun: Sharing the Bandwidth of Fame with Anky

Photos from readers add a personal touch (and some humor) on Anky van Grunsven's web site

There's probably only one way in the world that my name and Anky van Grunsven's will ever be spoken in the same sentence. And I'm letting you in on the secret.

The ultimate dressage queen/empress/diva--whatever you'd like to call her--has a great web site at http://www.anky.nl/. There's plenty of news, updated daily. There's wallpaper for your computer to download. Horses to meet. Videos to watch. Music from her kurs to delight your ears.

But she also has something else: an upload link. You can upload photos of your horse or you or whatever you like, or videos, up to a certain size and within parameters. Each week, the Anky crew posts favorites on the web site. You have your week of fame at the top of the web page, then you move down the next week, but you're always there. You always have the web URL to your photo sitting amongst Salinero, Bonfire and all the Anky activity.

Here's the link for uploading:
http://www.anky.nl/index.asp?page=upload

Some of the stuff is goofy and makes you laugh (like the horse and human facemakers shown here, posted a few weeks ago): some is serious, but most photos show ordinary people from all over the world having fun with their horses.

This is somewhat akin to uploading your best singing-in-the-shower to Barbra Streisand's site (you can't). Good for you, Anky!

Champion Dressage Horse Brentina Treated for Colic

by Fran Jurga | 11 February 2009 | The Jurga Report

Debbie McDonald and Brentina, from the USET Athlete Portrait Campaign Project fundraiser

Yes, the Internet reports are true: America's sweetheart dressage champion Brentina was treated for colic yesterday. Equisearch.com's Nancy Jaffer has an exclusive report on the surgery and its outcome; click here to read all the details.

The 16-year-old Hanoverian mare, ridden in the Pan Am Games, World Cup, World Equestrian Games, and Olympics by Idaho's Debbie McDonald, will be formally retired from competition on April 17 in a special ceremony at the World Cup Finals in Las Vegas. Brentina is owned by Peggy and Parry Thomas.

Aim a prayer at Hailey, Idaho tonight, as Brentina begins her recovery.

Video: Everyone Is Talking About...The Sliding Diva!

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



Plenty of prize money and international prestige were at stake at this weekend's Exquis World Dressage Masters Weekend series in Wellington, Florida. Congratulations to winners Stefan Peters, Anky van Grunsven, and Michael Barisone, winners of the Grand Prix, Freestyle, and Grand Prix Special, respectively.

But if it was a dressage show, why is that everyone is talking about Anky's exhibition of western riding?

That's right! The Olympic gold medalist came from Europe to compete in dressage but wowed the American crowd with an exhibition of her new skills in reining.

Rumor has it that Anky may try to make the Dutch reining team for the Alltech World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky in 2010.

The video from Dutch television gives you an idea of what Anky's demo may have been like. This demo was at Jumping Amsterdam in Holland recently. Anky is riding her American Quarter horse, Hilda's Smart Chic.

Anky rode Hilda's Smart Chic in a demo at Jumping Amsterdam recently.

Still photo courtesy of Anky van Grunsven.

Olympic Intrigue: FEI Calls for Resignation of Its Own Dressage Governing Board

by Fran Jurga, Special to The Jurga Report and Equisearch.com
Posted November 3, 2008

Maybe the Olympics aren't over yet. This announcement just in from the Federation Equestrian Internationale (FEI), the governing body of world horse sports:

"The FEI Executive Board has requested the immediate resignation of the entire FEI Dressage Committee. The FEI Executive Board has taken this decision following a series of issues indicating the current Committee’s lack of flexibility on certain key matters. The Committee has been seen to work in isolation, not fully representing the interests of the Dressage community as a whole.

"An interim solution is being discussed within the FEI in order to ensure the sound management of the sport whilst reviewing the strategic direction of Dressage. The names of the interim committee and their mandate will follow.

"As the custodian of equestrian sport, the FEI will continue to maintain stringent level of transparency and professionalism meeting the requirements of a modern international sports governing body."

Guilty as Charged: Mythilus and King-Dye, US Dressage Team Punished in Olympic Medication Violation Decision

Because of the serious nature of this story, I will share with you the decision as it was issued by the Federation Equestre International (FEI) today. Sorry I can't report a happy ending to this ongoing story.

Thanks to Malina Gueorguiev of the FEI who writes:

Today the FEI Tribunal has issued its decision in the Positive Medication Case involving the horse MYTHILUS ridden by Ms Courtney King-Dye, the person responsible ("PR"), and representing the US Dressage Team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong.

The horse was sampled at the Olympic Games on 19 August 2008 and tested positive for Felbinac. Felbinac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce inflammation and pain and, accordingly, is classified as “Medication A” Prohibited Substances under the FEI Equine Prohibited List (VR Annex III).

At a preliminary hearing held during the Olympic Games on 22 August 2008 it was decided to maintain the provisional suspension until the final decision of the case.

The hearing in this case was held at the FEI Headquarters on 7 September 2008. Before and during the hearing the PR presented testimonies and legal arguments and the United States Equestrian Federation ("USEF") requested that in case of a decision against the PR, the US Dressage Team does not forfeit its 4th place at the Olympic Games.

The Tribunal was satisfied that the laboratory reports relating to both the A-Sample and the B-sample reflect that the analytical tests were accurately performed in an acceptable method and that the findings of the laboratory were accurate. The FEI Tribunal was satisfied that the test results evidenced the presence of Felbinac.

The Tribunal did not accept the PR's argument that the exception contained in Equine Anti Doping and Medication Control Rules ("EADMCR") Article 2.1.3 to a medication rule violation in case of an environmental contamination should apply, since Felbinac did not appear on the Equine Prohibited List as a threshold substance and no specific criteria was established for it on such List as a contaminant.

The Tribunal repeated its stand that the FEI policy in regard to doping and medication does not only intend to ensure a level playing field but has the additional policy consideration of ensuring that the welfare of the horse is maintained and that horses compete only when they are physically fit and capable of competing. This requires doping and medication rule violations to be strict liability or no fault offences. The PR's arguments that she had gained no competitive advantage and that the findings did not constitute any maltreatment of the horse, due to the nature of the substance and the minimal concentration detected, were therefore not relevant.

The Tribunal accepted the FEI's position that, under the clear language of EADMCR Article 10.5, in order for the PR to prove that she bears no fault and no negligence and that the sanctions should be eliminated, she must demonstrate how the substance entered the horse's systems. While elaborate, the explanations furnished by the PR were only speculations.

As a result of the foregoing, the horse and the PR are disqualified from the Games and all medals, points and prize money won at the Olympic Games by them are forfeited. Such disqualification is automatic and is not considered a sanction; rather it is an automatic mechanism used to ensure a level playing field.

As a result, the US Dressage Team with its remaining two competitors is also disqualified and loses its 4th place. The Tribunal did not accept the arguments of the USEF that the resulting disqualification of its Team, when the sampling was carried days after the end of the Team competition, is a "sanction" which is inappropriate in this case and should not be imposed. The Tribunal noted that the resulting disqualification was automatic.

In regard to sanctions, the Tribunal considered the fact that the PR is an experienced sportswoman and that the behaviour of anyone at the top of the sport and particularly at the Olympic Games must be faultless since the eyes of the world focus on performances at such events.

On the other hand, the Tribunal found the evidence of the PR and the US Dressage Team Vet to be credible and believed that neither the PR nor anyone on her behalf or related to the USEF had knowingly administered the medication to the horse. The Tribunal further accepted the PR's and USEF's arguments that they have done almost everything in their power to ensure that no rule violation shall occur. The Tribunal also considered the type of Medication A substance involved and its therapeutic applications, the fact that the same substance may not be considered as a doping substance, the specific circumstances relating to the horse's hospitalization in Hong Kong and the possibility of contamination, the excellent stable management practiced by the US team and measures placed to try and ensure the no horse with prohibited substances participates at the Olympic Games, the efforts made by the PR and the USEF to determine the source of the positive finding, the impeccable record and reputation of the PR, the PR’s cooperation in the investigation and the hardship already caused to the PR including the fact that the US Dressage Team has already lost its 4th place at the Olympic Games.

As a consequence, the Tribunal imposed on the PR a one month suspension, which has commenced on the date of the application of the provisional suspension and ended on 21 September 2008, fine and costs.

USA Team Vet Reports on Horse's Condition, Health

Everyone in the USA who follows dressage was shocked yesterday when US dressage rider and Olympic veteran Debbie McDonald and her veteran horse Brentina scored the lowest grand prix test of their career in the arena at Sha Tin. The horse was uneasy and difficult to ride, so a thorough vet check was performed. This morning, Joanie Morris of the US Equestrian Federation released a statement on the 17-year-old Hanoverian mare.

A thorough examination by US team veterinarian Dr. Rick Mitchell of Fairfield Equine Associates in Connecticut proved that Brentina is sound and well, further reiterating McDonald's comments immediately following her ride.

“Brentina was thoroughly examined by a panel of three veterinarians per our selection process prior to entering quarantine in Germany,” said Dr. Mitchell. “Furthermore we had the opportunity to observe this mare training twice daily for six weeks, and we evaluated the soundness of all the team horses on a daily basis. There was never any question during that time or now about any aspect of her soundness.”

Dr. Mitchell also explained that per the IOC rules, he evaluated each of the three horses one hour before their dressage test because a replacement was available up until that time. Brentina never demonstrated any evidence of soreness and lameness, and passed the horse inspection prior to the competition without any question.

The plan has always been that Brentina would be retired after these Olympic Games. The veteran medalist from 2006 World Equestrian Games and the 2004 Olympic Games has had her typical phenomenal performances all spring building up to these Games. Her performance in the ring here is unexplainable but everyone connected to Brentina is happy that the mare is fit and sound and will live out her retirement at River Grove Farm in Hailey, Idaho, with her owners Parry and Peggy Thomas.

A comment was published in the international press allegedly attributed to an official who criticized McDonald and said that Brentina did not belong in Hong Kong, implying that the horse was somehow obviously unfit.

© 2006-2007-2008 The Jurga Report: Horse Health Headlines. All rights reserved.
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Video: Watch Dutch Dressage Team Horses Enter Quarantine for Olympics

There are two women in the world who can get away with the appellation "dressage queen" without it being an exaggeration. Both are about to embark on the trip of a lifetime to Hong Kong, and are likely to be one-two/gold-silver (ah, but which one on top?) at the Hong Kong Olympic Dressage competition next month.

The horses of both Germany's Isabel Werth and the Netherlands' Anky van Grunsven are settling into quarantine. Anky's horses are in Handel, Holland for isolation and observation before they are flown to Hong Kong. They will be in isolation for the next eight days.

Luckily for us, Dutch television filmed the departure of Anky's Salinero and Painted Blank, and you can see a little behind-the-scenes glimpse of the training center for Anky and Svef Jepsen, the Dutch chef d'equipe. The horse vans are amazing; the "Hunter Douglas" one really is related to those honeycomb blinds in your house. The company sponsors the #2 horse on the Dutch team, Hunter Douglas Sunrise, a beautiful mare ridden by Imke Schellekens-Bartels. That combination will surely be at or near the top in Hong Kong.

You will see the vet taking swabs from the nostrils of the horses before they are allowed to unload at the quarantine facility.

The Olympics will be here before we know it!

2008 Olympics: Hong Kong Riding High with Equine Special Effects

This is just for fun: Hong Kong television is promoting the tiny island province as the ultimate horsey tourist destination for the equestrian sports sector of the 2008 Olympics Games this summer. Watch this little :30 commercial for some creative special effects! See anyone you know? You might want to watch this twice, some of the effects are pretty subtle...and very well done!

Happy Birthday: Dressage Superstar Bonfire Begins His 25th Year

A basket of fruit for the aged dressage super-hero, Anky's Bonfire.

Many arguments can be made for the leading senior citizen of the horse world. In Great Britain, there is even a Veteran Horse Society that promotes the health and welfare of the “senior” horse and rewards the efforts of those who continue to compete with older horses. In Kentucky, the “Old Friends” retirement home warehouses elders of the racing world whose stud or racing careers are over, but who live on in the hearts of their fans.

In the sport horse world, one horse, personifies the electric charge that overcame the sport of dressage in the 1990s and transformed it into an exciting spectator sport. No longer would people say that watching dressage was like “watching paint dry”. Not with a horse like Bonfire in the ring.

Bonfire was the horse who carried Dutch rider Anky van Grunsven to super-star status. For years, they battled tooth-and-nail against the technically-perfect Germans. Always crowd favorites, Bonfire and Anky infused the sport with risky, expressive performances that dropped many a jaw and elicited worldwide wows.

Together, Anky and Bonfire won the World Cup five times. According to her web site, they have shared an Olympic Gold Medal…and three Olympic Silver Medals. They won the World Championship, the European Championship and were National Champions of the Netherlands eight times.

Today, Bonfire is retired at Anky’s training center. He turned 25 a few days ago and was rewarded with a basket of fruit from a Dutch charity that uses the Oldenburg gelding as their poster boy. The charity provides a retirement home for old riding school horses to prevent them from being slaughtered.

Speaking at the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in Palm Beach, Florida last fall, Anky's farrier Rob Renirie included senior horses in his four-part master class on sport horse farriery. When it came time to talk about the retired athletes, Rob proudly drew on the example of his old friend Bonfire, who has retired to life as a sound, healthy pensioner.

Bonfire has his own page on Anky's web site. He is the first horse among all those featured--obviously always at the top of her list!

All horses should have it so good. Bonfire certainly has earned his place in the paddock. Long may he graze.

Among Bonfire's routines are solarium sessions.

RIP: Olympic Dressage Veteran Euthanized After Paddock Accident in Germany

British Dressage is reporting today that, in spite of boots and bandages and a relatively small sand paddock, international dressage star Mr G de Lully broke his lower leg in seven places on Sunday and was humanely destroyed. The accident happened at a training center in Germany.

“We tragically had to have ‘G’ put down today despite all efforts to save his leg. What he had done we will never know. He was turned out in a 20x20-meter sand school with every boot and bandage on, but he had seven fractures between the hoof and fetlock, so there was nothing we could do,” owner Fiona Bigwood told British Dressage.

Currently owned and trained by Great Britain's Fiona Bigwood, Mr G de Lully was truly an international horse: The 15-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding competed for Switzerland at the Athens Olympics. With Fiona riding, he represented Great Britain in the 2005 and 2007 European dressage championships. In 2006, while Fiona was pregnant, the horse was ridden by her partner, the leading European rider Anders Dahl of Denmark, who in turn trained with the German Rudolf Zeilinger. Small world!

Bigwood and Mr G de Lully were preparing for selection trials to represent Great Britain in the Beijing 2008 Olympics equestrian events in Hong Kong this August.

To learn more: Read performance-horse expert veterinarian Midge Leitch's recommendation on turnout safety for dressage horses on equisearch.com; Leitch explained in Dressage Today magazine that European horses are not accustomed to turnout and recommends that they be sedated before being let loose in paddocks. Leitch highly recommends slowly acclimating European horses to the freedom of turnout but that the longterm behavior and health benefits would help many horses. Alternatives to turnout for dressage horses are usually hot walkers or lunge work, often under tack.

Late Great World Champion Dressage Mare Cloned by French Owner

One of the most bizarre horse news stories of recent years has taken yet another zany twist: a clone has been created of the late great world champion dressage mare Poetin, who died of laminitis in the midst of a stormy international sale transaction.

Here are some excerpts from the August 22nd press release sent out by Cryozootech, the French cloners-for-hire:

Cryozootech is happy to announce the birth of the clone of 2003 dressage world champion Poetin 2, a Brandeburg mare that died prematurely in 2005. This achievement illustrates the use of the cloning technique for genetic safeguarding.

Poetin 2 was born in 1997. This Brandeburg mare has an interesting life story:

Poetin 2 from Sandro Hit and Poesie by Brentano, was promised to a bright future: she won the German championship and the world championship in dressage for young horses, with so far unequaled scores (a 10/10 for her trot). She was sold for 2.5 million (Euros) in 2003 to an ING Bank / van der Zwan farm (Netherlands) consortium.

(French owner) Xavier Marie acquired Poetin at a dispersal sale in 2005 after the consortium broke up. Unfortunately, when she reached his place, Poetin 2 had acute laminitis from which she did not recover. She was euthanized in December 2005. A lawsuit ensured.

Knowing of Cryozootech's work for genetic preservation, Xavier Marie asked for her cells to be collected beforehand, with the objective in mind to get a replacement for his horse. Poetin's clone was born on March 30th, 2007. Now she frolics in paddocks of the Haras de Hus near Nantes on the west coast of France.

In other news: The firm reports that their first clone of a gelding has managed to successful breed a mare. Simultaneously, a research pony mare and the first horse clone to be born, is also pregnant, due to foal in 2008.

Horse Health Headlines from the Pan Am Games

Thanks to Hyperion Farms' owner Al Guden, some of the health-specific details of the horses competing at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are finding their way to the Internet. Al and Judy Guden own the dressage horse Sagacious HF, ridden by Lauren Sammis.

Things started off a little shakily for all the horses headed to Brazil when their chartered plane developed mechanical difficulties and the departure was delayed. All the dressage horses had gathered to complete their quarantine requirements in Wellington, Florida in preparation for the trip.

Al reported that veterinarian Rick Mitchell of Fairfield Equine Associates hydrated the horses with IV fluids an hour before they were vanned in the Florida heat from Wellington to Miami for the takeoff.

Speaking of veterinarians, apparently the veterinary hospital that was to be built at the showgrounds in Rio did not get finished or equipped on time, so the Americans carried every imaginable veterinary supply and piece of equipment on the plane with them. And when they arrived in Brazil, they were told that their cargo crates could not be cleared until Tuesday.

That meant, roughly, that there were grooms, horses, halters and leadlines...but little else because everything--literally everything--was packed in the crates.

It took a few hours, but apparently the crates are now on their way to the showgrounds.

Those are just a few of the rough details. Many thanks to Al Guden for his early report.

Australia's Top Dressage Horse Loses Cancer Battle

The aptly named dressage horse "Cinderella" has danced her last waltz.

With a heavy sense of the inevitable, I have been following the news from Germany and Australia regarding the dressage mare Cinderella. She was the first horse to qualify in dressage for Australia and was ridden by Matthew Dowsley at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen last year in spite of a recurring tumor over one eye.

Franz Venhaus, of the Equestrian Federation of Australia, has kindly shared his reports, but I read on his web site today that Cinderella has been euthanized.

On April 4, the 11-year-old Hanoverian mare had surgery while training in Europe to remove a second malignant growth from under her right eye. The tumur had grown to a length of 8.5 cm. As a result, Cinderella did not make the trip to Las Vegas to compete for Australia's honor at the 2007 FEI World Cup there in April.

According to Franz's reports, Cinderella was given special medication that is also used in human cases of this nature.

Subsequently,a new cancerous growth was discovered on her larynx and Franz warned that there was a chance of it spreading to other organs.

Before 2006, Australia had never had a rider qualify for the Grand Prix Special at a WEG. But both Matthew and teammate Kristy Oatley were among the top 30 riders from the Grand Prix test to make it through to the Special.

Matthew said he greatly appreciated the opportunity he’d been given by Cinderella’s owner, Claudia Harper from Sydney, to base himself (and Cinderella) in Germany with Australian Dressage Training Adviser Ulla Salzgeber.

The EFA has a nice slide show of photos of the late, great Cinderella.

At the 2007 World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany last week, teammate Oatley placed fourth with Quando-Quando in the Grand Prix CDI and 7th in the Freestyle. Australia has come a long way in a short time in international dressage, but will surely miss Cinderella's magic.