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.

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!

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.

German Equestrian Team Suspended as Olympic Doping Scandal Escalates in International Spotlight

by Fran Jurga | 28 May 2009 | The Jurga Report

Die Goldenen Reiter, a huge gilded statue in the city of Dresden, Germany became a symbol of Germany's drive for Olympic gold medals in 2008; Flickr photo by Lanchutt

Before you read this post, take a minute and watch this wonderful short video:
http://www.die-goldenen-reiter.com/film.html
Make it full screen; turn up the volume. All the way. Hit play.

You see, less than a year ago, I was preparing to blog the Olympics, and the German team sent me a link, so I could watch a terrific music video they had made to pump up the national spirit to get behind the Germans' push to come home with gold medals in all three sports at the Olympics equestrian games in Hong Kong.

I loved the video and its quick edits. I loved the idea of the team members singing along. Loved seeing some of my favorite horses and riders. Really loved the action closeups of the hooves with all those big studs digging into the grass. The song is really catchy. It was a big hit in the 1980s in Germany and the rock star who sang it is an icon--sort of a Billy Joel, German-style.

I watched the little video again after I spent Thursday tracking down the news from Germany and I saw something else, entirely. What do you see?


The international horse sport community will be reeling on Friday as the world wonders what is going on in Germany. And maybe in their own backyards. I wonder, too.

Thursday afternoon, the national equestrian federation of Germany, FN Verlag (FN), announced the suspension of all riders who represented Germany at the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong's equestrian events, where Germany won three gold medals. In effect, FN Verlag and the German national sport federation have dissolved, disbanded, and suspended its equestrian teams for FEI-level events. To use one of my favorite German words: "kaput!"

This story began back on May 11, when the FEI reported that German Olympic show jumper Marco Kutscher told German reporters that his horse had been illegally treated with arnica and lactanase during the Olympics at Hong Kong in August. Kutscher's confession and subsequent accusations initiated a cascade of events that will probably not end with Thursday's drastic action, which affects not just jumping but also dressage and eventing. Dressage superstar Isabell Werth even made a callous offhand remark that what she does to her horse is the concern of her and the owner and no one else, thank you very much.

What began as an investigation of a single rider and the team veterinarian is now affecting a dozen riders' careers and reputations.

My German is not the very best, but I think I know what the German press release is saying: each of the riders is going to be thoroughly investigated and must apply to be reinstated. Only after assurance that the rider will be a leader for a clean sport will that rider be allowed to represent Germany ever again. There is no indication of how long this process might take, nor how long the FEI's own investigation might take. There is a comment that time is not a concern.

All this with the World Equestrian Games coming up in just over a year. What more can the FEI do to police the barns and schooling rings? Are veterinarians the advocates of the horse and the rulebook or are they under too much pressure just as the riders are? And just where does that pressure originate?

Germany has been double-shocked by statements made by show jumping champion Ludger Beerbaum this weekend, including his assertion that he would do whatever it took to win and understood that he just was not supposed to get caught. The FN press release mentions Beerbaum--and only Beerbaum--by name.

The scandal reaches higher; FEI Bureau Member, judge and former Secretary General of FN Hanfried Haring has been associated with the scandal and may lose his position.

Be careful about what news sources you check on this story. HorseandHound.co.uk is usually tops for European news and you can follow their headlines via Twitter @horseandhound.

Come on, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Sixty Minutes. You love a good scandal: do you have a reporter who speaks German? Here's your chance. What can the FEI say in its own defense, that these things have been going on in spite of rules and inspections and tests?

Equestrian sports woke up with two black eyes this morning. The elephant in the room got loose.

To refresh your memory about the Olympics in Hong Kong and the Germans' ups and downs there, please read my Olympic blog: The World Rides in Hong Kong. I feel like I should start the blog up again and write "The Rest of the Story".