Eventing
Team FLAIR’s Jolie Wentworth wins USET Training Grant
Posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 at 5:22 am.
USET Foundation Awards Jacqueline B. Mars Training Grant to Jolie Wentworth
Gladstone, NJ – May 7, 2012 – The United States Equestrian Team Foundation is pleased to announce that the Jacqueline B. Mars Domestic Competition and Training Grant has been awarded to Jolie Wentworth of Martinez, CA. The grant is given to an Eventing rider who has been identified and recommended by the USEF Eventing Selectors, with an impressive record and potential to represent the United States in future international competition.
Wentworth began riding at the young age of seven, and one of her earliest trainers was Tracy Bowman of Kismet Farm in Martinez, CA. She entered her first competition at age nine and was hooked. Eventually Wentworth became a working student at Kismet Farm, and now she is Bowman’s partner in the business. Her Young Rider career took off at 19 and she began producing several horses at the advanced level. Currently, Wentworth is a USEF High Performance listed rider, and has set her sights on the world’s most demanding competitions.
“I am drawn to eventing because it’s quite difficult, and I think when someone finds something difficult that they enjoy, it keeps pushing them to attain the next level of success, and I am definitely somebody who wants to do that,” explained Wentworth. “You keep moving one event to the next trying to improve each performance. I think we would like to try to get to Europe in the next year or so to get some international experience. Of course, making a U.S. Team is always something you want to do.”
The USET Foundation recognized Wentworth’s talent and determination, making her the perfect fit for the Jacqueline B. Mars Domestic Competition and Training Grant, which helps offset the costs of competing and training at the highest levels. “It is a great honor to receive the grant because I know there were a lot of people up for it,” stated Wentworth. “Grants like this remove the unnecessary stress that we as riders have, and we get to really focus on the riding and competing. It’s such a valuable part of the sport. I think that this is an amazing grant and the opportunities that I had to learn and to grow have been extremely valuable.”
This year, Wentworth used the grant to help campaign her mount Goodknight at the four-star level. Last year, this pair finished fourth in the CIC*** at The Event at Rebecca Farm (MT), second in the CIC*** at Woodside (CA) and second in the CCI*** at Galway Downs (CA). This spring they were fifth in an intermediate division at Galway Downs.
Using the grant, Wentworth and Goodknight flew from California to Ocala, FL, to compete during the Fork Horse Trails, and the next two weeks gearing up for the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI****. “I think he learned a lot and I learned a lot,” she commented. “My horse is very green at the four-star level, but I think it was a huge education for him to get to do this. I don’t think it did anything but increase his confidence, so we are very excited about building from this past experience.”
The United States Equestrian Team Foundation (www.uset.org) is a non-profit organization that supports the competition, training, coaching, travel and educational needs of America’s elite and developing international, high-performance athletes and horses in partnership with the United States Equestrian Federation.
For more information about the USET Foundation or to make a donation, please call (908) 234-1251 or visit the USET Foundation website at www.uset.org.
FLAIR® Master Class: Eventing Video No. 6 – with Eric Dierks
Posted on Monday, May 7th, 2012 at 7:08 pm.
Team FLAIR Eventer and member of the USPC Board of Governors Eric Dierks takes the viewer on a course walk of the 2010 AEC XC course. In this sixth video in the FLAIR Master Class series featuring Eric Dierks, he discusses the more bending lines with a twist!
Team FLAIR’s Fredericks & Griffiths Change Plans
Posted on Saturday, May 5th, 2012 at 4:46 am.
Olympic hopefuls for Australian Eventing team confirm plans ahead of London
After the cancellation of Badminton Horse Trials, overseas based Aussie eventers have revised their preparations ahead of team selection and the 2012 Olympic Games.
Since notification of the event cancellation came through on Monday, the seven athletes due to compete at Badminton have looked to other major events in Europe to show selectors they’re ready for the Games.
With the exception of Sam Griffiths and Wendy Schaeffer, all combinations due to start at Badminton will head to the Saumur CCI3* in France from 17-20 May 2012. Other Badminton starters have chosen different events to take on with Griffiths heading to Tattersalls CCI3* in Ireland at the end of May and Schaeffer to compete Luhmuhlen CCI3* in Germany in mid-June.
Equestrian Australia’s National Performance Director for Eventing, Prue Barrett, said she is happy with each athlete’s individual plans leading into London.
“Since we were notified of Badminton’s cancellation we have spent the last few days working with all our shadow team members to re-look at their individual plans ahead of selection,” she said.
“We have been working hard with event organisers overseas to secure our riders a start in major events, such as Saumur, and were pleased we were able to lock in places at all of our chosen events. There were many countries such as New Zealand and Great Britain that were in the same position as us, so we needed to work quickly to make sure we could get our riders into the bigger events, which I’m pleased to say we were able to do.
“The nature of our Eventing program is that we work with each athlete and horse combination on our squads to prepare the best individual program for them that will maximise performances for the Olympic Games and do what is necessary to be selected.
“While the cancellation of Badminton did disrupt our plans it has in no way impacted our preparation and we are confident the schedules each rider has chosen will produce a well-prepared and strong Australian Eventing Team come the London Games,” said Barrett.
Australian Team selectors will be on hand at the Saumur CCI3*, with 11 Aussie combinations taking part, including:
1. Bill Levett Hippolyte
One Two Many NJ
2. Chris Burton Holstein Park Leilani
Haruzac
3. Clayton Fredericks Be My Guest
Walterstown Don
4. Lucinda Fredericks Flying Finish
5. Paul Tapner Inonothing
Wickstead Didgeridoo
Kilronan
2008 Beijing Olympian Clayton Fredericks won the Saumur CCI3* in 2011 and will be out to not only defend his title but to show selectors what his made of.
This weekend Clayton Fredericks and Bill Levitt will compete in France at Jardy CIC3*. Fredericks will have his squad listed horses Bendigo, Be My Guest and Walterstown Don, as will Levitt riding One Two Many NJ and Hippolyte.
Fredericks is currently holding the top three places at Jardy CIC3* with Levett placed just behind him. For full results – click here.
As was always planned, riders will continue to compete in various CIC events throughout Europe ahead of selection – details of final start lists will be confirmed closer to each event. The Australian Eventing Team is due to be announced on 18 June 2012.
Jargon buster
CCI – Eventing International Three Day Event (same format as the Olympic Games)
CIC – Eventing International One Day Event (shorter and revised format)
3*/4* – The different levels of Eventing competition is determined by a star (*) rating and ranges from 1* to 4*. The higher the star, the harder the event. The event at the Olympic Games will be a 4* event.
Sam Griffiths Blogs Badminton & More…
Posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at 5:26 am.
(Ed note: Since this post was written, Badminton HT has been cancelled due to flooding. We will bring you news of Sam’s revised schedule as soon as possible.)
The beginning of the season has just flown past and now we’re just a week off Badminton! It always comes up quickly, but having said that we’ve been gearing up for it for months! Happy Times has started the season off well – I’ve just been giving him some quiet runs to prepare him and he’s put up some good performances. I’ve been working hard at home on his dressage with our Aussie team dressage coach, Brett Parbery and also with Charlotte Dujardin. Then I’ve also been training the show jumping phase with Ros Morgan, who has been fantastic with Happy, as he is a very quirky horse to train at home! Ros has even had me out to jumping shows with Happy and some of my other horses which has been so useful, working out warm up plans etc. Although I think I did ’scream’ event rider when I was warming up at Wales and West in my xc hat and sheepskin breastgirth alongside Billy Twomey and one (never know which one as there are so many) of the Whitaker boys!! Rather embarrassing. But Lucy has rectified this by ordering me a very expensive show jumping hat….Better jumps some clears in it and win some money to pay for it!
We had a great weekend up at Belton with Happy and Paulank Brockagh (Brocks). Happy ran well, felt like a machine cross country, but it has to be said that Brocks stole the show – she was AMAZING! She scored a definite PB for her at advanced level in the dressage and then jumped the most fantastic double clear to finish 3rd in a seriously competitive advanced class. See pic of her flying the xc below. I am so excited about her – she could actually be a serious back up for me for the Games…we’ll see! Bramham is her next big run and I’m so looking forward to it.
I’ve also got a new ‘toy’ – a lovely young horse called Favorit Z aka Frodo! He is stunning! He was bought for me recently from Constantin van Rickvorsel who has produced him beautifully so I am very lucky to have him. He is still quite green but I am really hoping I might get him to Le Lion D’Angers at the end of the year – he’s a serious horse that’s got everything going for him. Very exciting. See pic below of him just ‘popping a 1m30cm oxer with ease….
In amongst all this, I’ve been doing quite a bit of training – I had a very succesful day at Boomerang for Horsequest, who had set up a competition to win xc training with me. What a lovely group of people they were. Then, similarly, Cosequin had set up a competition to win a lesson with me here at our yard – a lovely girl called Melanie came for a lesson (see pic) and by all accounts really enjoyed her time and I hope learnt a lot…?!
All the novice horses have been going well, although I’ve had a few balloted recently which has rather stopped play. Lucy’s two horses have been excellent too and both had very successful debuts at Novice level for Angelo and Intermediate level for Beaurepaire Nemo – both finishing in the top 5 at Gatcombe. I’ll have to start giving her duff information to stop her ‘cleaning up’ !! It was a great shame not to get a run at Hambleden, especially as we’d been going on and on about the amazing Hambleden bluebells to all our newly arrive antipodeans -aka Chris Burton and Alice Montgomery – they certainly wouldn’t get that at an Aussie/Kiwi event! Although, they probably wouldn’t get events rained off either!!
So with Badminton just days away now, it’s all just been putting the polish on things…Lucy has been videoing my schooling sessions at home and we have our grass arena set up now and I’ve been running through the test and then analysing the videos. Although, having said that, Lucy is my toughest critic so she doesn’t let me mess up too many square halts that’s for sure! We’ve had Brett here for a day last week and the week before and then I’ve got Ros coming again on Friday. Just to add a cherry on top to the tension of these next few days, I am running my head groom, Mouse’s horse, Mumbo Jumbo, in his first advanced at Withington this weekend…I think she may need some serious supplies of Rescue Remedy to get through all this. Having said that, maybe Mumbo needs some to help him through the dreaded flying changes!! I’ve got Real Dancer and Brocks running too this weekend….Brocks will then head to Chatsworth World Cup and Real Dancer is being aimed at Aachen and the new Nations Cup series later in the season. In the meantime, I’ve got a couple more gallop sessions to do on Happy and then the big ‘B’ is upon us…wish me luck!!! ~ Sam
Rolex Kentucky: Springer takes home the Range Rover…
Posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at 4:20 am.
Click here to watch an exclusive interview with William! Springer takes home the Range Rover…
Allison Springer of the United States, on Arthur, held on for second (47.0) and earned $37,000, and Boyd Martin of the United States, on Otis Barbotiere, moved up to third place (51.0) to earn $30,000. Martin also finished eighth on Remington XXV (56.9). By winning the Rolex USET Four-Star Championship as the top-placed U.S. rider, Springer, 37, also won a special prize—an 18-month lease of a 2012 Range Rover HSE courtesy of Land Rover North America. Springer test-drove the car on a lap around the Rolex Stadium during the awards ceremony. “It’s a good thing they kept someone in the car with me, or I’d have been out there doing donuts!” she said with a smile. Springer, of Marshall, VA., said that she was “very, very pleased with Arthur. Four years ago, I went into show jumping in fifth place, and I stopped counting after five rails. But this time I was excited to come in the show jumping ring because I knew what I had to do, and I did it. It’s great to feel that way after all three days.” |
FLAIR® Sponsors Two RK3DE Course Walks
Posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 at 5:56 am.
4-19-2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FLAIR LLC ANNOUNCES SPONSORSHIP OF TWO COURSE WALKS AT THE 2012 ROLEX KENTUCKY CCI4* THREE-DAY EVENT.
Flair LLC, maker of FLAIR® Equine Nasal Strips and a 2012 Rolex Kentucky CCI4* Three-Day Event sponsor, is pleased to announce its sponsorship of two course walks to be held during the 2012 Rolex Kentucky CCI4* Three-Day Event.
The first course walk, lead by two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Phillip Dutton, will be held on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 4:00pm. This abbreviated course walk will focus on four of the most difficult complexes and will be exclusive – with the number of participants limited to 50. Participation credentials will be available on Thursday morning outside the Bit of Britain Tent between 10:30 and 1:00 — prior to the course walk – from a FLAIR representative. Each credentialed participant will receive a FLAIR Strip and memento of the occasion at the conclusion of the course walk.
The second course walk, a full course walk, led in tandem by veteran Four-star Eventers Eric Dierks and Ralph Hill, will begin at 10:30am on Friday, April 27, 2012 – commencing at the start box. This course walk is open to the public.
About FLAIR Nasal Strips: FLAIR Strips provide drug-free support and protection to the respiratory system of the hard-working equine athlete. FLAIR Strips are proven to: reduce airway resistance, reduce lung stress and bleeding, reduce fatigue, and shorten post-exercise recovery time.
For more information about Phillip Dutton, visit http://phillipdutton.com/
For more information about Eric Dierks, http://ericdierks.com/
For more information about Ralph Hill, visit http://www.ralphhillmn.blogspot.com/
For more information about The Rolex Kentucky, please visit http://www.rk3de.org
For more information about FLAIR Strips, Flair LLC and its sponsorship activities, please visit http://flairstrips.com
Media Contact:
Nan Rawlins
pr@flairstrips.com
Win 2012 Rolex Kentucky Tickets!
Posted on Monday, April 9th, 2012 at 7:22 am.
We have two winners!
Thanks — to everyone who entered our contest! We appreciate all of your statements of confidence in FLAIR, your amazing testimonials about your horse and using FLAIR, and some really cleaver entries! We’re so pleased you currently use, or want to use FLAIR Strips to protect the welfare of your horse! Hope to see you all at The Rolex Kentucky Four-star Three-Day Event!
Now for the important part! We have two winners!! Congratulations to Blanch M and Stacey!! Their entries were picked by Random.org’s Random Number Generator. Blanche (entry no. 1 and Stacey, will be contacted by pr@flairstrips.com for your contact information. Thanks again to all who entered! See you at Rolex!!
Blanch M's Winning Entry Number
Stacey's Winning Entry Number
The winning entries:
Want to go to The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event? Now’s your chance!!
We’re giving away two complete sets of 2012 Rolex Kentucky**** Three-Day Event daily tickets!!! That’s right! Two (2) lucky contestants will each win one complete set of daily passes to all four days of North America’s premier eventing competition. We’ll also throw in a FLAIR® Logo cap, two (2) FLAIR Strips, and a FLAIR Strip Rag for each lucky winner – a $130 value!
To win, simply answer the following question in the comment section below this post:
How will FLAIR Strips protect your Horse?
That’s it! Contest ends Monday April 16, 2012 at 8am Central Time. Winners will be chosen by a random number generator and announced right here on this page on Monday April 16, 2012 at 9am Central Time!
*Want to increase your chances to win? Simply spread the word about our contest on your Facebook page and let us know in another comment below. Follow @FLAIRstrips and share the contest on twitter with the hashmark #FLAIRcontest and add another comment below to increase your chances to win again!
**Winner has 24 hours to respond to an email request for contact information from pr@flairstrips.com or another winner will be drawn.
Hurry to enter and spread the word!
Team Griffiths — Back in the UK
Posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 at 7:51 am.
Sam and Real Dancer
So, having done Australia, Christmas AND skiing, meant that the season was now coming at us like an express train so off to West Wilts it was for some very cold, very long days doing BSJA and then lots of trips to Rosamund Green and Boomerang XC schooling courses with various lorry loads each time. Luckily, they were all fantastic, seeming to have picked up where they left off. Boomerang was a particularly good day as I taught a lesson that a lovely lady, Penny Hayward, had won in a competition organised by my long time sponsor, Tri-Zone boots, which, judging by the smile on her face went very well.
Lucy and Angelo
Sam and Paulank Brockagh
And then I also had Happy Times on the lorry, who schooled like a real professional – just so smooth and bold – very exciting. I’ve also ust got back from a week’s Australian team training at the Unicorn Centre. I took 4 horses, Happy, Paulank Brockagh, Mumbo Jumbo and Real Dancer so it was pretty intense – one morning I had had 4 jumping lessons and 4 dressage lessons all by 2pm – exhausting!! But great training sessions though, particularly with Brett Parberry and Gareth Hughes who are both the most brilliant dressage trainers.
Sam and Paulank Brockagh
Which brings us right up to date with Moreton last weekend where we had all the young ones out doing their first run of the season. It’s great to be underway, but as we were driving there, we couldn’t believe the weather – torrential rain and very cold! Luckily, just as we were pulling in, the clouds blew away and it was beautiful blue skies all day – thank goodness! So the weather, teemed with lovely courses and excellent going made for a lovely start to the season. All the horses went very well indeed, with 4 out of 5 double clears and Lucy picking up 3rd place with the very exciting Angelo. It was great to have all our owners there to support us which made it a really fun day.
Sam and Real Dancer
This week, we’ve got quite a few going to Tweseldown and then Happy Times has his first run of the season and begins his Badminton build up at Aldon the weekend after. It’s non stop from here on in….!! <<Read previous post here
More pics on our Griffiths Eventing Team Facebook page…
Blog: Melissa Miller & FINN — Red Hills First Timers
Posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012 at 10:02 am.
Melissa Miller's FINN
Team FLAIR’s Melissa Miller takes a whack at the Red Hills Horse Trials…
A few days have passed since the Red Hills International Horse Trials which has given me time to reflect on how things went. Luckily for me, never having been to Red Hills before, I was able to get a great view of “The Red Hills Experience”. We were blessed this year with wonderful weather all weekend long which lead to many spectators coming and showing their support during the competition!
It’s always funny to look back on an event at how many things you may or may not change about the weekend; the best part about our sport is we don’t have to do well in one phase….. We have to do well in three phases. Dressage had it scores all over the map, with a few people in the CIC* being near the 80% mark and with people being in the low-mid 20’s in other divisions. So needless to say I was happy with the Intermediate horse keeping his brain inside of his head (which wasn’t easy with so many people there to watch) and bringing home a score in the mid 30’s.
Cross Country day was much of a waiting game as the Intermediate group didn’t start until nearly 4pm. So after plenty of time to walk the course, and watch, I was finally getting to go…. Just as I was about ready to head out of the start box we had a hold (just for a jump repair, no one was hurt thankfully) so another short wait and we were finally off. The intermediate course jumped beautifully, was decorated to no end, and my horse was eating up every jump and combination like it was nothing. That is, until I had a minor brain melt down near the end of the course….. so a circle around and off he galloped again finishing the course in great rhythm and absolutely FULL of running thanks to the wonderful FLAIR strips that kept him feeling fresh and alive the entire way around the course.
Sunday came and finally after another extremely long waiting game we were able to Show Jump, with them finishing our division around 5pm. Show jumping is held on grass on a fairly angled area that was causing several issues in all divisions. The course itself rode well with my horse and I just having minor disagreements on how we were supposed to jump (think my horse still had slight cross country fever in his head). But none the less it gave us excellent ideas to bring back home to the drawing board. And look forward to the Ocala CCI** in a few short weeks.
Overall the ‘Red Hills Experience’ was a good one and we will be looking forward to heading back there next year. As I hope FLAIR will be there as well since it’s great to see such an excellent product that supports the horses while sponsoring and supporting what we all love to do, Eventing!
~ Melissa
FLAIR® Master Class: Eric Dierks No 5: The Bending Line
Posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2012 at 9:39 am.
Team FLAIR Eventer and member of the USPC Board of Governors Eric Dierks takes the viewer on a course walk of the 2010 AEC XC course. In this fifth video in the FLAIR Master Class series featuring Eric Dierks, he discusses AEC 2010 Fences 15 A&B — The Bending Line.
View all of Eric Dierk’s FLAIR Master Class videos here>>
