InFocus

Before I delve deeper into this article, I ask the question, have you ever experienced judges, judging you and your horse in any discipline, getting it very wrong?  Whether it be the fence judge marking you down for not jumping their particular jump, giving you a stop when you know you jumped it, or saying you went into a black flag area when you know you did not, it seems these things happen all too often.  Why?  Perhaps you'll be thinking we are all human and everyone makes mistakes.  I am aware this sport runs on the commitment of volunteers, who we are all incredibly thankful to for their support, however, this is an issue in the sport that needs to be....

Olivia Dalton recently returned to New Zealand from what was to be a very exciting time away in Australia, particularly for a thirteen year old show jump rider, who in her mother’s words ‘is not overly established as yet’. 

The New Zealand FEI Children’s Gold Tour Class trial was held last January, when Olivia was simply not ready to be jumping the heights of 1.20.  But she had another shot at trialing when her highly regarded show jump coach, Vaughn Jefferis (NZ) suggested she go to Camden, and trial there for a chance to make the finals in Mexico.  Bling Du Rouet, a 16hh Warmblood Sportaloosa Stallion, previously owned and ridden by....

There once was a time when Eventing experts and veterans could compete fairly in ‘open’ classes, much to the satisfaction of those rightly competitive in their field of expertise.  Yet now with the uprooting of open classes, these experts and their highly experienced horses are able to compete at the lower levels with no penalty. Competitive pre-novice riders are being penalized for their commitment at their level because experienced Edgar is pot hunting.  Removing the ‘open’ classes allows competitors to achieve success by competing in a class low enough that they are able to win. It fundamentally undermines the belief that training hard grants success.....

Is the German ‘purpose bred’ eventer taking control over the once dominant thoroughbred eventing scene?  It has come to my attention that the last thoroughbred to win gold at the Olympics was Blyth Tait aboard Ready Teddy. And if any of you follow the eventing circuit, you’ll come to note that Ready Teddy has been deceased for some years now, with this success occurring in 1996. In 19 years, no thoroughbred has won gold at the Olympics!  Is this saying something about the thoroughbred we all used to rave about because they had a heart as big as a gate and the determination to dig in and keep battling?  The strength they had to run 15km before even....

A Tribute

Sire of several Grand Prix show jumpers along with advanced eventers, the famous Holsteiner stallion Lansing was a loyal contributor to both the German and New Zealand equestrian industry. Born in 1986 Germany, Lansing served several top horses.  He was later imported into New Zealand in 2003, continuing his service here.

Pip Ffoulkes, together with her husband Paul are the agents for The German Holsteiner Verband here in New Zealand, with Paul originally working in Germany. He began the early training with Lansing, therefore it was a no brainer when his name appeared on the list of stallions that they were able to lease.....

Ones ability to successfully manage a horse’s fitness for competition is an important aspect to being a knowledgable horseman. However, are there too many riders that aren’t knowledgeable enough in this field of expertise or do they just not pay it enough attention? According to Michael Jung, fitness work is the most important aspect to a horse’s training. So why are so many riders concentrating on perfecting their dressage for an extra 2% instead of perfecting their fitness? When… if they put the same amount of energy into their fitness work, they may complete a cross country inside the time and still front up to show jump the following day. We....