American Grand Prix rider George Williams has found a new home and business.Williams has partnered with Elizabeth Juliano of Havensafe Farm in Middlefield, Ohio and Wellington, Florida. After several years of a successful trainer/student association between Williams and Juliano, Williams will continue to train and coach her and as well as train and compete the international prospects which she owns. In addition to the association with Juliano and Havensafe Farm, Williams is launching Williams Dressage LLC, a dressage training, coaching and riding venture. Williams said “Unlike Havensafe Farm South, which is a facility with many stalls and is equipped to handle seasonal boarders, Betsy’s Ohio farm is her private sanctuary. Our new venture will allow me to train her there, which I enjoy and, through Williams Dressage, work with other clients and horses in training and competition at a separate facility. This has long been a goal for me and my family, and we are looking forward to finally opening this chapter in our lives.” (Photo George Williams on former PSI auction horse Don Bailey - copyright: Sharon Packer)
Elizabeth B Juliano was the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the founder of Litigation Management Inc. Her company provides medical information management for law firms. LMI has 600 employees, 300 of which work remotely from all across the country. Of that 300, more than 60 percent are doctors and registered nurses.
The Swedish equestrian magazine Tidningen Ridsport has reported that the semen quality of the Dutch warmblood stallion Lingh has been deteriorating since May. The KWPN stallion Lingh (by Flemmingh x Columbus) is owned by Karin Offield and stands at stud at the Flyinge state stud in Sweden. Lingh's semen has been collected daily since January 2009 and the quality was good. However, since May the semen quality has been slowly deteriorating and its motility has decreased to only 35%, Flyinge breeding director Karl Henrik Heimdahl confirmed.
Fiona Price of www.horsehero.com conducted a video interview with Richard Davison at the 2009 Royal Windsor Horse Show, where he won the Potential International Dressage Horse class with Artemis (aka Foto Tyme, by Florestan). Davison has 'been there and done it all' in British dressage. He is also one of the movers and shakers in dressage being World Class team captain and a member of the FEI task force controversially charged with reporting on the future of dressage! Fiona Price meets Richard with the gorgeous (and demonstrative) Artemis at the stables.
The Australian Equestrian Federation commissioned Peter Haynes to make a video review of the 2009 CDI Sydney. The Sydney CDI is a showcase of Australian equestrian sport. Riders from 6 nations compete on the international dressage stage culminating on Saturday night with the Hamilton Island Grand Prix Kur. A huge and entertaining spectacle that always draws amazing crowds it is a night to be remembered by all who attended. Check it out here
Gestut Birkhof's seven year old stallion Sir Alfred has been sold to Westfalia and is now in training stable Hesselhof of Ralph Michael Rash. Sir Alfred (by Sandro Hit x Dream of Heidelberg x Consul) qualified for the 2009 Bundeschampionate and was trained at S-level.
Kyra Kyrklund's British based yard Snow Hill Farm turns intoa little piece of heaven in the spring when blue bells are in full bloom. A small piece of wood becomes a picturesque scene from a fairytale movie. Kyra has also been competing a new Grand Prix horse, the 9-year old Swedish bred Adelante (by Don Schufro x Phaeton). Kyra is currently training the horse for her Finnish student/owner Carolina Westerlund, who currently can't ride due to a shoulder operation.
Adelante is bred by Hans-Åke Månsson out of a very famous dam line, which also produced the approved stallion Telescop and Tailwind, 2002 Swedish Breeders Trophy winner in dressage for 6-year olds. The liver chestnut Adelante has been a winner since being born. He was the Foal of the Year in Sweden in 2000 and moved on to make it to the final fifteen in the Scandinavian Open Youngsters classes in Falsterbo as 5/6-years old with Pernilla André Hokfeldt in the saddle. Carolina Westerlund won the Finnish Junior Championship in 2007 with him, a great achievement for a 7-year old horse and a junior rider.
British equestrian magazine Horse and Hound reported that Sheikh Mohammed has demanded to know why the International Equestrian Federation, an organisation headed by his wife, Princess Haya, delayed notifying him of a positive dope test on his horse, Tahhan. On 6 April, Sheikh Mohammed suspended himself from competition and began an internal investigation after his own team discovered traces of two potentially performance-enhancing drugs in Tahhan. He competed the horse in CEI2* 120km endurance races in Bahrain and Dubai in January and February this year. But has emerged that Tahhan was also tested by the FEI during the rides. The horse's positive results were passed to the FEI legal team on 19 March — nearly three weeks before Sheikh Mohammed's well-publicised statement that it was he who had volunteered the results. Read more on Horse and Hound
This is quite interesting information as it seems to suggest that the FEI has held its mouth on purpose until it was forced to communicate after Sheik Mohammed's own confession of doping use. Oh by the way, did you know that Sheik Mohammed has also bought the building in Lausanne where the FEI headquarters are located at?
Former German Young Riders team riderJulia-Katharina van Platen (27) is getting married to Johannes Elmerhaus (25), a banker by profession, on Saturday 16 May 2009. Von Platen is a Grand Prix rider and represented German on the Junior and Young Riders team. She managed a training stable in Wietze, Germany. The Elmerhaus family are co-owners of Michael Schmidt's stallion station in Lippetal, Germany, which stands stallions Belissimo M, Furst Grandios and Blickpunkt at stud.
The American Potomac Valley Dressage Association (PVDA) is organizing anotherRide for Life benefit this year to support breast cancer research. Ride for Life hosts the 5,000$ Dancing Horse Invitational Freestyle FEI TOC judged by Linda Zang and Debbie McDonald will be the special guest. Ride for Life can also be found in cyberspace with the Million Hits Campaign. The PVDA will show how one little organization and its dream can have a huge impact, by getting the message below out to friends, family and contacts and asking them to do the same! The PVDA is asking everyone to give only - $1 each. What's a dollar? Well, it could mean a lot if we get a Million Hits! It means $ 1Million for Breast Cancer Research and spreading our wonderful sport around the world!" You can support the cause by subscribing to the Ride for Life Youtube channel by hitting the "Subscribe" button on the channel page located by the Ride for Life logo. We would like a string of comments to be added for each video. All these factors will help raise the videos' standing on the YouTube display statistics, so encourage your friends and contacts to do the same. If you have any questions, or need any help, please let us know.www.pvdarideforlife.org