Saturday, December 2, 2006

What’s Happening in the US Dressage World

On the home-front, plans for a country holiday kick into high gear, literally as Mary and JJ visit Nashville’s Grand Old Oprey Hotel and attend the Radio City Music Hall’s Winter Spectacular featuring the Rockettes. Our vote for future conventions would be at this amazing hotel, which covers three city blocks, and has the largest indoor atrium, winding through the facility including this walking plant. Unseasonable warm weather in Kentucky has temperatures in the 70’s all last week, but now it feels like winter.

The USDF Annual Meeting is underway in Kansas City, with the Awards Dinner this evening, and the Symposium with Ingrid Klimke this weekend. One of the participants in the symposium, Rick Silvia brought his stallions from Florida. Lullaby, his Hannoverian stallion by Londonderry was recently approved as an elite stallion for 2007 with the American Hanoverian Society. DressageDaily correspondent Lynndee Kemmet will be reporting on the symposium later this month. Read more…..

Congratulations to Heather Blitz, now residing in Denmark. Blitz recently won the USET Carl-Heinrich Asmis Grant, after applying for it for the first time. Blitz, who was a hurricane Katrina survivor, rose to new heights this year after her successful tour culminating as a reserve rider for the US WEG Dressage Team. Read more….

PhelpsPhotos is the perfect gift of thanks to owners, trainers, friends and family, who have supported you and your equine endeavors this year. Deadline for PhelpsPhotos Holiday orders is Monday, December 4, if you want to avoid express charges in time for Holiday delivery. If you competed on the PhelpsPhoto Tour in 2006, we most likely have photos of you. If you are a registered user of phelpsphotos.com you can view, share, and shop on line. Check the schedule to find out if we were there, as we may have photos. If you are a registered user you may need us to reset your user name and password. Contact us at info@phelpsphotos.com.

The WBFSH has announced the top horses for 2006. Guess which American owned stallions are in the top three for both Dressage and Jumpers. Read more…..

The National Horse Show is underway, kicking off the Florida season. Held at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club, swirling after a recent lease rejection puts the future of the Winter Equestrian Festival in jeopardy, Jan Brons and his own Jourdan win the Grand Prix, as other early winter arrivals and year round equestrians start the season under sunny skies. Read more……

Phelps/Hathaway Enterprises Inc, owners of DressageDaily, HorsesDaily and PhelpsPhotos, welcomes Elizabeth and Glen Ruggierio to our staff. With Horsemarket submissions coming in daily, Elizabeth has taken over this section, doing a stellar job. Liz’s knowledge of bloodlines and the marketplace, and Glens expertise in web design, bring some of many updates to come this month as we prepare for our 10th anniversary on-line in 2007. Also added to our staff are journalist Jeannie Blancq Putney and Kelly Gage both working on several new features in development for this month.

We bid farewell to our Aachen Family, Manfred and Marion Heinricksen who spent the last three weeks with us on our Kentucky homestead. As news begins to develop of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Kentucky 2010, the Heinricksens, who work of the Aachen CHIO got a first hand tour of all Kentcuky has to offer visitors from around the world. Manfred, the well known in-gate guard of the famed Aachen arena, learned how to ride fourwheelers,supervised our construction, enjoyed the freedom of an open fire, and unseasonable weather in southern Kentucky. We had to be careful our newest family member Tasha Phelps-Hathaway did not end up in their suitcase!

For everyone about to travel and relocate for the winter months be sure to let your equine insurance company know of any changes to your horse’s location. This is a term of your insurance policy. Also, if you have to call your veterinarian for anything other than routing care, you must also let your insurance company know. Failure to do so can result in compromising your coverage. There is a paper trail on all treatments provided to your horse which will appear on any claims investigations, so please be diligent in honoring you commitment to your horses and their well being. Find out more about our Equine Insurance Services with Markel.

Travel Safe, and let us know if you have any What’s Happening News for us to consider. E-mail – mary@horsesdaily.com