Dressage News Notes

Alice Tarjan and Elfenfeuer (Photo: Mary Phelps - Phelpsphotos.com)

The USEF/Markel National Young Horse Championships is underway at the Lamplight Equestrian Center where the best young talent in the US will go head to head to see who comes out on top! Be sure to follow coverage at DressageDaily.com as Mary Phelps is On the Scene. The Village of Wellington has voted to allow the 2012/2013 Adequan Global Dressage Festival to go forward through April 2013. Read about Para dressage rider Donna Ponessa and her journey to make it to the Paralympic Games. Astrid Appels of Eurodressage was fortunate to take a trip to Ingrid Klimke's facility to get insight into the training methods and meet some of the great horses. Great Britain's Royal Mail has gone golden too - see what is going on with all the golden post box in the UK! Unfortunatley, West Nile Virus is on the rise and we all need to do our best to protect our horses as well as ourselves.

This week is a very busy one for showing and the highlight of the week is easily the Dressage at Lamplight August I and II show taking place in Wayne, IL featuring the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships, USEF National Developing Horse Dressage Championships and the USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals presented by Dressage Today. Elsewhere in the mid west region we have the Dressage at Waterloo Summer Finale I and II in Grass Lake, MI, the Mid-Ohio Sport Horse Showcase I and II in Wilmington, OH, Centerline Dressage Classic I and II and the Northern Lights Dressage in Lake Elmo, MN. The northeast has the PBF Open Sport Horse Show I and II in Holland, NY and the Breed Show at Brookside I and II in N Smithfield, RI. Down south there is the Ole South Dressage in Murfreesboro, TN, the Fall Dressage Concours I and II in Venice, FL and the White Fences at Palm Beach Equine III and IV in Wellington, FL. Out west the Utah Dressage Society Show I and II will take place in Heber, UT. The Pacific northwest has the Northwest Sport Horse Breeders Classic II and Northwest Sport Horse Breeders Dressage Classic III in Auburn, WA and the Whidbey Equestrian Center One More Time Dressage and Summers End in Coupeville, WA. California rounds out the week with the Gavilan Chapter Summer Show in San Juan Bautista, CA , the Fairwind Farm August in Santa Rosa, CA and the Cool August Nights Dressage in Burbank, CA.

Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL is the epicenter of dressage this week as 7 National titles are on the line at The Markel/USEF National Young Horse Championships being held August 23-26, 2012! Three titles will be awarded to the winners of the four, five and six year old divisions. In the Developing Horse division - the top titles will be crowned at Prix St Georges and Grand Prix. Additionally, two titles will be given in the USEF Dressage Seat medal finals. It is an exciting competition where the best young talent in the US go head to head. Horses from this program have gone on to represent the US in international competition. Follow coverage at DressageDaily.com!

The show will go on! The 2013 Adequan Global Dressage Festival that is! The Village of Wellington Council unaimously voted to move ahead with the 2012/2013 season at the Stadium at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Check out the story here!

While dressage has been branded an elitest sport there are lots of "regular" peolpe who partake in it with passion and often with great sacrifice. One of those people is Donna Ponessa who will represent the US at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Donna suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and is paralyzed from the chest down and often gives up "normal" things in life like dinner with friends so that she can pursue her passion. The Wall Street Journal has a great story about Donna and her trials and tribulations of getting to the Paralympic Games. Check out her story here!

Astrid Appels of Eurodressage.com had the recent good fortune to visit the Ingrid Klimke's Hof Schulze-Brüning facility in Munster. Ingird and her team organise monthly "open training" sessions that invite visitors to gain insight into her training and stables. The tour included Ingrid leading the group to meet her horses and talked about each one's personalites and training. The group was then treated to Ingrid schooling several of her partners. Read Astrid's account of the day here! I really enjoyed it!

To say Great Britain is proud of their Olympic victories would be understating it a bit! In honor of the successes in the 2012 Games, the Royal Mail has painted post boxes across the UK gold! The post box on the Island of Sark was no different in honoring its hometown hero Carl Hester. Check out what Carl and student Charlotte Dujardin have to say when meeting fans in Sark.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) West Nile Virus is on the rise in 2012 for both horses and humans. In fact, the number of human cases across the country are at their highest since West Nile Virus was first detected in the US in 1999. The GilroDispatch online has a great article with information on what the virus is and how it affects you horse. It also suggest ways to protect your horse from the potential risk of contracting the disease. Of course, your vet is your greatest resource of how to best protect your horse in your individual situation. Read more here!