Get ready!
Excitement is building as the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky draw closer by the day. Between the competitions, the trade show and the Equine Village, the lineup of activities from September 25 to October 10 offers something for everyone.

Competitive events will include everything from dressage, eventing and driving to jumping, vaulting, reining, endurance and Para dressage. Entertainment will be provided by a stellar cast of names such as Julie Goodnight, John Lyons, Pat Parelli and Lynn Palm with her horse Rugged Painted Lark.

Equine Wellness will also have a presence at the event in the form of “Agony to Ecstasy” writers Bob Jeffreys and Suzanne Sheppard (Two as One Horsemanship), EWM Natural Performer Craving Blue, and the Nokota Horse, an EWM featured breed.

Jumper suspended
The equine community received a nasty shock in February when it watched show jumper Michael Morrissey strike his horse Crelido with a whip 13 times after he refused a water jump. Morrissey and Crelido were participating in the CSI Grand Prix in Wellington, Florida. The event was part of the USEF Show Jumping selection trials for the upcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. A YouTube video of the incident later went viral among the hunter/ jumper community, prompting a widespread call for action. The U.S. Equestrian Federation has since announced that Morrissey was fined $3,000 and faces a three-month suspension. The suspension prohibits Morrissey from attending any shows as a spectator or competitor, or from participating in USEF activities. It also suspends all his horses from competition.

A great success
In June, Canada’s Outdoor Shows Ltd. partnered with Equine Guelph and the University of Guelph’s Arkell Research Station to bring the first Canadian OutdoorEquine Expo to Guelph, Ontario.
The province is home to approximately 350,000 horses and 80,000 horse people, making it a great location for such an event. TheExpo drew around 200 exhibitors, as well as clinicians and educators including Karen Scholl, Jessica Phoenix and Ryan Gingerich.

Equine Guelph was especially happy with the outcome. They held their gala fundraiser on the first night, during which guests were treated to great food and live musical entertainment by Rockwood’s Full Turnout Band. The organization also held silent and live auctions that netted around $8,500 for their education programs.

The three trainers
Those anxiously waiting to buy tickets online for the 2011 Road to the Horse World Championship of Colt Starting got the surprise of the year when they logged onto their computers. One hour before tickets went on sale June 8, event owner/producer Tootie Bland announced that legendary natural horseman Pat Parelli will be stepping into the round pens for the first time in the event’s history. Parelli will be joined in competition by previously announced competitors and two-time Road to the Horsechampions, Chris Cox and Clinton Anderson.

Dubbed “The Legends”, the event takes place February 25 to 27 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It will mark the first time the three biggest natural horsemanship clinicians in the world will face off against one another as they train unbroken colts to ride in just a few short hours in front of a packed live audience and television cameras. Anderson and Cox competed against each other in the 2007 competition, but this will be the first time either has stepped into the arena against Parelli. roadtothehorse.com