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 Duncan McFarlane and Mr. Whoopy (Contendro x Watzmann) get some serious air in Saturday night's $53,000 HITS Grand Prix CSI2*W, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, California. © Flying Horse Photography. THERMAL, CA (February 13, 2012) – In Saturday’s $53,000 HITS Grand Prix CSI2*-W, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, New Zealand’s own Duncan McFarlane worked his magic aboard Simon Coxe’s Mr. Whoopy and posted the only double-clear effort in the class to capture their first Grand Prix victory of the season together. This dynamic duo has a history together, and a rich one at that! The pair cleaned up last September with a second-place finish at the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix at HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, New York and went home with a handsome check for $200,000. So it’s no surprise to see them back at it with their sights squarely set on making a return trip to Saugerties for this year’s Pfizer Million.
In Saturday night’s feature class at the HITS Desert Circuit, McFarlane and Mr. Whoopy, who has a habit of being a rather rambunctious partner, met the challenge of Course Designer Florencio Hernandez’s 1.60 meter World Cup course.
Continue reading Duncan McFarlane works out a win aboard YJC Graduate Mr. Whoopy at HITS Thermal
 Margie Engle and Indigo (Indoctro x Dutchman) © Sportfot.com Wellington, FL – February 11, 2012 – Margie Engle (USA) and Indigo emerged victorious in the $125,000 FEI World Cup™ Qualifier Grand Prix presented by Spy Coast Farm under the lights in front of a crowd of 5,200 spectators at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center on Saturday night. Engle and Indigo, owned by Gladewinds, Griese, Garber, and Hidden Creek, were the fastest of two clear rounds in an eleven horse jump-off over Darragh Kerins (IRL) and Lisona, owned by Kevin Babington. Pablo Barrios (VEN) and G&C Quick Star II, owned by Gustavo Mirabal, were third.
Continue reading Margie Engle and Indigo Win $125,000 FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix presented by Spy Coast Farm
 Christian Ahlmann (GER) riding Taloubet Z (Galoubet Z x Polydor). Karl-Heinz Frieler/FEI Photo. January 22, 2012 – by Louise Parkes – Defending champion, Germany’s Christian Ahlmann, returned to the scene of his 2010/2011 triumph to win the ninth qualifying round of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2011/2012 series at Leipzig, Germany this afternoon.
Host-nation competitors filled the top-three places, but both the winner, and third-placed multiple champion Marcus Ehning, had to take a back seat in the aftermath as the spotlight shone brightly on rising star Katrin Eckermann who was pipped for pole position by only the narrowest of margins. The 21 year old from Muenster, who has just emerged at Senior level after a highly-successful career in Young Riders, produced a thrilling and polished performance to take runner-up spot and has put her name firmly on the German radar. She said afterwards that today’s competition will be her last indoor outing of the season as she has other plans for her lovely grey gelding Carlson. But everyone, including her German counterparts, agreed that this self-effacing young lady’s name will feature prominently in future years. A new German jumping star has announced her arrival.
Continue reading Ahlmann Takes the Win at Leipzig, but Eckermann Steals the Spotlight
 Alvaro Miranda (BRA) riding AD Ashleigh Drossel Dan (Drosselklang II x Ashleigh Brigadier). Kit Houghton/FEI photo. MIRANDA TURNS ON THE MAGIC IN GENEVA by Louise Parkes
Brazil’s Alvaro de Miranda claimed maximum points and set himself on the road to the series Final with a breath-taking victory riding AD Ashleigh Drossel Dan in the sixth leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Western European League at Geneva, Switzerland this afternoon. With 16 of the world’s best horses and riders through to the closing stages, the second-round race against the clock was a thriller in which the lead changed again and again. But with the advantage of being last to go, and with a superb round sprinkled with a little luck, the 38 year old rider and his 13 year old gelding scorched home to clinch it in style.
Continue reading Miranda Turns on the Magic in Geneva – Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping
 Margie Engle won the $50,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix with Australian-bred Indigo (Indoctro x Dutchman) and was second on Lord Spezi (Lord Pezi x Grandeur). Photos © ManciniPhotos Wellington, FL – December 3, 2011 – The $50,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix was the highlight class of the week at the Holiday and Horses Show, hosted by Equestrian Sport Productions (ESP) at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL. Margie Engle of Wellington, FL, and Indigo were able to secure the victory in the FEI World Cup qualifier, and Engle also finished second with Lord Spezi. The show concludes on Sunday, December 4.
Anthony D’Ambrosio of Red Hook, NY, set the course for 42 entries and six were able to find the path to a clear round. “I thought it was a good course,” Engle said. “The oxer to oxer one stride you don’t see very often. You need to have that for World Cup courses. It’s a real scope test and you need a legitimate horse to do it. There were a lot of rails in different places. If you’re going to do World Cup Finals, you need that. He tested everything; he tested carefulness, he tested scope, the verticals were quite tall. I thought he did a great job.”
Continue reading Margie Engle and Indigo Grab Victory in $50,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix, CSI 2*
 Ludger Beerbaum and Gotha ( ), winners of the Rolex FEI World Cup™-Stuttgart. Karl-Heinz Frieler/FEI photo. by Louise Parkes — Ludger Beerbaum claimed the honours for Germany today in the fifth leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Western European League series on his home turf at Stuttgart. Madeleine Winter-Schulze’s 10-year-old mare, Gotha, has been going from strength to strength in the hands of the five-time Olympian in recent months, and produced a superb jump-off round to clinch maximum points for the 48 year-old veteran who won the prestigious series title 18 years ago.
It was no walk-in-the-park afternoon for the world’s top competitors, with only six of the 39 starters finding all the answers to the demanding 13-fence first-round track set by Christa Jung. The German course designer stretched them from the first fence to the last, and the eight retirements on course were testament to the degree of difficulty.
“It was not too technical but it was quite big – Christa did a good job,” Beerbaum said afterwards. “There were mistakes at all the fences, except, I think, the first – it was selective,” he added.
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Starting them off with a triple bar followed by a wall standing 1.55m high, the course was ratcheted up a notch by a line of fences that began with a vertical which had a dark plank on top.
Continue reading Beerbaum Storms to Victory in Stuttgart
 Hickstead (Hamlet x Ekstein), the sensational Jumping stallion that Eric Lamaze (CAN) rode to individual gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong collapsed and died in Verona (ITA) today. Photo: Eric Lamaze and Hickstead at Spruce Meadows. Kit Houghton/FEI. Lausanne (SUI), 6 November 2011- The fourth leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2011/2012 series at Verona, Italy was stopped today following the sudden death of the stallion Hickstead, ridden by reigning Olympic champion and world number one Eric Lamaze (CAN).
Drawn 22nd of the 39 on the startlist, the Canadian partnership had just completed Rolf Ludi’s 13-fence track with a single rail down in the middle of the combination when Hickstead collapsed and died.
Continue reading Equestrian Sport Loses Equine Superstar Hickstead
 Richard Spooner and Western League YJC Graduaate Cristallo (Caretino x Cicero) won the Alltech National Horse Show $250,000 Grand Prix CSI-W. Shawn McMillen photo. Lexington, KY – November 5, 2011 – The Open Jumper action at the Alltech National Horse Show, 128th Edition, wrapped up tonight with a fast-paced jump-off during the Alltech National Horse Show $250,000 Grand Prix CSI-W. Richard Spooner and Cristallo set the pace with tidy inside turns and a clear effort, beating Great Britain’s Nick Skelton aboard Carlo 273 by just three-tenths of a second. Jessica Springsteen and Cincinatti La Silla rounded out the three as the fastest four-fault combination during the short course. (Ed. note: Cristallo and Richard Spooner placed 6th in the 6YO, and 2nd in the 7/8YO Wild Turkey Farm YJC Western League Finals in 2004 and 2005, respectively.)
Continue reading Richard Spooner and YJC Graduate Cristallo Capture $250,000 CSI-W Grand Prix
 Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (SWE) riding Casall La Silla (Caretino x Lavall I) winners CSIW-Lyon. Kit Houghton/FEI photo. October 30, 2011 – by Louise Parkes — Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson galloped to victory in the third leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Western European League 2011/2012 series in Lyon, France this afternoon. Riding Casall La Silla, the man who so deservedly won Individual gold at the FEI European Jumping Championships in Madrid, Spain last month snatched the lead at the halfway stage of today’s nine-horse jump-off and couldn’t be caught.
From the 40-strong field of world-class combinations, it was The Ukraine’s Katharina Offel and Cathleen 28 who claimed runner-up spot ahead of Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat with Nino des Buissonnets in third, while host-nation hero Kevin Staut filled fourth place riding Zeta de Hus.
Course designer, Frank Rothenberger, produced a masterpiece – a 13-fence track that asked questions from start to finish but which produced a sparkling line-up for the second and deciding round against the clock in which rideability was tested to the very limit.
Continue reading Bengtsson Reigns Supreme in Rolex FEI World Cup Lyon
You’ve seen his images from many of the world’s top international equestrian events. Now the FEI photographer has launched an interactive online magazine Vision of the Horse, celebrating the best of global equestrianism.
“Vision” is the idea of Kit Houghton, one of the world’s most experienced and respected equestrian photographers, and fully explores the potential of still [...]
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