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Markus Fuchs, who is ranked number three in the world, and who won the Grand Prix of Paris in 1998.

Swiss showjumper Markus Fuchs has plenty of competition as defending champion of “Jumping de Paris”, which starts today.
His opposition includes Olympic, World and European Champions, and the best riders the host country has to offer, headed by Roger-Yves Bost.

Australia’s Edwina Alexander, ranked 27th in the Rolex World rankings, is the sole “down under” rider taking in the three-day show, riding Isovlas Socrates and VDL Groep Centana.

Organisers made a special effort to include the top 13 French riders. Roger-Yves Bost, current 22nd better rider in the world, is joined by Michel Robert, Julien Epaillard, Michel Hecart, Olivier Guillon, Eugenie Angot, Florian Angot, Kevin Staut, Robert Breul, Philippe Rozier, Patrice Delaveau, and two young talents, Jerome Hurel and Penelope Leprevost.

In all, 23 riders from 14 nations are represented. The lineup includes Otto Becker (Germany, Olympic Champion in Sydney, bronze medallist in Athens, Rolex FEI World Cup winner in 2002), Jos Lansink (Belgium, current individual World Champion and Vice European Champion, world no.15), his compatriot Ludo Philippaerts (4th individual at the Olympic Games in Sydney and Athens, world no.40), Michael Whitaker (Great-Britain, world no.7, on the way to his fifth Olympic Games in 2008), Jessica Kuerten (Ireland, world no.5, European Champion in 2001, 2nd at the Rolex FEI World Cup final 2006), Beat Maendli (Switzerland, world no.13, last winner of the Rolex FEI World Cup Final in April 2007, Vice Olympic Team Champion in Sydney); Nick Skelton (Great-Britain, world no.33, 5 different medals at World Championships, 3 European Champion titles), Albert Zoer (The Netherlands, world no.9, current World and European Team Champion), Beezie Madden from the US (world no.8, Olympic Team Champion in Sydney and current World Team and individual silver), Laura Kraut (US; world no.19, World Team silver), Royne Zetterman (Sweden, world no.89, World reserve champion in Jerez 2002), Jean-Claude Vangeenberghe (Ukraine, world no.91, who participed in seven European Championships).

It was deja vu for Aiken’s Daniel Geitner who captured the $25,000 Ameriprise Financial Halloween Grand Prix while riding Aiken resident Kyle Register’s Trading Places Nov. 4 during the first week of the Atlanta Fall Classic at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, Ga. The tandem teamed to win the $25,000 Central Equine Grand Prix Nov. 11.

It’s been a banner year for Geitner and Trading Places, an 8 year-old Argentine Warmblood, who won the EMO Grand Prix in Tryon, N.C. on July 17, the Classic Equine Equipment sponsored by Lucky Sevens Welcome Stakes in the Atlanta Spring Classic and the Opening Welcome Stakes and the GALA Grand Prix on Jan. 27 during GALA’s January Jazz II competition.

“They were real nice shows in Conyers,” said Geitner. “They had one Grand Prix during each of the first two weeks, and two the last week, one on Thursday and one on Sunday. Trading Places was great — he won the first two Grand Prixs, and he was sixth in the Thursday Grand Prix, and fifth in the Sunday Grand Prix during the last week of the show. He almost won both of those Grand Prixs. He was unlucky and had a rail down in both jump-offs. He handled the pressure very well. I’m quite pleased.”

Geitner is looking forward to the Progressive Show Jumping Rally on Dec. 8-9. He captured the Level IV and V class at the September rally while riding the Genin Group’s Camilla.

“We’ll do the PSJ Jumper Rally, and then we’ll take it easy until January. We’ll go to Jacksonville and to HITS in Ocala,” said Geitner.

The Aiken-based rider has also enjoyed success this year with Aiken resident Mrs. Charles Bostwick’s 8 year-old Rhinelander mare Sympa.

Competition was tight, but Dannevirke’s Maurice Beatson won the showjumping grand prix at the weekend and said he hopes to qualify for the Beijing Olympics next year.
Beatson jumped five clear rounds at the Foxton racecourse to win on Kiwi Relic and claimed third on his new horse, Zibbibo.

Taranaki’s Robert Steele was second on Gospel, with Waipukurau’s Simon Wilson fourth on Right Royal.

Beatson said his horses had been going well in training and he was expecting the win.

“There is always pressure but it was a nice surface to jump on.” Beatson said.

Next weekend Beatson will compete in the Feilding A & P Showjumping Grand Prix and in Tauranga’s World Cup Event on My Golliwog.

Beatson competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and is aiming for a place in the New Zealand team for next year’s Beijing games.

He said results in the World Cup circuit over the next two months were crucial if he was to make his second Olympics.

His main rivals for the equestrian team, Beatson said, were Wilson and Steele.

The series concludes in Gisborne in January with the winner receiving a trip to Europe.

“The Olympics are always my aim but there are a lot of obstacles to get there,” Beatson said.

Cambridge’s Stephanie Anderson on Shady, won the FEI World Challenge with four clear rounds and no time faults.

Local rider, Gabrielle Harvey from Kimbolton, finished fifth on Westella. Harvey was consistent with one rail down in each round to incur eight faults.

Andrea Crothers was seventh on Darkvader.

The Pony grand prix was won in a jump-off by Taranaki’s Matthew Dickie on Co Calico.

Hawkes Bay’s Greta Porter was second on Chobidong.

She jumped the fastest round but had one rail down.

Bulls’ Emma Booth was third on I’m Ollie.

Sickness sidelined Manawatu secondary school sportsperson of the year Chloe Akers who was unable to compete in the Toyota young rider competition.

Caroline Parkes from Tolaga bay was first with Gisborne’s Tessa Williams, second.

It was an Irish one-two in the feature class at Towerlands, England this evening, with Cian O’Connor taking the honours ahead of Billy Twomey.
Meath-based O’Connor won the event on 10-year-old mare Irish Independent Echo Beach, who has been in fine form this year and played a large part in Ireland’s successful bid to return to the nations Cup Super-League. “She jumped really well - she’s a very consistent mare”, said O’Connor afterwards. “I’m really happy with the win tonight.”

Corkman Billy Twomey took the runner-up spot on Anastasia, fractions of a second ahead of Great Britains’s Paul Barker on Temple Ryefield.
CSI2* TOWERLANDS, ENGLAND Crown Equestrian-HKM Stakes
1) Irish Independent Echo Beach; Cian O’Connor (IRL) Faults 0/0 Time 41.67
2) Anastasia; Billy Twomey (IRL) Faults 0/0 43.54 Time
3) Temple Ryefield; Paul Barker (GBR) Faults 0/0 Time 43.58

Athens Olympic gold medallist Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil has withdrawn from the FEI 5-Star Kuala Lumpur Grand Prix show jumping championships, which begin tomorrow at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Syed Omar: The only Malaysian rider taking part in the FEI 5-Star KL Grand Prix.
Pessoa, who was to be one of the main draw cards of the championships, pulled out because his horse, Baloubet, is unwell.

Pessoa rode Baloubet to second place in the individual competition of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. But the Brazilian was awarded the gold medal the following year after the winner, Cian O’Connor of Ireland, was disqualified for a doping offence.

Asiapromote Ventures, the organisers of the KL GP, were notified of Pessoa’s withdrawal on Monday.

“It’s just unfortunate that Rodrigo has pulled out. Despite his absence, the KL GP is still a high quality event with many of the top 20 riders in the world taking part,” said the organisers’ chief executive officer Peter Winton.

“There will be a total of 23 riders in the KL GP, which is the main event a three-day championships. The riders are coming from top show jumping nations, including Britain, South Korea, Sweden and Switzerland.”

The only Malaysian rider taking part in the event is Syed Omar Syed Abu Bakar Almohdzar.

A total of RM2mil is up for grabs with the winner of the main event taking home RM350,000. Among the top riders taking part in the KL GP, which will be held on Sunday, are Swiss Markus Fuchs, Briton Michael Whitaker, Frenchman Jean Marc Nicolas and Swede Helena Lundback.

Among the other show jumping competitions to be held are the Samsung FEI Nations Cup Trophy, Young Riders, Asian Classic and the FEI World Cup Jumping SEA League qualifying final.

Tickets are priced at RM53 (adult) and RM28 (child) for the lower tier seating. 

The upper tier seating cost RM10 for both adults and children. For more information, visit www.klgrandprix.com or call 03-7955 9995.
 

QABIL Ambak Mahamad Fathil has been forced to skip the FEI 5-Star KL Grand Prix 2007 on Nov 23-25 due to the strict equine quarantine requirements of the Korat Sea Games.

Malaysia’s top showjumping rider will watch from the sidelines as the world’s best riders gather for the fifth edition of the RM2 million KL Grand Prix at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

The 27-year-old Qabil will be denied a final preparatory event prior to the Sea Games on Dec 6-15 as his only horse Parvina is under quarantine for the Sea Games.

Peter Imran Winton, chief executive officer of KL Grand Prix organisers Asiapromote Ventures Sdn Bhd, said Qabil’s absence leaves Syed Omar Syed Abu Bakar Almohdzar as Malaysia’s sole representative in the main feature event.

“Qabil can’t ride this year and won’t start the KL Grand Prix as he only has one horse, which due to the complicated quarantine requirements of the Sea Games, is not available.

“But we do have 36 local riders competing in the three days of activities although, with the exception of Syed Omar, they have not reached the level that would enable them to compete in the main KL Grand Prix event,” he said at a press conference after the event launch by Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop in Seri Kembangan yesterday.

Qabil will make his sixth Sea Games appearance in Pattaya, where equestrian will be held, as he looks to add to his personal tally of five gold medals.

Qabil will defend his individual showjumping gold medal, which he won astride Camelias in Manila two years ago, besides leading his teammates Syed Omar, Quzier Ambak Mahamad Fathil, Alexander Maurer and newcomer Syazna Leena Zulhasnan in their bid to wrestle the team gold medal from the Philippines.

Qabil will have his plate full in Korat as he is also down for the dressage events which also includes Quzandria Nur Mahamad Fathil, Putri Alia Soraya Ahmad Suhaimi and debutant Diani Lee Chin Nunku Nazroff Tunku Moksin, S. Lingesparan, Johari Lee, Amir Zulkefle dan Eric Lee Chin Hon have been listed for the eventing category.

The KL Grand Prix, which offers RM350,000 to the main feature champion, has attracted most of the world’s top-20 riders and will also debut a new event, the Samsung FEI Nations Trophy, which will see teams from Malaysia (two), Hong Kong and South Korea competing.

Other events include the Grand Prix Tour, Grand Prix Speed Tour, Asian Classic, Young Riders Series and the Samsung International Team Trophy.

Reigning European Champion Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum secured a home victory in the fourth leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping series presented by Mercedes-Benz, Allianz and BW Bank in Stuttgart, Germany today with a thrilling jump-off performance from Shutterfly.

And the ladies were in flying form as Ireland’s Jessica Kuerten finished second ahead of Eugenie Angot from France in third, while with Belgium’s Judy-Ann Melchior in fifth and Portugal’s Luciana Diniz in seventh the girls took five of the top ten finishing spots.

There were 14 through to the second-round jump-off over Uliano Vezzani’s track and it was Irishman, Denis Lynch, who led the way with his new ride Lantinus which was formerly ridden by Gregory Wathelet for The Ukraine. Lynch, whose sponsor Thomas Straumann also bought the Daniel Deusser ride Upsilon d’Ocquier from Jan Tops earlier in the season, had two fences down in his path-finding round with the nine year old Lantinus, and Germany’s Thomas Muhlbauer and Asti Spumante did likewise before Brazil’s Alvaro Mirando and AD Picolien Zeidenrust set the first real target when returning with just four faults in 36.19 seconds.

Norway’s Tony Andre Hansen was more than a second slower when leaving two on the floor with Camiro, but Heinrich-Hermann Engemann made only a single error with the 13 year old Aboyeur who broke the beam in 35.59.

It was fellow German, Ludger Beerbaum. who produced the first clear with the eight year old All Inclusive NRW who broke the beam in 37.46 seconds and then, as so often happens, the fault-free rounds just kept on coming. Belgium’s Judy-Ann Melchior left the course intact with some nice jumping from the 10 year old Levisto who broke the beam in 38.15 seconds before the competition suddenly went into over-drive with a spectacular run from Jessica Kuerten and Castle Forbes Libertina.

The Irish partnership are particularly brilliant against the clock and when they crossed the line in 33.74 seconds they were almost four seconds ahead of previous leader Ludger Beerbaum and were now very definitely the ones to beat.

Luciana Diniz was competitive without being crazy when steering the 15 year old Son of Marco home and clear in 36.43, while Frenchman Michel Hecart was faster with Itot du Chateau but his time of 36.09 seconds was still more than two seconds off Kuerten’s pace.

With just four left to go, Germany’s Daniel Deusser and Air Jordan Z stopped the clock in 36.34 seconds to present no danger but, third-last into the ring, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum was on fire when setting off with Shutterfly.

“Jessica had been really fast in the jump-off and I knew it would be difficult to beat her time but I just tried to shorten the turns all the way around and maybe I was a little smoother” said the American-born German rider who will celebrate her 38th birthday next month. And that she did, racing home to stop the clock in 33.34 seconds and relegating Kuerten to runner-up spot.

Eugenie Angot had to follow that and was left with a bit of a dilemma. “The jump-off was really fast and with 14 through it would be easy to jump two rounds and still to go home with nothing” she pointed out afterwards. “I saw Meredith’s round on the screen and my feeling was that I had no chance to catch her and I knew Jessica’s time was good too so I decided to try to slot in behind them” she explained. She could not be sure of third place however until Steve Guerdat and Tresor took their turn. And the Swiss rider had a real shot at it when breaking the beam in 33.80 but leaving one on the floor which left him having to settle for eighth place.

For Meredith this was the perfect result following her disappointing elimination with Checkmate at the previous leg in Verona last weekend. “Yes this felt good - I needed some points and I now I feel I am on my way” she pointed out after taking ownership of the winner’s prize of a brand new “M” class Mercedes-Benz.

Her success today leaves her sharing seventh position with Steve Guerdat on the leaderboard which continues to be headed by Spain’s Rutherford Latham with Sweden’s Helena Lundback and Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in second and third.

And with the European Champion now firmly focused on earning her place at the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Gothenburg next April the series moves up a gear ahead of the next round in Geneva, Switzerland in three weeks time….

RESULT: 1, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger 0/0 33.34; 2, Castle Forbes Libertina (Jessica Kuerten) Irl 0/0 33.74; 3, Ilostra Dark (Eugenie Angot) 0/0 35.67; 4, Itot du Chateau (Michel Hecart) Fra 0/0 36.09; 5, Son of Marco (Luciana Diniz) Por 0/0 36.53; 6, All Inclusive KRW (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger 0/0 37.46; 7, Levisto Z (Judy-Ann Melchior) Bel 0/0 38.15; 8, Tresor V (Steve Guerdat) Sui 0/4 33.80; 9, Aboyeur W (Heinrich-Hermann Engemann) Ger 0/4 35.59; 10, AD Picolien Zeidenrust (Alvaro Miranda) Bra 0/4 36.19; 11, Air Jordan Z (Daniel Deusser) Ger 0/4 36.34; 12, Lantinus (Denis Lynch) 0/8 36.60; 13, Asti Apumante (Thomas Muhlbauer) Ger 0/8 36.87; 14, Camiro (Tony Andre Hansen) Nor 0/8 37.71; 15, Oki Doki (Albert Zoer) Ned 4/69.15; 16, Nairobi (Leon Thijssen) ned 4/69.26; 17, Madick (Helena Lundback) Swe 4/70.12; 18, Peppermill (John Whitaker) GBR 4/70.21; 19, Isovlas Socrates (Edwina Alexander) Aus 4/70.37; 20, Al Kaheel Spender S (Jos Lansink) Bel 4/71.59; 21, Da Zara Porto Rico (Piergiorgio Bucci) ita 4/71.72; 22, Ideo du Thot (Beat Mandli) Sui 4/71.78; 23, Gestion Priamus Z (Vincent Voorn) Ned 4/71.94; 24, Coster (Christian Ahlmann) Ger 4/72.56; 25, Isaac (Royne Zetterman) Swe 4/72.77; 26, Leonardo B (Thomas Voss) Ger 4/72.85; 27, Quintero la Silla (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 4/73.39; 28, Butterfly Flip (Malin Baryard-Johnsson) Swe 8/73.39; 29, Grim St Clair (Thomas Velin) Den 8/69.39; 30, Clausen (Holger Wulschner) Ger 8/70.16; 31, Kanthaka de Petra (Julien Epaillard) Fra 8/70.40; 32, Cornet Obolensky (Marco Kutscher) Ger 8/70.45; 33, Lord Luis (Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst) Ger 8/70.89; 34, Callie Cool (Carsten-Otto Nagel) Ger 8/70.98; 35, Conally (Markus Renzel) Ger 8/71.30; 36, Noltes Kuchengirl (Marcus Ehning) Ger 8/71.97; 37, Calandro (Sebastian Numminen) Fin 8/75.43; 38, Pherna (Julia Kayser) Aut 16/88.19; Equal 39, Obelix (Taizo Sugitani) Jpn, Chika’s Way (Janne-Friederike Meyer) Ger Retired.

ROLEX FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING 2007/2008 - WESTERN EUROPEAN LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 4 IN STUTTGART:

1. Rutherford Latham - 48
2. Helena Lundback - 33
3. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson - 32
4. Heinrich-Hermann Engemann - 23
5. Albert Zoer - 22
6. Piet Raymakers Snr. - 21
7. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Steve Guerdat - 20
9. William Whitaker - 19
10. Juan Carlos Garcia - 18
11. Daniel Deusser - 18
12. Marco Kutscher, Jessica Kuerten - 17
14. Marcus Fuchs - 16
15. Eugenie Angot - 15
16. Piet Raymakers Jnr. - 15

A third-place finish in the Equita Masters class at the weekend’s five-star show in Lyon netted Ireland’s Jessica Kürten €17,000 for her efforts with Castle Forbes Libertina.

Only five clears were recorded in the first round of Saturday evening’s 1.65m event, with Kürten and Lady Georgina Forbes’s Westfalian mare being one of six combinations with four faults to their credit following their initial assault on the course.

In round two, the Cullybackey rider recorded a brilliant clear on the 11-year-old bay, but their time of 38.57 was bettered by The Netherlands’ Albert Zoer on Oko Doki (38.44) while Belgium’s Kristof Clereen slotted into second place by virtue of two clears on Sea Coast Silvana (38.70)

The highlight of yesterday afternoon’s action at the Champions of the Year Show in the Kill International Equestrian Centre was Cian O’Connor’s win in the Cannon Kirk Homes Puissance on his grey gelding Casper. In the fifth round, the Meath-based rider and his 15-year-old partner were the only one of the three remaining combinations to clear the wall at 2.05m.

Although he failed to finish in the first six in the evening’s Grand Prix, Greg Broderick won the Bloxham Stockbrokers autumn league. The Kill winner was Marion Hughes on the Cavalier Royale gelding Heritage Transmission.

One of my favourites exercises is cavaletti. There are so many uses and they are a valuable learning tool for all horses. Any inattentivness is fixed smartly. Some horses are worried about them and try to jump over two or three, all at once which can be a tad spectacular. Slow and steady wins the race on this one - start walking over 1 - then 2 and trot 1 then 2 then 3 - the distance must suit the horse. I put the cavaletti at 1.4 metres apart, and then shuffle around - out or in to suit the natural stride.

I ride in two point seat - light three point or rising trot - never sitting especially on a young horse. Sitting makes them go hollow.

I am fussy about the horse maintaining the shape - the frame of the horse is very important. I ride the horse as ‘on the bit’ as his training allows. I think this is very important. You know most horses go over or approach the cavaletti the same way they canter over jumps. If a horse has a tendancy to poke his nose out cantering to jumps - you can bet over the cavaletti will be the same. Rushing, drifting out, any of the problems that show up over fences can be corrected in your cavaletti work.

With luck comes progress - but don’t be too ambitious, no more than four to six - yes you can do more one day but not right now. But don’t let them turn into trip/stumble/scatter poles - because then you have one very tense horse about poles and cavaletti. Most horses cope well when the cavaletti is just above the ground but the next height is much more difficult. Some horses cope, some do not. So I just keep the cavaletti low. Many Thoroughbred types are watchful and over jump these little poles anyway.

Another advantage of this type of work is that the rider is able to practise upper body position, rein release and leg positions at the same time.

Concentrate on only one part of the body at a time. Think rein release and repeat as many times as you like. Then try - heels down - the mind cannot cope with four different commands at once. “heels down” “hands still” “eyes ahead” and “hey - don’t let your horse run away”. Sound familiar ? Try one thing at a time.

You can use your cavaletti every day if you wish, or every time you ride schooling type work.

Have fun!!!

The  exercise: Trot poles to a cross rail with a rail behind it. There will be four trot poles, and they will be the same distance as you would normally have cavaletti or any other trotting pole distance, which is 1.20m to 1.40m for the longer striding horse. The distance between the last pole and the jump is about 2.7m and that doesn’t seem to vary much, unless your horse has an extremely big stride.

If you feel that the horse has to hop and finds it quite difficult, the horse is telling you he is not very comfortable, so make it a little longer. The cross keeps the horse in the middle, and the rail at the back just makes for a little bit more of a jump on the end. You can start most green horses with a cross, and put the rail behind it once they get the hang of it.

Method: You will need to trot your horse through the rails a couple of times to feel whether the horse is comfortable. This is an exercise which requires the horse to be going quite actively forward into your hand, because with the jump at the end of the poles, if the horse’s trot doesn’t have enough impulsion they will find that they are not making the distance between the poles and the idea of the exercise is to really work them through the poles; the jump on the end is something to focus on as well, for both rider and horse.

What the four poles do is teach the horse to set itself, just like cavaletti and with the jump on the end, any horse that wants to rush or evade in some way,will find it a lot harder. Instead of the horse just running through the poles, they learn to set themselves and measure the distances more carefully.

Rider’s Position: The rider’s position through all this can be a rising trot, or as I prefer, what we call a crutch three point position, which is a very light seat but sitting; forward, but sitting. I like this better because it really puts the emphasis on the rider’s lower leg, balancing so that they don’t hang onto the horse’s mouth too much.

Problems and how to solve them: Sometimes when you start, you’ll find that your horse goes through well some of the time and sometimes he doesn’t, that’s only to be expected until he gets the hang of it. However if the horse is going fast and is trying to skip through the poles for no good reason, then the idea is to put the jump up a bit more slowly, always within the horse’s comfort zone, because when the horse starts to get a bit worried he will try and get too fast through the poles.

It is also difficult for the rider when the jump gets higher to stay steady. That’s the hard part. That’s what we have to practice, keeping very steady through the poles. Some horses naturally don’t like it. Some horses find the trotting thing hard when the jump starts to get up a bit and I’m talking about one metre, then they start to get a bit anxious. So then, you just bring the fence down until they become comfortable again and then you just stay with that height until they really learn the lesson well. It might take three sessions, it might take six sessions, some horses will do it well in one session.

Results: This exercise teaches the horse to remain steady in front of a fence. It reminds the rider how to ride forward into the hand, into the contact. It’s also an exercise to make the horse pick up its feet and focus on the fence. There are two things to focus on, the poles and the jump.

It’s good position practice for the rider, they can practise their rein release over the jump. It’s a very old European style exercise and I think that most of these sort of exercises are very useful.

They are in most of the top training books and videos, but we tend to slide over them because they are what we might consider to be old fashioned but horses are still horses. This exercise is the next step after cavaletti. I really like cavaletti and this is another step on the day that you don’t want to do a lot of jumping but you want to do something, this a nice little exercise to play around with, and you can build the fence at the end, as high as you like.

It has a very good effect. It really works the horse, really makes them use their power out of the trot, because the four poles keep the horse steady as opposed to one. They can sort of run beside or over one pole and make a bid at the fence still, and canter and do all the wrong things over one pole; the four poles keep them steady. I use a cross rail with a rail behind it to make it that little bit harder. I think it is a very essential part of your training, as jumpers have to be ‘pole literate!’