Hunterdon rider is highest placed American at World Endurance Championship

August 27 2012
By Lillian Shupe/Hunterdon County Democrat

NEWMARKET, UNITED KINGDOM — Margaret “Meg” Sleeper, who was a last-minute substitution, was the highest placed American at the Longines FEI World Endurance Championship on Saturday, Aug. 25.

The day started out pleasant at Euston Park, but throughout the day the weather deteriorated into heavy downpours and severe thunderstorms. Due to the extreme weather, officials had to call the race off for the safety of the horses and riders. In an unusual finish to an endurance race, several riders were placed based on the position they were in at the time that the race was called, but the majority of the riders finished the sixth and final loop.

Sleeper finished 11th but since she was riding as an individual, her score did not count toward the team score. The team finished fourth.

Sleeper and Syrocco Reveille had a ride time of 07:49:11, averaging 20.46 kph...

Read more here:
http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2012/08/hunterdon_rider_is_highest_pla.html

Saturday in the UK - Heather Reynolds

Saturday, 18 August 2012

Today we got to the barn for our morning cold trot outs and all the horses were examined. More people have arrived so the group is growing.

After trot outs we barefooted Marvel and then put he and Kutt on the walker. There was a group meeting and then we did chores like cleaning stalls etc. We are also all taking shifts now watching the barn, we had the 10-12 slot. I stayed and watched the barn while Jeremy went for a run. Holly went with a group of crew to see the crew points.

When Jeremy returned we glued on Marvel's race boots. They are the new awesome Easyboot Glue On pattern with the great break over. He seemed happy with his cool new kicks on.

We went to the cottage to have lunch and then hung out for a bit. We needed to be back to the barn by 4pm for our afternoon trot outs. As Holly and I hung out on the couch I fell asleep. We woke up and headed back to the barn around 3:15. All seven horses were trotted at 4.

The whole group of people, crew, riders and staff, for the USA contingent are really supportive, helpful and amazing this year! I have never seen a more cohesive group involved in one of these International events. I credit this largely to Emmett's leadership skills and the effort he has put into this to make everyone comfortable not only physically but mentally as well...

Read more here:
http://reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/407/saturday

First Few Days in London - Heather Reynolds

Friday, 17 August 2012

Above is a castle on loop one of the trail and we have also been riding past it in training.

Becky, Judith and I flew out of LAX on Tuesday, the 14th. It was very uneventful. Earlier in the day I got the best news, our horses had arrived at the barn in England a day sooner than scheduled. Jeremy and the horses flew to Luxemburg and instead of staying all day Tuesday and spending the night to drive on Wed, they just landed and drove.

We arrived on the 15th around noon at the Heathrow airport. My sister, Holly, landed before us so she was there waiting for us. After getting our luggage we headed for the rental car office. Judith saved me big time when she overheard that I was about to pay for the rental insurance. She asked me if my credit card company covers that for me. I had not ever checked into this or known about this feature, it turns out that I did have coverage thru my AMEX! That saved me 35 pounds a day, the current exchange is 1.558 USD to 1 pound. That would have been pricey!

After our keys were given to us we took our lives in our sleep deprived hands and got into our cars where the driver sits on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road and pulled out of the airport onto real roads...

Read more here:
http://reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/406/first_few_days_in_london

Impressive U.S World Endurance Squad

August 8 2012

by Genie Stewart-Spears

Six horse and rider combinations will represent the U.S. in the 2012 FEI World Endurance Championship on August 25 at Euston Park, in Great Britain. The selection process has been tedious and difficult, but the final choice by Chef d’Equipe Emmett Ross is impressive:

John Crandell III - Virginia - Heraldic (*Statistic x Mi Hearts Desire) - 14 - John Jr. and Linda Crandell

Becky Hart - California - No Repeat (*Wiking x Justonetime) - 10 - Becky Hart

Valerie Kanavy - Virginia - Reach For The Gold (Tashkent x CJ Halynova) - 9 - Larry and Valerie Kanavy

Nicki Meuten, DVM - North Carolina - Not Tonight (MC Zoulou x FF Carrera) - 10 - Don and Nicki Meuten

Heather Reynolds - California - Riverwatch (Baywatch V x Dana Cheyenne) - 8 - Reynolds and Skip Lightfoot

Jeremy Reynolds - California - A Kutt Above (Patriot Missle x Sahibrs Diamond) - 11 - Reynolds and Skip Lightfoot

The six riders have a combined mileage of 81,470 miles or 131,113 kilometers in competition (this does not include international competitions). Between five of the six riders, they have five World championship and five National championship titles, eight Western States Tevis Cup wins, along with several Old Dominion wins...

Read more here:
http://www.arabianhorseworld.com/live/breaking_news/2012/08/us-endurance-squad/

Pagosa veterinarian serves with U.S. endurance riding team

By Sophie Kennedy
SUN Intern
Thursday, August 16, 2012

Pagosa veterinarian Dr. Dwight Hooton of Elk Park Animal Hospital flew to the United Kingdom Wednesday, Aug. 15, where he will serve as team vet for the USA team at the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships at Euston Park, near Newmarket, Suffolk, UK, beginning today.

The main event, which takes place Saturday, Aug. 25, is a 100-mile race that must be completed within 18 hours. It is the closest competition to the Olympics in endurance horse riding. If and, as Hooton says, when, endurance riding becomes an Olympic sport, the World Endurance Championships would be the qualifying race.

Hooton, who has been practicing in Pagosa Springs for the last four years, will be responsible for the medical care of the U.S. team’s seven horses, six of which will compete among 160 horses from all seven continents.

Hooton, who is also the team’s acupuncturist, will begin daily evaluations of the team’s horses as soon as he arrives and will continue to do so up to the day of the race. Seven and one-half to eight hours later, when the top horse/rider teams begin to cross the finish line, Hooton will resume evaluations and apply recovery treatment to the horses before they return to the United States.

This year, Hooton’s role is especially important as this is the first time in 14 years that the United States team is in a position to bring home a team medal...

Read more here:
http://www.pagosasun.com/archives/2012/08August/081612/odhooton.html

WEC Bound - Heather Reynolds

by Heather Reynolds
Monday, 13 August 2012

Picture above is of the actual container the 3 horses are loaded into before being put on the plane. That is disinfectant in the pic as well.

After Tevis, on Sunday morning just after the Haggin Cup judging, Jeremy and I loaded up Cleo and Stirgess and headed back to Lake Tahoe. We drove 2+ hours East, unloaded and cared for Stirgess and Cleo and then loaded up Kutt, Marvel and Kingley and headed West.

6 hours of heading West later, around 8 pm we arrived in San Jose at our pasture. Kingley got to go out but Kutt and Marvel were offered a drink and saddled up. We couldn't afford to not ride them as we had an 18 mile beach ride scheduled for 7:30 am Monday morning (low tide) and we did not want a tie up. As we cantered along in the dark, I smiled and laughed as I told Jeremy that I bet no one else who rode Tevis the day before was galloping in the dark on Sunday night!

The beach ride went really well on Monday and Wed. Becky and Pete joined us too. Friday we rode once more and then all throughout the week our amazing body worker, Dixie Snyder worked on us and the horses multiple times. Very awesome.

The horses were scheduled to fly on Tuesday. On Friday we were told that it would be a few days delayed! After a lot of back and forth, the horses needed to be at the airport earlier than the original plan. They needed to be at Jetpets at LAX at 3 pm on Sunday. We carpooled and had all three horses in Becky and Judith's rig by 8 am and we were headed South...

Read more here:
http://www.reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/405/wec_bound

USEF Names Squad and Alternates for U.S. Endurance Team

AUTHOR/ADMINISTRATOR: USEF Communications Department

Lexington, KY - Following the approval of the USEF High Performance Working Group and the USEF Executive Committee, the squad and alternates for the U.S. Endurance Team for the 2012 World Endurance Championship is as follows.

Squad (In Alphabetical Order)

John Crandell III on John Crandell Jr's Heraldic
Becky Hart on her own No Repeat
Valerie Kanavy on her own Reach For The Gold
Nicki Meuten on her own Not Tonight
Heather Reynolds on her own and Jeremy Reynolds' Riverwatch
Jeremy Reynolds on his own and Heather Reynolds' A Kutt Above

Alternates in Ranked Order

1. Margaret Sleeper on her own Syrocco Reveille
2. Melody Blittersdorf on her own Synthetic
3. Kim Tilson Orr on Nicki Meuten's FYF Dutch
4. Jan Worthington on her own Golden Lightening
5. Ellen Olson on Jeremy Olson's SA Belshazzar
6. Cody Boysen on Roxi Welling's Viktory Banner
7. Jennifer Stevens on Meg Sleeper's Syrocco Cadence
8. Kelsey Kimbler on Kirsten Kimbler's Cody Canuck

The four athlete/horse combinations comprising the team and two combinations competing as individuals will travel to England to compete in the 2012 World Endurance Championship.

Chef d'Equipe Emmett Ross commented: "As Chef I am very pleased with our choices--much went into the decision and it was extremely difficult to rank a great group.  Helping in the selection were three selectors, Dr Dwight Hooton ( team Vet), and myself.  The three selectors were Carol Giles, Linda Howard and Susan Kasemeyer.

The travelling squad is made up of multiple time World Champion awards---5 times individual gold medal winners  between Becky Hart and Val Kanavy.  Multiple times Tevis Cup winners---John Crandell and Jeremy Reynolds.  Multiple time Tevis horse winners---Heraldic and Riverwatch.  And just a great group of strong competitors committed to focus on a team result.

The Organizing Committee has invited countries to have 6 starting horses---2 individuals and 4 team members.  I plan for the horses to travel from LA and New Jersey9 # each0 on or before August 13.  It is anticipated that there will 40 countries and 160 horses starting.

Our team veterinarian, Dr Dwight Hooton, is preparing to have the horses travel as free of stress as possible.  We will be stabled in the UK merely 15 minutes from the main venue in Thetford, England and adjacent to two loops of the trail."

Euston Park Bound

Soundness and Fitness Trials are underway around the country for the USA WEC Team hopefuls. The first trial took place in Prescott, Arizona on June 2; following will be Wharton State Park, New Jersey on June 16, Fort Ord, California on June 22, and Brushy Creek State Rec Area, Iowa, on June 29.

Attending each trial will be US Chef d'Equipe Emmett Ross, two Vet Panel veterinarians, and at least one selector.

Horses will go through a pre-trial inspection, ride a total of 60 kilometers at assigned speeds (40 km followed by a 30 minute hold, a final loop of 20 km and a final vet check), then a post-trial inspection. "This is not a race or competition amongst us," said Ross, "[but] how the horses' current condition appears to be."

The goal is to have the horses built up to be peaked just before the team boards the plane for England on August 12/13. "Holding a real peak is difficult to do any longer than about 2 weeks - there is a very fine line," he said. The speed of the trials are not designed to place the horses under a lot of stress, but rather to provide a physical effort upon which to base a final evaluation.

After the trials are complete, Ross will announce the final selection process and announcement dates for the 12 nominated horse/rider pairs and the 6 on the traveling squad.

Soundness/Fitness Evaluation for the World Championship - Reynolds Racing Blog

by Heather Reynolds
3 June 2012

On Thursday Jeremy and I loaded up Kutt and Marvel to make the trip to Prescott, Arizona. We would be being hosted by the Rashid Family at Kytiri Ranch. The drive took 8 hours. The first part of the drive was scenic, then it turned to desert and then rock and then in Flagstaff it was forrest and then back to desert.

Prescott is at about 5000+ elevation. It was very hot out so we decided to leave Durango at 2 pm. We arrived in Prescott around 10pm. Terri was there with a smile on as well as her husband Rick. After our horses were settled in a nice BIG paddock we were taken to our sleeping quarters. We fell right asleep.

Friday morning we got up and went for a ride with Terri on the trail that we would be using as our evaluation trail. (Terri was supposed to do the trial with us but disappointingly, at the last minute her horse came up sore and it was blocked to the foot so it was just really bad timing.) It was a 3.1 mile out and then turn around and head back. It was a right handed fish-hook out, midway you went by a windmill then continued to a bush, looped around the bush to the trail you were just on and go back to the windmill and hook left to the start point. We were going to do this for 38 miles. The trail had nice footing and we chased some gazelle which was fun.

When we were done with the ride it was already very warm. Arizona has a really dry heat. We loaded up the horses and went to the local deli to pick up sandwiches for Terri's family and ourselves.

After we drove to the ranch we all had lunch and then Jeremy and I saddled up Marvel and Kutt to do the track that is on the property for a little stretch ride...

Read more here:
http://reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/400/soundness_fitness_evaluation_for_the_world_championship

Application of Intent and Attachments:

Riders wishing to be considered for the Team must submit an application of intent, appropriate fee and required attachments by March 16, 2012. Applications and required documents may be submitted up until March 23, 2012, but will require a late fee. No applications will be accepted after March 23, 2012.

Complete 2012 FEI World Championship Endurance Team Application Packet

Submit application payment here

February 27, 2012

Chef Email #2
2012 FEI WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP

Euston Park, England—August 25, 2012

Hello everyone, I hope your preparations continue on target. Much preparation by some highly qualified people has gone into making the March 31 trial race a success for all. The USEF Director of Endurance, Vonita Bowers and her very able assistant, Leah Oliveto, are hard at work with our local coordinators Dr. Dennis Seymour and Mrs. Mary Ellen Seymour along with Khristin Seymour and Ryan Norworthy to ensure there will be superb chance for you to have great race. Six horse/rider combinations will ultimately be selected from the top 20 finishers to participate in the Championship with the GOAL for the USA to once again stand on the podium at the World Championship level, a feat which has not been accomplished in the last fourteen years. Several other individuals as event managers, officials and veterinarians will also assist in your endeavors: Sue Phillips, Mark Dial, Jane Huff, Fred Cluskey, and Jan Stevens. Dr. Dwight Hooton (team vet) will be joined by Dr. Dennis Seymour, Dr. Duncan Peters, Dr. Ann Stuart, Dr. Ken Marcella, and Dr. Duane Barnett. Dr. Anne Christopherson is your treatment vet. Come prepared and enjoy the ride to the podium.

Note: The USEF High Performance Endurance Committee has just nominated the three selectors for the WEC—their nomination needs final USEF approval which is normally considered certain. I am happy to welcome Carol Giles, Linda Howard and Susan Kasemeyer on board for our podium express. They were chosen from a group of other highly qualified candidates.

TRAIL (Maps detailed and produced by Ben Koostra)

The trail maps are posted on the web page which Leah will send out separately. I have attempted to replicate the Euston Park course in distance and general challenges. The distances are reasonable in sequence and distance and the terrain is flat. There will be very few of what I describe as elevation gains, 50 foot gains at the most over 1/4 - 1/2 mile distance (4 times). There will be only one road crossing (Hwy 3417) unlike in Euston Park, but there could some soft areas due to wet ground. You will be asked to cross safe wooden bridges about 30-40 feet long each and 20 feet wide—of course, I recommend caution and then pick up your pace. There are 4 such bridges on loops 1 and 2 and you do them twice. There will be two creek crossings done several times, one is a small 10 foot wide creek and the other somewhat larger which will be made safe for the race. Overall the footing has a variety, nicely groomed two track dirt roads with some grass, pastures trails in good shape, and some small gravel size two track roads you will engage several times for a total of about 4-5 km of gravel—small pebbles. Loop lengths: 36.2, 33.1, 27.6, 19.6, 23.9, and 19.6 in Kilometers. PLEASE start thinking and using km as that is what the race will be in and how we all need to think. Euston Park loops at the trial last summer were 38, 29, 30, 20, 23, 20, not certain these will the exact lengths and sequence for the WEC, but I am sure they will be very similar.

Overall Trail Assessment—Scale 1-10 (as always weather could be a change factor). Flat – 9, Elevation (lack of) – 9.5, Speed factor – 8.5, Footing – 8.5.

ACCOMODATIONS and CAMPSITE

Accommodations: The CANDLEWOOD SUITES MOTEL which is within 1 mile walking distance of the campsite has extended a nice offer. Just call the manager Nancy Patel during the day (cst) at (903) 572.4600 and let her know you are asking for Priefert Race rate, or email her in the evening at nancypatel1015@gmail.com. The motel is new and has many conveniences, but no breakfast. However, all the rooms have full kitchenettes, plus they all have wireless service and an office computer room. Some of the other better known motel chains are in Mt Pleasant and only 4.5 miles from race sight at the Priefert Ranch Equipment plant, but have not extended preferential rates. Motel rates in general are not high in Mt Pleasant. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO VETS AND OFFICIALS, THEIR RESERVATIONS ARE BEING HANDLED BY USEF.

Campsite: is at the Priefert Ranch Equipment plant location. Camping is only allowed where indicated on the maps which you should receive with your trail maps. Camping is primitive; no hook ups of any sort, water for horses will be made available. The campsite is literally 1 mile from the Candlewood Suites Motel.

Mt Pleasant conveniences are numerous. As stated, within one mile of the camp sight and race sight are several well-known retail and restaurant chains, Chile’s is 50 feet from Candlewood, Wal-Mart is ½ mile from Candlewood (not endorsing Wal-Mart just giving you facts ) plus many others including the Home Depot also ½ mile from Candlewood .

Directions: Google Mt Pleasant for exact directions, 2630 South Jefferson Ave, Mount Pleasant, Texas, 75456. From the West drive about 2 ½ hours eastward on I-30 from Dallas and from the East drive about 1 ½ hours on I-20 from Shreveport, LA, off at Longview, TX towards Dangerfield, TX and then to Mt Pleasant.

Note: Titus County is a dry county except you can obtain beer and wine in most large restaurants in Mt. Pleasant, no package goods store.

Flight Options: Dallas (DWF), Shreveport, LA, and some computer flights into Tyler, TX. Also there is a large private airport for those flying in on private aircraft.

VOLUNTEERS

There is a Volunteer signup sheet on the web page. Please encourage anyone who wants to come and help to sign up. Thank you.

January 3, 2012

World Endurance Championship
Euston Park, England, 25 August 2012

Happy New Year to you all and trust you spent the Holidays with family and friends relaxing, and are well into planning your training efforts and preparation for the USA team trial on March 31, 2012 in Mt Pleasant, Texas in your effort to make the team.

There will be six rider/horse combinations invited by the Organizing Committee in England under FEI Rules/ Regulations to compete for individual and team medals at the WEC. On or about 30-45 days prior to August 25 we will be required to submit our Nominated Entries – for this event we can nominate up to twice the number of invited entries – thus 12 athlete/horse combinations. Then at some point prior to leaving for the event on or about August 11, we will choose 6 of the 12 nominated combinations (as you know there can be no changes to the Nominated Entries once submitted by a NF) to represent our team – thus becoming our Definite Entries which must be submitted at least four days prior to event commencing—an event usually commences 2 hours before the 1 st inspection (trot up) the day before start of race.

Within 2-3 weeks there will a USEF supported and approved procedure for the Team Selection, including the trial event outlining the requirements to make the team – these procedures will by necessity be required to include certain policy and standard USEF rules applied to all disciplines. But the bottom line to make the nominated list of 12 will be the best athlete/horse combinations which are SOUND – soundness will be a basic underlying element. So keep training and preparing for the 160 km one day March 31 trial event.

I have spoken to several of you over the past month regarding the team trial event on March 31. Out of these discussions there is a one element that is universally asked which I want to clarify. “Must I be one of the top 6 finishers at the 160 km trail to make the team” – the answer is no. The top 20 or so finishers will be in the hunt to make the 12 nominated combinations. However, the WEC is a race and speed (with soundness) is obviously essential. There will be several other criteria clearly listed when the final procedures are published soon that we will use in our evaluation to determine who makes the nominated 12. But your finishing position at the trail will be a very significant element in the evaluation process along with soundness. When the list of the criteria, six or so, is published, they will be listed by order of importance – finishing position at the trail being list as # 1.

Other criteria that will probably be considered are a rider’s physical condition, rider’s history, horse’s history, ability work as a team member, etc.

As Chef, I am keenly interested in how you and crew handle your horse in a competitive environment. Assuming the footing on the day of the trial event is acceptable; my desire would be to see each loop ridden and horse vetted at 18.5 km/hr to 18.8 km/hr for the first 4 loops. Then ride (manage) the last two loops in negative splits—that is, in 19 km/hr for the 5 th and 19.5 km/hr the last loop. If many of you do this and are sound, we will be in a great position to take a very competitive team to England and score very well – our goal is simple, win a team medal. This goal might sound repetitive, trite and very obvious, but I am convinced if we work well together we can achieve the goal— it won’t be easy but extremely feasible.

There will be other elements to the procedures which some of you surely have questions about, and which are being worked out. One such element is can one competitor have more than one horse in the event with another FEI qualified rider – the answer is yes, but how they fit into the group and when decisions must be made to withdraw the extra rider from contention if the principal rider wants to be considered on its other horse, etc, etc. So please keep getting ready and this question and others will be addressed.

Trial Race

I am planning to make the loop lengths the same as they are planned for in Euston Park. The footing in Mt Pleasant trail will mostly (85%) on double track dirt roads and overall footing will be firm – not much soft or real hard packed trail and very few short rocky portions, maximum of 1 mile total. Course will be marked accurately. Loop lengths will be 38, 29, 30, 20, 23, 20 km long. Loops 4 and 6 repeat.

Ride safe and train smart, and lets all pull for a great race this coming August.

Communication

You are welcome to call me anytime between 7 am- 9 pm ct. (979 203 9488) Texting is good as well. Please remember to text your name as I might not yet have you listed in my contacts.

Please use my gmail account for email usachefemmett@gmail.com

Voice mail—not so reliable – it fills up so quickly I can’t stay up with it.

Thank You,

Emmett Ross