GET YOUR HORSE FIX: Equestrian events in the Roanoke region this weekend (May 30-31)

VIRGINIA HORSE CENTER

  • There’s a wide variety of events at the horse center this weekend. Barrel racing will be at its center in the Coliseum for the Virginia Barrel Horse Classic on Thursday through Sunday. The show includes a $10,000 slot class in which only 25 slots will be sold. The other classes also include added money purses.
  • Dressage with a View will also be at the center on Saturday. Divisions are up through Second Level and Western Dressage classes are also offered. Gabby Hooten will judge.
  • For open show competitors, the horse center will host the Hear the Beat Horse Show on Sunday. The show will be held in Wiley and Northern arenas. The show includes Hunter, Western, Pleasure and Game classes and is sanctioned by the Blue Ridge Horse Force.

CLINICS/DEMONSTRATIONS

OTHER EVENTS

LOOK AHEAD

Like Roanoke Equestrian on Facebook for continued updates on horse shows in the area. Have a show coming up? Contact us at Roanoke.Equestrian@gmail.com to add it to our calendar.

GET YOUR HORSE FIX: Equestrian events in the Roanoke area Memorial Day weekend

Virginia Horse Center photo

VIRGINIA HORSE CENTER

  • The center will be hosting the Virginia Horse Trials, an international three-day event featuring riders from the United States, Canada and Europe including Olympic medalists and U.S. Equestrian Team members competing in dressage, cross-country and show jumping.  Admission and parking are free, and dogs and children are welcome, but please keep your dogs on a leash. Competition begins Friday at 9 a.m. and continues through Sunday. Three top eventing riders selected for the 2015 Pan American Games, Phillip Dutton, Lauren Kieffer and Marilyn Little, will compete. Team alternates Will Faudree and Michael Pollard are also scheduled to ride. Dutton is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a former winner of the renowned Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event.
  • The House Mountain Horse Show will be held Saturday and Sunday in the East Complex at the center. This hunter show has classes both over fences and on the flat. It will be judged by Stephen Bickers of Free Union, Virginia.

OPEN SHOWS

The New River Valley Horse Show will be held Thursday through Saturday at the New River Valley Fairgrounds in Dublin, Virginia. This show charges an admission of $5, children 12 and under are free with an adult. Friday evening is spectator appreciation night and adult tickets are $2. Each evening a full slate of classes will be offered for gaited horses, while classes open to all breeds will be offered Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. Friday evening will also offer speed classes. This show is a qualifier for the Kentucky State Fair and is Blue Ridge Horse Force sanctioned as well. Allison Deardorff, of Molalla, Oregon, is the Saddlebred judge. Ashley Owens, of Blacksburg, Virginia, will judge the hunters, western and racking.

LECTURES/CLINICS

  • Diet and Hoof Health – It Matters! Join a lively discussion of how diet is important for healthy hooves on Saturday 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Floyd Library Community Room.

ONLINE

LOOK AHEAD

Like Roanoke Equestrian on Facebook for continued updates on horse shows in the area. Have a show coming up? Contact us at Roanoke.Equestrian@gmail.com to add it to our calendar.

    Relive college and ride in the IHSA Alumni Tournament of Champions

    Photo via Facebook

    Who hasn’t wanted to relive the glory days of college? For college equestrians, that often included piling into vans or buses and traveling to horse shows several hours away, drawing a horse for your class, carefully watching it being ridden by whoever drew it before you and trying to figure out how you would ride it better when your class came along. There was no warm-up before you rode into the arena. All you had was whatever skills you brought with you to quickly figure out and effectively ride new mounts.

    All those horses made all of us who were lucky enough to be part of a collegiate equestrian team better riders. One day you’d be on a 15-hand quarter horse who was maybe a bit lazy, the next you’d be up on a 17-hand Warmblood whose giant strides ate up the ground between fences, and the next time you’d be on a hot, quick Thoroughbred who wanted to buck and play between the fences. 

    The IHSA was a big part of many college equestrians’ lives. For some it was an introduction to horse shows while for others it was a continuation of their youth years in the show arena. IHSA truly had a class and a division for everyone who wanted to ride. On June 14, you can relive those equestrian team days at the Alumni Tournament of Champions at St. Timothy’s School in Stevenson, Maryland (a little over 4-hour drive from Roanoke). But if you want to ride in the tournament you have to act fast. Entries close on June 1 and some divisions are already close to filling up.

    The tournament, meant to offer an alternative to the IHSA Nationals, is open to all past and present IHSA alumni riders and includes both Hunt Seat and Western divisions. You can register online here. You do not have to be an active alumni rider. A reunion division has been created for former IHSA riders who have not been actively showing as an alumni throughout the season.

    If you’re like me and your IHSA glory days were a few more years ago than you like to think about, don’t forget to pack some Icy Hot in with your breeches and hunt coat.

    Like Roanoke Equestrian on Facebook to get the latest blog updates and photos.

    Cross View Horse Show series kicks off at Green Hill

    The Cross View Horse Show series kicked off last weekend with their Rock & Roll two-day horse show. The weather couldn’t have been better and the turnout was good, particularly in the youth classes, which on Sunday saw numbers routinely around 12 participants in the pleasure classes.

    The atmosphere at the schooling show was light and fun. The announcer often joked with the participants and riders seemed relaxed both in and out of the arena.

    Cross View will hold two more shows this season. The next will be June 27-28 at Green Hill Equestrian Center in Salem, Virginia. These are photos from Sunday afternoon’s open horse show classes.

    Follow Roanoke Equestrian on Facebook to get the latest blog updates and photos.

    Lexington Spring Encore AA Horse Show Photos

    Lauren Rockwell on True Colors at the Lexington Spring Encore Horse Show on May 2, 2015.

    The Lexington Spring Encore AA Horse Show had more than just a Grand Prix on Saturday night. There were hunter classes throughout the show that ran for several days at the Virginia Horse Center at the beginning of May. Working hunters of various levels could be found jumping courses in several arenas Saturday afternoon a few hours before the Grand Prix. Here are some photos from the grounds that day.

    Lauren Rockwell on True Colors at the Lexington Spring Encore Horse Show on May 2, 2015.

    Jacqueline Watts riding Color Up at the Lexington Spring Encore on May 2, 2015.

    Holleigh Arledge riding Donner Vogel at the Lexington Spring Encore on May 2, 2015.

    GET YOUR HORSE FIX: Equestrian events in the Roanoke area this weekend (May 16-17)

    OPEN SHOWS

    • Cross View Horse Show Series  kicks off this weekend at Green Hill Equestrian Center, Salem, Va. With the theme of “Rock & Roll,” the two-day show will feature hunter/jumper classes on Saturday. Liz Hinds will judge. Sunday will be the open show with a variety of classes for English, Western, Gaited, Trail, Ranch Riding, Trail, Mini and Game classes. Danielle Toms will judge on Sunday. Both shows are Blue Ridge Horse Force sanctioned. Find the Prize List for both days here.

    VIRGINIA HORSE CENTER

    • The center will host the Old Dominion Pony Club Dressage Rally this weekend on the hill. Pony Club members compete in teams from across Virginia.
    • Lexington Spring Dressage Rosinburg Event,  an official qualifying competition for the 2015 Adequan FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships plus other championship shows, will be held Saturday and Sunday. Kristi Wysocki, Lois Yukins and Gary Rockwell will judge.
    • The East Coast Cutting Association Horse Show will be held Saturday. Dave W. Stewart will judge.

    LOOK AHEAD

    Horse show photography: When spectators decide to break out a camera

    A hunter clears a fence at the Lexington Spring Encore “AA”  Horse Show at the Virginia Horse Center.

    Technology has allowed most of us to carry fairly decent cameras just about everywhere with us. The cellphones in our pockets take nicer photos than any camera most of our parents ever took to special events. Falling prices and easier-to-use digital equipment have also allowed some of us tocarry cameras that were once reserved only for professionals. This has put official horse show photographers in a bit of a pickle, and it seems that things are getting testy.

    As I often do on weekends, I drove to a large local horse venue recently to take in a few hours of a horse show. I grew up showing horses and I slept, ate and breathed horses. But just as it has for many, attending shows as an exhibitor has become more difficult financially. So although I have a lovely horse at home that could certainly be in the arena herself, these past few years I’ve filled the void by attending horse shows as a spectator. I don’t even know anyone there most of the time. I just want to be a part of it in any way possible. It’s my happy place.

    Last fall, I realized as I was sitting in the stands that perhaps I should put my professional training as a journalist (I have a journalism degree and work for a newspaper as a designer) to good use if I’m going to sit around watching horse shows most weekends. And that’s how RoanokeEquestrian.com was born. I go to shows for the fun of it. I take photos and sometimes videos.

    Recently, my happy place along the rail of an AA-rated hunter competition quickly turned sour. As I was snapping photos of the horses coming over a jump, someone from behind said, “Are you shooting for the newspaper?” I actually am part of the newspaper staff, but no, I was not shooting for work. I turned and smiled at an older lady who was munching on some Cheetos and politely answered that I was shooting for RoanokeEquestrian.com. She demanded, “Who are you?”

    During the course of a conversation I tried to keep friendly and she was determined to keep adversarial, I was called a “poacher” and “unethical” despite assuring her several times that I was not selling or marketing the photos. Poof. Happy place ruined, at least for that day.

    To her I was obviously doing something very offensive by taking photos. I do not agree. While I sympathize with official photographers’ plight, I was breaking no rules. I was selling no photos. I was like any other spectator. I just happened to be holding a nice camera.

    There’s a lot of discussion on forums about this topic. Is it OK to shoot photos if there is already an official photographer? The answer, in my opinion at least and also legally, is YES. Unless there are signs telling you that you cannot take photos (because a show venue is private property) and the event is open to the public, then you can take photos whether there is an official photographer or not. You may not, however, start advertising or selling your photos. That’s where I do believe you cross the ethical (and sometimes the legal) line.

    Some shows, just like any event, do restrict photography. The prize book for the Bonnie Blue National contains a fairly lengthy section restricting cameras anywhere near any arena. “Cameras with detachable lenses or lenses of more than two inches are prohibited. Any lenses greater than two inches is considered professional equipment and is not permitted in the arena buildings or into the competition arenas to include seating areas.”  I would presume this rule buried in the prize book was accompanied by signs. If I had a horse in this show, I would be pretty unhappy about this policy. While I realize the official photographers are struggling, so are many exhibitors. I for one could rarely afford a professional photo of my horse at the show. I would have loved one, of course, but all my money had gone into my horse. I guess I’m lucky that those cell phone cameras really are pretty good.

    Some people say you should introduce yourself (including the photographer I ran into) and tell the official photographer what you are doing. I’m on the fence on this one. If they are somewhere close by and it doesn’t seem like you will disrupt their work and you want to say hello, by all means. But as a spectator, having a camera does not mean that you have to go clear it with them, anymore than you have to clear it with the food vendors if you bring your own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And by the way she treated me, it does not seem she would have exactly welcomed me anyway.

    I have the utmost respect for professional photographers and their work and I wish I had such talent. But having a contract to be the official photographer does not suddenly give you the right to walk up to spectators and demand to know who they are and treat them rudely. Horse show photographers are struggling, but so are horse associations in general. Treating people unkindly is no way to attract more competitors or potential clients. I’ve been in the horse world my whole life and I was put off by the rudeness thrown at me. Imagine how folks that are completely new to that world would feel to be greeted that way.

    By the way, when alerted to the treatment I received, the team at the venue where this incident occurred apologized for what happened and said they will be working to make sure it never happens again.

    There are other perspectives on this topic on the Internet, usually from an official horse show photographer and occasionally from someone that has just been scolded. Check out some of the ones I have run into below:

    Love Game wins International Hunter Derby with Evan Coluccio [with videos]

    Evan Coluccio and Love Game.
    Photo courtesy Phelps Media Group by Teresa Ramsay Photography
    EMC International’s Love Game ridden by Evan Coluccio won the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on May 1 at the Virginia Horse Center as part of the Lexington Spring Encore Horse Show.
    The Lexington Spring Premiere marked the 6-year-old Dutch Warmblood’s very first horse show in the United States, and the promise of a successful hunter career to come.  
    “I’m really excited about him,” Coluccio said. “He came to America about five or six weeks ago. I knew he was going to be really special. I did him in the First Years and the Green Conformation. He had just little tiny green mistakes each day. So I thought, ‘let’s do the derby.’ They moved it inside, and I think with that atmosphere he really rose to the occasion that much more. He was unbelievable.”   

    See both rounds in Love Game’s derby win:

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sx54wcgy_nw?feature=player_embedded 
     https://www.youtube.com/embed/faPq8iWIZ_Q?feature=player_embedded
    For Coluccio, of Middleburg, Virginia, (who now resides in Wellington, Florida) the victory was not his first taste of success at the Virginia Horse Center. In fact, significant wins at the Virginia Horse Center have marked Coluccio’s career. In 1995, he won the U.S. Pony Finals at the Virginia Horse Center, and in 2006, he clinched Individual Show Jumping Gold medal at the North American Junior-Young Rider Championships (NAYRC), also held at the Horse Center.   
    “Lexington has always been a successful show for me. It’s always been a really good facility for me,” Coluccio said. “It’s one of my lucky places.”
    Coluccio is the owner/operator of EMC International Stables.
    For more results from the Lexington Spring Premiere, visit www.horseshowsonline.com.

    GET YOUR HORSE FIX: Equestrian events this weekend in the Roanoke area (May 9-10)

    Photo by S. Carter, Flickr  |  Creative Commons

    OPEN SHOWS

    GREEN HILL EQUESTRIAN CENTER (Salem) 

    The horse park in Salem, Va., will hold two events this weekend. The Southwest Virginia Draft Horse, Mule, and Donkey Show is set for Saturday. Then on Sunday the Southwest Virginia Dressage Association will hold a schooling show at the park.

      VIRGINIA HORSE CENTER

      • The Bonnie Blue National Horse Show is this weekend at the horse center. This horse show features a variety of classes for Saddlebreds, Hackneys and Friesians. The show will be judged by Betsy Boone, Josh Greer and E.H. Matthews. If spectating, be aware that photography is restricted at this event.
      • The Hear the Beat three-show series kicks off May 10 at the Virginia Horse Center in Anderson Coliseum. The show is sanctioned by the Blue Ridge Horse Force and is also a 4-H Qualifying show. All proceeds from the show benefit Hoofbeats Therapeutic Riding, Inc. Show begins at 8 a.m. and will be judged by Danielle Toms.

         LOOK AHEAD

        ONLINE

        The Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Show will stream live from North Salem, New York, on USEFnetwork starting Friday through Sunday. The prestigious horse show features over 130 hunter and jumper classes each week.