Chester Weber and Horus Du Bois

Just got the good news that we might have some time to meet with Chester Weber during the games.  If you don't know who he is, well, his name has become synonymous with Four-in-Hand driving throughout the world, becoming the first driver to win the USEF National Four-In-Hand Driving Championships seven consecutive years in a row. I was lucky enough to be at the Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic when he did.  His team won the dressage and cones phase and came in second to Australian driver Boyd Exell in the marathon. They is currently ranked No. 1 on the USEF’s Four-In-Hand Selectors’ Ranking List for WEG.

Also, Weber was named a 2008 USEF Equestrian of Honor and his horse, Jamaica, was the 2008 Farnam Platform/USEF Horse of the Year.  People often ask if Draken is getting too old to compete and I point out that he is the same age as Jamaica.  That said, the horse we're most interested in is a newer addition to the team, Horus Du Bois, a 15-year old French Trotter.  Here is Horus' bio from http://www.chesterweber.com/:

Horus is Team Weber's newest addition, however he is not new to the sport of Combined Driving. Horus was acquired by us to try to create more depth in our string for the lead in the marathon and cones, and he has done just that. This clever and fast French trotter was purchased from the Dutch driver Hans Heus who used him to lead his way onto the squad for the World Championships in Beesd this past summer. Heus often used him in all 3 phases in the lead which has brought Horus the experience and drivability that team Weber was searching for. Originally identified as a star for team Weber by friend and colleague Koos de Ronde, team Weber is hopeful that the addition of this clever leader will compliment the already dominant dressage team through adding more high-end speed and drivability to both the marathon and cones team. Who knows with his nice top line and expressive trot with a little knee movement team Weber might also be able to develop him in to a dressage star like the others in the string? Horus is a very kind and willing horse that not only exhibits the speed to lead the way on marathon day he also has a kind eye that makes him a favorite of those in the stable.

In March, following his win at the Sunshine State FEI event Mr. Weber was quoted as saying “Horus was in the lead and was like a cat. He did add significant speed to the marathon. I am excited about this new addition to Team Weber. Heus used him to lead his way onto the squad for the World Championships in Beesd, and Horus is certainly a clever horse. At Sunshine State he joined teammates Boy W, Rolex W and Para for marathon and cones.”

It's pretty easy to spot Horus in the team as he is the only bay.   Go Standardbreds!

Security will be tight for WEG

By John Cheves - jcheves@herald-leader.com

For the 16 days of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, the Kentucky Horse Park should be the safest place in the state outside of Fort Knox.

Lexington and Kentucky State police will work with Kentucky National Guard troops and 1,000 paid and volunteer security guards to patrol the Horse Park, guide traffic, screen visitors and protect the yet-to-be-named Very Important Persons in the audience, some of whom are bringing their own security details.

"People will notice us. We want them to notice us and be comfortable, knowing that we've put real effort into the operation here," said Kevin Tyo, president of Event Security Consulting and Operations Inc., a Georgetown firm that won the primary security contract for WEG.

Security will be tight because the Games, like any large gathering of international visitors and VIPs, is a possible target for terrorism — although officials say they're unaware of any specific threats — and more routine kinds of crime, such as theft.

WEG's high profile is keeping law enforcement on its toes. As many as 60,000 visitors are expected to crowd the park on the busiest days, such as when the popular cross-country competition is held. The Games will be televised to scores of nations by hundreds of journalists from around the globe.

WEG officials haven't confirmed the guest list because of security concerns and because many of those invited have not responded, but it's likely to include government leaders and entertainment celebrities.

Past and present leaders of the International Equestrian Federation, the ruling body of WEG, include Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan, its current president; Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa of Bahrain; Prince Philip, husband of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth; and the Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón, sister of Spain's King Juan Carlos. Some are likely to attend.

A large delegation of French officials will attend to accept the hand-over for the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy.

Some entertainers in town to perform during WEG — such as actor John Lithgow and Irish tenor Ronan Tynan — will attend the Games.

Visitor checkpoints

Arriving at the park, all visitors must walk through the main checkpoint. Guards will search bags and remove prohibited items, including food, drinks, umbrellas and weapons. Tickets will be scanned for authenticity.

Accredited journalists covering the Games will be searched at their own checkpoint. The journalists, who will have more behind-the-scenes access than the general public, were required to submit their names and personal information for background checks.

The National Guard will patrol the perimeter to keep anyone from sneaking into the park from neighboring horse farms, and security guards will be stationed at the entrance to at least one of the farms with the owner's permission, Tyo said.

Parts of the Horse Park will be off-limits to all but essential personnel, Tyo said. The barns and stables, where the competing horses are to be kept, will have the highest security to prevent anyone from injuring horses or otherwise interfering with the competition.

The Grooms Village, where grooms and other participants will live in trailers, will be off limits to protect the residents' privacy.

More than 100 video surveillance cameras are being installed throughout the park, in addition to the existing security system. The cameras will let guards monitor the crowds from the Security Command Center at the park, which will be staffed throughout the day, Tyo said. The center also will watch the weather in case storms threaten to develop.

100-mile challenge

Perhaps the greatest logistical challenge is the 100-mile endurance run involving up to 80 riders, Tyo said. It will include members of the family of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai.

Tyo said his guards are working with Lexington police, WEG officials and the sheikh's personal detail to secure the six loops comprising the endurance route, which include 12 road crossings in the area and cover land on several private farms.

Finally, Tyo said, he is prepared to establish a secured "free speech area" near the park if animal rights groups or other protesters arrive. At present, no protesters are expressing an interest in WEG, he said.

Tyo would not say how much his company will be paid out of WEG's $76 million operating budget.

The Kentucky State Police has budgeted $1.3 million to cover its WEG costs, Lt. David Jude said. None of that is expected to be reimbursed.

Lexington police have budgeted no extra money for WEG because they don't expect the Games or the city's accompanying Spotlight Lexington Festival to require overtime, said police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts. Existing shifts should be adequate, Roberts said.

"We should be able to do WEG and Spotlight Lexington and still be able to handle the calls we get from the community," Roberts said.



Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/05/1421637/security-will-be-tight-for-weg.html#ixzz0yw6P35Ys

Standardbred Star - JB and Helene Gregory

As a three-year old, our Show Jumping representative, JB, made a smooth transition from harness race horse to riding horse in 2005. Helene Gregory and JB teamed up in 2008 and in their first year together, they were High Point Standardbred at the Meadow Hunter Jumper Series in Mount Holly, New Jersey. They were also the Grand Champion in the Equitation Division at the 2008 National Standardbred Show, and the 2009 Grand Champion in Equitation and In-harness Division. They repeated as the High Point Standardbred at the 2009 Meadow Hunter/Jumper Series.

JB has a natural gift for the sport of jumping, and as they strive to compete at open jumping in the three-foot range, Helene and JB are having fun while showcasing the Standardbred breed. Helene hopes to show fellow equestrians, that Standardbreds aren’t just for racing anymore!

Helene and JB's 2009 SPHO awards include:
National High Point Standardbred of the Year Award
Versatility
Equitation

Amoung other photos, the first driving horse pictured in this video is Helene and JB.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Driving Draken on Labor Day course with helmet camera rolling

Here we go! Another view of our Labor Day driving course. This was the first time using the helmet camera. Unfortunately all the sound that the camera recorded was squeeks, no hoof beats, no carriage rattles, just squeeks. Not quite sure what I did wrong but to correct it I recorded a soundtrack for it, which is also a first. Let me know if you like it.

Artist with a chain saw carves for WEG - 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games - Kentucky.com

Artist with a chain saw carves for WEG - 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games - Kentucky.com

"It's a little bit of an odd story," said Isaac Bingham.

That's a little bit of an understatement.

Because the tale that finds Bingham revving up a chain saw to carve giant squirrels and fish at the Kentucky Horse Park begins in Vermont, winds through Dartmouth and Berea colleges, and takes a detour to study boat building by indigenous peoples in Asia and South America.

"I never imagined I would do anything like this," said Bingham, "this" being, among other things, carving a Canada goose the size of an RV out of a tree trunk for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Carved animal figures have long been used as jumps or beside jumps at equestrian cross-country events, but it wasn't until January that Bingham tried his hand at the unusual artistic endeavor.

The 32-year-old has a habit of diverting from a path to try new things.

After growing up in Vermont, he went to Dartmouth College to study engineering. A few years of studying left him restless, and he was off to travel the globe, including spending time in Morocco. Because he wanted to get into the arts, he came to Kentucky and Berea College, graduating in 2005. He was then awarded a $25,000 Thomas F. Watson Fellowship to study native boat builders in places like Bolivia, Peru, Vietnam and Malaysia. Boat-building skills in those countries have evolved over thousands of years.

"I'm always up for a new adventure," he said.

Bingham had been making jumps at the Horse Park for about three years when Nick Costello, who oversees their building, realized he needed some new duck heads for this year's Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. His previous carver had moved to Australia, so Costello gave Bingham and two other workers a chance to see what they could do.

Bingham had never created art with a chain saw, but he had created art and he had used a chain saw. So he figured he probably could do it.

It turns out he could.

"Isaac is just wonderful. It was quite a surprise" said Costello, who's been working at the Horse Park for more than 20 years. "He's the best ever."

The cross-country course was created by world-renowned designer Mike Etherington-Smith, who is based in London, England. He maps the route that horse and rider will take and what sort of critters should inhabit various jumps.

Etherington-Smith dictates the height, width and depth of the sculptures and the types of animals, say "fish" or "frog," and then Bingham takes over.

It all starts with the right piece of wood. Costello said local tree services sometimes provide logs, but he also buys tree trunks or uses wood from trees at the Horse Park that need to come down.

Somehow Bingham can see the animal within the log. A burr oak could be a rainbow trout that is seemingly in motion or an orange and brown northern leopard frog that is both native to Kentucky and brightly colored so as not to blend into the grass and cause the horses to hesitate before they jump. (Bingham also paints the animals.)

"You free the animals from it," he said.

He sometimes uses the traditional sculpture skills he honed at Berea to make clay models for the wood works. But, he said, all the carving on the animals is done with chain saws of various sizes.

"I am never interested in doing that same thing that everyone else is doing," he said.

Bingham, whose father was a carpenter, said he grew up with sort of a blue-collar work ethic. "Being an artist," he said, "was never something I could wrap my mind around."

He's still a little amazed by his newfound skill and understands what a rare opportunity he has. It's not every emerging chain-saw artist who has access to the tools, including heavy equipment to lift and move the logs, needed to turn a tree trunk into a trout. But he think's he's found his niche, for now.

"Maybe I really am what I can call an artist," he said.

That, too, is a little bit of an understatement.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/07/1422896/artist-with-a-chain-saw-carves.html#ixzz0yw5hKPns

September 5th Fun Drive (including video)

What a blast this weekend was, with a fun drive at our farm! While Draken isn't in this particular video I did want to share it as it demonstrates what fun driving can be.

Let's see, there were two first time drivers (they drove Trick and Treat, our very good minis) and two horses that were new to our farm at the event. We had an obstacle course, a progressive cones course and two marathon type hazards set up. It's a fun day so we competed for candy bars and a giant donut.

Draken rocked through the hazards with a time of 1:43 but Mom doesn't let us compete for the candy bars. I've got to find someone else with a Standardbred to compete against. Dang horse beat everyone by at least 4 seconds (I think, after the event Mom thought the next fastest time was 1:57 but I thought it was 1:47.) Wiser, the Heflinger, had a smoking run and beat my Dad by 2 seconds. For me I did really good in the progressive cones but Kelly Clark had a clean run with a speedy time. The hazards we did good in, I have no idea what our time was, Keeper being driven by Howard Martin won that "class." The 'candy cane' poles created a nice optical illusion as you came down the little hill at them.

Most importantly though was the fact that everyone had a good time with lots of laughter, fantastic weather and a good potluck lunch.

Standardbred Star - Dreamy Starlet

Our Eventing horse is DREAMY STARLET, ridden by her owner Elizabeth Tewksbury from Cornish, Maine.

Pacing bred DREAMY, raced briefly in the New York Sire Stakes program as a two and three year old. She then retired to become a broodmare with four registered foals that went on to race. It wasn’t until Elizabeth and Dreamy got together that this mare’s talent would really shine. Elizabeth began her mare’s under saddle training four years ago, and she has worked hard with DREAMY, teaching her mare both dressage and jumping. The pair primarily competes in United States Dressage Federation recognized dressage shows at Training level, and Three-Phase Eventing competitions at the Beginner Novice level, but have also shown in “A” rated hunter under saddle and over fences classes. Elizabeth and DREAMY compete throughout New England and have shown three times at the National Standardbred Horse Show. In a relatively short time, Dreamy has won numerous ribbons and over fifty Year-End Awards. She was the 2007 National Standardbred Overall High Point Grand Champion and twice won the Maine Dressage Society’s Standardbred Horse of the Year Award.

Below are some videos from about two years ago. The first is Dreamy doing Dressage and the second is her in the Stadium Jumping phase, third is Cross Country.