Dressage News Notes Brought to You by Back on Track

NAYRC 2011 Medalists: Bronze - Chase Hickok, Gold - Isabelle Leibler, and Silver - Brandi Roenick

This week's News Notes are brought to you by Back On Track! This week the Junior/Young Riders of the US get to shine at the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North in Lexington, KY! The European Dressage Championships for Young Riders and Juniors just wrapped from Berne, Switzerland - see who came out on top! Debbie McDonald is sending out updates from Great Britain on the US dressage team - really fun to catch the "behind the scenes" from the team headquarters. Wellington, FL has withdrawn its bid for the 2018 World Equestrian Games - find out why....On an interesting note, the Prague zoo has a breeding program for Mongolia's Przewalski horse and four mares are on their way to freedom.There is a very busy weekend ahead with the headliner being the The Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North being held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Elsewhere in the south, we have The Good Horseman/Massey Ferguson Summer Dressage Show in Conyers, GA and the Wellington Classic Dressage In The Tropics I and II in West Palm Beach, FL. In the north we have the Sussex Dressage Show I in Augusta, NJ, the Windy Hollow Hunt Dressage July in Augusta, NJ, the GMHA Dressage Days in South Woodstock, VT, the ERAHC New England Classic Open Dressage Show in South Hadley, MA and the WNYDA Summer Festival I and II in Houghton, NY. The mid-west has the NODA Dressage 2012 and Encore in Jefferson, OH, the Dressage at WI Equestrian Center I and II in De Pere, WI, the Dressage at Lamplight July I and II in Wayne, IL and the Sorensen Park Dressage & Sport Horse July II in East Troy, WI. Heading out to the west coast we have the WKF Summer Show I and II in Magnolia, TX and the Dressage in the Sierra in Carson City, NV. California has the San Francisco Peninsula 45th Annual Show in Menlo Park, the Dressage at Spirit Equestrian in Somis and the Capistrano Summer Series in San Juan Capistrano. Oregon has the Dressage at Devonwood in Sherwood and Alaska is last but not least with the WCCEC Dressage Show in Anchorage.

The Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North will be taking place on July 17-22, 2012 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. Teams will compete in dressage, show jumping, eventing, reining and vaulting. The USEF Network will be provding coverage of the competition from the Horse Park so follow coverage at the USEF Network.com!

The 2012 FEI European Dressage Championships for Young Riders and Juniors took place this past week in Berne, Switzerland. In the Junior's competition, Dana Van Lierop and her 11-year-old DJ Tiesto claimed Gold in the individual test as well as the Team Gold with her fellow Dutch teamates! Germany came in the silver position and the Danes took Bronze. In the Young Rider's division, Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour and her 8-year-old Atterupgaards Cassidy topped the field to take Individual Gold but it was Germany who became the clear victors in the Team Competition with the Danish earning Silver and the Netherlands Bronze. Check out the full story here!

Equisearch.com is getting updates from Debbie McDonald on how things are going with the US dressage team in Great Britain. Seems the team is keeping fit with boot camps (run by Steffen Peters). There was even a warm-up soccer game that went south when one of the players actually broke her hand! The team will be showing at Hickstead this week on Friday and Saturday then back to team headquarters in Hadleigh. Check out the full story here and keep up with Debbie's updates!

Wellington, FL has withdrawn its bid to host the 2018 World Equestrian Games sighting a "change in local government". Equestrian Sport Productions President Michael Stone stated - "We are fully aware of the massively positive economic impact the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2010 had on Kentucky”, he said, “but we have a responsibility to the local community, equestrian sport, and the FEI World Equestrian Games not to waste the time, effort and resources of all parties involved in the international selection process.”. Check out the full story at Eurodressage.com.

In an effort to repopulate Mongolia's rare Przewalski horse, the Prague zoo's breeding program were sending four of the wild horses (four mares aged 3-5) to thier native land. The flight is a very long at 18 hours and will take the mares to Bulgan, which is northwest of the Mongolian capital Ulan Bato. The effort is to repopulate the horse which are believed to have lived 20,000 years ago. Read the whole story here!