Dressage News Notes Brought to You by Back on Track Products

The Pan American Games has ended on quite a high note with the U.S. taking Team Gold and all three Individual medals! Here at home, the Regional Championships are beginning to wrap up with the Region 1 Championships taking place this weekend. And while our championships are winding down the World Dressage Masters is reving up with the start this weekend in Denmark. Edward Gal donated a photo of he and Totilas to help a Para-equestrian train in Germany. The KWPN reigns supreme in the WBFSH rankings and Fuego de Cardenas shows off his high tech pair of shoes. Looking for a horse, learn the benefits of the older horse.It is certainly quiet out there in show land as the Regional Championship are wrapping up and the snowbirds are getting ready to make the trip to the sunny south in Florida! The Pan American Games were the talk of this past week with our U.S. Team dominating the competition with a Team Gold and a sweep of all the individual medals. Congratualtions to the U.S. Team! This weekend has the GAIG/USDF Region 1 Dressage Championships & Virginia Dressage Association Fall Competition which is an Official qualifying competition for the 2012 FEI NAJYRC in Lexington, VA. Also on the east coast, we have two other competitions - the Dressage At The Bucks County Horse Park V in Revere, PA and the Wellington Classic Autumn Challenge in West Palm Beach, FL. California host the rest of this weekends action with the PEC Dressage in Wilton, CA and the Dressage At Spirit Equestrian in Somis, CA.

The Pan America Dressage competition has come to a close and it was a resonding sucess for the U.S. Dressage Team. The team of Steffen Peters, Heather Blitz, Dr. Cesar Parra and Marisa Festerling captured the Team Gold Medal! The U.S. also swept the individual medals with Steffen Peters - Gold, Heather Blitz - Silver and Marisa Festerling recieving the Bronze. You can check out lots of coverage on DressageDaily.com!

Odense, Denmark will be the site of the 1st leg of the Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage 2011/2012 season with competition set to begin Friday, October 21st. This year, in particular, has the dressage world buzzing as the field is so wide open as to who will come out on top of the super talented "pile"! In these modern times, there is so much established talent as well as emerging superstars. 17 riders from nine nations will battle it out with the grand finale of the Grand Prix Freestyle on Sunday! Check it out!

The KWPN studbook has once again risen to the top of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankins according to the provisional FEI/WBFSH list. It is the eight consecutive year that the KWPN has been at the top of the jumpers and the third year in a row for dressage. This years success is lead by Jerich Parzival (#1), Totilas (#3) and Carl Hester's new superstar Uthopia (#4)! See the complete story at Eurodressage.com!

It is always interesting to get a "peak" behind the scenes of superstar riders and we even get a glipse at their superstar horses sometimes as well. It seems that the WEG sensation Fuego de Cardenas (like a world class runner has specialized running shoes) has some fascinating shoes that help him in his athletic endeavors! The shoes are "Rock n Roll" shoes and are designed to help with lateral beakover as general breakover. Check out the stories and the shoes, I found them very interesting!

Dutch rider Edward Gal donated a photographic canvas of himself and Totilas to New Zealand para-equestrain Rachel Stock to help in her fundraising efforts to train in Germany for three months. Rachel has been diagnosed with malignant cancer, broken her back 5 times and has a degenerative bone disease but despite all this, she is on track for a medal at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. See the photograph and what it sold for!

HorseChannel.com has a great article on buying an older horse. Depending on your circumstances, there are benefits to purchasing an older horse providing it is servicably sound and has an appropriate level of training for your needs. Before diving in, check out these shopping suggestions along with some insights from a veterinarian. Read the story here!