Jump-Off 78
Wednesday, 29 December 2010 10:04
It's a last minute edition to make the Jump-Off before the year comes to an end. Jump-Off 78 give you the real reason why there were so few riders at the Penang Horse Show. Who is Peping at Mitos, who is EFIng who and all the Asian goss is in this year-end edition of Jump-Off.
Penang in Pattaya
There were very few horses at the recent Penang Horse Show. Now we know why – the others must have gone to Pattaya instead.
YOG Don’t Say
The showjumping went perfectly at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. All was perfectly in order, other than the embarrassing spelling mistake that plastered “Equestrain” outside the venue for a day before it was discovered.
Straighten Up and Fly Right
Why are your Butterflies upside down? It took an eleven year old girl to tell us that the YOG Butterfly wings had been mounted upside down. Thankfully this too was corrected before the Games began.
EFIng Them Up
The FEI decided to recognize a new national federation in Indonesia. The new Equestrian Federation of Indonesia (EFI) immediately got to work on, stripping Titien Irvianty and Roy Ibrahim of their FEI credentials when they decided to take an expatriate contract in Singapore. EFI also decided not to send Lina Hardy’s Eventers to the Asian Games after four years of training and qualification through events in Australia, and despite the Hardy’s Eventers being self-sponsored. Looks like they are off to an EFIng good start.
Persona Non-Grata
Philippines Equestrian Federation and Philippines Olympic Committee chairman Jose "Peping" Cojuangco threw the full weight of his considerable power behind a decision to declare Carissa Coscouella and Mitos Belofsky persona non-grata in an e-mail sent around the world.
In other news, the Premier Cup asks, who is Peping at their judges.
Indian Eventer Claims Bias
Proving that equestrian politics is not all limited to South East Asia, Indian Eventer Nidhi Dev has filed a case against Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), and is now awaiting a response from their side on whether she would be able to represent India in the upcoming Asian Games. “In India, it is still considered as a sport that’s made predominantly for the army officers, let aside a girl taking part in the sport”. The 22 year old Indian lass, who trains in Australia with Olympian Stuart Tinney said, “I have always proved that I am good enough, if not better, [to] represent my own country in competitions abroad. There is so much of biasness in the sport I am in…”
Quarantino
Dev needn't have bothered because the Chinese organisers refused to accept the Indian horses that had done their pre-export quarantine in India because of some silly infectious disease or other. The Indians argued that Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis should not be held against them and it should be the Venezualans that should have been banned.
Anti-Horse-amines
What about the dressage rider who downed four anti-histamines by mistake before her test. She could barely keep her eyes open, but hey, she never sneezed once.
ShowCon
Not related to the story above, a showjumping conman set sail to France to escape justice the day before he was due to go to jail.
Jump-off would argue that some showjumping horse dealers would be proud to be called conmen.
Pink Polo Boots?
Katie Price aka Jordan recently rubbed shoulders with royalty when she played at the prestigious Asprey World Class Cup Polo alongside Prince Harry. The former glamour model donned her jodphurs and a pair of pink riding boots, and looked natural on the field as she competed with fellow team member Kenney Jones.
Nothing is too strange for Katie, not even pink polo boots.
ParaDonkeys
The headline “Parachuting donkey shocks Russian beachgoers” didn’t quite capture how shocked the donkey was. "The donkey screamed and children cried," .... "No-one had the brains to call police."
Riding Cropper
Head master accused of using riding crop on her client... sounds kinky... until you find out the clients were children at her daycare
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued a Miami County daycare facility an Emergency Order of Suspension after its operator admitted to disciplining a child with a horse riding crop.
New life for horses ... with prisoners
It's the dirty little secret of the racing industry. Thoroughbreds who don't make the winner's circle, are injured or simply too old to race are discarded by their owners, auctioned off -- sometimes to the slaughterhouse. Now these horses are getting new lives.
The twist? Prison inmates looking for their own second chances are helping save them.
Screwed Up
Police in England are on the hunt for a 'sick' gang who pushed pins and screws into apples before feeding them to horses. If caught, we hope the gang will face the headmaster and never have a new life with horses.
Awesome Australia
The Gold Coast Turf Club ran bikini-clad women from barrier stalls and ran them down the straight, to mirror a horse race, as part of a new novelty event.
Like Father, Like Son
The Crown Prince of Dubai banned 10 months for riding doped horse. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, had his horse Eo Fawati test positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol after an endurance race at Bahrain. Sheikh Hamdan's father, Sheikh Mohammed was himself banned by the FEI for riding deoped horses that tested postive for steroids.
While deemed the Person Responsible by the FEI, the Prince absolved himself of responsibility by stating "It is likely that there is intense competition among grooms, and this might lead to errors of judgment by them."
In other news, lots of grooms in Dubai have access to steroids.
Royal Engagements
HRH Prince William beat his cousin Zara Phillips to a royal engagement, announcing his engagement to Kate Middleton 3 weeks ahead of Zara’s announcement of her engagement to Mike Tindall. The polo and equestrian world are suitably enthralled by the royal engagements and await the invitations. Jump-Off especially...
Hingis Hitched
Former teenaged tennis sensation Martina Hingis beat the Royals to the altar, marrying her French showjumper in a private ceremony. The 30-year-old Swiss who dominated the WTA as a teenager in the late 1990s married 24-year-old Frenchman Thibault Hutin. Hingis has given up professional tennis and now concentrates on showjumping. M. Hutin presumably gives her plenty of riding lessons.
McMuffin
A hungry rider picked up a snack on the hoof - he visited a drive-thru McDonald's on a horse. That's what you call a Ride and Drive.
It must be an English thing to take your horses to McD. Another fellow led his showjumpers there.
While this one on the right was just parked.
Featured Blogspot: Follow Ellesse Tzinberg at http://ellessetzinberg.blogspot.com/
Transitions
Expanding: Malaysia's largest member's polo club, Royal Selangor Polo Club voted to increase their stabling facilities to 274 stables, making them the largest polo club in Kuala Lumpur, and the largest member-owned polo club in Malaysia.
Olympic Movement: From Singapore’s Youth Olympics to London’s Olympics - Jeremy Edwards moves on.
