December 2008 - Turning for Home: PTHA Founds a Thoroughbred Horse Rescue with Teeths
by Suzanne Bush
Thousands of horses in America join the sad parade of unwanted horses each year. They face uncertain futures, often circumscribed by abuse, hunger and neglect.
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December 2008 - Beezie Madden Reveals It's a Long Road to the Olympics
By Stephanie Lawson
John Madden likes to swear large groups of people to secrecy, but you didn't learn that here.
He also likes to give credit where he feels credit is due.
Credit to all the US Equestrian Team supporters and US Equestrian Foundation members whose contributions, regardless how small, helped his wife Beezie and her Olympic show jumping team members win the gold medal for the US, for the second Olympics in a row.
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December 2008 - Paralyzed in Riding Accident, Naylor Funds Search for a Cure
by Irvin S. Naylor
"God does all things for good and with deliberate purpose."
Was my mother, Ida Mae, right in her ardent belief in this Biblical paraphrase?
My life changed forever about 3:30 p.m. on April 17, 1999. I was riding my good Irish horse, Emerald Action, in the Grand National Timber Steeplechase Stakes at Butler, Maryland. He ran and jumped brilliantly, and was leading as we approached the sixteenth of eighteen fences, when the horse I knew we had to beat, Welterweight, came along side.
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December 2008 - Following Rash of Breakdowns, Penn National Suspends Racing to Resurface Track
by Terry Conway
Todd Beattie had seen enough.
After a rash of 14 fatal breakdowns over a 22-day stretch in August at Penn National Race Course, Beattie called for a shipping van.
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December 2008 - Despite Pelting Rain, Stroud, Singer and Stafford Emerge Champions at The Laurels at Landhope
by Marcella Peyre Ferry
Even tropical storm Hanna could not stop the competition at The Laurels at Landhope, Sept 5, 6, and 7 in West Grove, Pennsylvania. With hard ground from a dry summer, drivers in the advanced, intermediate, and preliminary divisions got through dressage, but some had concerns that the hard going would be too rough for them.
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December 2008 - Sharp Gal, Caught in NY Abuse Case, Is Finally a Lucky Gal
by Suzanne Bush
"I swear, this mare is living a charmed life," says Virginia Stack of Quakertown, PA. She was talking about Sharp Gal, a retired race horse that was among the 82 horses seized from Norcrest Farm, a breeding farm in Troupsburg, NY on August 29 and 30. The horses were starving, deprived of medical care and did not have access to water. Investigators found one dead horse and subsequently euthanized nine others.
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December 2008 - $4,000 Colt Wins Million-Dollar Race for 26 Year Old Trainer
by Jennifer Autry
To the untrained eye, Lebo Farm in Carlisle appears to be one of many private horse facilities in Southcentral Pennsylvania. A quiet, tree-lined drive leads to a small, weathered barn filled with cobwebs and horses munching their morning hay. The barn radio stays tuned to a local country music station, and a dust-covered Siamese cat darts quickly down the aisle.
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December 2008 - Replicating the Irreplaceable: Equine Cloning Moves from Marvel to Mainstream
by Marcella Peyre-Ferry
The idea of cloning a horse may sound fanciful at first, but the technology is there, and in some cases, there is good reason to take advantage of it.
"It's real, and it's here and it works," said Blake Russell, vice president of business development at ViaGen, the only commercial firm in the world cloning horses.
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December 2008 - Equine Vet Kathleen Anderson Propels Fair Hill's Excellence
by Terry Conway
It was one of those eureka moments.
In early 1992, veterinarian Kathleen Anderson drove through the front gates and down the dirt and gravel, rutted road at the Fair Hill Training Center. Sixteen years ago the barns were in tatters. Top-flight horses non-existent. The facility was on the brink of bankruptcy-- for a second time.
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August 2008 - Struggling to Keep Hope Alive in an Urban Stable
by Suzanne Bush
The ancient stables on Fletcher Street in Philadelphia sit quietly on a sweltering July afternoon. Across the street, in a vacant field, stock trailers stand baking in the sun. In the distance Philadelphia's most recent addition to its skyline, the Comcast Center, dominates a horizon that includes little else from this angle besides scrubby trees, electric wires and a jumble of angled rooftops. Although the distance that separates the Comcast Center and Philadelphia's glittering skyscrapers from Fletcher Street is little more than a couple of miles, in many ways, they are separated by a chasm of missed opportunity and epic misunderstanding.
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August 2008 - Colton Brokers Landmark Jockey Insurance Deal
by Terry Conway
After seven years away from the jock's room Robert Colton is back in the saddle this year at age 50, chasing a career milestone of 4000 victories.
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August 2008 - Work To Ride Is Second in UNICEF Cup in Nigeria
by Marcella Peyre-Ferry
Four Philadelphia students from the Work to Ride program, based at the Chamounix Equestrian Center in Fairmount Park, represented their city and their country when they traveled to Nigeria to take part in the UNICEF Cup polo tournament.
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August 2008 - Locals Win World Paint Horse Championships
by Nancy Degutis
"Go west" may have been a slogan to get settlers to move onto the Plains but for Paint horse owner and amateur handler Nancy Miernicki it meant going to the World Championship Paint Horse show and bringing two Worlds tricolors back to her family's Amity Acres home.
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August 2008 - Junior Driver Taylor Nedurian
by Suzanne Bush
Thousands of horses in America join the sad parade of unwanted horses each year. They face uncertain futures, often circumscribed by abuse, hunger and neglect.
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August 2008 - Junior Driver Taylor Nedurian
by Marcella Peyre-Ferry
Young horsemen are in the minority in the carriage driving world, but 15-year-old Taylor Nedurian from Muncy, PA is a success at the reins in 4-H, driving, and Arabian showing.
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August 2008 - Extreme Makeover Transforms Horses as Well as Trainers
by Suzanne Bush
"I'm like the world's worst farmer," Tom Muth of Lawrenceville, PA says. "I can't get rid of any of my livestock. The only way they get off my farm is they have to die of old age."
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August 2008 - Roamin' Wyoming: Crossed Sabres Ranch
by Terry Conway
Putting the tragic and bewildering '08 Triple Crown races in the rearview mirror, my wife Jane and I flew to Wyoming in late June. After exploring Yellowstone Park and carousing the packed-full-of-things-to-do-town of Cody, we landed at Crossed Sabres Ranch.
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August 2008 - Pennsylvania Stars Shine on US Paralympic Equestrian Team
by Marcella Peyre-Ferry
The United States Para-Equestrian team will head to Aachen, Germany on August 15 for two weeks of quarantine prior to moving on to Hong Kong for the Paralympics, which use the same venue as and follow the Olympic games.
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August 2008 - Donna Crookston Short Listed for World Championships
by Marcella Peyre-Ferry
Pennsylvania driver Donna Crookston of Saltsburg, may be a part of the American team representing the United States at the at the 2000 Single Horse World Championship, to be held in Jarantow, Poland, Aug 28-31.
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August 2008 - New Bolton Researcher Cures $17 Million Stallion's Reluctance to Breed
by Stephanie Shertzer Lawson
War Emblem, the 2002 winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, has some amazing genes. To the chagrin of the owners who shelled out $17 million to stand him at stud, he has refused to pass them on.
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June 2008 - Cancer Survivor Nicole Lakin, Now in Grand Prix Ranks, Reflects on Life Lessons Learned
by Nancy Degutis
Teenagers rarely think about death; they are more likely to live moment-to- moment in pursuit of passing fancies.
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June 2008 - Be Certain Wins Third Triple Crown Leg at Radnor
by Marcella Peyre-Ferry
A different horse won each race of steeplechasing's Triple Crown this year, with stablemates racing head to head to the wire for the final leg during the 78th running of the Radnor Hunt Races.
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June 2008 - Porter and Jones, Owner and Trainer, Reflect on Eight Belles Tragedy
by Terry Conway
I'm not sure that Rick Porter ever changed the oil at his former string of auto dealerships, but then again, I wouldn't bet against it.
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June 2008 - Western Fling Outruns Trouble to Win Willowdale Steeplechase
by Marcella Peyre-Ferry
The 16th annual edition of the Willowdale Steeplechase is a Mother's Day tradition in Chester County, PA, drawing thousands of spectators to the Unionville racecourse for a full card of seven National Steeplechase Association-sanctioned races and four pony races for juniors.
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June 2008 - Fragmentation, Aging Population Threaten Horse Industry's Health
By Stephanie Lawson
The horse industry is composed of thousands of fragments, operating independently, with no cohesive promotional body. Baby boomers, who will give up riding in the next several decades, represent a large number of riders. Soon, more people will quit riding than will start riding.
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June 2008 - Survey Details Horse Owner Demographics and Lifestyles
John Volk, senior consultant with Brakke Consulting in Chicago, said his company's marketing survey gave his clients in the animal health and nutrition industry more information than they'd ever had before.
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May 2008 - Nico Del Serro, 15, Wins NCHA Eastern
Regional Cutting Horse Championship
by Stephanie Lawson
Nico Del Serro, age 15, riding Santa Cruz Sandman, won the $3,000 Novice Non-Pro championship title,
with a score of 216 points at the National Cutting Horse Association Eastern National Championships held in
Jackson, MS, in March.
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May 2008 - Suzanne Myers Wins the Midwest Mustang Challenge
by Nancy Degutis
When a Spanish grullo arrived at her barn four months ago, Suzanne Myers did not know how he would react to civilization.
Just a month before, three-year–old "Jazz" had been running free on the government-owned prairie grasslands of Nevada . He had never seen a human being until wranglers from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rounded him up and took him and a band he lived with to an adoption site in Illinois.
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May 2008 - Stroudsburg Woman Creates Organization to Help Young Riders in Malawi
By Suzanne Bush
If all you know about Malawi is that Madonna adopted a baby there, then listen up. Close your eyes and think about a country and a continent so exotic and far away that many people can't even imagine the startling blue of the sky when rain is coming, or the hippos dozing in the river. Sure, there are crocodiles and elephants and all the things that people expect in Africa. But there is also something else in Malawi, something that draws far-away African life into a comfortable niche that every equestrian can appreciate.
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May 2008 - Manure Digesters Shed a Different Light on Horse Power
By Suzanne Bush
As the world's demand for energy gallops ahead of suppliers' ability to produce it, rising prices are causing more than gas pains for consumers. Few aspects of daily life remain untouched by the twin demons of pollution and skyrocketing fuel costs. Will we run out of air before we run out of the fuels that are polluting the air? Will corn deliver us from our dependence on foreign oil? While experts disagree about where to look for new energy, whether ethanol is a feasible alternative to oil and how to assess the environmental impact of the internal combustion engine, most concur that there is not going to be a single solution.
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March 2008 - Mutliple Factors Cause
Cost of Keeping Horses to Skyrocket
by Suzanne Bush
As prices of fuel, feed and bedding rise simultaneously,
stable owners in Pennsylvania are grappling with what might be called a
perfect storm—a combination of events that is demolishing profits and
wreaking havoc with business plans.
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March 2008 - Back From the Brink, Castle Rock Savors Hard Fought Success
by Terry Conway
Like many Pennsylvania horsemen, four years ago Pete
Giangiulio was in debt and losing traction quickly.
On a cold and dank February afternoon he met his sister
Barbara and her husband William Geraghty for what Giangiulio calls a
rather grim business lunch at the Marshallton Inn. A practicing attorney
in West Chester, Pa., Giangiulio laid out three scenarios for their
Castle Rock Farm near Unionville that his father had purchased in 1957,
and doggedly built it into a full-service thoroughbred operation.
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March 2008 - Track Injury Reporting: Intriguing Numbers, Lots of Questions
by Suzanne Bush
Since last June, racetracks across the United States have
been gathering statistics on race-day injuries to horses. This pilot study,
initiated by the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, and
underwritten by grants from the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and
the Jockey Club, was designed to identify the frequency and types of
injuries to racehorses, using a format that would standardize the data. The
data presumably would yield clues that could lead to strategies for reducing
catastrophic injuries to racehorses. At the American Association of Equine
Practitioners (AAEP) meeting in December, preliminary results of the
research were presented.
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March 2008 - Horse of the Year Donato Hanover Returns Home to Start Breeding Career
by Stephanie Lawson
It's the Coolmore of Standardbreds, the Three Chimneys of
Pennsylvania. It's home to all the greatest stallions in that other race
world of trotting and pacing.
Hanover Shoe Farms lies just outside Hanover, PA, just
beyond the Adams/York County border. The buildings have a historic feel. Not
palatial, but functional and solid, with the feel of history -- not only
past but also in the making.
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