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96 SIDELINES APRIL 2011 FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE O F F C E N T E R L I N E

Catching up: Robert Dover’s radio show on Tuesday nights is getting close to 100,000 listeners from around the world. Even though the broadcast is local in southern Florida you can listen on Doversworld.com on Tuesday evenings. He has great guests, hot button topics and all the latest news. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

The Professional Riders Organization (PRO) has really come under fre recently in the sport of eventing. It seems that half of all evnters dislike this organization with a passion, and the blogs have been blowing up with debate over whether PRO is good for the sport – or not.

Photographer Sue Stickle has shot at the 2007 and 2009 FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas, NV, as well as the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY, where she shot reining, driving (for the frst time), show jumping, eventing and dressage. She has been the offcial photographer for the World Dressage Masters Palm Beach for the past two years in Wellington, along with the Offcial Photographer for the Challenge of the Americas for the last several years. This girl is busy and her list of shows across the country and abroad keeps growing!

First Mark Todd , and now . . .eventer Blyth Tait is making a comeback to international competition. With these two New Zealanders back in the game, and Olympic medal for the NZ event team could very well be in the cards in 2012.

Courtney King-Dye reports that she’s begun trotting in her hippotherapy sessions. Courtney was also featured recently in a Florida news segment about hippotherapy and Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center . You go girl, we’re behind you all the way!

A sign of the times? In any case, it’s a great value and we’re glad to see a horse company offering free shipping.

SmartPaks over $40.00 now ship free. Even better, free shipping applies to the entire order, so customers can add anything to the SmartPaks, from treats to tack trunks to additional SmartPaks, and it will all ship free.

It was announced recently that the “King of Rolex”,

Phillip Dutton’s great horse Connaught, is retiring from four star competition. In addition to competing at the Beijing Olympics, Connaught placed in the top 10 for 4 straight years at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, winning in 2008.

One of the most high-profle tournaments for dressage remained on American soil this season - and in Palm Beach County - despite the Winter Equestrian Festival nixing it from its lineup. Thanks to polo player John Goodman and his family and the club he founded, International Polo Club Palm Beach, agreed to sponsor the United States leg of the

Exquis World Dressage Masters March 9-11 at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center at Okeeheelee Park South. “They stepped forward to save the only fve-star dressage event in the western hemisphere,” said Ken Braddick, who runs the Wellington-based website dressage-news.com. “It shows a strong support for the Olympic discipline of dressage.”

Apparently, the Winter Equestrian Festival , headed

by Mark Bellissimo , backed out of hosting it for the third year because many top riders couldn’t commit to the invitation-only event due to scheduling conficts.

The county-operated Brandon Center needed upgrades for the tournament, including better footing.

“What’s there now is safe but not friendly,” said Wellington resident Arlene “Tuny” Page, who competed in the tournament in 2009.

We know there are intercollegiate leagues for jumping and dressage, but this is the frst we’ve heard of Intercollegiate Eventing! The West Coast Collegiate Eventing League was created by the University of Davis Event Team! We hope to hear more about this intriguing endeavor soon!

Bumps and Bruises:

Eventer Lauren Kieffer underwent surgery in February after breaking her wrist in several places after a fall from a young horse.

Debbie McDonald wasn’t shy about sharing the news that a

helmet saved her life after a recent fall in California. She was riding a client horse when it unexpectedly bucked her off, sending her head frst into the ground. Debbie, who began wearing her helmet at all times after Courtney King-Dye’s fall last year, suffered whiplash and a concussion, but knows it would have been much worse had she been helmet less.

Fans of World Equestrian Games Bronze Medalist Steffen Peters can now enjoy an intimate moment with the dressage star thanks to a “Custom Moment” video. In the video produced for Custom Saddlery, Steffen is interviewed and shares everything from what he eats for breakfast to whether or not he likes dogs.

Shot on location at Carol Cohen’s Two Swans Farm in Wellington, Florida, Steffen shows off his sense of humor during the “Custom Moment” interview with Cohen. The video appears on the Custom Saddlery website, www. mysaddle.com, and on the Dressage-News.com website, www.dressage-news.com.