LaurenGallops

GOOD NEWS:

Orange County Puppies returned safe and 
sound by local teenagers. Found whilst on their 4 wheelers, dumped in a 
field on route 55 between the kennels and The Plains. Thanking 
everyone so much for help and support. Thank god for tattoos!!
Reg and all the kennel staff!!

Please be on the lookout for three nine-week old puppies stolen in the middle of the night from the Orange County Hunt Kennels, O’Bannon Road, The Plains, VA. The puppies are American foxhounds bred for decades by OCH. Chances are that they will be sold on. If you know anyone who keeps a pack of hounds – night hunters, coon hounds, beagles, bassets whatever – please send them this alert. Ditto, vets, animal shelters and feed stores. Orange County loves their hounds and are desperate for any information that will lead to the safe and healthy return of the puppies. Adult Orange County American foxhounds are distinctively red & white with occasional black markings. The puppies are absolutely adorable.

Please – spread the word! Here is the original message sent out by OCH – contact info follows:

Dear All In the early hours of this morning 3 of our foxhound puppies were stolen from their kennel on O’Bannon Road in The Plains, Virginia. These pups are 9 weeks old. 1 dog and 2 bitches. All have tattoo’s in their ears – OCH in one ear and their litter number in the other. All are the red ring necked American foxhounds of the Orange County Hunt and we are desperately seeking their whereabouts and hoping for their safe return. We are assuming they were stolen to be sold on. If anyone hears of any information please contact Reg @ 540 270 8350. Please pass this on to anyone that could be of help. Many thanks Reg

UPDATED INFORMATION: All three puppies had the OCH tattoo in the right ear and 10 19, 10 20, and 10 23 in left ear. 10 19 – dog, red with a white lighting strike mark on back of neck. 10 20 & 10 23 – bitches, 1 was red with black rings around eyes and 1 was red with a white mask.

If you have any information, please contact:

Malcolm Matheson – 540/687-6836 (home) or 540/454-7171 (cell)

John Coles – 540/687-5522

Writers and photographers who covered 2010 Rolex know they’ve been through a trial by fire. Rolex is a marathon, but this year we experienced the Kentucky Cup test events in dressage and show jumping for the Alltech World Games. The Kentucky Cup test event for eventing, by the way, was the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** itself. Anyone who thinks that press credentials mean an endless round of partying while watching the action: neigh – working press are not spectators and put their skills on the line every moment.

We faced several changes this year, in addition to the bigger schedule. The press center, led by Chief Press Officer Marty Bauman and staffed by his talented Creative Communications’ team, moved from its usual big tent close to the cross-country course and a quick walk across Nina Bonnie Blvd to the outdoor arena. This year we were upstairs in the indoor arena that houses the Trade Fair. We had modern conveniences (indoor plumbing!) and a real roof over our heads (take that, Mother Nature) to shelter us from rain, wind and thunderstorms.

Classic Communications & Chief Press Officer Marty Bauman (center) with his team will get together to staff the Press Center for the 2010 Alltech World Games.

This Rolex was the last year for the logo – they’re bringing out something new. Janie Atkinson retired as Director of Rolex, but we’re told she won’t be far away… You can see the slide tribute to Janie on the Rolex Kentucky home page at www.rk3de.org – we contributed several photos to the slide show – hugs & thank you, Janie!

Finding a mutual "altitude": Janie Atkinson and Rolex winner William Fox-Pitt enjoy a light moment during the awards ceremony.

Special thanks:

to Marty Bauman for everything from Rolex cap to those wonderful gems of information during press conferences: his enthusiastic knowledge of Rolex Kentucky and its riders and horses of past years added great dimension and depth to our coverage.

to Michelle Dunn, photographer  – for the pep talk, many kindnesses, and I will never forget ‘Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride’ via golf cart on XC day – what fun!

Marty Bauman and Michelle Dunn (wtih a little horsing around assistance from Amy Dragoo).

The annual ALLTECH Press Tour and Dinner was, of course, great fun and very informative. Headquarters is a glorious working environment, and we all really appreciated Dr. Pearse Lyons taking us into his pub for a bit of happy hour. We finished the tour, re-grouped on the bus which took us to dinner at the Connemara Country Club. Love the laptop bag, jump drive, Alltech WEG sun visor, etc. We got to taste Bluegrass Sundown, the new coffee liqueur concocted by Dr. Lyons and team. Alltech – absolutely fabulous, on every count!

Alltech founder Dr. Pearse Lyons made all the press happy at his annual tour and dinner by with a delicious sampling of the Bluegrass Sundown coffee liqueur - look for it at the 2010 ALLTECH World Equestrian Games.

That was Friday night. We stayed up into the wee hours to blog the final dressage results and pix. Of course, cross-country day dawned way too early, along with severe weather predicted. Rolex organization was at its best: eliminating the two-hour lunch break and reducing intervals for afternoon rides from five to four minutes. Each rider got off to a fair start, and the last one finished around 2:30 – well before the weather hit.

Same golf cart that reenacted "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" on the XC at Rolex shot leaving the Head of the Lake after the last rider and before the bad weather hit on Saturday...

The course cleared quickly. Note the golf cart to left – the source for my reference to Michelle Dunn’s rendition of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride…  We opted to walk, because we wanted to get some candids on the way back to the press center where we dropped off our gear so it would be easy to grab for the Grand Prix that evening. Then we drove one of our people back to the hotel, thereby missing the excitement when Mother Nature threw one of her hissy fits, prompting the powers-that-be to evacuate the Indoor Arena, home of the Trade Fair and Press Center. Turned out to be precautionary and no biggie, after all, but still…

Early on Saturday evening, we were just wrapping our weary head around the cross-country blog and photos when we heard the news that Mother Nature (natch) had caused the Kentucky Cup Grand Prix jumping to be postponed to Sunday night.  Reactions varied from raised eyebrows to big grins and fingers stopped tapping industriously at keys or editing pix. The Press Center cleared out faster than the evacuation that took place earlier.

Sunday proved to be the day when all the stars aligned for William Fox-Pitt (GB), who brought over a horse new to the four-star level, but that equine athlete showed a business-like approach to all three phases. From their dressage test towards the end of the second day, Cool Mountain and Fox-Pitt waltzed to the lead and never looked back as they finished on their dressage score. They didn’t just win Rolex: their performance put an English spin on ‘crown of excellence.’

The 2010 Alltech FEI Games, Sept. 25 – Oct. 10, promise to be a landmark equestrian competition in the USA. They take place every four years, and this is the first time for WEG to be staged outside of Europe. The state of Kentucky, and the city of Lexington with the support of so many people and businesses have teamed up with the title sponsor Alltech – energized by founder Dr. Lyons – to bring about monumental accomplishments and improvements in preparation for the Alltech World Equestrian Games at Kentucky Horse Park.

For the first time ever, all eight FEI disciplines will take place together at one venue: three-day eventing, dressage, show jumping, para-dressage, driving, reining, vaulting, and endurance.

Imagine: 600 horses and 700 equestrians from 60 countries – plus an anticipated 600,000 spectators from every compass point around the horse-loving world.

We’ll be right there at Kentucky Horse Park, blogging daily reports and photos of the world’s best horses and riders as they compete on American turf. But the best way to enjoy the action is to be there in person, waving the flag and showing solidarity for all our incredible horses and riders.

Two disciplines are close to capacity for the championship rounds, according to an update that just arrived from Alltech. Moreover, tickets for the finals in the other disciplines are also selling like Kentucky hotcakes. So, if you’re interested, whether it’s for the Dressage Individual Freestyle Final or the Reining Individual Final or ParaDressage or whatever the final, now is the time! Visit: www.AlltechFEIGames.org or http://www.ticketmaster.com/ so you can secure your tickets before they’re all sold out.

If you haven’t quite made up your mind about going to Kentucky Horse Park, please spend some time visiting www.AlltechFEIGames.org so you get a good idea of what you’ll be missing. Please subscribe to the RSS feeds at the upper right hand corner of this page. We’re going to post lots more information, including how to do the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games on a budget.