Media wishing to attend the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Gamesâ?¢ 2014 in Normandy taking place from 23 August to 7 September, should apply for accreditation by Saturday, 31 May. Applications should be done online through the media tab of the eventâ??s official website.

Attention those members attending CSIO La Baule. Mr Yves Chauvin, President of the Société Hippique Française, parent institution for young horses and ponies, is inviting members to a press conference on FRIDAY 16 MAY 2014 at 11:00 am in the Press conference room (near the press office).

He will introduce the Grande Semaine of Fontainebleau 2014 — the national young show jumping horse championships — and the SHF’s strategy to involve those in the industry, particularly foreign members of the media, during the event (September 8-14) which directly follows the conclusion of the World Equestrian Games.

If you can be there in person please reply by May 15th to shf@pixizone.com or by phone at +33 (0)6 08 82 94 86.

The airport shuttle provided by the WEG Organizing Committee from Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (and possibly Orly airport) to the media hotels in Caen will cost Euro 125 one way. This was confirmed by the organizing committee on the Webinar on April 29th. During a Bureau meeting on April 30th, it was suggested that members post on our Facebook Page their time of arrival at either of the Paris airports so as to possibly meet other members and share the cost of renting a car. While the train from St Lazare is much cheaper (35 euros) you would have to get from the airport to the train station via the Metro or by taxi (cost around 40 Euros); the former of which may not be so convenient with a lot of luggage.

Media accreditation is now open for the FEI European Championships for Ponies 2014, which will take place at The Green Glens in Millstreet, County Cork in Ireland from Wednesday, 30 July – Sunday, 2, August 2014.

Please complete and return the Press Accreditation Form on the show website: www.millstreet2014.com, which also contains accommodation information.

Applications for accreditation will close on 1 June 2014.

If you have any questions, please contact: media@millstreet2014.com. The Press Officer for the show is Mr. Frank Mulvihill.

[CAEN, France] — Three exceptional journalists, including two Americans, will soon see the lush farmland, dramatic coastline and

historic landmarks of the Normandy region when they cover the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Gamesââ??¢ 2014 in Normandy this summer, having been named recipients of the Alltech “Hoof Beats” media awards.

Members of the International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists (IAEJ) and Alltech officials selected Hoof Beats winners from a pool of international finalists.

“Through the Alltech Hoof Beats awards, we wanted to enable three international journalists the opportunity to travel to Normandy. This will allow them to cover and report from the epicenter of the Games during the 15 days of competition,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech.

“Alltech continues to be a valued partner of the International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists (IAEJ) and a generous supporter of equestrian media,” said Chris Stafford, IAEJ vice president and secretary. “We are delighted that once again Alltech has recognized the efforts of the media with this stipend that IAEJ members will benefit from in their coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy this summer. Our thanks go to the staff at Alltech for making this happen and to our members for participating.”

Maurine Webb of the United States earned the LIFEFORCE Range Equine Health Beat with her article about relevant and notable equine health and nutrition. Webb’s Warmbloods Today article entitled “Nutrigenomics, Enhancing Equine Health for the Modern Sport Horse” discussed how nutrigenomics can be utilized in the equine realm for enhanced horse health, longevity and performance.

Lesley Ward of the United States earned the Celebrate Normandy Beat by demonstrating talent and aptitude in covering a cultural and lifestyle story. Ward’s article published in Horse Illustrated, “Bon Voyage,” informed and inspired her readers to join the excitement of the Games and discover the treasures of Normandy.

Anna Sharpley of Australia was awarded the Gold Medal Equine Athlete Beat for her coverage of an influential figure from one of the eight official disciplines of the Games. Sharpley’s article entitled, “Against All Odds: Danielle Weymark,” published in Horse Deals, explored a young handicapped rider’s determination to represent Australia as a top performing para-dressage rider.

Each journalist will be awarded a $5,000 travel stipend to attend the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Gamesââ??¢ 2014 in Normandy on receipt of media accreditation from the 2014 Normandy Organizing Committee. In addition, the Hoof Beats winners will be recognized during the Games and Alltech will commemorate the Hoof Beats winners’ coverage through a high-end publication printed post-Games.

The Competitions

The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, Presented by Land Rover, will be held April 24-27, 2014 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, along with the Kentucky Reining Cup. The event draws anywhere from 50-100,000 spectators and is seen by millions more on worldwide telecasts including a telecast on NBC in the United States.

The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event features the 17th Rolex USEF Four Star Championship for the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation Pinnacle Cup. The world’s best horses and riders compete for their share of $250,000 in prize money as well as a shot at the $350,000 Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing which is awarded to any rider who wins theRolex Kentucky, Mitsubishi Motors Badminton and Land Rover Burghley Four Star Events in succession.

The only Four Star Event in the Western Hemisphere, the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event is the premier competition for the top horses and riders in the Olympic sport of Eventing.

Produced by HorsePower, Inc., the 2014 Kentucky Reining Cup will feature the Adequan/USEF Open Reining National Championship and Selection Trial, a CRI3* event held in two rounds over three days, April 25-27 in the Horse Park’s Alltech Arena. The Kentucky Reining Cup will offer $120,000 in total prize money and also feature a World Championship Freestyle class.

Eligibility for Press Credentials

In order to be eligible to receive Press Credentials, you MUST:

1. Be associated with or on assignment for a specific publication, news service, newspaper, website or radio or television station;
2. Submit a letter of assignment, on the assigning company’s letterhead, with the request for press credentials.

To ensure that those receiving press credentials are bona fide members of the press, and to maintain eligibility for the following year, you MUST provide this letter of assignment.

Editors assigning more than one photographer are asked to designate ONE primary photographer.

NOTE: Photographers wishing to shoot from within the arena will be expected to adhere to a strictly enforced dress code.

Use Accompanying Form to Request Press Credentials: Press credentials should be requested using the accompanying form. Press admission and parking passes will be mailed to those approved for credentials. Please mail the completed form to Classic Communications at the address on the form.

Click HERE for Credential Application

The International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists (IAEJ) has announced today that British journalist Pippa Cuckson has been awarded the 2013 Bureau Award, which is decided by members of the IAEJ Bureau. Cuckson has long been a credit to her profession but it is her intrepid reporting of the scandal surrounding the endurance sport in the Middle East for which the Bureau wishes to recognize her with the award for 2013.

Established in 2012, the award was created to honor members of the equestrian community for outstanding contributions to the industry. George H Morris was the inaugural recipient.

Cuckson has boundless enthusiasm for getting to the heart of the matter while always adhering to the principles of journalism. Having started out in newspapers, she spent 20 years on the editorial team at Horse & Hound, latterly as deputy editor. Following a seven year break working in the racing industry, Cuckson resumed journalism as a freelance in 2009, contributing regularly to The Daily Telegraph, H&H, Horse Sport International and Chronicle of the Horse. She is also a frequent contributor to Country Life writing on a range of topics, notably classical music and renewable energy, the latter for which she was recently presented with a journalism award by leading UK political weekly, The Spectator.

Cuckson’s concern about the high rate of horse fatalities, injuries and doping cases in Middle East Endurance, goes back to the late 1990s, when she was deputy editor of Horse & Hound. In April 2012 she attended the endurance debate at the FEI open forum and made the salutary discovery that things had become significantly worse in the last decade. She reported the debate in a number of publications but then began to dig deeper. “Largely though, I was unable to interest anyone in stories about it, firstly because of the distraction of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and also the reluctance, fear even, of critics to go on the record,” says Cuckson. “This is still a factor now. A number of key stories circulating on the internet still have not had the proper scrutiny they deserve in mainstream publications.”

Finally, a window of opportunity came in April 2013 with the doping scandal at Godolphin.

“A number of racing media were looking for connections between Sheikh Mohammed’s racing and endurance operations, because his disgraced Godolphin trainer, Al Zarooni, had previously worked in an endurance stable run by trainer Mubarak Bin Shafya who is well known to the FEI Tribunal,” explains Cuckson. “I then spent four solid days reading every single FEI Tribunal report involving the UAE, and tortuously tracking who owned the horses through the FEI database and national federation website. The sheer weight of doping cases from stables owned by Sheikh Mohammed or other members of his immediate family was astonishing.”

Timing is everything. Just as Cuckson was coming to grips with the enormity of the problem and the implications for horse welfare, the Belgian and Swiss Federations were intensifying their lobbying of the FEI. “I wrote a piece for the Daily Telegraph pulling the various strands together and it has snowballed from there.”

Cuckson does not view her commitment to this issue as a crusade.

“I am just doing what any news reporter ought to be doing, because this issue provides a snapshot of the two issues that will ultimately destroy equestrian sport as we know it – our responsibilities to horses when we use them as a piece of sporting machinery; and how the moral compass of stakeholders seizes up when they get a sniff of big money.”

Cuckson will be presented with the award at the IAEJ General Meeting during 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France.

On behalf of the Organising Committee of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Gamesââ??¢ 2014 in Normandy, it will be an honour to welcome you to the 2013 Test Events in a few days. (more…)

After numerous emails asking for further information on the whereabouts of the media hotels in Caen for the 2014 World Equestrian Games, the IAEJ has had a response from Normandie. All that has been confirmed is that media will have access to the appointed housing bureau “at the beginning of May 2013 (date to be confirmed).”
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