Visitors to The John Deere Place at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are treated to scheduled reining demonstrations each day. This week the media had their own opportunity that included being able to sign up to try it yourself. Although I do enjoy riding occasionally I stayed on the ground with my camera and took a picture of Sarah Jenkins, Horse & Hound magazine, getting a lesson from the experts.
Sarah says she had never ridden in a western saddle before and she was surprised at how easy it was. Part of that was being on a well trained horse too I’m sure. Sarah says she’s in “horse heaven” here at the WEG. You can listen to my interview with Sarah: Sarah Jenkins Interview
You might think that an equipment company exhibiting at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games would only display equipment to use on horse farms. You might think wrong. In fact, WEG sponsor, John Deere, is displaying their full line of equipment from consumer to ag to commercial.
Earlier this week I spoke with Barry Nelson, Manager, Media Relations, about what the company is displaying and why. He says “this is a branding effort” and therefore they wanted a full range of their equipment to show the extent of the brand. There are 40 pieces of equipment on display and 60 Gators “running around the grounds” as well as some other tractors and implements being used in the arenas. This is a very international crowd attending the grounds and the company has someone on location who is multi-lingual even though many of the visitors do speak English. You can listen to my interview with Barry: Barry Nelson Interview
If you’re a coffee lover and want to support a good cause then consider Alltech Café Citadelle. I bought two pounds at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games where Carlos Ronchi was pouring for attendees.
Carlos says that a cooperative in Haiti is producing the coffee and they’re re-building after the devastating earthquake earlier this year. Attendees at the WEG like the coffee and the story behind it and are very happy to help. You can listen to my interview with Carlos: Carlos Ronchi Interview
Here’s what Alltech President, Dr. Pearse Lyons, says about this way to help the needy in Haiti.
We believed that buying Haitian coffee was one of the best ways that we could have an immediate impact. We decided to launch our own brand of Haitian coffee and to incorporate this coffee into existing Alltech products. After several trips to Haiti, we found the perfect partner: Cacgava is a 900 member coffee co-op located in Dondon, a small village in the mountains in northern Haiti. It is Haiti’s oldest coffee co-op and is fair-trade certified by FLO-CERT, an independent International Certification company. The coffee’s name was derived from the Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Americas, next to which Cacgava and its member farms are located. Alltech Café Citadelle is a high quality, mild, mountain-grown Arabica. It is naturally shade-grown and is fair-trade.
Polish born artist Andre Pater was on hand at the John Deere media reception at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. He was signing prints of one of his four paintings that he produced for the Race For Education. You can purchase one of them online.
I spoke with him about his work and support for the Race For Education. He has lived in the Lexington area for over 20 years. He says it’s like living in Heaven. He loves the idea behind the Race For Education and was happy to help them by creating art work of the major competitions at the WEG: reining, dressage, jumping and driving. You can listen to my interview with Andre: Andre Pater Interview
The Race For Education (RFE) is a national 501(c)(3) scholarship organization, that enables young people of equine industry families as well as those who want to pursue an equine-related or agricultural career, both with significant financial need, to obtain a college degree by providing tuition support; financial literacy training to help students minimize their debt load; mentoring services to provide students with emotional support; and permanent jobs upon graduation.
The John Deere Place at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is a very impressive building and exhibit with a path through it containing a wide array of products. It sits on the walkway between the main entrance to the main outdoor stadium.
To find out what John Deere is doing at the Games and why they got involved I spoke with Roch Dold. He works with the various equine associations that John Deere has a relationship with. He says that because of those relationships they were approached early on to see if they would participate. It’s a natural fit when you consider the history of the John Deere company. As Roch puts it, “the horse and John Deere have a rich tradition.”
The company has a very diverse display of equipment that even includes construction equipment. Roch says that there is a diverse international audience and this allows them to see all that the brand has to offer. Besides the display they are also the official equipment supplier to the Games and you’ll see green equipment working all over the grounds. Listen to more about John Deere’s involvement in my interview with Roch: Roch Dold Interview
The media attending the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games were treated to a private reception with John Deere that included a reining demonstration. Our guide was Casey Deary, Deary Performance Horses, and you can see a portion of his presentation in the video.
We had representatives of several horse organizations with us too. John Deere has a great relationship with them, including the National Reining Horse Association. I spoke with their Director of Marketing and Communications, Christa Morris.
I asked her to explain how reining works since it is such a big part of the games and is a very American part of it. Christa Morris Interview
The Olympics of horse sports, the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, is off to a great start in Lexington, KY and I’m enjoying every minute of my stay here courtesy of John Deere. These Games have been in the planning stages for years and during that time I’ve spoken with title sponsor owner, Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech, several times. I had that chance again when Dr. Lyons was escorting Haitian Harmony around The Alltech Experience. They’re a group of children who will be performing here and are part of the efforts Alltech is making to assist the needy in Haiti. As you’ll hear him say in this week’s program, any business man needs “to give back” and this is one way he’s doing it.
You will rightly also hear the pride in Dr. Lyons voice as he talks about the Games finally arriving. And you’ll hear him give full credit to his team and the partnering companies who have stepped up to provide support. I’ve also got to make a point of saying that if you want a lesson in branding your product, service or industry, you need look no further than Alltech and it’s owner. Dr. Lyons makes a comment in the program about how agriculture in the U.S. has done a terrible job of “branding” itself and I can’t agree more. Here at the Games Alltech is doing that in a big way. I wish farm groups and other ag companies had gotten involved since this is a great stage to communicate with consumers. Not sure why they didn’t. Do you? It’s my understanding the opportunity was there the requests made. Anyway, please enjoy this week’s program: ZimmCast 274 - Dr. Pearse Lyons
This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s a song titled, “Concerning Charlie Horse” by Great Big Sea. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
This is what it’s all about at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Horses. Well not just horses but . . . My sponsor, John Deere is a major sponsor of the games and they are the sponsor of the Reining World Championship. Besides their pavilion they also have a reining demonstration arena set up and I just happened to walk by when one was in progress.
Now, if you don’t know much about reining don’t despair. I never did either and I’m going to make sure we do before I’m out of here. So expect to learn more about the different competition disciplines during the next couple days.
The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games opening ceremony had abundant pageantry. We had dancers of all kinds and lots of music and lots of horses. And of course we had the parade of countries and athletes who will be competing.
As i write this post my photo album is updating with this evening’s photos. We moved from bright light to darkness so it was a challenging event to shoot, especially when you consider the distance to the stage from where we were situated and moving targets. We had a lot of dignitaries make an appearance. The Mayor of Lexington, Jim Newberry and the Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear welcomed everyone to the event. You can listen to their comments here which start with Jim already in progress: Welcome From Mayor and Governor
Other special guests this evening included Muhammad Ali who rode in with Dr. Pearse Lyons, President, Alltech and we also had a special visitor – the First Lady of Jordon.
The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are underway at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. I’m here courtesy of one of the sponsors of the games, John Deere. I’ll be tracking some of their activities here for the next couple days.
To get things started I spoke with the Vice President of Alltech, Aidan Connolly. Aidan has been here all day so I asked him about his observations. He says the games just couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. A nice rain brought in some cooler but sunny weather and the crowds have been big. It’s all building up to tonight’s opening ceremony which I’ll be attending. Aidan says the games are showcasing agriculture and people have been asking just what Alltech does since I guess this might be a first time for a company like Alltech, involved in animal health and nutrition, to sponsor the games. It’s also the first time they’ve been held in the United States! Aidan says their involvement with the games has been a “game changer.” This includes the new contacts they’ve made internationally and growth in their business. So from my perspective it all looks good from here.
This weekend I’m going to get “horsey” as a good friend of mine likes to say. Next week Cindy will get dairy at World Dairy Expo. Should be a good contrast. Now by horsey, I mean I’ll be at the United States first ever Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games courtesy of John Deere. They made sure the Games are Green!
There is already so much pre-event online information I don’t even know where to point you first. How about just staying right here on AgWired? LOL. Well, let’s get started. I’ll be on location in time for the opening ceremonies tomorrow night at the Kentucky Horse Park. I’ll be there through the early part of the week covering various aspects of the games and John Deere activities.
If you’re media and want to get registered with John Deere then here’s where you need to go. However, if you are not registered media for the Games then you’re out of luck on that. Media registration closed a while ago. John Deere has two resource sites for the Games. There’s the John Deere World Equestrian Games website where you’ll find lots of information, including video clips. There’s also a John Deere media blog which I’ll be contributing to on which media resources will be available during the Games. Use this link to subscribe to the blog. You can follow on Twitter @JohnDeere and Facebook.
Some other resources you’ll want to know about include the official Alltech FEI WEG blog and you can also follow on Twitter @2010AllTechWEG and on Facebook. Here’s where you can find the schedule of events. The opening ceremonies Saturday night will be broadcast by NBC as well as other selected parts of the schedule.
Showing that there is a career in professional blogging even for horse enthusiasts Cargill’s Nutrena brand launched a new blog site called The Feed Room that is designed to be a central source for horse enthusiasts to get the latest information on the care and feeding of their horses.
The site will cover a wide range of topics including horse feed, feeding tips, digestive health, weight control for horses, training tips & tricks, and industry events. Visitors can view videos, leave comments, ask questions and subscribe to receive updates via RSS feed or e-mail.
“Every day we engage in conversations with passionate horse owners across the country,” said Jackie Rieck, Nutrena® brand marketing manager. “We wanted to provide a central location for horse enthusiasts to educate themselves, interact with us and find a community of their peers.”
In developing The Feed Room, the Nutrena® brand commissioned a team of experts in the horse industry to blog and respond to site visitors’ questions, with new posts featured weekly. Featured bloggers will include experts from Cargill’s Nutrena® team and industry experts from outside the company.
Hey horse loving bloggers. Want to blog the upcoming 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games? Enter this contest.
Land O’Lakes Purina Feed is excited to announce the Purina® “Live from Lexington” Contest, an opportunity for horse lovers everywhere to showcase their blogging skills for a chance to attend and report live from the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Lexington, Ky. The contest is sponsored by Purina Mills, LLC and co-sponsored by EquiSearch (www.EquiSearch.com) and Active Travel. Contestants can learn more about “Live from Lexington” and enter online at www.LiveFromLexington.com.
“Two grand prize winners of the contest will be our Purina blog-o-spondents and will report to our fans on the latest happenings at the Games,” said Brant Gilbert, marketing manager, Horse Business Group. “We know that Purina has some of the most loyal customers and horse enthusiasts in the industry, and we are excited to find the perfect duo to send to the competition and enjoy the festivities.”
Contest entries can be submitted online at www.LiveFromLexington.com between March 1 and May 31, 2010. To participate, entrants must submit a video of sixty seconds or less explaining why they want to be a Purina® Live from Lexington blog-o-spondent. Videos will be judged based on the entrant’s response, qualifications, articulation, and talent.
On hand for the presentation were Alltech’s Tyler Bramble (r) and Dr. Alan Wessler, MFA Inc. MFA is an official animal health and nutrition partner for the games. They join more than 60 other organizations who have also partnered with Alltech for this first time competition in the United States. The games will be held in Kentucky from Sept. 25 to October 10.
I talked to both Tyler and Alan about their partnership and what it means to each company this evening.
The equine group at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica has produced a short video to help promote it’s new Vetera virus protection.
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI), announces the introduction of its Vetera™ West Nile virus family of vaccines, the only vaccines containing the North American Equine E159™ 2005 horse isolate representative of the virus that is most likely to infect horses today. The Vetera family of vaccines includes protection against West Nile virus; Eastern, Western and Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis; and tetanus, in a variety of combinations.
Podcasting for the equine industry is alive and well in the form of the Horse Radio Network. This morning’s program is coming to you from the world famous Coffee Zone in Jefferson City, MO and features an interview with HRN founder and “chief bottle washer” Glenn Hebert.
Glenn says he started HRN after having produced an equine podcast for a client of his. In the past year they’ve grown the network of programming to 5 regular podcasts.
Glenn says they have regular advertisers supporting them and of course they’d like to have a few more. A major piece of advice that he offers is to make a commitment to your podcast. You have to produce it regularly to build an audience and it doesn’t happen overnight. I can’t agree more.
Learn more about HRN and podcasting by listening to this week’s program.
I’d like to thank AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
At the recent BlogWorld and New Media Expo I met Glenn, Chief Geek, for the Horse Radio Network. It looks like they’ve really got the podcasting thing down pat. I’m betting they’re even making a living at it. Must be something to it (he said tongue in cheek).
The Horse Radio Network is your home for equine related online horse radio. Over the next couple of months we will be providing you some fantastic shows and content all about horses.
From the serious to the sublime, from Arabs to Welsh Ponies, from 9 handers to 19 handers we will cover it all. There is no prejudice here, its just about horses. Sure there will be some shows that emphasis one breed or another, but we will do our best to cover it all.
The key to the Horse Radio Network is fun! We believe that people own horses for fun and entertainment. Why else would you put up with the early morning feedings, stall cleaning, vet bills, long trips to shows, empty bank accounts and everything else that goes with being a horse owner.
Participants in the Global Dairy 500 Conference were treated to a horse show and dinner at the Kentucky Horse Park. Our visit included seeing multiple horse breeds and riders dressed in traditional costume. I spoke with one of the riders mounted on an Arabian horse named D’artagnan. He’s 11 years old and on loan to the Park by his owner. You can listen to my interview below.
I also shot a video clip which includes an interview with the other horses and riders.
Besides hanging around with us and getting in lots of photos we also had a ring show that included a set of miniature horses pulling a wagon. I thought you’d enjoy seeing them.
Holistic health for horses just got a little better.
Horse and pet nutrition and health products company Arenus of St. Charles, MO recently acquired the intellectual property, technology and product lines of Equilite, Inc.
According to a press release, Equilite provides many all-natural herbal health products that are safe for horses, horse owners and the environment. Ingredients are human grade and made in the US without sugars, fillers or chemical additives.
Arenus acquired Equilite’s three product lines: the Sore No-More® Liniment Product Line, Herbal Supplement line and Botanical Animal® Flower Essence line, totaling 39 individual products. Other Equilite products include bathing, fly control, general health, behavioral training, relaxation, liniment and legs, as well as natural pasture seed.
ARENUS® is owned by Novus Nutrition Brands, LLC (a Novus International company) and is specifically dedicated to improving the health, performance, and longevity of all horses and dogs.
You’ve heard of C-SPAN. Now there’s H-SPAN. The H is for Horse. HorseTV, the first and only multi-platform television network dedicated to providing programming for a worldwide equestrian audience, announced today the launch of H-SPAN, the industry-serving component of its online television portal.
With the announcement of the H-SPAN activation and the amazing lineup of initial programming included in the launch, HorseTV now is leading the way in providing broad international public access to many of the industry’s important happenings, discussions, critical issues and political agendas. Travel, time and expense constraints will no longer be barriers to participating in or learning from important events, seminars, meetings or debates on industry issues. H-SPAN can provide live, interactive and archived on demand broadcasts to a worldwide audience.
H-SPAN . . . “Spanning the Horse industry” . . . is a first-of-its-kind service for the industry, and is provided by HorseTV as a neutral, non-edited informational and interactive platform for any event with a message, mission or agenda that contributes to the make-up of the equestrian industry worldwide .
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
Chuck and Mike often wind up at the same events all over the country so it seemed like a good idea to do a little AgriTalking about the changes they've seen in the ag media landscape.
Visitors to The John Deere Place at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are treated to scheduled reining demonstrations each day. This week the media had their own opportunity that included being able to sign up to try it yourself. Although I do enjoy riding occasionally I stayed on the ground with my camera and took a picture of Sarah Jenkins, Horse & Hound magazine, getting a lesson from the experts.
The Olympics of horse sports, the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, is off to a great start in Lexington, KY and I’m enjoying every minute of my stay here courtesy of 
The 
At the recent BlogWorld and New Media Expo I met Glenn, Chief Geek, for the 
Holistic health for horses just got a little better.
According to a 
You’ve heard of C-SPAN. Now there’s 
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
