American Farriers Journal has also posted a certificate for National Farriers Week that horse owners can download and personalize for their farriers. It can be downloaded at http://www.americanfarriers.com/file_open.php?id=173.

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

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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.

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
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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.

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

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.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page

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.

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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.

Also with us this evening was the President of the FEI, HRH, Princess Bint Al Hussein. She also welcomed everyone to the games and gave the official proclamation that the games have started: Games Start With HRH, Princess Bint Al Hussein

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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.

You can listen to my interview with Aidan here: Aidan Connolly Interview

I have started the soon to be famous 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album. You’ll probably be able to tell who my sponsor is.

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by:

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.

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.

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.

You can listen to or download my interview with Tyler here:

You can listen to or download my interview with Alan here:

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.

The Stable Scoop Radio Show
The 2010 Radio Show (WEG)
The Eventing Radio Show
The Dressage Radio Show
A new horse tip every day

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.

The program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s a song titled, “Coffee Man” by Calvin Owens. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening.

You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast below.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.

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.

You can follow them on Twitter too – @horseradio.

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.

2009 Global Dairy 500 Conference Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Global Dairy 500 Conference is sponsored by .

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.

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 .

“New Holland is one of our corporate sponsors, which we are very proud to have on board, so we are happy to be here sharing a booth with them talking about horses while they talk about tractors,” says Ginger Walker, APHA director of special events.

APHA is the second largest horse breed registry in the United States with nearly 100,000 members and Ginger says they are a very exceptional horse. “The color really sets them apart, they’re basically a stock horse with color and each one is unique – no two are alike, they’re like a snowflake,” said Ginger. “They’re very fun to ride and they can do all sorts of things.”

Visitors to the New Holland/APHA booth get to play Wii games to win Michael Peterson CDs. Ginger is shown here congratulating one young visitor on his Wii bowling score.

Listen to or download my interview with Ginger here:

It was a wet and wild day at My Lady’s Manor Steeplechase races. Can you say “mud?” I left after the main race which you can see the winner of here. I got very lucky and was presented a pass to the owners and judges tower right over the finish line.

The race was pretty exciting but I don’t have the winner’s name. If anyone knows they’re welcome to leave it in the comments.

Before the events got started I met and interviewed Turney McKnight, direct of the Manor races since 1978. He says this is the 99th running of the race. He says the race evolved from the horse and buggy days and was a real source of sport. The distance hasn’t changed and is still over 3 miles with 16 jumps. The crowd can be as many as 7,500.

It pretty much rained all day while I was at the races. Turney was one of the first people I met and we sat in his truck to talk. You can listen to my interview with Turney here:

I also shot a video clip of the end of the My Lady’s Manor race. You might here my Nikon clicking because I was shooting stills at the same time. I don’t recommend that. But us professionals can handle it!

Post Update: I now have an online photo album with pictures from my day at the races: My Lady’s Manor Steeplechase Races

The first book is appropriately titled, The Horses of Proud Spirit, and her second novel is titled, Hoof Prints. Melanie’s first book details her mission to care for abandoned horses. The second novel takes readers on a journey back to the lives of their favorite horses. In a time where horse slaughter is banned, there is an increasing number of unwanted horses. I give kudos to those that dedicate their lives to caring for them. I just hope that books like these don’t create the image of horses as pets. Horses are animals; they live and die. It’s the circle of life in agriculture, and I hope these books don’t sway too much away from that message.

In any event, these books sound like they have a good message and a heart warming story in between the pages. To order, head to Amazon or Proud Spirit.

Established in 1899, the 160 acres of this plot was established during the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act allowed for a pioneer to own the land they settled on after five years if they built a house on it, plowed the land, dug up a well and actually lived there. The Schlagel family traveled from Illinois to South Dakota to pursue a new life, and in 1906, the homestead was finally theirs. Since then, this plot of land has continued to stay in the Schlagel family. In 2008, they were recognized at the South Dakota State Fair for their century farm.

Today, I thought I would share a little piece of Dakota history with you. To understand who we are, we have to understand where we come from. South Dakota has a rich history of pioneer settlements, Indian wars, weather challenges and tales of the Wild West. Later this week, I will be experiencing this rich history with my Spring Break trip to the Black Hills. I will share my photos from my journey as the week progresses. Have a great weekend!

The Cowgirl Chicks are a rodeo entertainment team that rodeo just about every weekend. They do about 85 performances a year, including outside the country. They’re trick riding professionals using castaway horses. They have to spend a lot of time working with them to train them. Trish says it’s a commitment and dedication to live the cowgirl way of life.

You can listen to my interview with Trish here:

You can also download the interview with this link: Trish Lynn Interview (mp3)

2009 Commodity Classic Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: and

“We’re going to have to produce more food on the same acres between now and 2050 then we’ve produced in the last 10,000 years combined,” Michael said. “That’s pretty substantial. That’s going to get us to twice the level of annual food production in 2050 versus today.”

Michael says responding to such demands is a responsibility that must be shared throughout the ag sector. But, he says, Monsanto is eagerly doing it’s part to help.

“This conversation about sustainability kind of hit us right between the eyes,” Michael said. “We went out and started talking to a lot of people about agriculture; and what doing more with less would look like; what would be important there.”

Ultimately, Michael says, Monsanto’s goal is to make farmers more productive and, consequently, more financially successful.

“Our goal is to make every farmer we serve better off the next year than they were the previous year,” Michael said.

And, Michael says, that goal is meant to benefit farmers all over the world.

“In developing countries we think we also need to do that,” Michael said. “So, we’ve committed to helping 5 million resource-poor farmers, who are simply trying to feed their families, do that.”

But, as much as Monsanto recognizes its role in securing the future of farming and the future of feeding the world, the Michael says finding long-term, sustainable solutions will be a team effort.

“It’s going to be the ‘we’ collectively that does this,” Michael said.

You can download and listen to Michael Doane’s entire speech at the 2008 Farm Progress Show in Boone, IA here:

You can also download the speech with this link.

Check out our Farm Progress Show 2008 Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: and

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

Mark Hardy is the President of Horse Travel Network. This morning he and I sat down and wound up talking far longer than I think we planned but he’s an interesting guy and this new venture sounds like it’s got some great potential. One of the things I find most interesting is how they’re totally internet based and have already got over 700 people signed up and it’s brand new! Word of mouth is working for them big time. The site will include advice, forums, blogs and of course, listings. It’s going to take advantage of some social networking applications which are really popular today.

The Horse Travel Network is a new sponsor of the Appaloosa Horse Club and offering their members a special deal right now of a free membership.

The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. In the spirit of traveling I chose “Travel Ditty Guitar” from Acoustic Rosh. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 177 (13 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

She played a full set of songs with her band and showed why she’s an up and coming star.

The ring was opened up so that everyone could come down out of the stands and get up close and personal. It took a little coaxing but once Callaway got started most of the crowd moved on down.

You can watch Callaway perform one of her songs in this video:

National Show Photo Album

These guys make it look like a piece of cake though. It’s still relatively early here in Jackson, MS but they’ve been out here at it since 7:30am. In fact, I think they start that early every day for 2 weeks.

The first week here is mostly the youth show with adults starting today. I’ll be around until about midday on Monday so you can expect more from here.

National Show Photo Album