Braving the elements at Fair Hill International: Beverly Strauss of Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue (on left) poses with kindred spirit Kim Clark who runs Thoroughbred Placement and Rescue, a 501(c)(3) charity, created by Clark's Leighton Farm (MD). Clark talked to lots of people about new careers for horses off the track, raffled off gorgeous prizes, ran another edition of the 'make an offer' tack sale and handed out copies of the new dvd "Retraining Your Off-Track Thoroughbred."Photo by Lauren R. Giannini

Catching up: There was a familiar face in the press room at the Washington International Horse Show: T. Rees Shapiro was covering the competition for The Washington Post sports section. Better known as Taylor Shapiro, the '09 graduate of Virginia Tech is the son of retired Post sports editor Len Shapiro and writer Vicky Moon.

Renick Townsend's mom Jill was justifiably proud when she told us that Renick, a senior in high school was recruited by Oklahoma State University and SMU in Dallas for both school's equestrian teams. Nice that our equestrian sports are finally being recognized as worthy of athletic scholarships.

Margie Engle will be inducted into the Palm Beach County Hall of Fame on March 21, as one of ten chosen from 74 candidates. The equestrian community has been well represented in the Palm Beach County Sports Commission: last year Jeff Blake received the professional athlete of the year and Gene Mische received the President's award. Our Gold Medal Olympic Team had also received an award in the past.

Another inductee is Aiken's Michel Vaillancourt - Individual Olympic Silver Medalist in show jumping for Canada at the Montreal games in 1976, and now FEI course designer - Michel is being inducted into the Canadian Showing Jumping Hall of Fame during the Royal Winter Fair inA0Toronto in November.

Congratulations to Mercer Farrington on his appointment as joint master of Live Oak Hounds. He was named Jt MFH at the club's Opening Meet, which was also Mercer's birthday, so it was quite a special day, indeed.

Staff writer Jan Westmark says that the Tryon 25th Anniversary Gala (Top Hats and Tall Boots) was fantastic. Jan said lots of people came up to say how excited they were that Sidelines was there! We're glad to be there, too.

May we brag, just a little? The whole Sidelines staff is pleased that our magazine was named an "Official Equestrian Lifestyle Publication of the 2010/2011 WEF" and is an Official Media Partner of HITS Horse Shows... of course, we know you just can't do the circuit without us, but it's fun to be appreciated!

Okay, this is very local news, but it seems about half of Aiken is getting new hunt horses this season. Rick Wilson and David Trachtenberg's new horses came from Tennessee Valley (Echo) and Aiken, (Buzz) respectively. Mike Rubin has a wonderful new hunt horse, Sterling, that he's looking forward to hunting this fall.

Clinics: On January 10 Carriage Hill Farm and Sunshine Meadows Equestrian Village will be hosting a Katie Monahan-Prudent clinic at the Sunshine Meadows facilityA0in Delray Beach, Fl. It is the first in a series of clinics that will be held throughout the year. This event is open to all spectators and riders and stalls are also available. Space is limited so reserve now.

Horse Show News: Equus Events Inc. and show manager JP Godard will be returning to Folsom, Louisiana for the 2009-2010 show year. JP will be handling the management of the Holly Daze Horse Show December 11-13, 2009 and the January Jazz Show series January 20-24 and 27-31 2010. Both shows will take place at Amen Corner Farm.

International course designers Anthony and Michael D'Ambrosio launched their equine consulting business, D'Ambrosio & D'Ambrosio, online during this year's Washington International Horse Show. The new site, www.adambrosio.com, debuted on October 23, the same day as the $25,000 Open Jumper Puissance - a class close to the couple's heart as Anthony still holds the horse show's record of 7' 7 1/2" that he set on Sweet 'N Low in 1983. Michael Morrissey, who is now the head trainer and rider at Stransky Mission Farm, attempted to break the record on Scarberas in 2008 without success.

Francesca Mazella has just started working in Marketing for HITS in Saugerties, NY. You may recall that Francesca won the Maclay & Medal in 1984, so she should be perfect for the job on the team for the one million dollar grand prix to be held at HITS next September.

Weddings: Aaron Vale and Mallory Norton were married Oct 16 in Cincinnati. Lisa Skiffington and Randy Cole tied the knot on June 5th in Portsmouth, and Lisa says now that she and Randy are happily married, she's back riding with Michael Meller and showed this summer in Vermont and at The Hampton Classic.

Other side of the pond: We're hearing that the showing world in England has become so fraught with threats and danger that some owners pay for 24-hour security for their charges before their classes. Death threats are not uncommon, from what we're told.

News to share: New baby, engagement, pickup truck? On the move, having parties, falling off horses? Share what's happenin' with your horse show friends by e-mailing us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Be sure to put "News for Ingate" in the subject line.

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