Wednesday, September 1 2010

Enjoy this video from last year's Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials

Tuesday August 31, 2010

The ECOGOLD factory is buzzing with activity as we are making the saddle pads for teams that will be competing at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in a few weeks. In addition to the official team saddle pads, we have ten ECOGOLD-sponsored riders that have been short-listed or selected for the Games, which we are supplying with anything they may require on an individual basis (from half-pads to horse boots).

If you thought that saddle pads are just saddle pads, think again. When you are competing at the highest level of the sport, you cannot leave anything to chance. Some riders have their own preferences and some ride in very distinctive custom saddles, which means that we have to adapt certain saddle pads to their requirements.

Here are some photos...

Thursday September 2, 2010

To ensure the protection of your horse's legs, Canadian Eventing Team member Jessica Phoenix demonstrates how to put on ECOGOLD Cross-country Boots.

Watch video! How to properly put on ECOGOLD Cross-country Horse Boots

Four-star eventing competitor Boyd Martin, who is short-listed for the US Eventing Team at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games with two horses said about ECOGOLD Horse Boots, “When you’re galloping cross-country, going long distances and through water, you need a lightweight boot that doesn’t heat the legs or labor them with extra weight. Sooner or later your horse’s legs are bound to smash into a jump and that’s when you need the best defense you can get against injury. The Ecogold cross-country boot offers the most protection a boot can give when jumping fixed obstacles at high speed.”

Click here or on the image for the link to our Cross-country Horse Boots.

 << July 2010                                  August 2010                                       Videos and Blog>>

Thursday August 12, 2010

More exclusive videos from the Canadian Eventing Team training camp in preparation for the 2010 World Equestrian Games. The team will be riding in ECOGOLD saddle pads in Kentucky and Canadian Eventing officials and riders on the squad are really hopeful that the team can get a top 5 finish, which would earn them a qualification for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The mood is really upbeat and positive but there is also a lot of pressure to get one of those 6 coveted spots.on the final team. It will be interesting to watch the Canadian short-listed riders at Richland Park Aug. 26-29 and the American Eventing Championships in Georgia Sept 9-12. They will not hold anything back.

Part 1/2 Diana Burnett and Manny - Jumping - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Part 2/2 Diana Burnett and Manny - Jumping - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Part 1/2 Jessica Phoenix and Exponential - Jumping - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Part 2/2 Jessica Phoenix and Exponential - Jumping - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Thursday August 12, 2010

Exclusive access!! Only ECOGOLD brings you inside the Canadian Eventing Team training session for the World Equestrian Games at a top secret location in Ontario.

This week, the Canadian Eventing Team held their second training camp with head coach David O’Connor in preparation for the World Equestrian Games.  It was held north of Toronto and featured the five Canadian riders that live in the area (Ian Roberts, Selena O’Hanlon, Michelle Mueller, Diana Burnett and Jessica Phoenix).
In addition to those five, an additional four (Hawley Bennett, Kyle Carter, Rebecca Howard and Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch) are presently short-listed for the Canadian Eventing Squad for the World Equestrian Games (WEGS), being held September 30-October 3, 2010 in Lexington, Kentucky.  The WEG Squad will participate in training sessions and preparatory competitions throughout the summer leading up to the final training camp, which will take place in September prior to the Games. The final team of up to 6 rider/horse combinations and alternates will be named in September, after the American Eventing Championships (AEC’s) at Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, Georgia (September 9-12).

Here are some videos from the first day of training camp – dressage lessons with David O’Connor.

Part 1/2 Diana Burnett and Manny- Dressage - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Part 2/2 Diana Burnett and Manny - Dressage - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Part 1/2 Jessica Phoenix and Exponential - Dressage - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Part 2/2 Jessica Phoenix and Exponential - Dressage - Canadian Eventing Team Training Camp

Thursday July 29, 2010

Fantastic results for Canada from the first day of dressage at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships in Lexington, Kentucky as Team Ontario captured the silver medal. Riding in ECOGOLD saddle pads, Amy Jager, Jaimie Holland, Maura O’Sullivan and Megan Lane finished only 1 point away from the gold, with 2 riders in the top 3. Way to go!!

Team Ontario’s rider Jaimie Holland, who finished 3rd, had these comments: “WE DID IT!!!! We're bringing home some hardware!!! Congrats to my fellow teammates Megan, Maura, and Amy on an awesome day. We won the silver team medal and were only 1 point off of the gold!!!

Amy kicked off the day laying down a good first test with some awesome trot work pulling in a 63.6% due to some small mistakes that added up. She finished top 15 today going in to the Individual test tomorrow. Maura was next and unfortunately went off course on a coefficient movement and had to be docked 2 full marks for that movement (coefficient movements are movements in a test where the score given is multiplied by 2 and are usually movements that make or break your score). However, she had an otherwise good first test at her first year at young riders and laid down some really good trot work as well. Czar, who is usually up to some comic antics, had none of those today and was really there for her which was great- no foot resting in the extended walk today :D. Next up was Megan on Caravella who laid down an unreal test and brought in a 67 and change, and put us in the gold medal position initially. She would finish second overall going in to the Individual test tomorrow. Unfortunately, another team member from Region 5/6 in the States got a high score and knocked us down to the silver medal shortly after. I was last to go and had a personal best ride which scores in high 69 range until my last 2 lines of changes. Due to a mistake in both lines - which we never mess up!!!! - Nina and I ended up with a 67 and change as well, securing the silver medal for the team and finishing 3rd overall.”

Monday July 19, 2010

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Monday July 12, 2010

When we started developing our line of horse boots, we took a look at the products that were already in the market.

First, as a textile engineering company, we know about materials. And we were amazed by the amount of ridiculous claims on labels: from breathable-neoprene (which doesn’t exist. Neoprene is an insulator and is not breathable) to 95%+ shock absorption (you can’t measure impact in an absolute percentage, it depends on the impact force). Yikes! No wonder people don’t know what to believe.

As a protective safety device, we were surprised that there weren’t uniform testing requirements that all manufacturers needed to comply with, specially with regards to impact, as there are for helmets or safety vests.

We did comparative studies, looked at the key important factors and also, talked to grooms and top riders to see how we could develop a horse boot that would offer the best protection to the horse.

Video - What every rider should know about protective Horse Boots

1. IMPACT PROTECTION

First and foremost, the reason why you put a boot on your horse is for protection. When we started looking for the best impact material in boots, we discovered many choices. Some boots use plastic shields, metal plates, and amazingly enough, some brushing boots don’t have any protection at all. The problem with the metal or plastic shield, is that even if it protects (some brands better than others) it remains stiff, which is not comfortable for the horse and has the potential to create rubs. Our discussions with top riders and grooms made it clear that our boots needed to be flexible, so we had to look for a material that would not only have high impact strength, but also be flexible.

We found polycarbonate, a bullet-proof material designed to absorb shock in high-impact situations. Developed originally for the aerospace industry, polycarbonate is used for airline windows, NASA Space Shuttles and also for protective helmets, riot police shields and bullet-proof windows.  There is plenty of data on its resistance to impact.

"With 20 times the impact resistance of fiberglass and over 40 times the impact resistance of glass or acrylic. At a thickness of .033", a Polycarbonate sheet can withstand over 240 inch-pounds of impact. This equates to a 3/4" hailstone falling at 96 miles per hour! Polycarbonate sheet maintains this superior impact resistance at temperatures ranging from 40°C to 250°C."

We also did our own comparative impact test – hitting different brands with an axe. We were amazed by the results.

Video - Axe Impact test ECOGOLD Horse Boots

Besides the impact protection advantages, polycarbonate is very light, flexible and offers a uniform level of protection at different temperatures. So riding in tropical hot and humid or freezing conditions, would not affect its performance.

2. HEAT build-up – Breathability

Air-vents or no air-vents? As riders try to determine breathability by checking the number of air-vents on horse boots, we knew that our key advantage would be in making the entire surface of the boot entirely breathable, as we had successfully done for our dressage boots. So, our boot doesn’t need air-vents – which can help neoprene-boots become slightly more breathable but can also offer a weak impact point (less protection where it’s open) and allow sand and dirt to get in.

Our expertise in combining micro-fiber and our unique 100% breathable memory-foam (our breathable memory-foam is completely vented, like a mesh, so it does not trap moisture or heat in, as might happen with regular memory-foam) offer an entirely breathable surface, to quickly dissipate the heat.

There was an independent test done at a competition in the UK measuring the temperature of the horse’s legs after the XC. Results found that the horses using our boots were 1.5 degrees cooler than with the number one boot in the UK.

3. RESTRICTION - Flexibility

It was clear from the beginning that we needed to make very flexible boots, not only to offer greater comfort to the horse, but also reduce friction and prevent rubs. Stiff boots limit the freedom of movement.

Rubs and skin irritation can be caused by the materials used (many horses are allergic to neoprene), but also due to the boot design. Top grooms strongly recommended making a boot without any trim to prevent friction.

The breathable memory-foam, which conforms to the horse’s legs with the flexibility of the Polycarbonate shield and designing the boots without any trim, feel like a second skin. That's what you want. The more flexible, the more comfortable for the horse, but without compromising on the level of impact protection.

4. WEIGHT – One of the reasons why we are using the Polycarbonate shield is that it’s lightweight compared with other materials of similar resistance, which allows our boots to weigh as the lightest ones in the market approximately 250 grams.

The fact that they are 100% breathable allows them to quickly evaporate the sweat, maintaining their weight constant during a competition. By using water-repellent materials, the tests done on the field show that there is little water absorption when going through the water jumps.

For more information about ECOGOLD Horse Boots, please click on each photo:

<< June 2010                                  July 2010                                       Videos and Blog>>

Monday July 5, 2010

Last week, we visited US event rider Sinead Halpin’s training facility in Lebanon, NJ, a stone’s throw from Gladstone, New Jersey, home of United States Equestrian Team. When you think about New Jersey… you don’t necessarily think of horses and a beautiful countryside, but this part of New Jersey is lovely.

Sinead, who rides in Ecogold Saddle pads and Horse Boots, runs Sinead Halpin Eventing, a training and sales business based at Hart Farm in NJ and spends the winter months competing in Aiken, SC. She is the secretary and one of the original board members of PRO (Professional Riders Organization), which utilizes the country’s top professional event riders to connect with fans and raise awareness of the sport.

Sinead’s top horse Manior De Carneville (aka Tate) was injured this winter and was unable to compete at Rolex Kentucky CCI****, but after months of TLC and rehabilitation – including training in a pool (see video - click here!), he should start competing in August.

Here's a tour of her facility, which used to be a vineyard and has a lot of character and history.

Learn more about Sinead Halpin - click here for her profile in our Hall of Champions>>

"The most important thing to me is that my horses are comfortable, happy and well protected. From Ecogold's Secure saddle pads to their fantastic new cross country boots, I can say Ecogold products help me achieve that goal every day!"

<< June 2010                                  July 2010                                       Videos and Blog>>

July 1, 2010

True Prospect Farm groom Kelley Merette shares some useful tips with the students.

Braiding tips from groom Kelley Merette - Part 1

Braiding tips from groom Kelley Merette - Part 2

More from Phillip Dutton Eventing Camp - Click here>>        

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The O'Connor Event Team invited us to their eventing camp in Lexington, VA. Karen O'Connor introduces ECOGOLD and talks about the importance of having experts from outside the equine industry come in and bring new technologies to develop innovative products that benefit horses.

O'Connor Eventing Camp 2 - Karen O'Connor introduces ECOGOLD

More from OCET Camp - Click here>>        

Media Contact and Photo Credit: Amber Heintzberger, 828-289-0658, amberwriter@aol.com

Friday 28 April, 2010

There was a secret weapon under the saddles of top riders at the Rolex Kentucky three-day event this past weekend: their Ecogold saddle pads. Ecogold riders at this year’s Rolex Kentucky CCI**** include Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Karen O’Connor, Buck Davidson, Kyle Carter, Diana Burnett, Jessica Hampf, Peter Atkins and Allison Springer.

For the sixth time in his career Phillip Dutton, (who won Rolex KY in 2008 riding Connaught), placed second overall at Kentucky, this time riding Acorn Hill Farm’s Woodburn. He also finished sixth on Ann Jones’ The Foreman.

Dutton said, “The Ecogold saddle pad that I used at Rolex gave my horses the best comfort and fit that I could hope for and helped the horses give their best. They are particularly revolutionary in the jumping phase where their non-slip abilities really give an advantage.”

Boyd Martin piloted three horses around Rolex Kentucky, posting three clear cross-country rounds. He finished fourth on his own Neville Bardos, 11th on Bruce Davidson Sr.’s Rock on Rose and 12th on Densey Juvonen’s Remington XXV.

Martin said, “When you’re traveling at high speeds and jumping big fences, your life depends on having security in the connection from your saddle to the horse. Ecogold pads provide that perfect fit, regardless of the horse’s shape and size, that keeps you secure galloping down steep hills and jumping off big drops, while providing comfort for your horse’s back. You need to give your horse every chance to do their best and Ecogold’s air flow and grip provides this.”

Karen O’Connor finished seventh at Rolex Kentucky riding Joan Goswell’s Thoroughbred mare Mandiba, the horse she rode at the 2008 Olympic Games. O’Connor commented, “Ecogold pads are amazing, they keep the saddle put without irritating my horse’s back. The breathability is incredible, too: even on the hottest days, the pads wick sweat off my horse’s back. "

About the Product

The Secure Saddle pad is specially designed to improve the safety, comfort and performance of horse and rider. This saddle pad is the choice of leading three-day event riders to keep their saddle completely secure. This means no slipping, no sliding, even in the worst conditions!

Canadian Diana Burnett said, “Having just ridden in the Ecogold saddle pads at this year’s Rolex, I can easily say they are the best pads on the market! They are the most secure pads I have ever ridden in, none of my saddles have ever moved. Their anti-slip properties are remarkable, making me and my horses more comfortable through all three phases.”

The 100% breathable high-density foam in the seat area protects the horse's back from impact without adding extra bulk. The ergonomic shape and ultra-thin flaps provides the rider with a more stable riding position. The high-tech 100% breathable materials quickly evaporate moisture away, keeping the horse cool and dry, even on the hottest days.

Patricia Da Silva of Ecogold commented, “"It was fantastic to see the number of riders in Ecogold's Secure saddle pad at Rolex and the fact they all did so well. In a very short time, the eventing community has really embraced our products, which help improve the safety of the rider and performance of their horses."

About Ecogold

Ecogold is a Canadian textile engineering company making innovative equestrian products to improve your horses’ safety, comfort and performance. Ecogold saddle pads, horse boots, girth covers and horse blankets offer protection without compromise!

Click here to browse ECOGOLD’s eventing products!

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