It's here! Bigeq.com is proud to announce the 2010 Bigeq.com Equitation Index! So who's the hottest rider in 2010? Read on...

We are so excited to be offering our eleventh Bigeq.com Equitation Index! It's been a great barometer of the equitation divisions for the last 10+ years, and we're proud of our mathematical formula for predicting finals winners... no politics - just straight numbers based on the results of a six-week window of shows each winter.

2010 looks like an interesting year for the equitation divisions. There is a strong group of front runners who are experienced and ready to claim victory in the fall. The Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fl., was the toughest circuit to compete on, achieving a difficulty rating of 10 out of 10. HITS Thermal in California ranked with a 7.5 difficulty rating, followed by HITS Ocala, Fl., at 6.82.

Interestingly, we had more riders than ever competing on multiple circuits. Five of the top twenty-five riders rode at more than one circuit. The second circuit attended was always Wellington, leading us to believe these riders purposely go to Wellington to compete against the very best, as it consistently scores as the most difficult circuit to compete at. In our ten years of creating the Index, only once has any circuit been more difficult than WEF. In the early 2000s, Indio consistently ranked in the 9's, and was the most difficult circuit in 2002. Since then, however, WEF has remained the toughest. You know what they say... to win you've gotta compete with the best.

And the best is...

2010 BIGEQ.COM EQUITATION INDEX

Posted in Bigeq

Ivy and Laura Pfeiffer, Winter Equestrian Festival 2010

We were deeply saddened to hear that the great Ivy has passed away. He was an amazing equitation horse. Watching his expression as he galloped around a course, it seemed as though there wasn't a more cheerful or happy creature to be jumping around a course. It made watching him so enjoyable.

He's a tremendous favorite at Bigeq.com. He shot onto the equitation scene in 1999, when Missy Clark's working student Kristin Mauks spent the season training him. We, of course, started our website the same year. Back then we did a lot of photos and interviews, and Ivy was a frequent photo subject through the years.

Back when Bigeq was just a fledgling little site, Ivy was a precocious five year-old competing at his first equitation finals. As a youngster, Ivy placed in two finals with Mauks. He went on to great success with Vanessa Haas, Charlie Jayne, Haylie Jayne, and Zazou Hoffman. The latter rode him to the ASPCA Maclay title last year, a fitting climax to a long and successful career.

In honor of him, we put together a little slide show and posted it on YouTube. It contains our favorite photos of him, dating back to Devon in 2000. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXX7-CxMXTw

We also had posted a video of him last summer, taken from the early 2000s with Charlie Jayne. Here's that link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBG9IJaW-oc

RIP Ivy!!

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