We put EN’s furry correspondent through a lot in 2015.
To recount just a few of his misadventures, he was groped by gold medalists, kidnapped by national champions, stuffed into trophies, carried on victory gallops, dangled upside down by USEA presidents, concealed in Toddy’s top hat, snuggled by team coaches, strapped onto stick horses, strangled by FEI stewards, wet-willied by dogs, force-fed booze, abandoned on the backs of donkeys, left for dead in buckets of beer, given the stink-eye by people who just don’t get it, dressed in ridiculous outfits, eaten alive by cross-country jumps, pitched into trakehners, perched between horses’ ears, carried around in beer cartons, driven out of his job by a hedgehog, propped up at press conferences and mobbed by fans.
And throughout it all, we shamelessly pimped him out on social media, exploiting his complete and total inability to defend himself against our paparazzi tactics. Because, you know, he’s a stuffed animal.
Over the course of 23 events dispersed across six countries and three continents he racked up approximately 10 gazillion SkyMiles, all of which we intend to cash in when we fly him all over God’s green earth all over again in 2016.
As a bit of closure for the year that was, let’s take a moment to look back at Chinch’s 2015 travels. You can zoom in and out of this map to see which events he attended and where, and we rounded up an Instagram post from each event below.
Wellington Eventing Showcase (Wellington, Florida)
Red Hills International (Tallahassee, Florida)
Chinch gets some love from the leading ladies of #RedHillsIntl A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Carolina International (Raeford, North Carolina)
The Fork (Norwood, North Carolina)
3* show jumping is underway at #thefork A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Rolex Three-Day Event (Lexington, Kentucky)
Jersey Fresh (Allentown, New Jersey)
Chinch is signing autographs in the #jerseyfresh VIP tent if anyone wants to stop by to say hello! A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Bromont CCI (Bromont, Quebec)
Luhmühlen CCI4* (Luhmühlen, Germany)
A benchmark moment in the life of Chinchwurst … the day he caught a ride in Toddy’s top hat. #isthisevenreallife goeventing #luhmuhlen A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Great Meadow International (The Plains, Virginia)
NAJYRC (Lexington, Kentucky)
Would any #NAJYRC2015 goers be interested in a Chinch meet and greet to take pictures with eventing’s mascot sometime this week? A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Pan Am Games (Toronto, Ontario)
Event at Rebecca Farm (Kalispell, Montana)
Well he’s a little up the neck but he seems confident…ish. #crosscountryChinch #RebeccaFarm A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Millbrook H.T. (Millbrook, New York)
Aquece Rio Olympic Test Event (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Straight chinchillin’ down here in Rio. #olympictestevent #rio2016 #1yeartogo A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Nations Cup (Aachen, Germany)
Richland Park H.T. (Richland, Michigan)
“Chinches of the Corn” #richlandpark #chinchstagram #goeventing A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Plantation Field International (Unionville, Pennsylvania)
American Eventing Championships (Tyler, Texas)
Everything is bigger in Texas. #AEC15 #chinchstagram A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Military Boekelo CCI3* (Boekelo, The Netherlands)
Fair Hill International (Elkton, Maryland)
Chinch is clearly too cool for this press conference. Congrats to the top three finishers in the USEA YEH East Coast 4-year-old Championships! A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Pau CCI4* (Pau, France)
USEA Annual Meeting and Convention (Washington, DC)
Chinch is in the house at the USEA Convention! Stay tuned all weekend for EN’s coverage #useaconvention A photo posted by Eventing Nation (@goeventing) on
Where will Chinch’s world travels take him in 2016? Keep up by following EN on Instagram at goeventing!
Go Eventing.