Need to Know Wednesday
A growing number of Paralympians are war veterans. On one hand, it breaks my heart to write about the extraordinary sacrifice made by so many heroes. On the other hand, nothing is more inspiring than speaking to veterans and hearing the strength and optimism with which they handle their burden. No one should ever question why they give out real Olympic medals at the Paralympiacs because, really, most Olympians are just making the best of an extraordinary gift, whereas Paralympians are making the best of an extraordinary challenge. You tell me which feat takes more strength.
EventingUSA has an interesting piece about using proper legal documentation in the horse industry. Obviously, the conclusion is that us horse folks tend to be over trusting and under protected. Frankly, its a surprise to me that more bad situations in eventing don't wind up in court, but often the 'victim' is just as unaware of their legal options after the incident as they were when they didn't get proper documentation in the first place. Of course, when you're having trouble finding money to pay for your horses, the last thing you think about is calling a lawyer to draft some paperwork.
Rebecca Howard is back to teaching.
Galway is now going to have a CCI***, which is a really great tribute to how eventing is growing and thriving on the West Coast.
The European Equestrian Federation intends to challenge FEI President Princess Haya in her election for a second term, according to The Carrot.
A Belgian adult amateur event rider was killed in a rotational fall last weekend.
SoPo 2 is this year's first PRO event. I know we have had a couple of recent posts that have been slightly critical of PRO, but anyone who has read EN for a while knows that my opinion of PRO parallels with most independent eventers: PRO is an idea with a lot of potential, and I'm excited to see how it develops this year.
A New York City carriage driver was suspended for...guess what....driving under the influence. Of course, its almost hard to blame the guy. If my job description involved driving an oversized boat through streets of angry, rude, honking, high-on-Starbucks maniacs...
Best of the Blogs: Sarah Stretton
The belgian rider died through asking his horse to jump from a stand still and it tried to jump but had a rotational over the fence. Please please do not ask your horse to jump from a standstill if the fence is bigger than 30cm. It is a tragedy that could have been prevented.
Thank you so much for recognizing the courage and bravery of our troops. While many unfortunately come home with physical reminders of what they went through, many more are haunted psychologically by what they saw. Please keep those men and women in your thoughts as well.




I'm glad to see the article about law and the equine industry for two reasons:
1. I am a law student (shameless plug). Just kidding... that's not really my reason.
2. Real reason: when I began law school it dawned on me just how vulnerable and exposed many good and unsuspecting people are to needless legal trouble. I hope that equine professionals AND their clients take this seriously. The simplest thing that you can do is to READ the contracts that you sign/provide. You CAN understand them... i promise.
Just my 2 cents.