Mary King gets my vote for best dressed, so classy!
46 horses presented at the 2013 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event first horse inspection and 46 horses will move on to the dressage. Only one horse, Andrew Nicholson’s Quimbo, was held, but Quimbo passed on reinspection. One horse on the entry list, Here’s To You, was not presented. I spoke briefly with “Quincy’s” rider, Emily Beshear, and she told me that Quincy tweaked himself just before Rolex. Although he’ll be fine, the timing was just bad enough that the best option was to save him for another weekend. Emily is the daughter-in-law of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, and I’m sad that this pair’s weekend came to such an early end along with Emily and Quincy’s many fans in Kentucky. Emily’s husband, Jeff, is a top sport horse vet and Quincy will be in the best of hands on his way to a speedy recovery.
It wouldn’t be Rolex without the Kentucky spring weather showing it’s dark side. With a high of 44 degrees Fahrenheit, we were all just thankful that the morning’s rain gave up right before the jog. The horses looked fresh and happy despite–or perhaps because of–the weather.
As is often the case in this sport, the riders looked considerably more sore than their horses. Boyd is nursing a damaged ankle and shuffled his way down the strip with Trading Aces, Lynn Symansky’s is working through a sore back and a badly broken pinky and jogged in her hand brace, and Marilyn Little incredibly jogged with a separated shoulder that hospitalized her just a few days ago.
Samantha will be along later with a full recap and quality photos, but here are a few pictures from the jog:
Buck’s red and yellow socks looked fantastic
A nice crowd showed up despite the weather, about half of the spectators pictured here
Henny is scoping out the cross-country!
Marilyn and Demeter looked great despite Marilyn clearly jogging through some pain in her shoulder
Check back later today for much more from Rolex and be sure to join us at 9:30am ET Thursday morning for the start of our live blog. Go eventing.
