Valentine’s Day school boxes for one EN reader’s two lucky kids [via RB]
Happy Valentine’s Day Eventing Nation! This may come as little surprise to anyone who knows me, but I don’t have a valentine this year. Hopefully you will enjoy frolicking through meadows of golden flowers with your valentine today, but no worries, I’m not bitter or anything. At all. What better way to celebrate this day of love than winning $300 in beautiful Ecogold pads, which you have a chance to do at the bottom of this post. But first your news and notes:
–The overnight leaders fared well at Pine Top. Boyd Martin with Remington, Peter Barry with Kilrodan Abbott, and Kerry Torrey all held onto their leads through the XC on Sunday. Other notable intermediate finished included Kim Severson and Tipperary Liadhnan 3rd, Holly Hudspeth’s Last Monarch 6th with Boyd, and Cambalda 8th. Jan Byyny continued her return to eventing in top form with an 11th place finish in the open prelim. [Pine Top Results]
–In Ocala, there were massive withdraws from the intermediate as many of the top horses including Mandiba, Port Authority, and Loughan Glen elected to make the weekend a combined test. I can’t speak for all of the riders, but from what I have heard, many of the intermediate riders were planning to do a combined test well before the weekend started and horses like Mandiba and Port Authoriy will probably bump up to advanced at the next competition. Most of the other riders took their time around the Florida Horse Park course, and Ellen Doughty with Sir Oberon, Caroline Martin and Classic Touch, Susannah Lansdale and Buck Naked, Leslie Law with Rehy Lux, and Kate Brown with Mojito all won intermediate divisions. There were a staggering 27 divisions at Ocala, compared to just 12 at Pine Top. [Ocala Results]
–Speaking of Leslie Law, the US coaching search continues to grind on with phone interviews of the applicants behind the closed doors and hermetically sealed windows at the USEF. As I have been saying, there are at least three or four applicants in addition to the ones who are public, and I expect we will hear about a short list within a few months, maybe as soon as a few weeks.
–In a strange and sad story, several horses mysteriously and suddenly died in the pre-race parade at the UK Newbury Races. Initial reports suggest the horses might have been electrocuted, but no one seems to know exactly what happened and officials are waiting for a necropsy. Apparently the two horses just started behaving strangely and kicking out and then they passed away. [SKY News via EM]
—Morning Update: Boyd’s COTH HOTY award from the Feb 7th issue is online today
—Emily Beshear and Coren had a good day at Pine Top [Emily’s blog]
—Jack and Jill snuck out after curfew [Jack and Jill’s blog]
—An Indiana man was caught for a horse shooting after two years [Horsetalk]
—Today’s TOTD items are bridles half off–only available until noon [TOTD]
—Speaking of contests, don’t forget to enter our Point Two contest [Contest Page]
Ok, I hear you ‘stop blabbing and tell us how we can win free Ecogold stuff John!‘
Here’s how the Ecogold contest it works. First, watch the video below of M&M’s getting murdered. Then, answer the following question in the comment section of this post: What color are the M&M’s in ECOGOLD’s test (#4) in the video? After 24 hours, The EN Chinchilla’s will randomly select one lucky winner. As always, be sure to include your email address in the comment submission form because this is what we will use to contact the winner.
The Prize: 1 Ecogold half pad + 1 Ecogold saddle pad of your choice = $330 value
Fair enough? What are you doing still reading this, get watching:
Tuesday 12:45am Update: The entries have officially closed, good luck to all the entrants, a winner will be announced soon!
That’s all for now. I want to give a major thanks to Ecogold for giving away fantastic prizes to our readers on Eventing Nation. I’ll be around throughout the day bringing you all of your eventing news, commentary, and ridiculousness. JER is also writing something for us, so there’s at least one post to look forward to today. Wherever you may be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your Valentine’s Day. Go eventing.
