That’s what happens when you leave your tiara at home, Zara. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons.)
In one of the more hilarious news bits of the day, British eventer/granddaughter of the Queen Zara Phillips was denied access to an equestrian event when an official failed to recognize her. Being royalty and a one-time BBC sports personality of the year, the faux pas might be akin to, say, not letting Peyton Manning into a football game because he forgot to bring his ID.
Zara was at the event to watch her mother the Princess Ann’s horse Middle Watch, which she had trained. Her mother, who had arrived separately, had her pass–but the official, Tim Hinton, wasn’t having it.
Hinton told the Daily Mail, “I feel rather embarrassed and I have had a lot of ribbing since. But it was raining and she was wearing a headband. I just saw this face at a car window and asked for her pass and, of course, when she said her mother had it, I had no idea she was referring to Princess Ann.”
He finally relented when an assistant pointed out his error. “Even then it took a second or two for the penny to drop and then I just said rather lamely, ‘Well, you’d better come in then.'”
Thanks to JER for the tip.
In other news:
– Eventing training sessions are officially over for the month of February, boo. Hopefully you got a chance to check out EN’s coast-to-coast coverage of the most recent sessions in Aiken and Cali.
Here are the March training session dates, to give you something to look forward to:
March 5-6: Ocala
March 7-8: Red Hills
March 13-16: Aiken
March 19-20: Southern Pines
March 27-29: Galway
You can keep up with the latest training session schedule announcements via Facebook.
– The closing date for Red Hills Horse Trials, to be held March 8-11, was yesterday. Did you get your entry in? Yeah, me neither. You can see who WILL be there by stalking the entry list. Looks like in the *** we got some Phillip, some Karen, some Marilyn, some Buck, some Allison, some hotshot Canadians, some Henny (yesss, helmet cam)….that was the teaser, now go check the rest of the list here.
Also on the RHHT website, you’ll find info on the event’s new-for-this-year silent auction. The item list is like something out of an event rider’s wildest dream: lessons with Jon Holling, a clinic with Lucinda Green, a new bridle from Bit of Britain, some trips to Europe, a pony party, belly dancing lessons and a bunch other awesome stuff. Please, nobody else bid on the “Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event Fabulous Weekend,” a package that includes weekend patron tickets (including open bar!), cross-country course walk with Hugh Lochore, clubhouse passes to Keeneland and dinner at a super-fancy restaurant–I’ve got that one claimed for myself. They’re also raffling off a Rolex watch valued at $7,150 if you’re into that kind of thing.
– Life after George: The USEF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of Robert Ridland as the next U.S. Show Jumping Chef d’ Equipe/ Technical Advisor pending the successful negotiation of a contract. The position will become available in 2013 when George Morris retires after six years of service. [USEF]
– Have you visited that spectacular new website Horse Nation today? It’s so like whoa. Just in time for Mardi Gras, they had stories like…
Lady Godivas parade ‘in the nude:’ Here’s a mental image for ya: An all-female New Orleans riding group that dons nude body-stockings and chucks bedazzled horse shoes into the crowd.
Video du Jour: A horse walks into a bar. The bartender asks, “Why the long face?” New Orleans police use horses for crowd control during major events like Mardi Gras and everyday patrols along Bourbon Street. Sometimes, they need a drink too.
Louisiana Horse Rescue: A story of Hope. Risa Flamm brings us this update on last month’s rescue of 60 neglected horses from a Louisiana breeding farm. Forty-six of the horses are still under the organization’s care.
Shameless plug, complete.
– Terrible, horrible people doing terrible, horrible things: This is so bad, I almost don’t even want to tell you. The remains of a miniature horse were found in a rural area of Miami-Dade County on Monday, from where it had clearly been tortured and then butchered for black market meat. It is the third discovery of a slaughtered horse in the county in two months, and was in the same spot where a butchered horse was found a month ago. [Horse Talk]
– Best of the Blogs: Uber-preppy polo shirt company Joules is WAY too excited about pancakes. [Happy Pancake Day] Never to be one-upped, Kerrits managed to locate a carrot cake pancake recipe and post it on Facebook. [Yum?]
Red Hills ’12: It’s time to get pumped!!!
Go eventing.
