Photo by Kate Shields.
The rain we’ve been begging for has finally arrived. I am very fortunate to be outside of the fire danger zone in Western North Carolina, but the air has been filled with smoke for months and the dry conditions have only increased the risk of new fires. Along with the blessed rain has come cold temperatures and it suddenly feels like winter, but we aren’t even mad. The rain is so very desperately needed, it could start snowing and…well, let’s hold off on that for a bit.
Many of us will be heading South for the USEA Annual Meeting and Convention this week. Sure, the Convention is basically several days of meetings, but a lot of work is done for the good of the sport during that time, there are a lot of educational opportunities provided and it’s a wonderful year-end social happening, where you can catch up with your eventing friends outside of the constraints and stresses of a competition environment.
The Convention, however, has a little bit of an unspoken tradition of getting snow no matter where it is (even in New Orleans!)…but surely we won’t get snow in sunny Florida… right?
U.S. Weekend Action:
Sporting Days Horse Trials [Website] [Results]
Monday News and Notes:
A silent auction benefiting the Roger Haller Educational Fund will be held at the USEA Annual Meeting and Convention and there are some seriously awesome items up for grabs, like a week at the luxurious Mingo Manor in Destin, Florida, a domestic flight for an equine thanks to Tex Sutton and lots of event entries, stabling, lessons and swag. If you can’t be there, your friends can bid on your behalf (that sounds dangerous). [Bid to benefit educational programs for judges, TDs, CDs, instructors and volunteers]
“Training your Horse Show Spouse is a lot like working with a young horse…It’s all about good groundwork early on and developing the personality that you are given.” Horse Nation writer Meagan DeLisle may actually be on to something. Here are four useful, tongue-in-cheek tips on How to Train Your Horse Show Spouse.
The FEI World Cup™ Driving season is well already under way for eventing’s sister sport of combined driving. Dutch four-in-hand driver Koos de Ronde set the fastest times in the third leg of the series this weekend in Budapest, winning the competition with seven seconds to spare over József Dobrovitz and Belgium’s Edouard Simonet. [Superb start for Koos de Ronde in Budapest]
The Mannequin challenge has been taking social media by storm and anyone who can make a horse or other animal stand perfectly still while someone films them doing something ridiculous should be applauded. Here are 10 equine related Mannequin challenges. [Can you top this?]
Monday Video:
