Michael Jung GER and Sam FBW competing in the Cross country phase at the Rio 2016 Olympic games.
Photo by: Arnd Bronkhorst / FEI Catalogue
The Olympic Games are certainly a powerful motivator for the top echelon of our sport, but equally motivating to our youth, our up and coming riders, and in my case, even riders who know the Olympics are unequivocally not their end-game. I’m between horses at the moment, having sold my partner of three years earlier this spring, and I’m chasing a busy career and a one-year-old constantly seeking to toss herself off the edge of things. So needless to say, barn time has been nearly impossible to come by.
But after six straight days solid of reporting and writing about the Olympics, I felt my motivation refreshed. Not to become the greatest, or to work towards a lofty competitive goal, but just to have that companionship again, to be satisfied at the end of a beautiful ride. To be a better horseman when I went to bed than when I got up. I had a lovely day at the barn after an unreasonably long absence, and the smells, the quiet, the joy were everything I remembered them being. Go riding, y’all.
U.S. Weekend Action:
GMHA Festival of Eventing August H.T. [Website] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
Fair Hill August H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]
WindRidge Farm Summer H.T. [Website]
Erie Hunt and Saddle Club H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times]
Otter Creek Summer H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Live Scores]
The Summer Event at Woodside H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times]
Stanton Farms H.T. [Website] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
Area VII Young Rider Benefit H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times]
Colorado Horse Park H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times]
Sunday Links:
Rio Show Jumping: First Inspection Complete, One USA Horse Held, One Horse to Jog Again Tomorrow
Behind the Scenes at U.S. Pony Finals – Overdose of Adorable
Five of the Most Expensive Horses Ever
Tales from Rio: “I was on 21 painkillers, but I had to qualify for the Olympics.”
Kiwi Olympic Eventers Down But Not Out After Olympics
Acid Reflux May Be Perfectly Normal in Yearling Horses, Study Suggests
Sunday Video: Alyssa Phillips and Bliss III, Team Gold Medalist NAJYRC Two Star
