Eventing Nation TV Guide to Eventing Hall of Fame Gala

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Videos and , , , ,

EventingUSA has put up some videos from the Eventing Hall of Fame Gala at the USEA convention.  If you have several hours to watch them all, by all means, go ahead.  But, I thought it might be nice to provide a guide of 'must watch' excerpts, seeing as how I sat through the entire gala live and can point out where people laughed the hardest.  Click HERE, and then use the guide below.

Video #4: Denis Glaccum, presented by Mike Plumb: (0:00 to 6:30) "Talking about things that piss me off about Denis..."-Mike Plumb delivered one of the funniest and at the same time harshest introduction speeches in history.  
 

Video #6: Custom Made, presented by Jacqueline Mars, accepted by David: (4:00 to end) "And I looked behind me, and here is Dorothy and Molokai...Molokai was a horse who didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to get there fast."-A very nice story about Custom Made from Ms. Mars, and then an emotional speech by David.
Video #7: David O'Connor, presented by Jim Wolf: (0:00 to end)  "I've seen Karen play golf...she has a much better swing than Elin Woods"  Jim Wolf's introduction and David's speech are both worth the watch, but you absolutely have to watch the first few minutes.
All of this is about 30 minutes of video, but I also encourage you to watch Bruce Davidson's induction because he is such an incredible figure and he will only be inducted to the Hall of Fame once.  If you are so inclined, please share your favorite moments from the videos in the comment section.  Oh, and a big EN shout-out to KB for always having my back.
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Convention Videos from the USEA

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Videos and , , , , ,
The USEA just released some great video from the USEA convention.  The USEA's Josh Walker did an extraordinary job filming in seemingly a million different places at once throughout the convention, and the result is that you can feel like you were sitting in the audience.  I have included my favorite video below, but click for more convention videos at EventingUSA.

This video is incredible, and well worth a watch.  Find a blanket, curl up, and watch the Godfather of eventing do his thing.  Also featuring Denny Emerson and Buck.

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New Zealand Hints at Possible WEG Boycott if PL Stands

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , , ,
From Horsetalk.co.nz:
"[Equestrian Sport of New Zealand] chief executive and secretary general Jim Ellis laid out New Zealand's position in an open letter to FEI head Alex McLin... 


"Our international federation should be working to the highest standards of governance and the late notice of this list, which did not allow for adequate consultation time with our veterinarians and members, has done the FEI a significant disservice," he said...


"ESNZ will continue to maintain a zero tolerance for these NSAIDs within our national medication control programme," Ellis said...
"The proposed postponement would ensure a 'clean' World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.


"In the event that a majority of national federations do not support the postponement, the board of ESNZ reserves its right to consider the participation of the New Zealand Team at WEG 2010." Full Article.  


My take: the implications of the national federations rejecting Princess Haya's request for a delay and revote on the Progressive List would be profound.  Combined with the rejection to consolidate FEI power into a smaller governing council in Copenhagen, and the mismanagement of the Progressive List early on, it is hard to imagine FEI leadership having any credibility if they are refuted on this matter.  However, it does seem like the possibility of national federations voting down the delay and revote of the progressive list is very real, certainly much higher than anyone seemed to think at the USEA Convention, where the delay was spoken of like it was a done deal.  Getting a final answer is important to helping the FEI move on, and to helping the NFs develop a sufficient drug management policy for WEG team selections.

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FEI’s Letter Regarding Progressive List Delay and Revote

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , , , ,

Excerpts from the FEI's letter sent out to all member federations last week about postponing the 'progressive list' until a revote in November 2010, a move that we originally reported on Friday after hearing about it at the USEA convention.

"Dear Member National Federations of the FEI,

In the context of the dispute that has erupted within our family over the best way to achieve our shared goals of eradicating doping and protecting the welfare of horses, I write to ask for your support.

Specifically, I am asking you to give your written consent to allow the implementation of the "20 October List" with the new rules in April 2010 and place the issue of NSAID policy on the agenda for the 2010 General Assembly. I give you my word that this issue will be tabled in the form of a policy choice for the GA in 2010 and that, in the meantime, HQ will make it a priority to provide you with the necessary scientific thought and research for you to make an informed decision. I ask that you please indicate your support, or lack thereof, by replying to this email.

...The General Assembly considered two options: the "20 October List" and the "Progressive List." The Progressive List classified specified NSAIDs up to certain levels as permitted medications and removed them from the Prohibited Substances category of the 20 October List. 

[Note: the 20 October list is known colloquially as the 'zero-tolerance list.'  The FEI has been accused of selecting confusing names for the lists and changing those names, and this letter is still seems a little unclear about the exact nature of each list, whether intentionally or unintentionally.]

...We all agree on the important things. Everyone involved in this debate wants to eradicate doping. Everyone involved in this debate wants to protect the welfare of horses. We all favour "zero tolerance." The General Assembly approved an outright and unequivocal ban on substances that are intended solely to enhance performance. There will be no retreat from that. But the term "zero tolerance" is easy to use - and easy to abuse. In human sport, "zero tolerance" is actually the same policy as the Progressive List. Acceptance of the Progressive List for equestrian sport does not mean acceptance of doping.

This is not a debate driven by geography or cultural differences. It is not a split between developed and under-developed; and rich from poor; or East and West. Many of the most developed nations among our NF body have voted for the Progressive List, and feel passionately that this is the way that the sport must go. I would equally highlight that many of the smallest and most under-developed nations in our sport have vocalized clearly to me their overwhelming concern that this policy change will not allow them as National Federations to fulfill their duty to protect their equine communities. Some have also expressed fear that passage of the Progressive List presented them with the problem that they would be unable to institute the necessary educational tools fast enough to protect their equine communities from those with a lack of knowledge who would unwittingly abuse the rules...

There are good arguments on both sides of the issue, and we should listen to each other with consideration and respect. Our equine partners in sport will be the losers should we not agree to debate this in a calm and rational fashion...

Let us put this "time out" to good use so that we can engage in a calm, rational debate over the best way forward and then vote on this policy issue at the 2010 GA. In the meantime (as of 1 January 2010), the FEI will apply the clean sport recommendations not related to the new regulations, which have you have already approved and which will allow for considerable progress on the FEI's clean sport initiative.

We will probably never have unanimity, but working together, we can agree on an approach that serves the interests of equestrian sport and the athletes -- both human and equine -- who practice it. That, after all, is what we all desire. 

Once again, I ask for your support in approving the implementation of the "20 October List" with the new rules in April 2010 and place the issue of NSAID policy on the agenda for the 2010 General Assembly. I ask that you please indicate your support, or lack thereof, by replying to this email.

Yours respectfully,
Haya Al Hussein"

Read the full letter at Eurodressage.  Thanks to the Chronicle for the original link.

My ridiculous take: We have questioned Princess Haya over the past few weeks, but this letter is the perfect step to resolve the issues within the FEI.  Delaying the implementation of the progressive list until next November resolves concerns about the WEGs, and allowing the revote will lend legitimacy to the final decision.  All of this is assuming that the member nations actually vote to approve the delay, but I cannot possibly imagine that the FEI would offer this as an option without being sure of the final vote.  If the member federations voted against Princess Haya on this matter, the legitimacy of the FEI leadership would be crippled. Everyone at the USEA convention seemed absolutely convinced that the delay and revote would go through, including Mark Phillips, and the Chronicle reported "rumors confirmed."

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Five Thoughts from the USEA Convention

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Ridiculous Commentary and , ,
Update: Click here for a cool photo tour of the USEA convention from Leslie Mintz, and click here for photos from the Hall of Fame Gala.  "I wasn't worried, they were worried."  Also, please consider donating to the USEA cardiovascular study.  The USEA endowment is matching donation up to $25,000 and Phillip spoke eloquently at the convention safety meeting about the importance of this study.  

For the USEA's extensive convention weekend coverage, from Emily Daily, Leslie Mintz, Erica Larson, Josh Walker, and Lisa Thomas, click here.  All of these writers did a great job, and I had a pleasure visiting with them this weekend.  Eventing Nation looks forward to working with them in the future.  

And now my top ridiculous thoughts from the USEA convention:
1) The USEA leadership has done a great job in stewarding the USEA through these tough economic times.  The USEA made money last year, which is pretty rare these days if you turn on CNBC or talk to a small business owner.  I was also impressed with President Kevin Baumgardner's frankness with those who objected to the USEA's policies.  In every instance of objection that I saw this weekend, Kevin made sure that the objectors knew he understood their point, explained why the USEA was going in the direction that it was, and moved the conversation forward.  It would make a better story if I said something bad about the USEA's leadership, but I was impressed.
2) Jon Holling is going to be president of the USEF someday.  Put another way, we want Jon to be president of however many organizations we can convince him to lead.  Jon serves as Chair of the Professional Horseman's Council.  At the PHC's Open Forum this weekend, Jon convinced a bunch of longwinded and egotistical riders to stay on topic and within the schedule.  If he can do that, he is a born leader.
3) The horse market is improving, we think.  In talking with people that I consider the go-to horse salespeople in the US, the consensus is that sales have picked up over the last 3 months, which is good news for everyone out there who is trying to sell a horse.  Of course, by the time things really improve, people will have their jobs back and they will not want to sell their horses.
4) Eventing Nation could quadruple our traffic if I felt like printing even one of the crazy things that went down at the hotel bar.  All I will say is: buy stock in alcohol companies around late November next year.
5) I know I sound naive when I say this, but I was inspired by seeing so many people working hard to make our sport better this weekend.  Sure our sport has problems, but I don't see how we can possibly not figure them out with so many great people working together.  I was completely sick of writing about eventing by Sunday afternoon, but I was inspired to make Eventing Nation a better, stronger, funnier, more positive, more informative, and more accurate site to do our great sport justice.  Thank you for reading.  Go eventing.
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Thank You from Eventing Nation

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation and , , , ,

Eventing Nation would like to extend a special thank you to Samantha Clark, who co-hosts the 2010 Radio Show from our good friends at the Horse Radio Network.  Samantha sent a lot of traffic our way by twittering about our coverage of the convention this weekend.  Eventing Nation can show our appreciation by checking out and subscribing at the 2010 Radio Show site, which is the premier source of WEG news.  Also please check out Samantha's twitter and facebook.  

A big thank you also to everyone who made the USEA convention possible, including the volunteers, USEA members, and especially Area II for giving free boxed lunches on Saturday.
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USEA Convention: Sunday Live Thread Coverage

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , ,
Good morning Eventing Nation.  Thank you for joining us on wrap-up day of the USEA convention.  The Board of Governors Meeting is from 9-12 and the convention ends at 12.  
The FEI has decided to revote on the progressive list in November 2010 and has postponed its implementation until then.  I keep this story at the top of the site because this is the major equestrian story of the coming week.  Only Eventing Nation, the Chronicle, and nj.com have the story right now, but everyone will join the party on Monday.  For more info, click on the link or scroll down.  
I attended the USEA Hall of Fame Gala last night, which was full of laughs.  I don't feel that I am skilled enough to capture the experience with my writing, so I will wait till the professionals do there thing and link to that.  Hopefully, with practice, my writing will improve to the point where I feel comfortable writing about more emotional events.

I had an important (for me) meeting from 9-10, but I will have coverage from the final two hours of the convention starting now.  My original plan was to attend the Board of Governors meeting, but there are way more people in the Lucinda Green lecture on the coffin canter so I will cover that and then move over to the Board Meeting at 11.  As always, the live thread is a stream-of-consciousness format.  Apologies for spelling and grammatical errors, my emphasis is on getting as much good content info written as possible.
10:00 AM-Perfecting the Coffin Canter with Lucinda Green: Lucinda starts by stating a concern that the FEI may be so wrapped up in the pressures of governing our sport that they have gotten away from the fundamentals of eventing.  From Lucinda:
Coffin Canter: Lucinda explains that people know that horses need time to see the jump, so they slow down by pulling on the horse's mouth.  This makes horses hollow and prevents them from seeing the coffin.  If a young horse can't collect well enough to achieve coffin canter, make it trot into the coffin.  
Lucinda explains that with the recent publicity of rotational falls, people are afraid to get close to fences.  But, being able to get close to jumps is an important part of training, and requires good technique by the rider.  Getting a good rub on a jump is important to teaching the horse to hold itself.  "Learn to love the deepest spot there is."  When the horse gets deep, the most important thing for the rider is not getting tossed forward, over the horse's shoulder, thus preventing the horse from jumping well.  The infamous 'chip-in' stride causes many riders to be tossed much too far forward in terms of position.  "Don't think, feel."  
Lucinda said that when riders try to get coffin canter, the first mistake is that they never get a short enough stride.  A good coffin canter is much slower than show jumping pace.  The second biggest mistake is they get condensed, then see their stride and push out of the coffin canter to get to that stride.  The third major mistake is letting the horse hollow too much in the coffin canter.  On the other hand, if a horse comes to an element with a vertical round frame, he can't see it properly.  
Lucinda tells the audience not to worry about what they look like, coffins are messy business.  She wants to see that a rider's balance is in a good enough position that nothing the horse does will compromise that position.  Lucinda shows a video of about 50 slow motion rides through a coffin, and points out that nearly all of the horses are coming in with a much too long stride, not giving the horse time to see the ditch.  "Going downhill to a coffin is infinitely easier than going up hill" because the horse has more time to see the ditch than going up hill.  Practice coffin canter going down hill on gallops; this also protects the horse's front legs from impact.  Ask yourself after every coffin about what experience your horse had, was he scared, did you build his confidence?  In one video where everything went wrong on the approach, the horse hangs legs, but the rider gave the horse the reins and allowed the horse to sort it out.  In a lot of the videos, the horse lowers its head to look at the ditch and the rider is pulled forward, compromising his/her position and ultimately making it impossible for the horse to jump.  Lucinda points out that horses are incredible with footwork, and they learn footwork by being allowed to make mistakes and learn as young horses.  
Lucinda said stirrups enable us to get too forward sometimes.  Course designers need to give riders short enough distances in the coffin to make possible a good coffin canter in front of the first element.  Lucinda's favorite ally for developing the coffin canter is cantering down hill while working on getting a horse to sit on his haunches.  Start with gradual inclines.  It can take months to get a horse to sit and canter down hill smoothly and effectively.  A horse should sit and rebalance when the rider brings his/her shoulders back and squeezes with the calves. 
11:00 AM-USEA Board of Governors Meeting: A few ideas put forth by the board members... The convention has done a better job of dealing with safety this year, especially the safety talks on Saturday.  The safety committee reported that some other issues that they debated but did not resolve is the "one fall you are out" rule and the schooling water before jumping it on XC.
There were 364 attendees at this year's Annual Convention.  Next year's convention will be in AZ from December 8-12, in Nashville for 2011, and Colorado Springs for 2012.  There is talk of golf being available at next year's convention so get excited all you eventing husbands.
Now some future board meeting scheduling, so I'm going to catch up on a bit of sleep for 5 minutes.  
A priority moving forward is in continuing to integrate the different members of the eventing community, including the long format events.  This integration is facilitated by communication, and by linking the educational components of the long-format events to applications in short format events.  People want the professional riders to be more vocal in leading the sport.  Coexistence between the USEA groups such as the Professional Horseman's Council and external groups such as PRO is the future of eventing and the Board stresses that there needs to be more communication and relationship building between the groups.  The Board continues a discussion about establishing a pro-am competition where professional riders are paired with an amateur to produce a collective team score, while simultaneously competing at their own levels individually.  Meeting adjourned. 
This concludes our coverage of the 2009 USEA convention.  It has been an exciting, inspiring, and sleep deprived experience.  Thank you to everyone who visited us over the weekend.  The huge numbers of visitors really kept me going throughout the weekend.  Of course, we will continue our every-day, all-day eventing coverage later tonight and certainly tomorrow morning.  Please come back to Eventing Nation sometime soon.
Update: Check out the Chronicle's Sunday recap here.
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2009 Eventing Hall of Fame Inductees

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Eventing News and Notes and , , , , ,
The Eventing Hall of Fame Gala inducted 8 members into the Eventing Hall of fame on Saturday night.  Click here for the rest of the inductees, and some great bios from the USEA.  Click here for the Eventing Hall of Fame website.
The two bigest name inductees:
Bruce Davidson: Nothing I can write will do justice to the Godfather of US eventing, period.  My favorite memory of watching Bruce was his extraordinary ride around Rolex in 2002 on Little Tricky, during what seemed like a hurricane.  I think that 12 out of the last 13 riders scratched, and I have no idea why I was still there, but Bruce took that course apart.  
David O'Connor: Again, what can I say?  David was a member of pretty much every US Team for 20 years, won Rolex, Badminton, Olympic team silver, Pan am team gold, Pan Am individual silver, and WEG team gold.  Oh, yeah, and he won the Olympic individual gold medal at Sydney in 2000.  What I appreciate most about David is that he continues to give back to eventing by training the next generation of US riders at OCET and by serving as President of the USEF.  It's hard for me to think of a particularly favorite David memory, but one thing that sticks out in my mind is from around the warmup at Rolex 2001 when David took out a tupperware container with all of his international medals and let the fans hold them.  That was the first gold medal I saw in person, and I still get chills down my spine thinking about it.  Go eventing memories.
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USEA Convention: Saturday Afternoon Live Thread

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Ridiculous Commentary and , , , , ,
Check out Kat Netzler's recap of the Membership Meeting here.
Thanks for visiting our Saturday live thread.  *In live threads, I type as fast as possible in a real-time, stream of consciousness format.  There is no time for proof reading, so I apologize for the inevitable spelling and grammatical mistakes.

About an inch of snow is on the ground here in Reston, VA, as part of Eventing Nation's in-depth weather coverage.  A special thanks to Area II for buying me lunch.  They provided boxed lunches free of charge to all convention-goers.  It was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  
12:45 PM-USEA Annual Membership Meeting: President Kevin Baumgardner opened the meeting.  The USEA entries and financials have survived the economic downturn well relative to other horse sports.  A big goal moving forward is to increase membership. The USEA is debt-free, something I always love to see in an organization or company.  The total operating revenue was $3,638,354 for 2009 and total operating expenses of $3,494,366.  Net Operating HQ had a profit of $52,490 and the Net Operating Profit from the Areas is $91,498. 
Completely unqualified statement warning disclosure: from just watching the financial news throughout the year, it seems like the USEA has fared better than many many other organizations.  A lot of credit should go to good leadership and a lot should go to great support by all the USEA members.  Now back to what is going on.
A standing ovation for Treasurer Gary Stegman, who is cycling out of the position after this year due to term limits.  Now a lot of standing ovations, and more ovations for various commendations and awards.  The USEA staff members who have served for 10 or more years are being honored.  I would try to type these names, but I am afraid of misspelling them.  President Baumgardner stressed the incredible cohesiveness of the USEA staff.  
Now vote on nominations or members of the Board, in the form of an en masse vote.  Unanimously approved.  
Now there is a long discussion right now about formally establishing a President Emeritus position where the outgoing USEA president would serve in an advisory position for one year after leaving the position of president, if approved of by the Board.  There are some concerns by membership about a smooth succession, and about an 'old-boys club' taking hold of the USEA, but the Board of Governors is eloquently speaking for the proposal.  I don't feel that I understand the issue well enough, and arguments are coming too quickly for me to write accurately about the topic.  I am sure that the USEA and Chronicle will have great coverage of this later, and we will link to that.
Please look at the 2009 Proxy from the USEA for more info on the topics of the meeting.
The motion to change the bylaws was approved by a majority.  I believe this means that there is a new President Emeritus position, which cannot vote, but will serve in an advisory capacity for 1 year after leaving office as president if specifically approved by the board.  I didn't count the votes, but maybe it looked like 70% voted for the issue, and many didn't vote.  Meeting adjourned.
2:00 PM-Breeding and Preparing the 4* Horse: Bruce Davidson, Buck Davidson, and Denny Emerson are speaking and answering questions about breeding and developing event horses.

Update: This is the best talk I have heard in a long time and I almost feel bad writing about it because I can't possibly do it justice.
Bruce Davidson Main Points:
-In breeding, mares can only reproduce themselves: 60% comes from mare, 40% from stallion.
-Nutrition in soil is important to raising young horses.
-How a horse is raised has a huge impact on its potential in life.
-"Overweight, overfed, overindulged ruins [young horses]."
-Give the young horse a shed, and give them company in open space where they can gallop and condition themselves.
-The cream rises to the top, but a decent horse well ridden and well produced can have a lot of success.  
-If you want to be a 4* rider, you need to take the time to go through the process of learning how to develop a horse. "If you know where you are going, it's a very achievable goal."
-My take: what an incredible speech, no way I could do it justice, you have to hear Bruce Davidson speak in person sometime.  It's incredible.
Denny Emerson
-Need to remember that the horses we breed today will reach their peak around 2020, so we need to look ahead to where the sport will be in 10 years.  The switch away from long format had a big impact on breeding.
-Asked Buck how he turned My Boy Bobby into the best placed US horse at Rolex 2009.
Buck Davidson responds:
-Buck got the ride on Bobby after the horse struggled with a few prelims.  Bobby really struggled at his first event with Buck, and Buck doubted his potential.  Basically Bobby had a really up and down first few events with Buck.  This was last fall, and many problems were occurring at the end of courses.  Fitness seemed to be an issue.  Then Buck worked with him all winter, which included 1.5 hour trot sets approximately 4 times a week.   He won everything in the spring.  Buck keeps mentioning a 'feel' for fitness.  Buck is giving a great talk, the crowd is into it and he is very sure of himself in a good way. Buck says that so much of the pair's success now is that Bobby trusts Buck.  Funny quote: "He's not a horse that I would hang out with, he's pretty boring." 
From the Discussion: Bruce said you definitely want to breed a horse who is lighter than My Boy Bobby.  You can improve a trot 80% on a horse, you can improve the canter 20%, the natural jump in the canter and gallop is so important in our horses.  Horses at any level need to submit and go quiet, straight, and forward.  From there, experience will make the horse braver.  
3:00 PM-Planning for the 2010 WEGs: David O'Connor, John Long, Mark Phillips, Richard Jeffries, and Jane Beshear
Here are a few ideas from John Long:  This will be the first WEGs ever held outside of Europe.  The changes to the KHP will make it one of the premiere equestrian venues in the World.  The Games are dedicated to helping the state of KY.  The Games want to be technically (footing, etc.), culturally (meeting of nations, and showing Kentucky to the World), and financially perfect.  Primary revenue drivers: tickets, hospitality, trade fair and sponsorship.  The WEGs has really struggled finding sponsors in this economic climate.  They have sold 40% of tickets as of now.  Now a video about the WEGs is being shown.  The final selection trials for the WEGs are the 2010 AECs in GA.  
First Lady of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Jane Beshear is now speaking.  Governor Beshear was unable to make the flight because the Dulles Airport would not let the plane land due to weather.  Thanks to the KHP, Kentucky is known as one of the premier sport horse places on Earth.  The WEGs will make Lexington the premier sport horse location.  First Lady calls it a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity.  "This is not just a Lexington event, it is a United States event."  The KHP is the only venue on Earth where all 8 equestrian sports can take place completely on one facility's property (with the exception of a few loops of the endurance event).  The WEGs are putting a really big priority on making the games more green.
Factoid from David: 690 Horses will be shipped by air to the US for the WEGs.  This makes it the largest horse air-lift in history.  
Richard Jeffries: giving a preview of the show jumps for the show jumping competition .  He was not specific about which of these jumps would be used for eventing.  The show jumping day 1 jumps are going to have major Kentucky themes.  The themed jumps that Jeffries explained would be present: an Alltech theme, a Kentucky black 3-board fence design.  He also mentioned tobacco and bourbon themed jumps, which caused some legal issues with the FEI and European television.  Therefore, the tobacco jump will be called 'vegetation' and the bourbon jumps will be called 'barrels.'  A barnyard themed jump.  A Rolex jump using the state flower, Golden Rod, which is yellow and green.  Riverboat themed jump.  Show jumping day 2 will have Horse Racing themed jumps.  The Keenland gate theme, the quarter pole, starting gates, the Seabiscuit filming, Churchill Downs, Calumet Farm (the only Kentucky farm to breed 2 Triple Crown winners), Gainesway farm, are all themes for jumps on day 2.  Day 3 is about iconic images of Kentucky with themes including Louisville Slugger, bluegrass music, Abe Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, and Ft. Knox, 
-Btw, the price of me doing this writing today is that I didn't get to watch UK beat UNC by 2 points.  If you know me, you know that means a lot.  Go Cats.  The snow is continuing to fall and there are a few inches on the ground.
That's all from the Saturday live thread, thanks for reading.  More on the Hall of Fame later.
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USEA Convention: Saturday Morning Live Thread

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation, Ridiculous Commentary and , ,
9:30 AM-University of Kentucky Safety Device Study: A talk about research performed by UK about different jump safety technology devices.
Frangible Pins: As everyone knows, frangible pins are metal pins that support the XC jump and are brittle enough to break when a horse hits the jump hard enough, thus reducing the force of impact.  Earlier this year, scientists put force measurement devices on a jump in England to help them understand what forces are involved when a horse hits a jump.  Studies with jumps that use frangible pins show that no matter how intense the impact, the force of the horse hitting the jump is reduced to the threshold force breaking point of the frangible pin.  A new hinged gate design was discussed where a vertical gate is used that can break down using frangible pins, with one frangible pin on the backside and the gate portion supported by hinges.
Foam jumps: Researchers are also looking into foam that breaks under similar forces as the breaking point determined best for frangible pins.
Frangible key: Similar to a frangible pin, in that it releases with a certain amount of force, but it also incorporates a small flag that flips up when a horse hits the jump and compromises the integrity of the jump but does not hit it hard enough to break the key.
Plans for research going forward: more analysis of horse motion, focus on practical solutions, device demonstrations for eventers and general public, continuing partnering with British Eventing officials.
10:00 AM-XC Speed Study by John Staples and Reed Ayers, Ph.D.: Wanted to look at why and how people went certain speeds around the XC, and how actual speeds often do not match set speed of level.
Findings: variances (changes in) speed are not as dramatic in long format courses as short format courses.  The study compared a course that hosted both a short and long format at one competition.  Researchers are not sure why this is.  Speed of the horse effects the shape of a jump.  Courses that had more separation between jumps had lower variances of speed.  Different horses have significantly different variations of speeds throughout a course, but the changes in speed are located in similar points (skinnies, water jumps).  
One problem with wheeling a course into set minutes is that riders ride their watches, not the course.  We need to remember that each minute segment is different and requires a different ride.  Future focus needs to be on relating variability of speed to safety.  Significant speed variance wears horses out much more than consistent speeds, and so do changes in direction.  
10:30 AM: USEA Cardiorespiratory Research Team-Catherine Kohn & Mark Hart.  NOT HAPPY WARNING.  Fatalities among US horses at eventing competitions 1996-2008: 51 horse fatalities.  Mean age of horse that died: 13.7, range 8-26 years.  38 died on XC, 5 at the end.  The fatality frequency peaked in 2006, but the trend has increased over time from '96 to '08.
Requiring necropsy is an important step to contributing to our body of knowledge.  Many horse owners of horses that dies do not want to allow necropsy.
One big question in the instance of cardiovascular problems: is there some underlying issue with the horse's heart that is not apparent under normal pre-competition examinations?  They studied 2* and 3* horses at Plantation Field, where they took echocardiograms before and after XC, ultrasounded lungs, took EKG before and after XC, and continuous EKG on XC.  Article from Study.  At FHI, they just collected EKG data on 2* and 3* horses.  They do not have any results yet because they are having trouble extracting data from the medical recording machines.  The researchers did not find any dramatic heart arrhythmias of horses going into competition.  They didn't see any dramatic structural differences in horse organs before XC, so there does not appear to be any huge unseen abnormalities in horses before XC.
What next: Study heart enzyme increase when heart is inflamed, look at rest and after XC.  Determine how many 3DE horses experience pulmonary hemorrhage.  A mass voluntary study is planned where researchers perform an endoscopy before the event and after the event.  An important point is that this work has just begun.  We can't study these things without many wonderful people, horses, and events.  Ideally, we want to find something we can see in a horse somehow that tells us that a particular horse is especially at risk for these conditions.
The USEA endowment trust is going to match any donations toward this ongoing study made at the convention this weekend.  I get the sense from these talks that we are finally using the full power of statistics and science to address these issues, and there is a great sense of hope in the room.  Many people stood up after the talk and pledged donations, and it was a surprisingly emotional experience.
11:00 AM-Event Owners Task Force Open Forum: Presented by Mark Hart, Amy's owner.  A few points made by Dr. Hart: The task force was started when owners in eventing felt underrepresented in the USEF and the eventing sport in general.  Owners are a critically important part of eventing in the US because the national federation does not own any horses, such as in GBR.  The task force surveyed eventing owners about what they wanted.  Results from the survey include desire for a broader base of owners (ownership is getting more and more expensive and harder to do solo), and equine safety.
We need to take measures to try to bring in new owners.  The best way is to consider encouraging syndications, which are common in racing, but have been much less common in eventing.  Dr. Hart also spoke about the Eventing Owners Task Force website that we wrote about on Thursday.  The website is all about facilitating getting riders in touch with potential owners by allowing riders to make facebook style profiles for them and their horses.  The website also contains a lot of info about syndication and ownership.  For example: EVENT HORSE OWNERSHIP IS NOT AN INVESTMENT, its about enjoying the journey.  Fun fact: the horse owner pays every part of journey to US Team competitions until the rider is actually named on the team.  Once the rider is named on the Team, the USET steps in and helps with the costs.  Another random fact from the talk: $18 million dollars has flowed through the American Horse Trials Foundation, which lets people contribute to riders with tax deductible donations.
The rider profiles on the Event Owners Task Force website give the riders an opportunity to introduce and market themselves.  The site is only in a testing phase and has not been released to the public, but it looks really nice.  Having spent hours, days, on web design for Eventing Nation, I appreciate how much effort goes into designing sites.  We will link to the site as soon as it goes public.
The Task Force also wants to increase owner support and activities at competition, which will help bring new owners and corporate sponsors into the sport.  The Professional Riders Organization helped implement a test of this method at Plantation Field.  The goal is to help increase the owner experience at the event and help control costs for riders and owners.  One goal is to convert spectators into owners.  I understand that the issues of wealthy owners may seem removed from the concerns of most eventers, but owners are a fundamental part of the US Team and the quality of the Team will increase with an increase in the funding/ownership base.  
Comments from the post-talk discussion: One great comment in the discussion was about trying to also increase spectator education and involvement.  Event control is different than event entertainment.  The sport needs to be able to have spectators understand what is going on at an event at any time in an entertaining way.  "There is too much 'Phillip just jumped fence 3'."  Successful spectator sports bring the competitors to the fans outside of the competitive environment. Personalities drive publicity.  It's hard to get riders to market themselves.  Riders feel very uncomfortable approaching people they know and asking for money for horses.  The syndication website idea is excellent in that it helps people to approach the riders, reversing the process.  The website also gives legitimacy to the syndication process, rather than a rider just approaching someone and bringing up syndication.
Break for lunch, much more later...
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