Thursday News & Notes from SmartPak

Willa (girl) and Sofie (horse) Photo courtesy of Jennifer Card.

Willa (girl) and Sofie (horse). Photo courtesy of Jennifer Card.

Ahhh Halloween time is almost upon us! Willa and Sofie from the above photo are aspiring beginner novice event riders from Sun Valley Idaho. Their pony club, Sawtooth Pony Club, hosted a Halloween Fun Show last week. How cute is that!! I always secretly wanted to have an outfit with my pony when I was a kid (who am I kidding, I would do it now too), but my ponies were always the type that would have been less than enthusiastic about it. My last pony before the days of horses was named Hershey’s Special Dark, and she bolted and dumped me once because she caught a glimpse of my white socks out of the side of her eye. You can imagine how a costume would have gone over…

North American Weekend Preview:

Waredaca Classic Three-Day and H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]

Chattahoochee Hills H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]

Holly Hill Fall H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]

Heritage Park H.T. [Entry Status] [Times]

FEI Global Weekend Preview:

Pau (FRA) CCI4*, CIC2* WebsiteEntriesDressage TimesLive ScoresFree Live StreamEN’s CoverageUSEF Eventing High Performance Facebook@LesEtoilesdePau

Aldon (GBR) CCI/CIC1* [Entry Status]

News From Around The Globe:

WEG 2022 in Ireland? Could be! Millstreet, a facility in Co. Cork has 11 international all-weather arenas, three indoor arenas and stabling for up to 1,200 horses already. They have a new cross country course, designed by Mike Etherington-Smith, and it debuted as the site for the Pony European Championships this year, to great success. Unfortunately, as history shows us, hosting the games usually comes at a financial loss, and Ireland’s bid will require significant private funding to make it happen. [Could Ireland Host WEG 2022?]

Fall usually means a lot of fun, but not when red maple leaf poisoning is involved. Did you know that wilted red maple leafs are lethally poisonous to horses? Red maple leaves contain gallic acid. Intestinal bacteria can convert gallic acid from leaves into pyrogallol, which can damage red blood cells and cause horses to die. Be sure to check your paddocks for possible risk. [Lethal Red Maples]

We love our volunteers! Let’s face it, without the volunteers at each and every event, our sport would be nothing. So we want to hear your stories! Are you a long-time volunteer at your favorite event? Did you recently have a great experience with a volunteer? Do you just want to say thank you? Send us a quick story and we’ll post it in our new Volunteer Appreciation series! Email [email protected] with your tips. 

Is your horse too fat? SmartPak has come up with a pretty cool interactive article about how to body score a horse on the Henneke scale. If you aren’t familiar with this scale, each area of the body has a different rating system, which can change the initial impression of overall body score. [Over, Under, or Ideal?]

William Fox-Pitt won Pau 2013 on Seacookie, can he do it again? This pair is back this year for more!

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