Thursday News & Notes from Taylor Harris Insurance Services (THIS)

Whitney Weston’s CCI5* mare Rock on Rose with her second foal!!! Photo by Whitney.

Today might be National Sea Monkey Day, but for me, it’s national Love Your Farrier Day. I texted my farrier on Monday about a big ole’ crack in Turkey’s glue on shoe up front, and said I was worried it wouldn’t make it to Friday, when he was scheduled to come. I have a jump lesson today and I was worried I would get halfway through the jump lesson only to have it crack off and ruin my life. God bless a good farrier, he came at the end of his day at 8 p.m. last night just to redo the two front shoes, and the lights and power failed halfway through, so he finished with a head lamp. Needless to say, I brought him an entire pizza and a six pack of beer to show my appreciation.

National Holiday: National Sea Monkey Day

U.S. Weekend Preview:

Otter Creek Spring H.T. [Website]  [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

Hitching Post Farm H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]

Fair Hill H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

Chattahoochee Hills H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

Spring Gulch H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

News From Around the Globe:

Zara Tindall is ready to return to the highest levels of the sport after a year’s maternity leave. The former European and World Champion is entered at Luhmühlen with Judith Luff’s Watkins, who is making his 5* debut after spending 2018 with Tom McEwan while Zara had her second daughter, Lena. [Zara Tindall Amongst Top Competitors for Luhmuhlen]

Oh the horror joy of buying a new horse! Rife with struggles and risks, buying a new horse is a big risk for experienced professionals and amateur owners alike. What do you look for? How do you decide if this horse is the one for you? Horse & Hound has compiled the ultimate list for you, from start to finish: how to select horses to view, how to do trial rides, what to avoid, what to ask for on a pre-purchase, payment, and what to do when your new horse gets home. [The Ultimate Horse Buying Guide]

International eventer and popular clinician Eric Smiley has a new book called Two Brains, One AimHorse Nation was lucky enough to read it and publish a short excerpt on how we warm up our horses, and whether or not it’s supporting what we’re trying to teach them. “To help horses learn and achieve, you must know what you want and how you can explain it to them. We have always been taught that horses learn by repetition, but I am not sure people always understand the hows and whys of this statement. Just doing something often does not, in itself, make it better. It is only when a task is done well and done often that it becomes good. This is called a conditioned reflex.” [Two Brains, One Aim]

Best of Blogs: Hitting Moving Targets