Onyx and Griffin, also known as "He who tries to munch his brother's fly bonnet" and "He who allows his fly bonnet to be munched." Photo by Lindsey Kahn.
There are few things that can top a nice trail ride with your horse. Make that horses, plural. Last week, I found myself in a time crunch after working Onyx over a few fences, and had limited time to ride my other gelding, Griffin. I didn’t want to put Onyx away without a cooldown, so I dragged him along for a nice walk on the roads surrounding the farm. The boys get along well, although I think Griffin could stand to be a little more assertive when his younger brother tries to be a mouthy stinker.
Events Opening Today: Stoneleigh-Burnham School Fall H.T. (Massachusetts, A-1), Marlborough H.T (Maryland, A-2), Tryon Riding & Hunt Club H.T. (South Carolina, A-3), Otter Creek Fall Horse Trial (Wisconsin, A-4), Twin Rivers Fall H.T. (California, A-6), Stanton Farms H.T. (Idaho, A-7), Stone Gate Farm H.T. (Ohio, A-8)
Events Closing Today: Huntington Farm H.T. (Vermont, A-1), Plantation Field International CIC and Horse Trial (Pennsylvania, A-2), Steepleview Horse Trials (Minnesota, A-4), Shepherd Ranch SYVPC H.T. II (California, A-6), Caber Farm Horse Trial (Washington, A-7), Richland Park H.T. (Michigan, A-8), Colorado Horse Park CCI2/1,T3D & H.T. (Colorado, A-9)
News and Notes:
Can you ear me now?! It’s no surprise that horses communicate largely through body language. But to what extent? Researchers at University of Sussex created an experiment that tested how horses take cues from each other, using manipulated photos of a horse to test how others horses chose between two buckets of food. When the photographed horse’s eyes or ears were obscured, the test subjects struggled to know which bucket to choose, indicating that eyes and ears play a larger role in communication than previously thought. [HorseTalk]
Germans triumph at Malmö: After winning the sixth leg of the FEI Nations Cup Eventing 2014 in Malmö, Sweden, Germany now sits in third place overall behind Great Britain and France. Andreas Dibowski scored first individually on Hans Dampf, and came in third with FRH Butts Avedon. German riders Peter Thomsen and Claas Hermann Romeike came in second and sixth, respectively. [FEI]
Hey, Area 8 Adult Riders! The USEA Area 8 Adult Rider Program is offering lessons with Rolex veteran Cathy Wieschhoff during the Kentucky Horse Park Schooling Day on September 6th! [Area 8] [Lesson Entry Form]
Catching up with Lellie Ward: The Aiken Standard published a lovely article about Lellie Ward’s life at Paradise Farm, two years after a sudden and terrible accident dashed her Olympic goals. [Aiken Standard]
Have you seen this video of a kitten trying to take down a foal? In case you missed it, our friends at Horse Nation shared this video of a particularly ferocious baby feline trying to make a meal out of an unimpressed foal. Behold the cuteness: [Horse Nation]
