It may seem a little early in the season to be thinking about the penultimate 5* of the year. The sun has finally begun to make an appearance, things look to be shaping up for a long, hot summer, and mid-October feels like at least a year away (it’s 147 days to be precise). But here’s your friendly reminder that it’s time to take a hot minute to bag your tickets to MARS Maryland 5* at Fair Hill. Getting his horsey fix in at the Preakness Stakes last weekend, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson took time out from the racing to give eventing a five-star rating (or ten in fact, there’s definitely two hands up there), and it seems he wasn’t the only one to clock fashion icon Will Faudree’s pink suit at Kentucky (he was obviously following the best weekend all year – obviously). Anyway, if you’re planning on being there in the flesh at Maryland, here’s your tickets link. Go eventing!
U.S. Weekend Preview
Flora Lea Spring H.T. (Medford, NJ) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]
Spring Coconino Horse Trials (Flagstaff, AZ)[Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
USEA MDHT YEH/NEH Qualifier (Adamstown, MD) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Virginia Horse Center Eventing (Lexington, VA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Willow Draw Charity Show (Weatherford, TX) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Woodside Spring H.T. (Woodside, CA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
UK International Events
Bicton Arena International (1) (Devon) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
International Events
Equestrian Festival Baborówko (Poland) [Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [Scoring] [Live Stream – CMH]
Wednesday News and Reading
The Queen of England graced Badminton with her presence on the final day to present the prizes to the winners. And she’ll continue her steadfast support of equestrian sport, confirming this week that she will remain as patron of British Equestrian.
Every day’s a school day with horses. Quite literally, every time we interact with our horses we’re schooling them, but it’s not just a one-sided thing. I’ve learned more about myself, and life, in the past six months with my buddy than I had in the forty years prior. From accepting the down days to being present in the moment, toughening up and laughing through the madness, there are a whole bunch of life lessons available at the barn if we’re open to them. Here’s ten lessons we can learn from our horse.
With the news of William Fox-Pitt’s retirement from top competition, we’ve seen a resurgence of articles about the eventing legend. And whilst we’ll all surely miss seeing him galloping across our screens, we’ll still get to learn from his vast experience and exquisite horsemanship by diving into the archives and accessing the wealth of information he’s put out there over the years. Here’s one such instance, where William demonstrates the importance of rider position and gives a bunch of tips for things to work on at home so that once you’re out on cross country, things are whole lot smoother.
From one eventing hero to another, Pippa Funnell’s put fingers to keyboard to give us an insight into her Badminton experience. As we all saw at the First Horse Inspection, MCS Maverick is not a straightforward kind of guy. After his jog strip shenanigans, he was given a lead down the chute into the Main Arena from the now famous Albert before his dressage test. But boy oh boy did he light up the cross country, finishing up his second time at the top-level with a top-10 place and convincing Pippa that she’ll have to keep at this eventing lark for a little longer yet. Here’s Pippa’s take on a successful week’s eventing.
Hot on Horse Nation: Kendall Jenner brings her horsegirl chic to Vogue. We love a celebrity equestrian, particularly when they show the mainstream just how cool it is to be a horsegirl. Go horses (and horsepeople)!
And finally, when a loose horse started swimming out to sea, this stable worker ensured a happy ending to a really scary situation. The horse was taking part in his routine exercise on the beach when he slipped on some seaweed and unseated his rider. Inexplicably, he just started swimming out to sea. Stripping off her extra layers and going in after the gelding, Jordyn Billings saved the day and safely brought him back to shore, none the worse for his maritime adventure.
Video Break
Little Leo Martin is quickly becoming a star in his own right, and deservedly so. While dad was busy working his butt off riding horses at Kentucky, here’s Leo having his #BestWeekendAllYear. How long ’til he shows up in a Stars and Stripes suit and officiates weddings between autograph signings?
