Good Morning Eventing Nation! Usually before I write these morning news posts, I first try to decide whether it’s a good news day or bad news day. ‘Bad news’ days are usually when a national disaster strikes, or John’s fantasy football team loses the previous night’s game. ‘Good news’ days require that we get surplus of those warm fuzzy stories that make us all happy to be apart of our sport. Today is one of the floaters, as the recently emerged ‘headlines’ of the past couple days evoke a variety of emotions.
The bad news from the last couple days:
— As John wrote about yesterday, there has been a revival of the lawsuit between a coach and family of Mia Eriksson, a young rider who tragically died during the cross-country phase at an event in 2006. I’m sure the dispute is far more complex than we know, but it does raise issues of the responsibilities of coaches and riders. It’s a fact that all good coaches feel a responsibility to educate their students with safety as a foremost intention. That being said, no matter the amount of coaching one receives outside of competition, when an individual leaves the start box on Saturday afternoon, they become solely responsible for everything that happens in the duration of that course. Eventers know this fact well, but it’s a whole different battlefield in the courtroom.
— The majority of the United States is covered in snow and ice, even Aiken.
— The detrimental flooding in Queensland, Australia is having a major effect on the horse industry. The flooding originated in the Brisbane river, leaving 115,000 people without power, and for many of them damage to property and homes also occurred. According to this article from Horsetalk, the death toll from the flood currently stands at 12 people, with around 50 still missing. The equine death toll numbers will probably not be known for several more weeks, at least not until the flooding subsides and rescue crews can begin appraising the damage.
— We live in a strange world, one where thieves have resorted to stealing blankets off horses’ backs to make some extra cash. The thefts have been taking place across the pond in Yorkshire, a few horse owners have even resorted to padlocking the blankets onto the horses in an attempt to prevent theft. Considering all the mud that’s in England, and horses’ ability to always find it, I don’t know if that particular theft would really be all that worthwhile. If it was me, after I had managed to catch the horse in the muddy field, break the padlock off its blanket, remove the blanket that seemingly weighs about 50 pounds and smells like pond scum, breaking into ‘normal’ places would probably sound pretty good.
But here’s the good news:
— The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has honored a charity who’s mission is to improve the lives of work horses in impoverished countries. The charity is called SPANA (The Society for Protection of Animals Abroad), and according to this article, “It was established after founder Kate Hosali and her daughter, Nina, witnessed the suffering of working animals in northern Africa while traveling through the area in 1923.” Thanks to SPANA, an often overlooked issue in horse welfare is being addressed and rectified. Evidently, SPANA often receives the question of: “Why work horses can’t be replaced in those countries with tractors and other such technologies?” This article addresses the answers and reasoning.
— In what appears to be the equivalent of the United States’ Developing Rider’s list, Britain names its top, young equestrian prospects. The list contains names like Emily Baldwin, Emily Llewellyn, and Harry Meade, all riders that have competed at the four-star level and show much promise for the future.
— We have been talking about statistics and numbers a lot lately; This interesting article, recently published by Leslie at the USEA breaks down some of the statistics regarding entry numbers.
— Update:
The COTH profiles Jenny CampI didn’t know what category to put this one under:
— Two men in Texas have allegedly been arrested for ‘drinking while driving,’ driving a horse that is. [Statesman.com]
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. In the hopes that we will have many more “good news days” in 2011, be sure not to steal any horse blankets or exhibit public mounted drunkenness, and I think we’ll be good to go. John should be around shortly with some more entertainment, so stay tuned as always.
