Red Hills will host the first 2011 ‘Technical Merit’ competition in the Preliminary Rider divisions. The award has been utilized at several events over the past few years with considerable success, and expanding it was discussed extensively in the PHC meeting at the USEA Convention. Riders are judged for safe and technically sound cross-county riding using a point scale for various criteria. Each rider in a certain division will receive scored evaluation sheets at the end of cross-country, and the score is independent of the horse trials score. Level IV ICP instructors, USEA licensed officials, and USET senior team riders are all eligible to do the judging. The rider with the highest score wins a Charles Owens body protector. This is an excellent educational program and is a good step towards solving the mentality that some riders (at all levels) think that the only important thing in cross-country is finishing fast. [USEA]
Now for your news and notes:
–Please consider supporting Jersey Fresh with a fence sponsorship [Area II Website]
–The Badminton entries closed on Thursday, and Ben Hobday’s blog [H&H]
—Totilas will have his first competition with Matthias Rath at a German outdoor show in May. The pressure is on for Rath to show what he can do with the most talented horse in the world, and I would imagine he is feeling a lot of pressure. Props to Matthias for wearing his helmet in the above photo. [Horsetalk]
–As I wrote Thursday afternoon, it feels like the USEF Search Committee went too far toward making the final selection by naming a two person short list. My opinion is that it would have made sense to give the Athlete Committee more choices because, after all, they are the ones who will have to work with the coach.
–Thursday was just as much about leaving Jimmy and the other applicants off the short list as it was about putting David and Leslie on that list. Maybe with all the public support of Jimmy here on Eventing Nation and around the eventing world the USEF will realize how upset people are and add Jimmy to the short list?…Let’s not hold our breath.
–It is notable that Jimmy is beating Leslie by 10% on our coaching poll. The EN Chinchillas are making a respectable showing of 14% currently and they would like to mention that if they are not selected they would happily take an administrative role on the team.
–As a final Jimmy note, it must give him an incredible sense of pride at huge showing of support he is getting from his many fans around the eventing community. Eventers are by nature aggressive type-A personalities and the effect is incredible when they gather around to support something or someone.
—USEA member blog #8
The first of our two (!) videos this morning shows Courtney King-Dye making incredible improvement in her recovery with the help of, you guessed it–horses. [via Riders4Helmets]
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–Boyd sold Roulette [Boyd’s blog]
–This week’s Eventing Radio Show features Ingrid Klimke [ERS]
–We have said this before, I’ll mention it again as a quick note: please make up some sort of name when you comment rather than leaving it blank. Lots of ‘Anonymous’ comments frustrate conversation whereas cool names lead to EN Karma. You can put in your area code, ‘John sucks,’ or whatever you like, just please don’t leave it blank.
—Best of the Blogs: Don’t text and drive, and always wear your helmet
Maybe this is how we should select our next coach. Who do you think would win a jousting match–Andrew, Leslie, David, Jimmy, Phillip, or Bobby? [via JL]:
That’s all for now. I don’t say it enough, but, as always, it’s an absolute honor to write each day for our fantastic readers around Eventing Nation. Despite travel plans today, I will be checking in throughout the day with all of your eventing news and ridiculous commentary. Wherever you may be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your day.
