Bonjour Eventing Nation! And that is officially the only French I know, which is why I bought the world famous guide to French, French for Dummies, and the world famous guide to world famous guides to French, French for Idiots. I’ll enjoy reading those two books on my flight tonight and then it will be one week in Europe of wearing everything I own with an American flag on it…that is when I’m not wearing my pink gorilla suit. Do they let you ride horses in pink gorilla suits in Europe? I packed a green one just in case.
I’m not the only one traveling today; all six Badminton-bound North American horses fly to Europe. Port Authority, Mandiba, Reggie*, and Colombo are flying out of Atlanta, and Gin ‘N Juice and The Good Witch are flying out of California. We’ll have an update on their travel plans later but until then here are a few eventing news and notes…
–I never got around to writing a lengthy Fork recap, but one main point I was thinking about is the great performance by the younger US riders. Aside from Boyd and Karen, our up and coming riders dominated the top 5 of both the CIC3* and the advanced. It’s also worth pointing out that three pairs that we sent to Boekelo placed in the top 8 of those divisions, which I think supports proponents of such trips.
–In her Monday post, Annie wrote about injured British jockey Peter Toole who suffered brain trauma in a recent fall. Fortunately the Horse and Hound is reporting that Peter continues to improve and doctors are working to bring him permanently out of a medically-induced coma. [Horse and Hound]
—Heather Gillette’s road to Rolex rolls on at Mach 3
–Surefire Horse Trials is hosting the inaugural J.C. Chester Intermediate Challenge to honor “Chips” Chester who was a big supporter of Jan and Surefire. The challenge involved $10,000 in prize money for the Intermediate divisions at this June’s 8th annual Surefire Horse Trials. The money will be distributed in suitcases of small bills. [USEA]
—Best of the Blogs: The Unsung Hero in Eventing
–We will be live blogging all 4 days from Rolex, and we have some cool partnerships lined up that that we will be announcing sometime soon, which for me means sometime between now and Rolex Thursday.
–Cavalor is hosting several fun giveaways this month on their Facebook page. Click here to check the contests out and be sure to ‘like’ Cavalor because it will bring you much EN Karma and make me feel slightly better when I am arrested for wearing a gorilla suit on the Eiffel Tower. [Here]
–The only good news is that I’m not flying Southwest. As the story goes, Leslie Law’s Southwest plane had to make an emergency landing due to engine failure before The Fork. And this was on the same day that Southwest was on the news for part of another plan ripping off mid-flight.
–I’ll turn the rest of the news and notes over to the capable hands of Lucinda Green:
—A Lucinda clinic report from Golightly
–Here is a quick Lucinda clinic video. Don’t worry, the German narrator lets Lucinda start talking at 3:43. It is as of yet unclear why they made Lucinda hold a small black animal by its head while she was talking.
That’s all for now. Be sure to click on the Horse Quencher banner below to enter to win cool prizes and get a free sample from our friends at Horse Quencher. Unfortunately I think ‘Salud’ is Spanish. I’ll be around throughout the day until my flight leaves, and, as always, wherever you might be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your day.
