A very happy Monday to you and yours – we can officially say as of today that the Olympics is next week! I’ll be heading down later on this week to start soaking up the vibes and converting them into faintly deranged multimedia posts, and I am so giddy about it all that I’m barely managing to tackle my incredibly full to-do list in the meantime. I have, somehow, managed to order about 48 face masks, though, which feels inessential but also kind of nice.
It’s been a big weekend in a lot of ways. The French celebrated Bastille Day yesterday, which is the nation’s biggest celebration, and we were thrilled to see Rio team gold medallist Thibaut Vallette riding down the Champs Elysée in full Cadre Noir dress, holding the Olympic torch. He was in charge of transferring it to French President Emmanuel Macron, and we can’t imagine anyone doing it with more gravity and ceremony than he did. Eventers truly do do it best, don’t they?
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The weekend also saw our pal Jesse Campbell return to competition for the first time since the tragic passing of his beautiful wife, Georgie. Not one for easing himself back into anything, Jesse took eight horses to Upton House and nailed down five double-clears.
“On a personal level it was lovely to catch up with a lot of the eventing community and it was amazing how competition mode kicked in the moment I arrived. Yes, lots of little shit moments too but good to get restarted and continue with what G and I loved doing. Onto the next,” he writes on his Instagram. You can cheer Jesse on at Burgham Horse Trials, which takes place next week, and at which he’ll have four horses in the CCI4*-S, including Georgie’s beloved Speedwell. If you’re there, give him a bit of that ‘allez, allez’ as he gallops by.
National Holiday: It’s National Give Something Away Day. When’s the last time you had a big root through your tack trunk or locker and cleared out the stuff you never use? Is there a kid at your barn, or a local charity, that could benefit from it?
U.S. Weekend Action:
Genesee Valley Hunt H.T. (Geneseo, NY): [Website] [Results]
One & Done Horse Trials (Lexington, KY): [Website] [Results]
The Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farm (Adamstown, MD): [Website] [Results]
Your Monday Reading List:
I love few things more than I love elaborate fancy dress efforts (especially when they involve Shetland ponies). This team affair, which was unveiled at the Norton District Riding Club show at Newark Showground in England last week, features ‘Clare Balding’, ‘Ros Canter’, the Eiffel Tower, the Olympic torch, a teenaged Shetland wearing a cross-country fence, and plenty more incredible little details that no doubt spooked the heck out of all the other bedazzled ponies in the class. Worth it. Check out the group’s big effort here.
Speaking of ‘worth it’ – after 14 years competing together, Lisa Marie Fergusson and Honor Me just picked up their first FEI win. That came in the CCI4*-S class at Maryland International, where the pair climbed from the bottom of the pack to the top across the jumping phases. Find out more about how they did it – and the story of their special partnership – in this piece.
Okay, hear me out, because it feels really naughty to self-promote here… but in the background of all the other stuff I’ve been doing this season, I’ve also been working to create a new website, which is designed to give people tips and guides and advice on travelling the world to get to various equestrian destinations. Obviously the main focus at the moment is Paris, and I’ve been creating guides to fan zones, additional horsey goings-on at Versailles, arrondissement travel guides, navigation advice, and much more, with a tonne of content still to come this week. You can check it out here, and if you like what you find, please share it with your pals!
If you’re staying in Versailles itself for the Games, you’ll need recommendations to flesh out your trip. Here’s my pick of the best things to do – including a secret antiques hideaway tucked into medieval streets, where they’ll be focusing on equestrian-themed wares for the next couple of weeks – and all my favourite restaurants in town. Give it a read and get those reservations in, so you can have the trip of a lifetime!
And finally, a good thinker from Christine Bjerkan of Equerry Co on the shifting gender roles within equestrian sport. She examines the importance of women in leadership roles, the demographic lay of the land, and participation rates within the sport in this interesting piece.
Morning Viewing:
Catch up on Boyd and Bruno’s final Paris prep in their latest update. Yes, I know, I love love love this horse, too.
