This is why Eventing nation has the coolest readers on the planet
Good morning Eventing Nation! It’s Badminton jog day, with the jog starting at 10:30 ET. Yes, I know, jogs are usually on Wednesday, but remember that Badminton runs from Thursday through Monday this year. If your braids are looking good and your brass is shiny then take a few minutes to relax and read your eventing news and notes…
–Our friends at SmartPak are wonderful Eventing Nation supporters and I’m excited to announce that they are teaming up with our friends at CANTER for a great prize at Rolex. They will be presenting an award to the highest placed ex-racehorse. The winner will receive an embroidered wool dress sheet. Last year 10 of the top 20 finishers at Rolex were ex-racehorses so if you’re looking for a new horse, you can’t go wrong with an ex-racehorse. [CANTER]
–EN’s friend Tamra Smith has a really cool fundraiser going that I encourage everyone to check out. Tamra and Mar De Amor are hoping to represent the US at the Pan Ams. The fundraiser is both creative and fun. You bid a dollar amount closest to the score that you think they will finish on at each competition that they compete in, and a $500 gift basket will be awarded at to the closest bid after each event. Go to www.nextleveleventing.com for more information.
–Boyd Martin’s fantastic publicist Lisa Thomas has decided to crack the whip this year and make sure that Boyd is looking sharp at the Rolex jog, especially in light of Boyd’s blog">this recent Chronicle photo. Lisa’s husband is the Bill behind Bill’s Khakis and you can expect to see Boyd rocking out in Bill’s Khaki’s gear at the jogs. Now, if only I could get a pair of those Khakis, I’m a 17 waist and a 49 leg Lisa… [Boyd’s blog]
–We will focus a lot on Badminton this weekend, but we won’t forget the other events around Eventing Nation. The Fair Hill CIC3* is the last chance to get that critical clean CIC3* round before Jersey and Bromont. Fair Hill is a really great addition to the CIC3* calendar and hopefully lots of riders will take advantage of it with good rounds this weekend.
–Let’s take a moment from interesting things and talk about the FEI. Actually, that’s completely wrong because this is one of the most interesting links in the entire news and notes. Eventing Safety John has written on his blog an update on recent developments by the FEI including their recent venture into social media and the appointment of the great Akaash Maharaj to chair the FEI’s Constitutional Task Force. John has excellent analysis of the situation, and I second his praise and support of Akaash as one of the intelligent voices of reason in equestrian sport. The FEI deserves a lot of credit for appointing Akaash to chair the committee and I hope they give the committee freedom to reach successful if not agreeable conclusions. Somewhere, someplace an orange vegetable turns in the ground. [EventingSafety blog, Akaash’s Task Force statement]
–The best Badminton coverage won’t be on Eventing Nation, it will probably be over on Samantha’s blog. Like Red Hills and The Fork, we will cross post the big articles, but Samantha will have a ton more great behind the scenes posted on her blog. For example, above the Canadian story from last night, Samantha has a fun story about a Badminton regular and photos of the XC course. [SamanthaLClark.com]
—A look at HBO’s new horse racing drama “Luck”
–Rolex will be hosting military appreciation day on Friday, April 29th with free admission to current and former military personnel and their families. If you read Eventing Nation you know how much we appreciate those who serve our country and make it possible for us to do things like ride horses. Let’s all be sure to thank the military folks we pass walking around Rolex for their service.
–I want to give a quick shout out to the Novice and Training 3-Days in Indiana the first weekend of June. The event is organized by my first chef d’equippe, Lee Ann Zobbe. I haven’t been to the event, but I’ve had a good time at anything Lee Ann has organized so check out the omnibus or website to see if it fits into your season. [Website]
—Pippa Cuckson has a great article about Britain’s Olympic pressure
–Our friends at Pennfield have added some new dealers: Valley View Farm in Stafford Springs, CT; The Equestrian Shop in North Andover, Mass. and the Equestrian Shop North in Ipswich, Mass; and Neptune Feed & Saddlery in Calverton, NY.
–Sport Horse Nation has moved to two posts a day to catch up on all the classifieds we have received lately. SHN was something that several of our readers asked for and I wasn’t sure how useful it would be, but I keep being surprised by the number of people who write us back saying they sold their horse through SHN. SHN’s success is no doubt due primarily to Leslie’s incredible job of managing it and I can’t thank her enough for making things run so smoothly.
–Today’s news and notes photo was sent to us from EN reader Cindi with the following explanation:
Zack (Do It Exact) and I are heading out for the first event of the season on Thursday, Twin Rivers, in Paso Robles, CA. Always a great venue (they have real bathrooms!), good footing, Derek DiGrazia designed cross country courses, and the owners of the property, the Baxters, are outstanding. Of course, I can’t forget, they also have a gourmet caterer with the best show food, bar none. Their smores brownies are to die for. Just wanted to show off my new custom license plate holder.
A custom EN license plate holder and an event preview–pretty awesome, thanks Cindi.
Karen and David show Badminton some love via the Badminton blog:
Paul Tapner one year later:
That’s all for now Eventing Nation. Click the banner below to learn more about Horse Quencher, Eventing Nation’s favorite traveling tool. As always, wherever you might be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your day.
