View this post on Instagram
We have a winner! After an epic race from start to finish, Missy Morgan has taken the Mongol Derby crown. Showcasing her vast experience, other-level navigational skills and elite horsemanship, Missy has come through the finish flags on Day 8 of the competition as leader of the pack after riding the majority of the route solo and picking up no vet penalties across the entire race. Seriously, this is one hell of a horsewoman. You can watch the build-up to Missy crossing the line in pole position here. Shortly afterwards, 2014 Derby winner Sam Jones rode into finish camp to be congratulated by a freshly-showered Missy clutching a well-deserved beer.
The race continues for two more days for those riders in their wake, so stay tuned to cheer for everyone who’s taken on and conquered the ‘longest and toughest horse race on earth’. In true sporting spirit, Mongolian culture reserves special respect for the last horse and rider to finish a race, in recognition of the work and commitment that goes into the preparation for a race and to celebrate those who persevere right up to the end, an attitude that we can all get behind.
Go eventing!
U.S. Weekend Preview
Applewood Farm YEH & Mini Event (Califon, NJ) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times]
Bromont CCI-S Horse Trials (Bromont, Quebec) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Caber Farm H.T. (Onalaska, WA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Full Gallop Farm August HT (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Genesee Valley Riding & Driving Club H.T. (Pending USEF Approval) (Geneseo, NY) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Hunter’s Run H.T. (Metamora, MI) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Ocala Summer H.T. II (Ocala, FL) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]
The Event at Archer (Cheyenne, WY) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Waredaca Farm H.T. (Laytonsville, MD) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
UK International Events
Frickley Park International and Regional Championships (South Yorkshire) [Info] [Entries] [Scoring]
European International Events
FEI Nations Cup (Arville, Belgium) [Website] [Entries] [Scoring]
Thursday News and Reading
Over in Belgium, the fifth leg of the FEI Nations Cup is happening in Arville this week. Australia currently top the overall standings, closely followed by France with Switzerland and Italy jointly occupying third place. There’s a huge home nation presence in the Arville entries, including four rides for Luhmühlen winner Lara de Leidekerke-Meier. The Belgians are joined by a further twelve nations, with Hallie Coon, Katherine Coleman, Tiana Coudray and Sydney Elliot flying the flag for the US. Ordinarily, Nations Cup events are streamed live on the FEI YouTube channel, although the links weren’t up at the time of writing – keep an eye out though, and read more about the eventing action in Arville here.
FYI, this Facebook group is NOT linked to Burghley Horse Trials. Any livestream links or services they offer may be fake. The only way to watch the whole of Burghley live and on demand is via Burghley TV.
FEI field-of-play rules have caused some controversy recently in eventing. As the rules currently stand, any decision made under the field-of-play are not subject to appeal. Protests can be made, as happened in Paris when Ros Canter was given 15 penalties for a missed flag during the cross country phase of the Olympic eventing, however, the protest was dismissed as it was a field-of-play decision and therefore final, to much consternation from the British team as well as the wider eventing community, who took to social media with various photos ‘proving’ that Walter was well and truly between the flags. Another rider pulled up by the field-of-play rule recently is Lithuania’s Aistis Vitkauskas, who found himself on the wrong side of the appeals system when he was eliminated for dangerous riding at Luhmühlen and missed out on his final chance to qualify for the Games; Aistis disagreed with the decision, but found he was unable to contest it due to the field-of-play rule. Even more controversially, British rider Kate Rocher-Smith was given 40 penalties too many at Pau last year, and although the FEI confirmed that the penalties had been awarded incorrectly, they remain on the horse’s record because, you guessed it, field-of-play rulings are ‘final and binding’. There’s clearly the need for some discussion surrounding this topic, with Horse & Hound rightly questioning whether field-of-play rules should in fact be subject to appeal.
A poignant post about Olympic teams and genes. Yesterday I shared Peter and Harry Charles’ Olympic gold story, but it wasn’t just in the show jumping ring that children shared team mates with their parents in Paris. British dressage rider Lottie Fry picked up team bronze in front of the Grand Palais in Versailles, with Carl Hester and Becky Moody, thirty-two years after Lottie’s late mom rode alongside Carl at the Barcelona Games.
Round and round and round we go. Let’s face it, we tend to ride a lot of circles when we take to the training ring, like, a lot. Yes, there’s obviously benefits to all this practice, however, it’s really important that we change things up from time to time, for our horses’ mental and physical sake and our own. Enter the straight line and four handy exercises to help us, well, straighten things up.
Hot on Horse Nation: From the mare glare to om nom-noms, horses at the Met have got it all going on.
Sponsor Corner
Who’s ready to experience eventing at one of the newest and most amenity-heavy venues in the U.S.? The Event at TerraNova is looking forward to welcoming you to their November FEI event, held in Myakka City, FL from November 14-17. You can check out the full calendar of events on TerraNova’s website here.
Video Break
ITV went live from Burghley for the weather forecast, shouting out the great event and showcasing the gorgeous house and grounds. There’s a sneak peak at a couple of fences too! With just three weeks to go, let’s hope the summer weather we’ve been having over in Britain of late holds up…
