Ashley Kehoe's lovely mare looking to come inside away from the awful white stuff!
Many of us across the states spent yesterday dueling with the white stuff for the first time of the season. While the north is already used to this situation, here in Virginia we went from excited to very quickly disgusted as a wonderful white day after Christmas turned into slush, ice and muck. My horse categorically refuses to go outside in such conditions (because he is the ultimate princess) and thus he spent the day grouching around in his stall, and I spent the day trying to keep him happy. Yay winter! Can I go to Aiken yet??
2012 was certainly “wet and wonderful”, and full of thrills and spills. The amazing Monty from The Talking Horse guides us through all of the ups and downs of the sport through the cancellation of Badminton, to the Olympic selection trials at Barbury, to the Olympics themselves. Hopes were dashed, dreams came true and through it all we had a hell of a roller coaster. [2012: Wet and Wonderful]
Reed Kessler made it onto the Team USA “Top 12 Teens of 2012” list. A well deserved position, as the youngest member of any show jumping team in history, even though she didn’t medal. Alongside her are swimming champions Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin, who both returned to High School after winning gold medals in the Olympics. Imagine being a sophomore in High School, and returning to your school swim team with an Olympic gold medal….do you think she’s allowed to compete against other high schoolers? [Top 12 Teens of 2012]
Popular Grade I winning racehorse Paynter is reportedly back in the game, and heading home to Bob Baffert after much time off for an injury. If you remember correctly, Paynter was narrowly defeated in this year’s Belmont Stakes by Union Rags by a head, in a duel to the finish. Paynter was diagnosed with both colitis (inflammation of the colon) as well as laminitis this July after winning the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, and has been battling for his health ever since. However, his vets agree that he has stabilized and is heading back to training with Baffert as we speak. [Paynter Back to Baffert’s Barn]
USA Equestrian Trust has awarded $95,000 in grants to help fund four more equine projects as part of a historic year of grant-giving for the foundation. The awards come on top of nearly $240,000 awarded in May to 11 equine non-profits. The grants were awarded to USA Reining Inc., to assist in start-up expenses for the newly recognized FEI sport affiliate, the Arabian Horse Association to promote the breed, to our very own Virginia Horse Center Foundation to assist in replacing the aging lighting system in the organization’s Anderson Coliseum, and to establish a need-based travel grants program for riders in California and Nevada seeking training as part of the United States Hunter Jumper Association’s Emerging Athletes Program. [USA Equestrian Trust Grants]
Best of Blogs: Merry Christmas Billy!
Everybody likes mini horses jumping, right?
http://youtu.be/OdimsXdEdug
