Abby Powell is a native of Northeastern Massachusetts who splits her time between commuting into Boston for work and caring for and riding her rescue Mustang x Arab mare, Maggie.
The EN team is counting down the days until the 2021 Land Rover Kentucky 3-Day Event and we’re very excited to bring you the wall-to-wall coverage that you know and love, plus some very cool extras this year. I can’t give anything away just yet though, so that’s all going to have to wait! Until then, we just have to keep pressing forward with the promise that our five-star drought will soon be over and this high-energy montage of moments from the last iteration of the event should help.
Relive some of the highs, lows, and erm … dicey moments from the last time riders blazed across the bluegrass in 2019 with this video montage put together by adult amateur eventer Juliana from Alabama. Juliana is also an ICU nurse and a registered nurse anesthetist who has been working tirelessly through the COVID pandemic. Much love to you, Juliana, for your work — hang in there! Check out her YouTube channel and learn more about her here.
Julia Krajewski and Samourai du Thot. Photo by Mariusz Chmieliński.
Germany’s Julia Krajewski announced via Instagram yesterday that her decorated five-star partner Samourai du Thot — winner of numerous four-stars, the 2017 Luhmühlen five-star, and back-to-back German eventing championships — will be retired from competition following the loss of one of his eyes due to an infection. Though the 15-year-old gelding will be able to enjoy a healthy retirement, we’re devastated for Julia and for all of Sam’s connections who are surely mourning the truncation of a superstar career which very well could have included the Tokyo Olympics.
Saturday Video: We don’t have to worry about this quite yet, here in the Northern hemisphere, but here are some things to keep in mind when riding in hot and humid weather:
Red Hills International Horse Trials is already over a week in the rearview mirror, but without spectators allowed at the event due to COVID-19 protocols and since we unfortunately didn’t get a livestream I’ve still been thirsty for more media! Fortunately for us, the good folks at RNS Videomedia were onsite filming competitors and they recently posted a compilation video of all the CCI4*-S pairs through the water at fences 15 and 16AB (check out the course here) which you can watch above.
You can also find some full rounds from various divisions, including 4* winner Marilyn Little and RF Scandalous, who are Kentucky 5* bound, on their YouTube channel.
It really seems like forever since there’s been a solid day of live streaming cross country, but today is the day! Starting at about 9:00 AM EST today and running through at least 2:30 PM, the 3*, 4*, Advanced and 2* cross country from the Carolina International will be streaming on Horse & Country TV. At least if we can’t be there to spectate in person, a good live stream is the next best thing for sure. Pour yourself some coffee and get comfy!
We really struggled to put together our Eight Mares We Can’t Wait to Watch in 2021 list and knew we’d be unintentionally snubbing some lovely horses in narrowing down our list. Quaility Time, known around the barn as “Lily”, is one of those mares who certainly would have fit right in on that list were we not narrowing it down to one horse per nation. This mare is a really exciting mount for American-based Irishman Tim Bourke, so consider this an official honorable mention!
The 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Guidam x Ruby Roller, by High Roller) owned by Carla Abramcheck easily powered through the Pine Top Farm Advanced course late last month to finish second in the A division and we’re really looking forward to see what other events she’ll be tackling in 2021. We already brought you a preview of this ride, recorded with the Cambox Isi3, now here’s the full round!
After welcoming her daughter, Harper, into the world earlier this year it’s fun to see Holly Payne Caravella back in the saddle and looking great with her upper-level mounts Never Outfoxed and CharmKing. Both horses were being ridden by Lillian Heard and haven’t missed a beat throughout Holly’s maternity leave. Now they just have to get used to their new role as big brothers, which Fox is clearly taking very seriously!
Now that Kentucky entries are rolling in, it’s extra exciting to have the last couple big prep events rolling on and beginning to get underway. Competitors have begun to arrive at Red Hills Horse Trials ahead of this weekends competition, and next weekend we’ll have Carolina International to keep us entertained. We’re sending our best wishes to all humans and horses both to stay safe and healthy!
British Eventing is hoping to fill the holes in the competition calendar left by the cancellation of four internationals all announced within the past two weeks. With Badminton and Bramham off the calendar, there is no Advanced long-format competition on the British calendar until August. [Plans for replacement three-day following cancellation of major horse trials]
Everybody get nervous or anxious before a big class or event, but there’s a difference between regular anxiety and panic attacks. Show jumper Daniel Bluman has dealt with panic attacks since he was a kid, but has found strength in overcoming that encompassing anxiety though therapy and medication. [My Journey with Anxiety and Panic Attacks]
Calling all Cambox helmet cam users! Did you pick up a new Cambox during their Black Friday sale last year? Are you a huge fan of snapping on your helmet cam for a cross country run? We’d love to feature your helmet cam video right here on EN! If you use a Cambox Isi3 or V4, we want to hear from you! Please email [email protected] with your video link and description.
He’s an Irishman based in Virginia and his horse loves peanut butter sandwiches. Can you guess who? It’s Tim Bourke and his five-star partner Luckaun Quality! Catch up with Tim in the latest Practical Horseman Podcast as he talks training philosophies, inspirational mentors, and horsemanship. [Practical Horseman Podcast Transcript: Tim Bourke]
Did you know that Ecovet is long lasting? You typically only need to apply it every one to three days depending on ambient temperature, fly pressure and rain.#ecovet #flyspray #flysprayforhorses
With it being an (unusual) Olympic year, it feels prudent on this International Women’s Day to spotlight a woman who made Olympic Eventing history by being the first female rider to win an individual silver medal: Karen Stives. That Games, the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, was actually the first Olympics in which a woman won any individual eventing medal, and both Karen Stives and Great Britain’s Virginia Holgate, who won the bronze that year, can both lay claim to the title of being the first women individual medalists in our sport. The U.S.’s Torrance Watkins (neé Fleischmann) also finished in fourth place that year.
The video above begins part of the way through Karen’s fabulous double clear cross country round aboard Ben Arthur, which left her in the lead heading into the final phase the next day. Unfortunately, Ben tipped a rail at the second element of a triple combination, three jumping efforts from home, which lost Karen the individual gold. More importantly to Karen, however, was that just the single rail still meant that USA would take home the team gold medal. (You can also watch Karen’s show jumping round here, though the audio and video quality is not the best.)
“When I went into the show jumping arena, I knew both the team and individual gold medals were within our reach. But I couldn’t let myself think about that,” Karen said in an interview with Horse Illustrated in 2008.
“Show jumping was always Ben’s weakest phase, so I was incredibly relieved to have just one rail down, even though that meant losing the individual gold medal. It was the team medal that mattered most. The Brits, Australians and Germans fielded incredibly strong teams that year, so we really had our work cut out for us to win any medal, much less the gold.”
As we know, equestrian disciplines are the only Olympic sport where men and women compete directly against each other, which superficially makes equality in this sport seem like a moot point. But given that fact, and given that there are so many women competing in eventing, it seems impossible to have never had a female individual gold medalist in the sport, yet that’s the reality. Several women, Karen, being the first and Gina Miles in Beijing 2008 being the most recent, have won individual silver medals — but we still have yet to break that gold ceiling, so to speak.
Karen Stives was also the most recent woman to be named USEA Rider of the Year in 1981, 39 years prior to Liz Halliday-Sharp earning the title in 2020. Despite the number of fierce female competitors in the sport, it appears that we still have a ways to go in order for success as a female rider in this industry to be truly on a level playing field — and I, personally, don’t believe that’s due to a lack of tough, driven female competitors out there.
After the conclusion of Karen’s round in the above video, there’s an interview with her and Mike Plumb, with whom Karen was working and training with at the time. Mike Plumb is an extremely accomplished horseperson in his own right, having won individual silver himself two Games prior at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, and was a member of 1984 gold medal winning team alongside Karen, finishing 10th individually himself. It would be neglectful of me, especially on International Women’s Day, not to point out Karen’s great poise throughout this interview.
Tim Price and Xavier Faer at Kentucky 2019. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
The EN team is keeping a close eye on EHV-1 news both in North America and abroad. While we’re dealing with a few currently isolated cases on this side of the pond EHV-1 is throwing a big wrench in the European calendar, most recently cancelling the Sunshine Tour in Spain. We know that Tim and Jonelle Price, who’ve been getting in some show jumping miles there, had Kentucky on their calendar for a few of their 5* horses and this could very well cramp their plans.
Some U.S. events next weekend — so far Red Hills and Copper Meadows — are implementing extra biosecurity measures and requirements for competitors, so if you’re competing next weekend make sure to double check these. As we’ve all experienced in our own lives this past year, good hygiene and biosecurity measures are never a bad idea so remember to wear your mask, wash your hands, and don’t let your horses touch noses.
Sara Kozumplik Murphy and Rubens D’Ysiuex won the inaugural $50,000 Devon Arena Eventing in 2017. Photo by The Book LLC.
Next weekend we’ll be able to enjoy some special eventing action as the $50,000 LiftMaster Grand-Prix Eventing at Bruce’s Field takes place March 5 & 6, and we’ll have some more eventing showcase excitement to look forward to later this spring as the $50,000 Devon Arena Eventing class will return to the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair this year!
The Arena Eventing class is scheduled for the evening of Sunday, May 30th and competitors will show their stuff over a Captain Mark Phillips designed course of both stadium and cross country fences set inside the Dixon Oval and the Wheeler Ring. Entires are now open and will be accepted through May 17th. 30 horse and rider combinations will be selected to compete.
We’re off and running with EN’s Patreon, a dedicated eventing super-fan hub that we created in January. To say thank you to our Patrons, we’ve teamed up with Horse & Rider Books for a giveaway this week. Want to enter? Consider joining the party on Patreon!
We’re still a ways from the start of eventing season here in my Northernly neck of the woods, so kicking back in a camp chair and fence judging or picking up poles in stadium sounds particularly phenomenal to me right now. Lending a hand at a nearby event should sound phenomenal to you all the time though, but a little added nice weather sure doesn’t hurt. If you’re looking enough to be within driving distance to any of the events running this weekend, get yourself out there and enjoy it!
We’ve compiled some resources on volunteering with COVID-19 regulations in mind. We’ll reference this list each week in Volunteer Nation, so take a few moments to familiarize yourself with what’s new and different.
As always, you can earn merit points when you donate your time through the USEA’s Volunteer Incentive Program. Registering to volunteer through EventingVolunteers.com makes it easy and seamless to both find a job and shift as well as learn what your role will entail.
Event: Pine Top Advanced H.T.
Address: 1432 Augusta Hwy, Thomson, GA, 30824
Dates: Thursday, February 25th through Sunday, February 28th
Positions Available: SJ Jump Crew, XC Jump Judge, Dressage Bit Check
Event: Three Lakes Winter II H.T.
Address: 18543 State Road 19, Groveland, FL, 34736
Dates: Saturday, February 27th through Sunday, February 28th
Positions Available:SJ Jump Crew, SJ Scribe, XC Jump Judge, Dressage Bit Check, Dressage In Gate Steward
Event: Twin Rivers Winter H.T
Address: 8715 N River Rd, Paso Robles, CA, 93446
Dates: Thursday, February 25th through Sunday, February 28th
Positions Available: SJ In Gate, Dressage Scribe, Dressage Bit Check, Dressage Score Runner, Dressage Warm Up, XC Jump Judge
Red Hills International Horse Trials, held annually each March, is a neat example of a successful partnership that can be built between equestrian organizations and municipalities. The event, which is sponsored in part by various entities of the city of Tallahassee, Florida and Leon County is a hugely popular springtime outing for locals, attracting both horsey and non-horsey spectators alike, and an important early-season options for riders.
Red Hills draws an estimated 20,000 spectators each year and makes an estimated $4.8 million impact on the local economy. But this year, like all other events, they’ll be taking a hard hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the health and safety of the local population in mind, no spectators will be allowed onsite during this year’s competition, scheduled for March 11-14, per the US Equestrian COVID-19 action plan. Red Hills is unique in its local appeal, often attracting non-equestrians and doing community outreach with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Despite these economic losses to the organization and without the benefit of stimulating the local economy, Red Hills is pushing forward and very much hopes to run their year’s event but they still need more entries in order to do so. In this video, eventer Jon Holling speaks with Libby Henderson, the Operations Support Committee Chair for Red Hills, about what to expect from this year’s event. 200 entries are needed in order for the event to go forward. According to Libby, entries now stand at 193, so keep them rolling in to help Red Hill beat its goal of 200! Closing date is tomorrow: Tuesday February, 23rd.
Not all of our horses will be immortalized in bronze in a village center, but then again not all of our horses are the great Valegro! The final instillation of this sculpture, created by local artist and sculptor Georgie Welch, has been a long time coming after the project was first conceived in 2017. The bronze was completed last year and earlier this week it was placed in it’s forever home in Newent, Gloucestershire in England atop a plinth listing the dressage legend’s great many achievements.
USEA Area 4 is organizing an online auction to help fundraise for some of their programs. They are in need of donations to put up for auction. Any donation is welcome. Sport related items are always welcome, but non-equine items that would appeal to all are also extremely welcome. If you have anything you’d like to donate, please email [email protected]. USEA Area IV is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
From formerly wild Mustangs to off-the-track Thoroughbreds and lots in between, five-star eventer Elisa Wallace knows a thing or two about introducing a green horse to jumping. She recently took one of her newest OTTB prospect, I Reckon So a.k.a. Ricky, a 2014 gelding (Redeemed – Thrilled N Delighted, by Friendly Lover for his first cross country school. From the first steps into a water complex, through refusals at spooky fences, to Ricky’s first look at a ditch, Elisa walks us through the learning processes and the successes of their excursion.
Photo via Polk County Division of Public Health on Facebook.
Equestrian areas like racecourses, The Kentucky Horse Park, and, above, the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) have been able to play a role in the fight against COVID-19 in their use as vaccination sites. Organizers of the vaccination clinic at TIEC have been able to utilize the indoor arena and allow recipients of the vaccine to drive to drive on in and remain in their car throughout the process. Polk County Health Director Josh Kennedy, who has been essential in mobilizing the community to volunteer for the vaccine rollout, believes that TIEC would make an excellent site to host a mass regional vaccination event that could potentially administer 5,000 doses per day.
‼️THE BLOCK EXERCISE ‼️ Here is the next part of our online videos … please share and join us at 7 pm on Saturday evening for another live Q and A session
Need another arena exercise to keep you moving this winter? Andrew Williams and Vicky Tuffs of GHF Equestrianhave us covered.
You’ve probably seen various pictures of this fun set-up before, but I’ll bet you probably haven’t heard as thorough an explanation about how to ride it and what to work on while riding it than the one given in this video. This exercise can be used by all levels, as the height of the fences can be easily adjusted, and Andrew starts the video off by demonstrating and describing how to warm up and prepare to jump this arrangement. It will have you working on turning from the outside aids, maintaining forward momentum, and straightness both before and after the fence.
Bookmark this one, because you’ll want to keep it in your training toolbox!
Assuming you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ll have heard by now that a big push to crowdfund enough money to run the 2021 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event is underway. Equestrian Events, Inc has until 11:59 PM EST Sunday, February 7 to raise $750,000 in order for the event to run. They’re releasing updates on the amount raised at 8 AM, 12 PM, 4 PM, and 8 PM. You can make a donation here and if you’d like to have your donation refunded if the goal is not reached you can submit this form.
Saturday Video: Eventers continue to impress at the WEC!
The magical Mr. Rubens jumping a clear just now around a serious 1.30 at WEC. 💗🦄Got lucky to the last when I got him too deep, but otherwise I rode fairly normally 🤦♀️
You know we love to ogle over a gorgeous farm every once in a while, and here’s the latest: the beautiful and historic Runnymeade Farm located in North Hampton, New Hampshire.
Originally built in the 1920’s to be a dairy farm before transitioning to an equestrian estate under the Fuller Family, Runnymeade’s history is rooted in Thoroughbred racing and was home to 45 stakes-winning horses in it’s hey-day, including the disqualified winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby, Dancer’s Image, and the champion 3-year-old filly of 1985, Mom’s Command.
This 6+ acre property boasts expansive paddocks, a twelve stall barn with additional out buildings, an outdoor ringing ring, and some infrastructure already in place for a future indoor arena (which, trust me, you’re going to want in New Hampshire) all for a cool $5.2 million. Surely you could squeeze a few cross country jumps onto the property somewhere as well.
It’s real estate listings like these that make those Mega Millions tickets so darn enticing! You can check out the full listing and photo gallery here.
This saddle rack is one of the items up for auction and I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s really neat! Photo via CDCTA.
I always like to practice and preach shopping locally and I believe that the sentiment is the same for supporting local organizations as well. If you happen to be located in Norther or Central Virginia, the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association (CDCTA) is running a silent auction through 9 PM this Sunday (Tomorrow, 1/31!) which is a great opportunity to support eventing locally. There are lots of gift certificates for lessons up for grabs as well as other neat items — take a look!
Saturday Video: “‘For the Love of Equestrian’ is actually not looking at it from only the horse point of view, but actually the whole community that is around the horses.” Wise words from Namibian show jumper and veterinary student, Salom Nghinamito.
Is there really an off-season for Michael Jung? While his event horses have been enjoying their post-season downtime complete with adorable winter woolies, Michi has his jumpers fully legged up and has been busy taking on the European show jumping scene.
On Saturday, Michael took home the big win of the competition at the Neuro Socks Amadeus Horse Indoors CSI 4* & 2* in Salzburg, Austria with the 13-year-old Westphalian mare Fischerchelsea (Check In 2 X Argentia E, by Argent) owned by Klaus and Sabine Fischer alongside Michael parents, Brigitte and Joachim Jung. The pair beat out 65 total entrants in the €45,000 Travel Charme Championship of Salzburg CSI 4*, 13 of which qualified for the jump-off over 1.55 m. Watch their round above!
US Equestrian announced the members of their 2021 Competition Task Force yesterday, with the spots for active athletes still t be named. We’re interested to see how the Task Force comes together as we await the finalization of the 2021 competition calendar. If you have any feedback for the Competition Task Force, you can directly access their online feedback form here.
Ariel Grald and Leamore Master Plan at the 2019 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.
There has been a bit of doom and gloom surrounding the conversations about the future of the Kentucky Three-Day event this week and while it’s true that there’s a long road to economic recovery ahead (a statement not exclusive to equestrian events) I think it’s important to note that all is not lost. Make sure you check out EN’s latest conversation with Lee Carter, the Executive Director of Equestrian Events, Inc.
You know we love to see young riders out there loving the sport and loving their horses, so we love this video of a Californian young rider on her super pony rocking around Training level at Twin Rivers! Meet Lucy Leff and her 14.1-hand Welsh Pony X Quarter Horse gelding Amarillo, a.k.a Milo around the barn. The pair completed their first recognized event at Training level at the Twin Rivers November Horse Trials with no jumping penalties. With that big white blaze and bright yellow coat that Milo sports, you can tell why this video initially caught our eye. Press play and you’ll be delighted by this pair who both are clearly having a blast out there!
