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Annie Yeager

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Sunday Links

By on Aug 13, 2011 11:00 pm -
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Good Morning Eventing Nation! How are you planning on spending this glorious, rainy Sunday, (as far as the East Coast regions are concerned at least)? This is the time to start waving your rain sticks and doing every voodoo chant you know to contact the rain gods to send down whatever rain they have filed away. The hard ground has made getting out to compete pretty tough this summer, the events do their best to make the footing as kind as possible but without moisture, there isn’t much that can be done. Waredaca got some much needed rain yesterday, enough even to cause a short delay in the middle part of the day.

The events running this weekend are: 
The Summer Event at Woodside (CA) [Times/Scores]

Otter Creek (WI) [Live Scores]

Hunters Run HT (MI) [Ride Times]

Waredaca (MD) [Live Scores]

Colorado Horse Park [Live Scores, Website]

GMHA Hose Trials (VT) [Times/Scores]

Hartpury CCI3* (England) [Timetable, Scores]


Campbell Valley (BC) [Scores]
And now, here are the links:



Kyle and Parker need our help to get to Burghley! Kyle and Jen have a goal to raise $7,500 to offset some of the expenses that quickly build up during an overseas journey. Burghley is especially important for Kyle and Parker to participate in, as it is a necessary qualifier for them to be chosen for the Olympic squad next autumn. Any amount helps, and would be greatly appreciated by the Carters. [Jen and Kyle Carter Eventing] 
If you haven’t figured out how to go about making that rainstick yet, this how-to video may help:
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. Have a great Sunday, I’m sure I’ll see you soon!

Eventing Photographer Profile

By on Aug 12, 2011 10:59 am -
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a) Your name:
Mark Lehner
b) The name of your business:
HoofClix.com
c) The geographical area where you generally photograph:
Southeast, mainly Area III, but have been known to stray..
d) Years of experience as a photographer:
35 years since first formal training, but not totally steady all of those years.
e) Why you decided to become a photographer:
I guess is just sort of happened to me. Well, my father was a photographer in the German Navy in WW2, and I always had it in my background. He gave me my camera when I went off to college in 1976, to become an architect. As part of my first semester, they required a full course in photography.  After that semester they pulled me in and said that I had no talent to become an architect, that if I insisted on continuing I might not even be a good draftsman. But they said as consolation that I seemed to understand the camera, so maybe I should look into that as a direction..  I switched majors, and it’s been a fun ride since.. Getting into equestrian photography, well, my daugters were both eventers in high school, and when I went to one of their horse trials in 2003, I knew that I could do what the show photographer was doing…
f) A short funny/interesting/ridiculous story about an experience you have had while photographing at an event:
Well, I will stand on most anything I can to get the right shot. Sometimes that comes with a little peril. I was in the bed of my truck adjusting my position during a series at the water. This was at Pine Top during Training level, out at the back water where they would drop in and back out, then following the road that is on the dam and into the meadow.. My truck was on the Old Pond side of the jump. When the rider was clear, galloping well away from me, I was backing up while also looking at the images on the back of my camera. Suddenly I was in the pond! Fortunately, my reaction was to defend the camera, and it did’t get wet. I looked around to see who might have seen, and I don’t even think the jump judge saw me….
g) One piece of advice, whether technical or general for a developing photographer:
The most common thing I see folks doing at shows, and all around for that matter, is that people tend to pan their cameras holding the lens overhanded, with the left hand over the top of the lens barrell. If one wants to increase the percentage of well centered shots taken, support the lens from below, with the elbow to your side. Follow the subject by moving with your hips, not your arms. I rarely give this advice in the field, as it comes off unsolicited.. The one staff that I have who shoots overhanded, after a long day of shooting dressage, has a tired, heavy arm, and heads are getting cut off. All of the settings you can apply to the camera mean nothing if you can’t keep the subject in the center of the frame!
h) Links to your website, blog, Facebook, etc.:

Thanks for your profile Mark, what a beautiful photo! Be sure to check out Mark’s website, which says that he will be at Full Gallop next and then the AECs.  Photographers, please send in your profiles by filling out this form and sending it my way.  And remember to send us links to your event photo galleries if you would like us to link to them.

A View From My Horse: Colorado Springs from World Equestrian Brands

By on Aug 11, 2011 6:06 pm -

This week’s ‘view’ is special because it comes to us from Angela Cooney, who will be traveling with the US Eventing Team to the Pan Am Games this fall, serving as both a human and equine massage therapist. Thanks to Angela for submitting, and as always, thank you for reading. If you’d like to submit an ears photo, please send it along with a caption describing it to: [email protected]. 

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From Angela: 
This is a view of the well known Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, CO.  The horse is one of many at a ranch in the area that offers trailrides around the beautiful Garden of the Gods.  His name is Cowboy, a 17.3 hand ”mountain” horse.
   
I am in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center finishing up some neccessary training in order to accompany the eventing team to the Pan Ams as the massage therapist for the riders and the horses.  Here at the OTC, the Olympic caliber athletes use the local mountains in their training.  Having the opportunity to work with athletes ranging from speedskaters and pentathaletes, to wrestlers and weightlifters has been exciting and educational.  This would not be possible without the support of my local clientele (you know who you are).  So, thank you, and GO EVENTING!!

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Hamish Cargill’s Blog, Part 1

By on Aug 10, 2011 11:04 am -

I’m pretty excited about our new guest blogger, Hamish Cargill, although I can’t really take the credit as it was John and Samantha who orchestrated Hamish’s grand entrance into the EN spotlight. Regardless, judging by this first post, I’m happy to introduce what could possibly be the best guest blogger of all time here on Eventing Nation. You can find much more from Hamish at his awesome website. Welcome to the team, Hamish!

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Samantha Clark photo

From Hamish:

I’ve had my fair share of exciting experiences in life. I’ve jumped out of a plane, ridden around four star, traveled widely and been on TV. But I have to admit that getting my own patch of turf on Eventing Nation is one of the most exciting things to ever happen to me, and until I win Rolex, Badminton, an Oscar or the lottery, I think it’s going to stay that way.

They don’t give away these guest blogging spots easily. Like diamonds, hen’s teeth and dressage judges scoring 10’s, a guest blogging spot is a rare thing that’s only handed out on special occasions. Because of this I feel extremely privileged and honored to have gotten a call up and promise to do all I can to be a positive addition to the phenomenon that is Eventing Nation.

Avid readers of Eventing Nation may have heard of me before. Somehow I’ve managed to endear myself to those who wield power here at EN, and in comparison to my successes on the world stage I feel dangerously overexposed. When I was at Rolex earlier in the year I wrote a piece about my trip from Australia to Kentucky with my horse Sandhills Tiger. I sent it to some friends back home, and before long it turned up on these pages.

Embarrassingly, it just happened to get posted on the same afternoon as Mark Todd (that’s the really, really famous, really, really tall MARK TODD) won Badminton for the 53rd time. Excellent timing — my little story about a plane ride gets posted after the Badminton report and suddenly I’m bumping the great man off his prime spot, stealing his thunder and pretty much doing everything except drinking his champagne.

Actually, that happened more recently. A few weeks ago – just soon after my arrival in the UK – I went to a barbeque hosted by Julian Stiller, an American eventer who has a lovely place here and who I had never met before. On arrival at this party – were a smattering of the world’s best young riders and a couple of famous old ones were letting their hair down – I was introduced to the host.

She shook my hand politely, and as the cogs quickly whirred in her head she realized two things about me. That (a) I wasn’t actually invited; and (b) that she remembered me after all. “Ohhh, you’re the guy that John from Eventing Nation writes about all the time,” she says without excitement, pegging me now not only as a gate-crasher but also a publicity thief.

As I pray furiously for a deep hole in the ground to open up so I can jump into it to escape the embarrassment, my good mate Chris Burton extravagantly  pops the top off a beer, watches it sail into the perfectly manicured garden and exclaims “Don’t worry about that, I’ll get it in the morning.” It’s a beautiful piece of social lifesaving, and together we carry on our mission to improve the image of the Australian male in all corners of the globe.

Despite all of this, I’m obviously extremely grateful for the coverage that Eventing Nation has given me over the past 12 months. Quite rightfully, they’d never heard of me until I arrived at the WEG as one half of ‘Hamish and Dave’. We were the Australian equestrian federation’s behind-the-scenes reporting team that scoured Lexington and the Horse Park searching for hard-news stories but instead kept popping up with cameras rolling at bourbon tastings, fur stores and in front of bad-tempered security guards whose sense of humour had been digested with the last burger they ate.

More recently, I was in Kentucky during April competing at the Rolex Three Day Event, and while I went home to ride the rest of the team my Rolex mount Sandhills Tiger enjoyed a vacation in Kentucky where he entertained himself by snacking on fried-chicken and making rude comments about people who shop at Walmart.

In early July Tiger flew to England via Dublin, Ireland, and has been based with Chris Burton – who now has his team of horses in the UK in the yard of Australian eventer Sam Griffiths and his wife Lucy — ever since. I arrived in the UK almost three weeks ago, and was stoked to meet up with EN’s very own Samantha Clark at the two events I’ve competed at so far at Wilton and Gatcombe. The most exciting thing is I’m off to France next week to compete at their World Cup event at Haras du Pin, before Tiger and I hopefully take our place in the field at Burghley at the beginning of September.

It’s an exciting time to be in the UK, and it’s an exciting time to be writing for Eventing Nation.

See you somewhere out there.

Hamish

Eventing Profile of the Week from Tipperary

By on Aug 9, 2011 4:42 pm -
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Name: Lindsey MacDonell
Age: 16
Location: Worthington, Ohio (Area VIII)
Relationship to Eventing: Novice level rider, working student
Favorite Eventing moment/story?: I have a few! My first recognized horse trial was quite an experience. I was riding my friend’s hunt horse who hadn’t been to an event in at least five years. I laughed the whole way through Dressage and when I was done, the judge jokingly
told me that Dressage wasn’t supposed to be fun! Stadium went well, although Jager thought that an orange and blue oxer was scary and ran out. Cross country was absolutely perfect, except I forgot to jump a down bank and locked onto the water at the bottom of hill, thus
cantering right past it and finishing the rest of the course without a clue. Although I was sad to not bring home a big ribbon, I had the best cross country trip of the year and now I course walk a little bit differently!
At a recent horse trial with my (new) horse Annie (actually our first together), we had a decent Dressage and went about a minute too fast on cross country but had an absolute blast. And I didn’t miss a fence! On Sunday morning, I was awoken by a lovely thunderstorm rolling
through. Luckily by the time I went, the storm had past and the arenas were fairly dry again. I was given some false information that due to so many withdrawals from the rain, the divisions were running much faster than scheduled. So, I hurried to warmup to find that nothing
had changed. I took a seat to watch the course, and quickly noticedthat the first fence was causing a ton of trouble. I was told by my trainer to drive to the fence if Annie even thought about backing off, and I absolutely agreed when I watched the girl before me fall off at
the seemingly harmless green oxer. To my relief (and gut instinct), Annie didn’t even bat one of her precious lashes at the trouble fence and had a fantastic round. (I missed a fence, but circled and took it again. So much for “I don’t need to walk the course because I’ve
watched it for an hour.” Lesson learned!) We ended up eighth, but were mistakenly given the ninth place ribbon. It was a great event to kick start our career together, and now we’re going Novice!
If you had to pick one reason why you love Eventing, what would it
be?: There are so many things to love about Eventing, from the kind volunteers to the fun each horse trial brings. I think that what I love most about Eventing is the bond you have with your horse. Especially for a long format, this sport demands that you know every little detail about your horse in order to be a successful team. By having to be so versatile, horse and rider are mentally and physically tested all the time, and I feel that it can only be done with a true partnership.
Overall Goals in the sport: Like most riders, I would love to someday
stand on the podium for my country. But short term, I would like to
finish this season (2011) successfully at Novice, and then next year
(2012) run Training!
Biggest Role Model: I’m quite an old school romantic, therefore I look
up to masters such as Lucinda Green and Mark Todd.
Link to blog or website, if applicable: http://anniegreensprings.wordpress.com
Photo(s) or videos: http://youtube.com/lindseyymac

If you’d like to submit an Eventing profile, follow this link for more information, fill out the form, and send it to [email protected].

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The Tuesday News from Pennfield

By on Aug 9, 2011 12:18 am -
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Photo from Boekelo 2010, via Doug Payne’s dad

Good Morning Eventing Nation! A lot has sure happened since the weekend, and it’s only Tuesday! For starters, John gave me a new column which I’m pretty excited about it as I think it’ll be a really neat series. If you missed reading his post, the column will allow event photographers to submit photos and have their work and a bio featured front-and-center on Eventing Nation. It’s our way of saying ‘thanks’ to the photographers for all they do for us and our sport, and it’s also a great way to support business that are working hard to thrive in the current economic climate. And if you are a photographer yourself, don’t hesitate to send your entries (see John’s post for details) to me at: [email protected]

The other news/happenings from the weekend are many, but we’ll start with the most exciting. Sinead Halpin and Manoir De Carniville are currently making the trek over to England, in preparation for the upcoming Burghley Horse Trials. They have headed across the pond a bit earlier than the rest of the US/Canadian crew, and the reason is so that Sinead and Tate can compete at the Hartpury Horse Trials prior to Burghley to clear out the pipes, so to speak, and really get their game faces on for Burghley. Sinead wrote another great blog for the Chronicle yesterday, titled ‘Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow’, it contains some very wise and thoughtful writing, and is definitely worth the read. 
Stone Gate Farm Horse Trials in Ohio and this year’s Area VIII Beginner Novice & Novice Championships is offering an Early Bird Discount to all who send in their entries before August 23rd. Stone Gate Farm is run by a great friend of EN, Jackie Smith, who puts on a top class event every year. There will also be prize money awarded to each division, the amount of which depends on the number of entries received as $20 from each entry will be pooled into the prize sum. Don’t miss your chance to participate in this great event! [USEA]
In some troublesome news, British event rider Lucy Wiegersma’s father was injured Sunday in riding lawn mower accident. Hendrick Wiegersma was a big time event rider in the 1970’s, and since then has made his living as a horse dealer, and a very successful one at that. Apparently he was scheduled to have cataract surgery within the next couple days so they are speculating that the accident occurred because Mr. Wiegersma couldn’t see the edge of the 10 ft. drop and accidentally drove the mower over the edge. Lucy said about her father, “He broke his hip, which has been successfully pinned and plated, punctured a lung and has some kidney damage. The worst part are the chemical burns from the petrol — he had 20% burns to his body and had to have a skin graft on his right leg.” We wish Mr. Wiegersma the best of luck in his recovery– which doctors are saying he should make a full one of. [Horse and Hound]
As John mentioned on Saturday, two pairs have been added to the Canadian short list for the upcoming Pan Am Games. They are James Atkinson and Gustav and Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti. Click here to read the COTH release. 

Aussie Sam Griffiths won the Gatcombe Express Eventing Championship over the weekend, and evidently his performances across the board were all quite special. He rode a beautiful freestyle to music, which left many spectators breathless and his competition stunned I’m sure, and it scored a record 7.9. In an excerpt from this Horsetalk article, 
“He led from the outset after producing the lowest dressage score of the entire Express Eventing Series 2011 qualifiers, being awarded a 7.9. He then jumped clear in his Cross Country phase, and led into the final show jumping phase. The show jumping proved tricky for some with only two clear rounds, and Griffiths had two poles down, meaning that he had to jump and clear the eraser fence (which is optional but if cleared knocks 4 points of the total score) which he did with ease, clinching the top spot.”

Pictures from the British Open Championships

Show jumping legend Ian Millar won the $90,000 RAM Equestrian Grand Prix on Sunday at the CSI2* Summer Festival in Palgrave, Ontario, aboard the seasoned campaigner and Pan Am hopeful, Star Power. It really was the weekend of the Millars at the Palgrave Summer Festival as Ian’s son Jonathan won the $10,000 Modified Grand Prix on Saturday, aboard Cantero Z. [Horsetalk] 
Best of the Blogs: Equestrian Team GBR: Musings from the Emerald Isle

I think that’s all I have for you right now, Eventing Nation, but be sure to check back soon, the excitement never stops and the news never dies.   

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A View From My Horse: African Safari from World Equestrian Brands

By on Aug 7, 2011 2:01 pm -

This week’s ears photo is one of the coolest photos in the history of the ears series, and is from one of the coolest people in eventing, Phyllis Dawson, of her recent trip to Africa. Thanks to Phyllis for submitting, and as always, thanks for reading. If you’d like to submit your ears photo, please send it along with a caption describing it to [email protected].


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From Phyllis:

I just got back from a fabulous vacation in Botswana – a seven day mobile horse safari in the Mashatu Game Reserve with the Limpopo Valley Horse Safaris, where we rode for six to eight hours a day and camped at night.  We could hear the lions roaring in the night, but a campfire and night watchman kept the horses safe.  Here are a couple of photos showing the view, with giraffes crossing the road in front of us and elephants in the riverbed below.

 
Cheers, Phyllis

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Welcome to Eventing Profile

By on Aug 6, 2011 11:21 am -

‘Welcome to Eventing’ is the newest of all the series here on Eventing Nation, and was the idea of one of our most loyal readers. The objective of the series is to chronicle the stories of either your first event, or the first event your horse competed at. We all know that Eventing is a game of experience, which usually translates into some comical recounting of those days before we had any idea what we were getting into by starting to event. If you’d like to submit the story of your first event, please send it along with a picture to [email protected]. We are running low on profiles, so please send yours in!


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From Mica:

Hi, My name is Mica. I’m currently 17 years old and this is the story of my first event.

My first event was at Bucks County Horse Park about 6 years ago with my red chestnut OTTB mare, Maddie. To be honest it was a mess! Though the judges always seemed to like her in the dressage, my nerves on the cross county were pretty obvious. In what comes back as a blur, I’m pretty sure I pointed Maddie at several upper level fences, all of which she miraculously jumped. I was only going beginner novice at the time, and when I came up to the sunken road question, I had two refusals. Somehow I got her through this only to be eliminated at the ditch one element after! It was a rough first go, and I was pretty shaken up, but I am happy to say that did not discourage me enough to leave the sport. If anything, it made me more determined to get out there and do it right! And fortunately enough the determination paid off, I evented Maddie for several more years and still have her now; though I think it’s safe to say she’s retired to dressage and trail rides after a long run in competition. Being the temperamental mare she is, we had some rough goes, but the good rides were some of the best I’ve ever had and she truly taught me a lot. She’ll always be special to me, my one and only first event horse.
This image is not from my first competition, but from a lesson with Wendy Lewis, my trainer. You can see here Maddie and I did make it past the rough beginner novice phase! We competed successfully together through training level. 

The Friday News from FLAIR

By on Aug 5, 2011 1:43 am -

Good Morning Eventing Nation! I hope your week thus far gone by smoothly and that this weekend will be no different. Millbrook is in it’s second day of dressage competition today, most exciting of which will be the Advanced and Intermediate B divisions, full of horses going abroad this fall. I know I’m not alone in saying that Boyd’s performances yesterday were certainly impressive and a little unexpected. Even if he wasn’t making a comeback from a tragic fire, topping a division with horses in it like Loughan Glen and Rehy Lux (who’ve been winning the flat at nearly every competition this year) is really astounding. Boyd’s certainly got his head in the right place and is wasting no time getting back out there.
Millbrook H.T. [Live Scores] [Ride Times]

Now here’s the news:

What would you do if you had a billion dollars? My list would be to buy as many nice horses as I could plausibly ride in a day, then to buy a really big barn, and finally to buy a really big house. Billionaire Madeline Pickens is using some of her fortune, albeit a relatively ‘small’ amount, to create a wild horse sanctuary, which she has so aptly named ‘Mustang Monument’. Her gracious efforts have been unappreciated by the ranchers close by, who feel that the wild horses are a nuisance to their livelihood of ranching. According to the TIME article, “The ranchers are trying, so far unsuccessfully, to push through a bill that would bar wild horses from having access to water — condemning them to die of thirst.” [TIME]

I’m sure will come as welcome news to many Eventing fans out there– but things are starting to look optimistic for Miner’s Frolic, Tina Cook’s top Olympic horse. Miner’s Frolic has been battling a serious case of colitis- poisoning of the gut- for some time now, and for awhile it didn’t look as if he would pull through. But pull through he did, and Tina now even thinks they might still have a shot at next year’s Games. She said, 

“I would say that I am on the outskirts of the British team, but I’m hoping the fact that I’m the reigning European individual champion means, if I can pull out some good results, I can be back on track again. 

But I am not about to think I am set to go because I have been before, and I will make sure I am doing my best week in, week out, right up until the team is announced.”


Miner’s Frolic is a great horse, and Tina a great jockey, so I’m certainly going to be rooting for them as they ascend on their climb back to the top. [Little Hampton Gazette]


A local Canadian newspaper wrote a nice article about Selena O’Hanlon, and her journey to the Pan Am Games this fall. It sounds like the Pan Am’s will only be more fuel to the fire in Selena’s quest for eventing greatness. At the end of the article, she said, “The Canadians are a force to be reckoned with. I’ve always wanted to be one of the greats. I want to be remembered as a Mark Todd or a Bruce Davidson.” [Kingston Sports]
Be sure to check out  the Eventing Radio Episode for this week starring Bobby Costello, Will Faudree, and a couple NAJYRC’ers. 
British Eventing mastermind, Yogi Breisner, recently wrote a blog recapping the summer highlights of the British squad members, and previewing their plans for the autumn. [BE]
Abby Gibbon wrote a great article for the Chronicle recently, reminiscing on her time as a Pony Clubber, losing her father to cancer, and the experience recently of reporting on the USPC Championships in Kentucky held just a couple weeks ago. The article contains much wisdom and is written about something I think many of us can relate to. [COTH]
Zara Phillips (and it’s still Phillips by the way) has added a line of clothing for children to her apparel line from Musto. The range is called the ‘ZP 176′ and consists of a 2-in-1 jacket, zip neck fleece, zip-through hoody, zip-neck sweat, kids’ polos, and accessories. The line will debut this weekend at the Gatcombe Horse Trials. [Horse and Hound]
Take a walk around the British Open course at Gatcombe with Daisy Berkeley
This video was produced by Nina Glover

That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. Stay tuned for more coverage of Millbrook later on today and have a great Friday!

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Euroridings Butts Leon’s Wednesday News from Horse Quencher

By on Aug 3, 2011 1:04 am -
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Good Morning Eventing Nation, and welcome to the half way mark of another busy week. It’s already August, which means Richland, Burghley, the AEC’s, and all the other fun fall events are just around the corner. Speaking of the AEC’s, I hope you were more on top of things than myself and sent your entry in by yesterday to get the $100 Early Bird discount. I’ll have to remember that next year, but it really is a good incentive put on by the USEA to get those entries in early.

Probably the most exciting news of the morning is contained in this article from a German Eventing site, stating that Andreas Dibowski’s top mount, Euroridings Butts Leon, has been sold to US based Thai Eventer Nina Ligon. Butts Leon is certainly one of the most seasoned and successful event horses in the world right now. His competition record is like a ‘who’s who’ of the big events– he competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing as part of the Gold medal team, he was second  at the 2010 Aachen CIC***, 2nd in the 2009 Luhmuhlen CCI****, won at Luhmuhlen this year, was 2nd at Badminton in 2010 at Badminton, and competed at the 2010 WEGs. The short list for Nina’s Olympic Prospect has just gotten a lot shorter as a horse like Butts Leon really has no competition. Congrats to Nina on her new purchase, I know I’m looking forward to seeing this pair in action!

To start the morning off on a good note, here’s an article about the recent wedding of your favorite British royal, Zara of course. She said about her wedding: “Truthfully, I don’t know when I’ll take my honeymoon. We both work so hard we may have to wait until we’re both retired. That’s just what we do. Isn’t that just what everybody does?” If that is really ‘what everyone else did’, we would have surely solved all the world crisis’ by now and society would just be peacefully humming along. If only (sigh).

The newly released documentary of the legendary American race trainer, Buck Brannaman, has been receiving excellent reviews. The film was released in the US on June 17, and has been shown in several theaters along with being made available for private group screenings. [Horsetalk]
Mongolia seems like a world away, but with the recent outbreak of the Equine influenza epidemic, the distance between here are there starts to seem a lot shorter. The Mongolian government confirmed yesterday that the disease is already in fourteen provinces, but an additional four provinces have suspected cases of it as well. One of the biggest problems with the spread of this virus is that fact that many rural parts of Mongolia are relatively uneducated about horse care and veterinary protocol, and still rely on horsepower as part of their livelihood. Without their work horses, farmers are no longer able to do many of the labor intensive parts of the planting and harvesting. With the harvest season approaching, this outbreak could mean serious trouble for Mongolian citizens. Let’s hope this outbreak gets under control shortly, and that life soon returns to normal for our Mongolian friends. [Influenza Outbreak]

In some better news about the world state of horse heath, the first Hendra quarantines have been lifted down in Australia, and authorities are quietly optimistic that the disease will be under control soon. According to the article, “Quarantine restrictions are only lifted after the completion of three rounds of testing over a 32-day period, with all tests results returning negative results for Hendra virus.” The two main areas battling the disease right now are Queensland and New South Wales, 81 horses are currently being monitored in one central area until they are certain to be virus free. [Horsetalk]
Best of the Blogs:
And finally, here’s one cool video and note from reader Jess to watch before you start off for the day. 
From Jess:  “I just wanted to drop you a quick note about my YouTube series, The Quest For a Champion, I am currently training three rescue thoroughbreds, and am documenting the progress along the way. I post up an new video each week, and mix fast paced eventing with awesome dubstep. I also do some dressage from time to time.”
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation! Have a great day, I’m sure I’ll see you shortly.


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Eventing Profile of the Week from Tipperary

By on Jul 30, 2011 3:26 pm -
This week’s Eventing Profile was submitted by Sable Giesler, who just so happens to be leading the young riders CH-J* this afternoon.  I

f you’d like to submit an Eventing profile, follow this link for more information, fill out the form, and send it to [email protected].

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Name: Sable Giesler
Age: 16 
Location: Powassan Ontario
Relationship to Eventing: Preliminary Rider
Favorite Eventing moment/story?: My favorite moment in eventing was when I completed cross country on my horse Evil Munchkin (Rambo) at his first CCI* at Kentucky Midsouth. I had so much fun on that course and my horse handled it so well. We were both rather green at that level but we managed to get around double clear despite a few iffy moments. I remember talking to my coach at that event Ian Roberts when we were cooling Rambo out and going over how we could have improved a few areas and I was still thinking to myself “Wow Rambo just did a one star!”. I think anyone that does their first international event can relate to that feeling of shock. 
If you had to pick one reason why you love Eventing, what would it be?: I love eventing because I love cross country. There is no riding discipline that has anything comparable to the thrill of cross country. I get the greatest enjoyment out of jumping neatly through a bank complex then landing galloping a table and then setting up for a drop into water. It is so exciting heading out of the start box knowing all the challenges ahead of you. 
Overall Goals in the sport: Compete at NAJYRC in the CCI* division. 
Biggest Role model: My biggest role model is Oliver Townend. I have a huge amount of respect for all the success he has had at such a young age. I took a clinic with him a few years ago and he was so helpful and really down to earth. He has worked hard for what he has and is trying extremely hard to make a viable living out of the sport. I can also relate to his competitive attitude.

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Saturday Links

By on Jul 29, 2011 10:19 pm -
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Good Morning Eventing Nation!  Well, we eventers have proved once again that inclement weather, including heat waves of colossal proportions, can’t slow us down as this is proving to be one of the busiest weekends of the summer. The Young Riders at this year’s Championships have assembled in Kentucky and are getting set to tackle David O’Connor’s cross country course in just a few hours. The Horse Park of New Jersey and the Stonleigh Burnham Horse Trials are running as well. The news front is equally as busy this weekend, which makes my life easier for writing this post, and will hopefully make your Saturday morning more interesting. This may be the longest links post in the history of links posts, but here it goes: 

NAJYRC:




Horse Park of New Jersey Horse Trials [Ride Times]
Stoneleigh-Burnham Summer H.T [Website] 
Here is the news you need to know:

That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. Stay cool, use sunscreen, and enjoy your Saturday!

Friday Morning News from FLAIR

By on Jul 29, 2011 12:07 am -
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Good Morning Eventing Nation! It’s sure been a busy week here on Eventing Nation, what with the Pan Am short lists being announced, the infamous Chronicle thread about the Rebecca statue topping the forums for the majority of this week, and now the NAJYRC firing away in Kentucky. Whatever your plans are for the weekend, I hope they involve plenty of shade and cold beverages– the heat wave of last week may have waved goodbye for a couple days, but it’s certainly saying ‘hello’ again. 


There are only two other USEA Horse Trials braving the heat this weekend, and they are:

Horse Park of New Jersey Horse Trials [Ride Times]
Stoneleigh-Burnham Summer H.T [Website] 
John published a post last night about the EN guest blogger contest, which all of you of course know because you’ve spent the last 12 nighttime hours refining and honing the first post that will lead you onto eternal EN greatness. Because I’ve been stabbing around in the dark at this whole writing thing for about the past year or so, I thought I’d give you some helpful hints to make your experience slightly easier:

1. Make good use of gramar. Nothing’s worse than getting a lesson from your math major boss about the correct use of prepositions, or even worse, about correct spelling.

2. John wasn’t lying when he said Coren was a stalker, so I’d think twice before sending that mugshot photo. 

3. You’re going to need some thick skin, as it’s about as necessary to the job as a laptop and internet connection.


Ok, now it’s time for some news:

Rebecca Howard posted on her blog last night, but this time to share the news of one of her students, Joelle Baskerville’s, great performance in her two star dressage test at Young Riders. Rebecca coaches the Canadian young riders team, and is very much loved by the Young Riders she leads.  Her coaching, as with almost everything else she does, is thorough, thoughtful, and effective, and almost always produces the results. [RH Blog]
Doug Payne is spending the week at HITS Saugerties for some jumping practice. In his blog last night, he said, “I can’t overstate how great it is to be able to concentrate purely on jumping. In the three days here, we’re jumping half a season of jumping rounds if we were eventing.” How true that line is, we as event riders are constantly refining each of our three skill-sets, trying to keep them all equally polished and effective. The job of doing so is much easier when you can go somewhere like Saugerties that is been designed to do exactly what you need to practice. Oh, and Doug also mentioned in his blog that he has gotten a grant to go to Blenheim this fall! [Doug’s Blog]
Toytown, Zara Phillips’s 18 year old campaigner, will be retired at Gatcombe Park this fall. Toytown has had a long career spanning through European and World Champion titles with Zara aboard. She said about the retirement, “Toytown will enjoy his retirement hacking out in the Gloucestershire countryside and grazing at home on the Gatcombe Estate.” 

It isn’t all butterflies and roses trying to get to the AEC, and in the case of Suzanne Adams, the trip won’t happen at all this year due to four broken ribs and a collapsed lung. The good thing about the AEC is that it’s here to stay and there will always be another year. [USEA]
Click here to check out the Burghley entries. The newest addition to the list is Sinead and Manoir de Carneville, which raises the total number of American horses going to compete at 10.  

If you haven’t already seen it, check out SmartPak for free shipping on every order over $75.  Can’t beat that.

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That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. Have a great day, I’ll see you soon. 

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A View From My Horse: Old Faithful from World Equestrian Brands

By on Jul 28, 2011 1:57 pm -
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From Jennie:

This is my OTTB retiree, Jude, this year on his 25th birthday, on a celebratory trail ride at the farm where we board in Hillsboro, Oregon.  Jude was my first horse, and a once-in-a-lifetime kind of boy.  He did a little bit of everything, and did it all well, but cross country was both of our first love.  Now he gets to spend most of his time hanging out and looking cute – which he is also quite good at! – and occasionally giving rides to horse-crazy kids.  And every so often when I just need a quiet relaxing ride, he is happy to oblige -and I usually spend the whole ride with a huge grin on my face, even after all these years.  Thanks!

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Sally O’Connor: A Memorial to Becky

By on Jul 27, 2011 1:51 pm -
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From Sally O’Connor:

I have had the privilege of being at Rebecca Farm in one capacity or another for the entire ten years of its existence. And before that for the event at Herron Park.

When Becky Broussard made up her mind to produce the finest event in the country there were no holds barred.  Her vision for an international event took off with wings and is still flying.
Each year on arrival I managed to catch up with Becky before the actual start of competition and we would go off in a golf cart, provided by the “golf cart Nazis” from her home state of Louisiana, and inspect all the cross country courses. Each year she delighted in the improvements and all the theme jumps from Jurassic Park, to the Booby traps, to the Trout Pond and the Loch Ness Monster.  We enjoyed a good laugh and some serious discussion.
This year she was not there.  I did not have the heart to go around a single course alone. 
It was the best year ever. There were more horses and international competitors than ever.
At a touching memorial ceremony on the Wednesday before the competition we all stood and reminisced about her life.  Sadly, we walked one by one to a lovely graven stone surrounded by lovely plants and trees and laid a carnation in brilliant white red or orange by her stone.
Rebecca Farm will never be the same but Sarah, her daughter, has picked up the reins and as they say in England as one era closes “The Queen is dead.  Long live the Queen.”

Welcome to Eventing

By on Jul 26, 2011 1:55 pm -

‘Welcome to Eventing’ is the newest of all the series here on Eventing Nation, and was the brain child of one of our readers. The objective of the series is to chronicle the stories of either your first event, or the first event your horse competed at. We all know that Eventing is a game of experience, which usually translates into some comical recounting of those days before we had any idea what we were getting into by starting to event. This week’s story is from Carrie Pugh. Many thanks to Carrie for submitting, and as always, thank you for reading.  If you’d like to submit the story of your first event, please send it along with a picture to [email protected]


From Carrie:

Here is a photo of my horse, Crybaby Captain Sid, and I immediately after completing cross country at our first starter trial in October 2009.  I had never ridden a (full) cross country course before that day and he took fantastic care of me. We finished 7th in our Beginner Novice rider division on our dressage score.  I think my exact words on crossing the finish line were “This is SO much more fun than hunters!”.  Since then, we have had our ups and downs.  Sid contracted squamous cell carcinoma of the third eyelid in his left eye and lost vision completely in that eye last summer, so it was a difficult year, but we are still taking lessons, going to clinics, trail riding and just enjoying each other’s company and will hopefully enter an event or two this fall.

Sunday Links from Tipperary

By on Jul 24, 2011 3:12 am -

Good Morning Eventing Nation, and welcome to the last leg of the weekend. It appears the heat wave has finally waved goodbye, so we can all look forward to the milder temperatures of today and this upcoming week. It’s the final day at Rebecca Farms, and I have a feeling many of the competitors who flew out for the competition were wishing they didn’t have to return back to the East Coast quite so quickly. From all that I’ve heard about Rebecca, with the beautiful Montana scenery and lovely farm, it couldn’t possibly be left easily. [Live Scores]
And let’s not forget about the other USEA events running this weekend:
Fitch’s Corner H.T. [Live Scores] 
Hunter Oaks H.T. [Live Scores]
Gemwood H.T. [Live Scores]
Olney Farm H.T [Live Scores]
Aspen Ridge H.T. [Omnibus]

And now, here are your links:

That’s all for now, Eventing Nation! Have a great Sunday, I’ll see you in a few.

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Saturday Links

By on Jul 22, 2011 11:15 pm -
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Photo of the Ftich’s Corner dressage arenas courtesy of Shanon Baker

Good Morning Eventing Nation! How are you feeling after the heat wave of the past couple days? After several days of working through the worst of the heat and trying to be semi-productive, I finally called it a day around noon yesterday, and went to see ‘Horrible Bosses’ at the theatre and bask in the air conditioning for a couple hours. If you haven’t seen it, you should because it’s a good laugh. And if you’re ever contemplating ousting your boss, please do a better job of it then those guys did. Anyway, If your competing today, I wish you good luck and a cool forecast, and if you’re not, I wish you a wonderful Saturday anyway! 

Speaking of this weekend’s competitions, they are:

The Event at Rebecca Farm [Live Scores]
Fitch’s Corner H.T. [Live Scores] 
Hunter Oaks H.T. [Live Scores]
Gemwood H.T. [Live Scores]
Olney Farm H.T [Live Scores]

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Fitch’s Corner HT, in New York, will be Boyd and Neville’s first full run back after the fire in the Preliminary section. They would be leading the division after the dressage on a 29.6, but are competing HC, so technically, Boyd’s leading on his other ride, Crackerjack. Boyd and Neville did an Intermediate Combined Test at Maryland last weekend, and did very well. They’re are getting to the point in their relationship where they are a bit like a baseball catcher and his favorite mitt; a good catcher can catch the ball just the same with any mitt, but there is something about the familiarity of his favorite  one that leads to an extra special performance.  Boyd’s enough of a rider to get the results out of anything he rides, but the result is very special when he’s riding Neville. 

Fitch’s Corner is also the host of the Area I Championships this weekend- Ferial Johnson and Bali Hai are leading the Preliminary Championship division on 35.2, Ava Wehde and Watson’s Amirah are leading the Junior Training Championship on 34.2, and Kelley Mariano and Uno are leading the Senior Novice Championships on a 29. 

And here are your links for this morning:
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation! Stay tuned and have a great day!

Sally O’Connor: Eventing in Trinidad?

By on Jul 21, 2011 1:30 pm -
This is the second post from our newest (and in my opinion best) guest blogger, Sally O’Connor. Sally wears many different hats in our sport, and keeps a travel schedule that would rival even the most savvy of jet setters, so we are very lucky to be following her on all her adventures. Thanks to Sally for writing, and as always, thank you for reading. 
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Yes, the ring is literally built into the mountain
From Sally:

Horses will take you to the most unlikely places. Three years ago I was fortunate enough to be asked to judge an inter-Caribbean dressage competition.  After visiting six islands and sitting out a hurricane in Antigua I wound up in Trinidad at the extreme eastern part of the Caribbean just seven miles off the Venezuelan coast.  The island contains three high mountain ranges, myriad beaches and is covered in vast rain forests or “bush”. Once part of the British Empire it is now independent and thanks to the discovery of vast oil and gas reserves one of the more prosperous islands.

There is a keen racing population and about four hundred thoroughbreds are bred on the island annually with other horses imported from the United States.  Those who do not make it on the track are available to a hard core of equestrian enthusiasts who struggle daily to be able to ride and compete in dressage and jumping.  There are several inter island competitions with the judges being transported from island to island because of the difficulty of moving the horses.  Even on the Island there are few horse trailers and five  main stable complexes are hard pushed to get together for competitions. You really have to want to ride if you live in Trinidad.
Driving cars there is amazing.  I am a brave person, after all I have ridden over the Rocky Mountains on horseback and thought nothing of it.  I am not sure that I would be brave enough to drive in Trinidad.  The roads to the stables are narrow, supposedly two lane with no shoulders and drainage ditches on both sides. Many times,  sheer rock wall looms on one side and a yawning ravine on the other.  Corkscrew turns are the norm. It is not unusual to look down out of the window and see two whole bends in the road below your car.  To add to the excitement people park just about anywhere, on blind curves,  alongside the houses and take up half the road.  Meeting a bus or a truck makes you want to crawl up the wall.  Cars stop in the middle of nowhere to pick up passengers or drop them off.  Stray dogs, stray kids and people wander about on foot. Most of the roads have little roadside stands selling just about everything. It is not for the faint hearted.
One stable is approached by a steep road that goes up and up, and then just when you think the car might not make it, it gets steeper.  If horses are driven here they have to get out and walk up for the last half mile as it is just too steep. Someone told me that their horse hates to get in the trailer. I am not surprised.
One of the stables is set behind a market garden nursery.  You turn into a dirt track that winds through green houses and crosses a frail wooden bridge and after winding through the bush you arrive at the ring.  No real turn out and no  hacking.  Just a ring in the rain forest. Another stable has a ring that has been literally carved out of the side of a mountain.  One end has a sheer cliff above it and the other end a dramatic drop off to a ravine.  You would not want to jump out of the end of the dressage arena.  The stable goes by the name of Jericho When it was under construction  there was a great landslide when half the cliff fell in and the “walls came tumbling down”  Hidden Valley Stables is on a piece of flat ground but looks out over a very active quarry with dynamite blasting the rocks apart each day.
Stables are mostly built of concrete walls high enough to keep the horses in but open to the air and roofed in metal. Horses live on a diet of mixed feed and coarse grass cut by hand each day.  They even eat Kudzu vines.  Apparently this is highly nutritious and they prefer it to the grass.  Maybe we could start a whole new feed industry here in the States using the acres of kudzu that are considered such a pest. 
While they have been competing in dressage and jumping the Trinis are now convinced they want to take up eventing.  One can always dream.  A keen group has built several portable fences and they aim to cut trails for the track.  Beyond the Northern range of mountains is a central plain and this is where they will plan the course.  The ground is excellent, sandy and soft.  The track twists through tree plantations and curves around  through cashew trees, mango trees and island pines.
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Getting horses fit would be a problem.  While there is hacking on the mountain trails they are really steep. One would be happy to ride up but how about coming down again? The race track  might be available to for gallops but the problem and expense of transport might make this a sometime project.
But where there’s a will there’s a way, and hey, if Jamaica can have a bobsled team, the Trinis can “go eventing.”

Welcome to Eventing

By on Jul 16, 2011 11:30 am -

‘Welcome to Eventing’ is the newest of all the series here on Eventing Nation, and was the brain child of one of our readers. The objective of the series is to chronicle the stories of either your first event, or the first event your horse competed at. This week’s story is about Hannah Metz, and tells the story of her journey into the world of Eventing. Thanks to Hannah’s Mom for submitting, and as always, thank you for reading.  If you’d like to submit the story of your first event, please send it along with a picture to [email protected].

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From Hannah’s Mom:

My daughter Hannah has always loved horses.  Was there life before eventing?  Sure but it was not as sweet!  Hannah did 4H and some hunter equitation before she was consumed by the sport of eventing.  


At Fair Hill in the fall of 2008 we met Molly Rosin.  Hannah started riding with Molly that fall.  
She went cross country schooling with Molly at Fair Hill the spring of 2009 and she was hooked! She did many of the Area II Starter Trials that season.

The road has been a bumpy ride the last 2 years.  She lost 2 horses to cancer, had a summer with a great schoolmaster called No Worries, finished in the ribbons at her first recognized event, and is now training her 5 yr old OTTB mare under Molly’s guidance.  

At age fifteen, Hannah is a full time working student with Molly.  She is home schooled so she can be at the barn 6 days a week.  She was able to spend the winter in Aiken and grooms for Molly.  I cannot say enough about the importance of a good–no amazing trainer.  Molly has truly changed our lives.  The eventing world in general has impressed me.  What a wonderful group that comes together to support each other on a daily basis!

Saturday Links

By on Jul 15, 2011 10:30 pm -
 
Hello Eventing Nation and welcome to the weekend! I hope your Saturday plans include many outdoor activities, the weather is forecasting mild (its all relative) temperatures and blue skies for the main part of the day. Perfect horse show weather, which is a good thing as there are a bunch of horse shows taking place today. Here they are:

And we can’t mention all these American events without giving even a small mention about the World Equestrian Festival taking place in Aachen, Germany right now. The cross country ran very early this morning. Click here to check out the live scores. 
Here are the top links of the morning:
The Five Stages of Lameness Rehab (very funny and very true)
If you hadn’t already come to the conclusion that the sport of Eventing will kick you down when you’re up, and then kick you harder again when your down just to make sure you felt it, check out this video of Mary King. A one-two finish at Kentucky last April, and then biting it at Barbury just a few months later. 
That’s all for now Eventing Nation. If you’re competing today, good luck, if you aren’t competing, I hope you have a great Saturday.

Witchcraft and Wizardry’s Friday News from FLAIR

By on Jul 14, 2011 10:37 pm -
Good Morning Eventing Nation! I’ll cut to the chase and start by saying: How excited are you about going to see the new Harry Potter movie? I know the premiere was last night, but I’m sure none of us are like those fanatical people who bring their lawn chairs and witch costumes and camp out at the theatre eight hours before the midnight premiere. I have never understood the whole midnight premiere thing anyway, why would you ever want to stay up that late to see a movie you could just as easily see 12 hours later? Anyway, moving onwards to topics more closely related to horses and less related to Hogwarts, flying brooms, and he-who-shall-not-be-named. 
There’s a whole bunch of events this weekend, we’ll have more on them later but here are the live scores for the events starting today:

Here’s the news for this morning:
— The Horse Trust, a horse welfare foundation based in the UK, has taken a creative approach to educating horse owners about their animals, and specifically their conformation and anatomy. For a mere ten pounds, one can take his or her horse to a point of meeting, and along with several other classmates, learn about the anatomy and structures of the horse in a unique, hands-on way– by literally painting their horses. Not only do class goers get to learn more about their horses and have some fun, they also are supporting the efforts of The Horse Trust in the process. [Horsetalk] 
— Sometime today, the fate of nearly 1,700 wild horses will be decided by a Federal judge in the latest development of Bureau of Land Management versus the Colorado-based Cloud Foundation. BLM would like to remove the horses from the land which they currently reside, to limit population growth and preserve the land. The Cloud Foundation argues that the wild horses have a right to be on that land, due to the Wild and Free- Horses are Burros Free Roaming Act of 1971. The case has gotten this far on a technicality within the law, and it will be won or lost much in the same way. Let’s hope for the horses’ sake that today’s ruling is in our favor. [San Francisco Chronicle]
— The semi-finalists for the Salisbury Sportsmanship Award have been named. This is the first year of what will be an annual award, and a very cool one at that. The recipient of the award will be selected for his or her sportsmanship, perseverance, and above all for the love of their horses and their sport. The award was created to celebrate all of these qualities and honor the spirit of eventing. The Salisbury Bank has selected four horses and riders as semi-finalists, and will sponsor those riders at three competitions this fall, Riga Meadow Horse Trials, Town Hill Horse Trials, and Kent School Horse Trials. Which ever semi-finalist has the lowest combined score at the end of the competitions will be named the winner. [USEA]
— British show jumper Tim Stockdale‘s Olympic mount, Fresh Direct Corlato, has given birth to her first foal. The mare, owned by John and Sue Bosher, was the highest placed British horse at the Beijing Games and was actively competing until a tendon injury sustained in late 2009. It was at that time the Boshers’ and Stockdale decided the best course of action was to retire her as a brood mare. The foal is by top breeding stallion, Quainton Quirifino Z. [Horse and Hound]
— Jimmy Wofford was the most recent guest on the Eventing Radio Show. The topic of the interview was ‘Dream Vacation’ where Jimmy spends his time on the show telling us the people, horses, music, and books that he would bring along on the vacation. I haven’t had time to listen to the interview yet, but because Jimmy is the guest, it’s certainly not one I am going to miss. [ERS]
— In some news on the Western side of things, the famous reining champion and breeding stallion, West Coast Whiz, now deceased, has been named the National Reining Association’s latest Million Dollar Sire. His career earnings, totaling just under $150,000, aren’t too shabby either. Don’t you wish they all made us that much money? [QH News]
Best of the Blogs: Working Student Reflections
The US Pony Club Championships are coming up, we’ll have more on them later, but here’s a video to preview. If you’re at the office, I’d turn down the speakers as the soundtrack is some pretty groovy reggae music:
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. Have a great day, and be sure to check back later today as John’s got some good stuff planned.

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Eventing Profile of the Week

By on Jul 14, 2011 2:09 pm -

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Name: Lindsay Berreth

Age: 24

Location: Fredericksburg, VA

Relationship to Eventing: I have ridden through Preliminary and have been bringing a young horse along for the last three years. We’re now at Training. I also work for GRC Photography as a photographer and do some freelance writing and photography (for USEA, COTH, etc).

Favorite Eventing moment/story?: There are so many! The year 2006. I won or placed second at all of the training level events I entered and my notoriously-difficult-at-show jumping Irish TB jumped multiple clear rounds. We went to the AEC in North Carolina and were fourth after cross-country but had two rails down and dropped out of contention. I was pretty upset about that but we rebounded by finishing second at the Waredaca Training Three Day, and then moving back up to Preliminary (we’d dropped down a level when I started working with a new trainer) to win Prelim Rider at the Virginia Horse Trials.
 
It was also really cool to go to WEG last year and see all of the greats in person. I’ve been to Rolex a bunch of times, but nothing compares to seeing Mark Todd and Andrew Nicholson ride by after having watched them for years on my Badminton DVDs.
 
Last fall as an intern for COTH, I traveled to Woodside Horse Trials in California and Greenwood Farm Horse Trials in Texas to cover the Adult Team Challenges. I’d never flown by myself before and had never been to Texas. The warmth and welcome I recieved at both events was amazing. In Texas especially, eventing has such a family feel. Everyone knew everyone and they all rooted for each other. It was so fun to see how eventing is in different parts of the country. I made it home safe and sound and navigated the roads from the airports to the events without any problems!

If you had to pick one reason why you love Eventing, what would it be?: I like the journey and creating a partnership. My now-retired Preliminary horse What the Heck (“Sam”) had gone Advanced when I got him and taught me the ropes. We had a good partnership and had fun.
 
Three years ago I bought Oh So Extreme, my first OTTB and my first green horse. Because I’ve done most of his training, I feel like we’ve created a deep bond that I never had with Sam. Sam loves attention but he’s also independent and doesn’t need to be fawned over all the time. Oh So seems so relient on me and is so eager to work everytime I get on. He loves learning and would jump off a cliff if I asked him. It’s so cheesy, but he’s like my other half sometimes! We know each other so well. I’ve enjoyed bringing him along and I’m proud that he’s now a solid Training level horse on his way to Preliminary because of the work I’ve put in (with the help of wonderful trainers of course). When I first got him, I thought we’d never be able to ride a dressage test because of how tense he would get, but something clicked within the last year and he’s become much more rideable.

Overall Goals in the sport: I never got to complete a long format CCI* with Sam because of soundess issues, so I think first I’d like to finish on my dressage score at preliminary with Oh So and then we’ll see where it goes from there.
 
Biggest Role Model: My riding role model is Will Coleman. Every photo you see of him, he looks near-perfect! I try to keep that in mind when I ride. Personally, probably my dressage trainer Nicky Vogel (She’s also a USDF R judge). I’ve been with her for over ten years and she’s taught me almost everything I know about stable management and horse care. She’s from England and used to event so she has all sorts of tricks and remedies. She’s also advised me about issues in my personal life and has become a great friend, sounding board and mentor.

Link to blog or website, if applicable: http://lberreth.wordpress.com