Become an Eventing Nation Blogger
Christmas comes early today and I don’t mean because it feels like winter has returned. Horse Nation’s Leslie Wylie will be joining our good friends at the Horses in the Morning radio show for a guest appearance at 9:30am ET this morning. Tune in to check out Glenn, Jamie, and Leslie. Click here and then click “Listen Live”.
Go HRN.
Horse Nation has gone absolutely video crazy this weekend. Literally, I think Leslie’s browser is stuck on Youtube. My favorite video of the 17 posted in the last 24 hours is a flashback to one of the best eventing horses of all time and hand for hand almost certainly the greatest event horse (pony) of all time.
Bareback 7′ 7″ Puissance, no big deal:
For our lady EN readers:
Our old friend Zack the zebra:
The west coast love continues this weekend on EN courtesy of CAEventMom, who has sent us yet another brilliant report from Twin Rivers. Many, many thanks to CAEventMom for contributing the article, and many thanks as well to Sherry Stewart for sending us the photographs. As always, please send your event reports and ridiculousness to [email protected]. Good luck to all of the competitors around EN today, and thank you for reading!
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Barb Crabo on Eveready, photos courtesy of Sherry Stewart
From CAEventMom:
Temperatures in the mid 70s, sun and a slight breeze greeted the Advanced XC at Twin Rivers on Saturday and quite a few riders made the most of the perfect conditions. Barb Crabo on Eveready put in a double clear round to maintain 1st place. McKenna Shea (who I met for the first time and is just lovely) on Landioso also ran double clear to take sole possession of 2nd. Hawley Bennett-Awad on Gin and Juice added just .4 time penalties and moved into 3rd. James Atkinson on Gustav then James Alliston on Jumbo’s Jake round out the Top 5.
All five were great sports and took the time to talk to me today. For which I thank them greatly!
Barb told me “I really challenged myself to be brave today. He’s very reliable so I took the tight lines and then let him gallop. I tried not to control him so much & he was amazing.”
McKenna Shea and Landioso
McKenna was also quite happy telling me “I wasn’t going for time but I just went along with him and kept him moving between the fences. He was really terrific.” When I asked her about yesterday’s dressage she mentioned that she was trying to apply some of the work she had done with Mark Phillips earlier in the week and felt like they were getting it. She’s hopeful that as she learns to apply it more consistently things will continue to improve.
Hawley with Ginny
I personally thought Hawley’s ride on Ginny was one of the best of they day, and when I mentioned that to her she enthusiastically replied “I think it was the best ride I’ve had on her ever! We’ve been working on srtaightness and she was foot perfect.”
Poor James Aktinson had such a nice ride and yet my first question was “so what helmet where you wearing for dressage?” (see comments from yesterday’s post.) The answer is and IRH – International with velvet on the straps. He also commented on his ride …. “He was great, he felt better and more confident at this level than at Intermediate. I felt like if I made mistakes today he would pick up the slack.”
Finally, James Alliston, after his 3 equally impressive rides in the Advanced division, sat with me to talk about his lovely round on Jumbo’s Jake. “He went lovely. He is always a pleasure to ride and I have to thank India . . . I thought the track was nice here so we used it as a bit of a fitness round, I kept up a quick rhythm to give him a good contest.”
Kim Liddell and Masters Choice
The Intermediate division had quite a bit of shake up and time made a real difference. Kim Liddell and Masters Choice picked up just 2 time penalties and moved into first place. Young Rider Kaitlin Veltkamp and her Flashpoint D added 1.2 time penalties and sit in 2nd while Cindy Marvin and Dee Dee Chase with the only double clear for the division are now in 3rd.
That’s all for now, good luck to everyone the rest of the weekend. Go Eventing!
If you’re not reading Horse Nation on a daily basis then you are missing out on some serious horse related insanity and awesomeness. Case in point is the below article about Rolex fever from eventer Emily Kelly. Leslie and the HN team of contributors are doing a brilliant job and I want to give them a quick shout-out and thanks as HN crosses it’s one month launch anniversary. As always, like Horse Nation on Facebook for exclusive Leslie Wylie ridiculousness and for a healthy dose of HN and EN Karma. Thanks for writing this Emily, and thank you for reading.
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Photos and story from Emily:
We are officially in March, and the countdown has begun! The countdown to what, exactly, you may ask? Well, just about everything. A countdown to summer, a countdown to my first cross-country school of the year, a countdown to Spring Break, but most importantly a countdown to ROLEX!
Every year, springtime hits and the reminiscing begins. Any horseperson, whether eventer, jumper, reiner or dressage queen needs (not wants, this is a necessity!) to make the trip down to Kentucky for the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. It’s every equine-lover’s dream: sleek, fancy thoroughbreds thundering across the miles of cross country course, flying over huge tables and dropping into the head of the lake, the celebrity round of the USPC Prince Philip Cup Games….
My first Rolex began on Wednesday April 26th, 2005. We had gotten a group of people from my barn to go down together, so I left school early, hopped in the car and we were off on our 775 mile drive to Lexington, Kentucky! We crashed in a hotel room overnight as a whole group. I remember waking up in the middle of the night (on the floor, of course, since all of the adults claimed the beds) and climbing over three other people trying to get to the bathroom! But we were all up and at ’em early the next morning, and piled back in the cars to launch the last part of our journey down south!
We arrived late Thursday evening and all went right to sleep-exhausted after the 14-hour drive. Friday morning was a breakfast at the hotel, and the quick drive into the horse park. As we drove into the horse park, the goosebumps started as I saw the huge grass field filled with cars, and thousands of people with their dogs and Dubarrys walking into the park! I’m not sure how much I really understood of the dressage tests at that point, but the shopping was definitely a highlight. We spent hours walking around the trade fair going from shop to shop, trying on all of the clothes and sitting on the multi-thousand dollar saddles that we could never afford.
Saturday started the cross-country and we got a spot to watch at the Head of the Lake (the water complex on course), among a couple hundred other people all oohing and aahing as we saw the size of the jumps for the first time (and man, did they look big to a nine year old!). The whistle was blown, and the hundreds of people became silent. You could feel the ground start to shake, and soon could hear the rhythmic pounding of the horse’s hooves as they galloped around the corner… the horse drops over the brush fence into the water, landing with a loud splash and you hear the rider shouting encouragement as they jump over the ducks in the water. Seeing that first horse come on course was a moment I will never forget, and I love to share all of my Rolex stories with anyone that will listen! Over the years, I’ve made my annual trip to Kentucky with different people, and each year brings back more and more wonderful memories.
The Crazy, the Funny and the Weird: the Highlights of Rolex over the years:
Two of my friends and I left the parents to go follow riders around the cross country course. I was the youngest (nine at the time) and ended up carrying the chairs while the two other girls took pictures. We ran from jump to jump chasing after one rider, trying to catch as many of their jumps as we could. I’m sure we were quite the sight to see, watching three girls sprinting around the course carrying three chairs and a couple of cameras!
Again, we had a group of three girls who went off to watch the cross country alone. We were all sitting alongside a combination waiting for the next horse to come through. Needless to say, I have a small obsession with the lemon-ice that can be bought all over the park, so the three of us were sharing one when they decided to push me under the wire, into the galloping lane! Of course, that happened to be the moment when the next horse started to jump through the combination and I was yanked back out from under the wire again, right before the horse galloped past.
While walking around in the trade fair, me and a few friends ducked into one of the saddle shops and saw a man wearing a kilt. My friend proceeds to yell “Look! It’s a guy wearing a kilt!” so we ended up sprinting out of the shop before they figured out who said it.
Other tips for Rolex First-Timers:
This year I’ve got an equine-newbie coming along for the ride, and with only two months to go, we are planning, packing, and discussing as I try to catch her up on all of the crazy, wonderful moments we have to look forward too together! So to Katy and all of the other newbies (and oldtimers too!), pack up those rainboots, lather on the sunscreen, and prepare for the experience of your life at the 2012 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event!
About Emily: I’m a 16-year-old event rider from Minnesota with high hopes and crazy dreams for my own world of eventing! My OTTB, Harvey and I are currently competing at the Novice level of eventing, with a move up this spring to Training, while continuing to work with Olympian Becky Holder and hopefully making a trip out east to be a short-term working student for a 4* eventer! Just about all of my free time is spent riding, writing for HN, working at the barn and planning, writing and rewriting conditioning schedules (I have a slight obsession with these, as everyone around me knows…).
When Woodburn passed away last summer there was a big question in my mind as to who would emerge as Phillip Dutton’s top Olympic prospect. ESJ broke the news late last year that Jim and Arden Wildsin purchased Mystery Whisper from Australia’s Heath Ryan for Phillip to ride and ESJ was firm in his sentiment that Mystery Whisper was the real deal. I have definitely jumped on the Mystery Whisper train as this spring has progressed. Phillip and Mystery Whisper scored a 37.5 in the advanced dressage at Pine Top this weekend, but I still believe strongly that Mystery Whisper will be Phillip’s best horse on the flat by late April. Since Phillip almost always produces great jumping rounds at major competitions, Phillip’s best horse on the flat will likely be his best horse overall looking towards the Olympics. Without further ado, Phillip and Mystery Whisper:
Jan Byyny with Why Not and Syd Kent show jumping in the advanced:
I am excited to tell you that this is the last ever Eventing Nation post until the next Eventing Nation post. After months of hard work, EN will be switching servers and blogging platforms later this evening. Our current platform served our purposes in 2009 as a tiny rambling blog with one post per day, but after several site crashes, a completely overloaded spam filter, and countless frustrations for the EN Team including inexplicably lost news and notes posts at 1am, we are making the leap to WordPress.
I sincerely believe and hope that the transition will lead to much better performance for us all and we have worked hard to implement a few key changes that have been requested by readers, especially in the latest EN census hosted by Visionaire. Knowing our luck, the transition could very well crash the site for a few hours tonight. There are three key aesthetic differences that you will notice about EN:
Featured Posts: We are adding a featured post section to the top of EN which will highlight some of the most popular and/or most ridiculous posts from the previous few days. We previewed this change in a N&N back in December and we think it will let us feature our top stories and occasionally make Abbie feel better about her posts.
Comments: As I mentioned, our spam filter in our current system has been completely overrun and you may have noticed too many spam comments in the comment section recently. To fix the issue, we are moving to a primarily Facebook based comment system, much like Horse and Hound, whereby you can comment right on EN using your Facebook username. Of course, non-Facebook users or those opposed to using Facebook will still be able to comment, but the process will involve a one-time comment approval by the chinchillas and then you will be able to comment as normal every time without approval. We will be tweaking this system as necessary, so please work with us over the next few days.
Previous Posts: We have added a previous post button to help readers browse posts they may have missed during any recent trips to Siberia. Anyone who has spent time trying to browse our archives will be cheering right now.
Please send any comments or questions related to the transition to [email protected] and we will respond quickly. Please send all hate mail regarding the transition to [email protected].
Here goes nothing and go eventing.
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8:52 PM Update: Well, let’s just say that a few complications came up and rather than trying to force things we have delayed the changeover for a day. The good news is that we didn’t cause a site crash, but the bad news is that the new and shiny version of Eventing Nation will have to stay in the garage one more day. Annie will be along later with the N&N and I’ll wish you a very frustrated goodnight.
The lone USEA event of the weekend and, despite the Hopper tragedy, Saturday at Pine Top was marked with some great triumphs. After making her EN debut covering the Aiken training sessions, eventer and long time friend Kate Samuels is competing at Pine Top this weekend and was kind enough to send us a report from Saturday. Kate is kind enough to share a few thoughts and photos with us from the sessions. Kate is a fellow Charlottesville, VA based eventer and rides the fantastic horse Nyls du Terroir. Thanks for writing this Kate and thank you for reading.
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Michael Pollard and Jos Calfun getting it done in the advanced
From Kate:
The only black point of the day was the loss of The Grasshopper. We were all so sad to hear of Megan’s loss and although there’s nothing we can say to bring him back, Megan knows that we are all thinking of her and Hopper’s entire family.
Photo of Megan and Hopper via Team CEO Eventing
I am very saddened to report that Megan Moore’s horse The Grasshopper aka “Hopper” has passed away on the advanced cross-country at Pine Top Horse Trials this afternoon in Thomson, GA. It is believed that Hopper passed away from an aneurysm. Megan was uninjured.
Based out of Lexington, Kentucky, Megan and her team at Team CEO Eventing are mainstays of the mid west and east coast eventing scene. EN readers should be familiar with Megan from our regular links to Megan’s blog. Hopper was purchased from a truck to slaughter in 2006 and was competing in his very first advanced at Pine Top.
Pine Top has released the following statement: This afternoon at Pine Top Advanced Horse Trials in Thomson, Georgia, Megan Moore’s horse “The Grasshopper”, a 12 year old Thoroughbred gelding, collapsed while jumping fence 17. Megan was not injured. A full necropsy will be performed due to a suspected aneurysm. Pine Top Farm and the officials at the horse trials extend their heartfelt condolences to Megan and her father, Howard, the owners of this horse.
Team CEO’s website describes Hopper’s development after his purchase in 2006: [Hopper] immediately began eventing and, despite the fact that he was mostly grouchy and hateful, he and Megan loved each other. He moved up to Training in June 2006, and we couldn’t have been more thrilled. But then tragedy struck in a freak schooling accident, when he barely rubbed a cross country fence and a huge spike drove into his coronary band. It was heartbreaking, and explained that it would be career-ending. We spent the next 8 months recuperating him, doing every bit of experimental research and struggling to find hope. He returned to competition against all of the odds.
All of us at Eventing Nation extend our thoughts and prayers to Megan, Hopper, their entire family and team, and all of those at Pine Top. Go Hopper.
Let’s check in with Kaylin in the latest edition of our Working Students series. As always, thank you for writing this Kaylin and thank you for reading. Previous entries: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
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From Kaylin:
It’s been awhile since my last blog, so here is a quick re-cap. We went to Universal Islands of Adventure on Super Bowl Sunday (our day off). It was great because there was hardly anyone there. We also went to a great “playground” for eventers – Longwood Farm, for cross country schooling. That place is fantastic!! I really wish we had more time to go there again. I’ve also competed at both Ocala Horse Properties and Rocking Horse II.
Ocala was my first competition of the season and it went very well. We finished in 8th place (out of 30 starters). That earned me my 3rd qualification necessary for the T3D I want to do in May at Southern 8ths. I hoped to earn my last qualification at Rocking Horse, but Harley was feeling a bit like a pony on cross country day and was very naughty at fence 14 (four fences from the end of the course). He stopped and I ended up falling off. I tried really hard to stay on, but my right foot touched the ground. I ended up just unbuckling my air vest and getting all the way off. I was so mad because we were jumping so well too! We would have finished in 2nd place. Oh well. We’ll get there and I didn’t stay mad at Harley for long. He’s too cute and he tries really hard all the time for me.
This week, we are heading back home to North Carolina. I’ve really enjoyed my time here in Ocala, but I am looking forward to being home again. I miss my friends, dad, brother (yes, even him), and my dogs. Hopefully the weather at home isn’t too bad because the weather in Ocala has been great!
My time in Ocala has been wonderful. I’ve been able to get a lot of riding done, tons of lessons in, schooling at a variety of places, and I was able to compete at two new venues. I’ve watched the Canadian and USET training sessions at the O’Connor’s farm and I’ve met a lot of great people. All in all, I can definitely say that this has been a great experience and one that I hope to repeat next winter. In the meantime, I head home to The Fork to continue putting together the spring season. Southern Pines II is next on my schedule followed very quickly by The Fork. I will finish the season at Southern 8ths (hopefully), and then go on vacation with my family to the beach before my brother leaves for college this fall.
I have really enjoyed being a guest blogger for EN. I hope to do it more often because my mom counts my blogging towards my English credit for school. I’ll write another post after Harley and I return home and get settled back in at The Fork. In the meantime, I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying your rides.
Training sessions are in full swing around Eventing Nation with the US high performance training sessions conducted by show jumper Lauren Hough in Aiken, SC and the Canadian training camp running in Ocala. Eventer and long time friend Kate Samuels made a short walk over to the training sessions in Bridle Creek and spent all day spectating. Kate is kind enough to share a few thoughts and photos with us from the sessions. Kate is a fellow Charlottesville, VA based eventer and rides the fantastic horse Nyls du Terroir. Thanks a million for writing this Kate and thank you for reading.
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Phillip Dutton and Mystery Whisper
From Kate:
Lizzie and Coal Creek
Becky and Can’t Fire Me
Jan Byyny and Why Not
James Alliston and Canadian Maestro
Ram Tap HT, located in Fresno, Californa is a staple of the California eventing scene. The event will be hosted 4 times this year (starting with this past weekend) and, for your trivia night at the barn, Ram Tap is scheduled to be the last competition of the year for Area VI. Speaking of trivia–without looking–what is the last competition of the year for Area VIII?
We do the best we can to cover as many events as we can around Eventing Nation and this is only possible with the dedicated help of our EN iTeam. Kari Lyman was kind enough to send us the above photo of Ram Tap with the following description: “James Alliston gettin second in Prelim on the small BUT MIGHTY Canadian Maestro! Ram Tap!! Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!” That pretty much says it all!
James and Maestro finished second in the open prelim behind Derek Di Grazia and Isle of Japan. The preliminary rider division went to Julie Flettner, whu had a dominant dressage and show jumping performance to give her a 5 point win despite 13 time penalties on the XC. Click below for full results.
Max McManamy and Project Runway
Saturday and Sunday featured not only some great events but also west coast high performance training sessions for Shannon Lilley, Max McManamy, and MacKenna Shea. The sessions were hosted by Red Fox Farm in Gilroy, California. EN tipster Liz Hall was kind enough to send us photos from the sessions. Enjoy!
Shannon and Mango
Recharging with a Starbucks
McKenna and Landioso
Thank you very much again Liz for the wonderful photos and, until next time, go west coast eventing!
If nothing else, eventing is a sport of ups and downs. One of the “downs” that has been a frustratingly frequent part of my life with horses has been that bad news from the vet thing. It happens to everyone, and when it happens the best thing we can do is make sure to help our horses on the best road to recovery and hope for the best. EN guest blogger Holly Hudspeth and her fabulous little fireplug of a horse, Last Monarch aka “Stewie,” are well on the road to recovery with good weekends at Full Gallop and Pine Top to start off the season. For much more from Holly, check out her website and blog. Thank you very much for writing this Holly and thank you for reading.
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From Holly:
Last March, as I hung up the phone with Dr. Dean Richardson, I was hopeful, yet cautious. After Stewie’s fall at SPHT II, Dr. Richardson gave him a long and precise rehab program. He also said he was not sure about Stewie returning to the 4 star level. Horses, he said, will tell us what they can do. Being 7 months pregnant that was a lot to handle. I like to be very hands on with the daily care of this horse, and watch every detail closely. Yet this time I would not be able to be a huge part of the daily recovery program.
The recovery period consisted of two months stall rest, two months hand walking, then supervised turnout with little walking under tack. I have to give huge kudos to Maxine Preston who logged about 1000 miles on foot to help bring this little rascal back. She not only had to deal with my anxiety during the whole process, but walked Stewie twice a day, sometimes 40 minutes each time. Eliza Granger and Allie Mestnik also took a few spins. So when I was able to start walking him under tack, at least he had a small base of fitness. I did three events last October and November, dropping him to prelim and taking it easy. I did canter around the intermediate track at VA, but opted not to show jump. In hindsight I should have stayed with three prelims, as that was where he felt the strongest. So I decided all winter was a time where he and I would get ourselves back into the groove we left off in. We stayed home, trotted hills, did gridwork, hacked out, and spent a lot of time together. Maxine went home for a three week holiday, and being that December is very slow for riding and lessons, I was able to spend a lot quality time with Stewie.
That time paid off as Stewie came out this spring feeling as good as I have ever felt him. January 28th we headed to Aiken for two weeks, and I decided to start with a prelim at Full Gallop where he finished 2nd. Then it was off to Pine Top for the intermediate, and I was pleased to be 5th behind Becky Holder and 3 of Phillip’s horses. But more important than the ribbons, Stewie was back to his feisty self on the cross country. His confidence felt 100 percent, and he came out of the competitions looking excellent. All those awful months of worrying seem to be slowly leaving my brain. I know I am not in the clear yet, but so far things are looking good. Next for Stewie is the advanced at Pine Top February 24th. My goal for the weekend is to have a happy and confident horse!
Like anyone else who has a 4 star horse, I would LOVE to get to Rolex this April. But I am taking it one show at a time. After Pine Top I am planning on SPHT II and The Fork. I know by then I will have a solid assessment of how Stewie’s knee is feeling. I am grateful for Dr. Tom Daniels who has been instrumental in this recovery process. And so far the knee has looked, felt, and flexed great. Radiographs have looked solid too.
Although the road has been long to get where we are now, I cannot put into words how good it feels to jump that little spit fire again. I have never ridden a horse with as much heart as Stewie, and probably never will. Will he ever be in the top 10 after dressage at a four star? Most likely not. His dressage is not what makes him so special. Yet knowing this horse would jump off the Golden Gate Bridge if I asked him to feels amazing. Like my friend Nanki tells me, “Stewie looks like you are riding a Kawasaki with the governor off on the cross country”. And to be honest, that is exactly what it feels like.
Peter and Henny in the advanced at Rocking Horse on Saturday
Strap in Eventing Nation, it’s time for the first Henny helmet cam video since Fair Hill. If you, like me, have spent the past 4 months in Siberia, then you should know that Henny aka HJ Hampton is world famous for essentially creating helmet cams as a an entertainment medium for eventers in 2010. Henny’s exuberant Rolex 2010 ride has 50,000 views on Youtube and his WEG 2010 performance has over 150,000. Peter has been featuring a new star on his helmet cam videos lately, the young Firedrake, who is featured in the below video performing his first intermediate this weekend. Henny finished 3rd in the Rocking Horse and Firedrake finished third 6th, taking after his stable mate by moving way up in the jumping phases.
Go Henny.
Happy weekend EN! Samantha had to hit the road from Ocala to race a blizzard back to Kentucky. I want to give a big thanks to Lily, Harry, and Samantha for a great Friday of reporting for EN. Ali is at Paradise HT in Aiken and we’ll be hearing from her later this evening. If you are out and about this weekend and want to join the EN iTeam, please fire your event report, crazy photos, or Peter Atkins dirt bike helmet cam videos to [email protected]. Now for a smorgasbord of notes from around EN…
–Four USEA events are active today around Eventing Nation. The Area X eventing season starts this weekend at Las Cruces HT in New Mexico. The third Area VI competition of 2012 is active in California with beginner novice through preliminary division at Ram Tap. Paradise is Aiken’s event for this weekend and Rocking Horse is hosting its second event of 2012.
The obligatory links to live scores:
[Ram Tap Horse Trials Live Scores]
—Team Slezak has made a big rebound from last weekend’s tragedy with a win at the Rocking Horse advanced A for Karl and Ulando H. Karen was 2nd with Veronica, and Peter and Henny were 3rd. The European imports dominated the advanced B division with Marilyn winning on Demeter and Karen was second with Mr. Medicott. The scoreboard shows that Maggie Deatrick and Diviine Comedy finished 50 seconds under the time in the advanced, which is possible but still very fast at Rocking Horse. As the season develops I hear more and more good things about both Veronica and Mr. Medicott and at this point it looks like Karen has just the arsenal she needs to make a big run this year.
–The US High Performance program has shifted its focus to California this weekend with training sessions for Shannon Lilley, Max McManamy and MacKenna Shea Saturday and Sunday morning at Red Fox Farm in Gilroy, California. Show jumper Lauren Hough will be coaching up the Aiken riders Monday and Tuesday at Bridle Creek. Also, due to a scheduling change up, Sandy Phillips will be coaching Will Faudree and company at Will’s training facility, Gavilan Farm in North Carolina this coming Monday and Tuesday. Spectators are welcome and I strongly urge our Southern Pines readers to take advantage of the opportunity. Spectating is open to the public and the address is 242 Tilley St, Hoffman, NC.
–As a quick road to the Olympics note, I have heard from the Ligon’s that they will not be making the trip over to either Ireland’s CCI3* at Ballindenisk or Italy’s CCI3* at Montelibretti this week. Recall that both of these events were started to boost the FEI eventing points rankings for Irish and Italian riders in their competition to get Olympic births. I think Nina is safely in, but fingers crossed that 9 people from these competitions don’t pass her in the points. [Background, FEI Olympic Rider Rankings]
–3dazey on the COTH forum has given a shout-out for volunteers at Pine Top next weekend that we will extend here on EN. Friday 2/24 is particularly packed with all advanced and intermediate dressage and XC. Contact Janet ([email protected]) if you’re interested in a fun week of volunteering at a great event.
That’s all for now Eventing Nation. Good luck to all of the competitors around Eventing Nation. Stay safe, have fun, and go eventing.
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Update: I have heard from Maggie that she definitely did not finish 50 seconds under the optimum. She wrote: “I was right on every minute marker and checked my watch at the finish. It read 5:52. I have no idea how they clocked me at 5:05. However, I didn’t realize the error in the timing until well after the scores were posted and then didn’t bother having it corrected as it wouldn’t have changed anything. I would appreciate if you would publish a statement from me to that effect, as I consider myself fast but not insane.” Good to hear Maggie, although ultimately we are all at least a little insane.
As the story goes, a UK court awarded British rider Polly Jackson 72,000 GBP (~$113,760) after she sued the owners of her horse Bournston Highland Charm for breaking their commitment to let her ride the horse at the Olympics this year and instead trying to sell the horse. Annie linked to the amazing rider/owner court battle Telegraph article this morning, but the story is so remarkable that I think it deserves a second mention. In a situation that has similarities to the infamous HJ Hampton case, rider Polly Jackson argued that she owned part of the horse because an agreement that the investment she made is caring for and developing the horse would lead to ownership. The agreement was reportedly verbal and the resulting court case started in 2009 according to The Telegraph. The court has awarded “full and sole ownership” of three horses including Highland Charm “Henry,” who was bought for 89,700 GBP in 2006. The legal ownership battle stopped Henry from competing from 2009 through 2011, thus ruining Jackson’s chances of competing in the Olympics and leading to the settlement. The owners, Paul and Christine Kilmister said that they settled because of Paul’s declining health.
There are clearly two sides to this argument and the Telegraph article does not discuss the merits of Polly Jackson’s claim regarding the verbal ownership agreement. My first reaction to this story is that the court had to balance the monetary value of competing at the Olympics with the odds of Polly and Henry competing at the Olympics in 2009. Both of those calculations seem completely impossible. Most of all, this is yet another reminder of the importance of backing up verbal agreements with written contracts and reminds me of the great efforts being made to do just that with syndications by the USEF’s Event Owners Task Force. Riders and owners should never be afraid to ask to back up a verbal agreement with a contract and there is no excuse not to. Let me make a special note that this is very much a story from the UK and of course laws and legal implications very drastically from country to country. Go eventing.
Here at Eventing Nation we spend our free time playing with chinchillas, jumping our horses over exact 1/5 scale replicas of the 1988 Badminton course, and toasting the days of the long format three-day. It’s all very official and dignified as I am sure you can imagine. Sometimes I wonder what Leslie and the rest of the Horse Nation Team do all day instead of, you know, respectable journalism. Today offers some insight as a hunt cap experiences the business end of a flight of stairs. Take it away Leslie…
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From Leslie:
Riders4Helmets has explained that Charles Owen ceased manufacturing hunt caps in January 2012 and has announced that it will no longer sell unapproved helmets in North America by 2013.
Say Roy Owen, “We started being very involved in helmet safety and standards as early as 1953, and as the public becomes more aware of helmet safety and what we provide, our business has certainly moved away from the hunt cap, and towards creating triple standard helmets to give people more protection in the event of any accident around a horse.”
In another recent development, Dover Saddlery has reclassified hunt caps from “helmets” to “hats,” placing them alongside top hats on their webpage with a strong safety warning.
Here at Horse Nation, we need every brain cell we can get, so we salute the proactive decisions on the part of both Charles Owen and Dover Saddlery. This was the best way we could think of to show our support.
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For more absurd but surprisingly useful time wasting, check out Horse Nation on a daily basis, and for EN Karma be sure to like HN on Facebook.
I’d like to wish a big EN ‘get well soon’ to our good friend Buck Davidson, who fell off a horse and broke his collar bone this morning in Ocala, FL. I spoke with Buck and he told me that the collar bone is completely shattered. The horse reared up, hit Buck in the face with its head and Buck tumbled to the ground.
Buck will have surgery this coming Monday in Nashville, Tennessee at Dr. Craig Farrell’s clinic. Dr. Farrell serves the US Eventing Team’s riders, and does a great job of finding the balance between what injured riders need to do to heal and what they need to do to keep their season on track. Dr. Farrell is out of town on vacation this week but Buck said he is well worth the wait. I asked Buck how much time he would have to take off and he said “they say 6-8 weeks, but you know…”
As I was speaking with Buck, his father Bruce was riding one of his horses and his girlfriend Andrea Leatherman was riding another. Buck told me that between Bruce, Andrea, his team of students, and Sharon White (who is staying at Buck’s farm) he will have more than enough support to keep his horses going. Buck mentioned that he is particularly frustrated because his horses have been going so well this year. He said “Reggie has been coming back great from his [tie back] surgery, The Apprentice has been fantastic at the training sessions, and Libby [Absolute Liberty] is going great right now as well.”
Hopefully, Buck will have just enough time to get back in action before The Fork (Apr 5-8) and, knowing Buck, I don’t see this having a big impact on his Olympic pursuit. Buck said that his collar bone hurts like heck right now, but Buck is one of the toughest eventers I know. Whether it is getting trampled in a fall at Morven and riding the rest of his horses on one leg or finishing two minutes of the Pan American Games course with one stirrup, he never ceases to get the job done when he needs to.
Video from Morven last year from Buzzterbrown:
In an unrelated purely editorial comment, maybe the time off will give Buck the time to make a much overdue proposal to Andrea, that everyone in the eventing world is rooting for. Go Buck.
A look at last year’s Ballindenisk course with Mike Ryan
Pippa Cuckson has published a great article about the start of the British high performance season at the CCI3* at Ballindenisk in Ireland next week. Ballindenisk was scheduled to give Ireland a better chance to have their riders place higher in the Olympic point standings, which determines the number of spots each nation gets in the Olympics–the deadline for such points is the end of February. Britain has already qualified an Olympic team by being the host nation (they would have qualified anyway at WEG 2010), so the Team GBR is using Ballindenisk to get the necessary CCI3* qualification for some of their horses who were injured last year and do not have an Olympic qualification. Tina Cook with Miners Frolic and Pippa Funnell with Redesigned headline the list. As crazy as it sounds, Pippa Funnell explains that going to Ballindenisk in no means rules out Badminton. As for scheduling, Pippa writes: “Eventing team manager Yogi Breisner wants to name his preferred five at the end of May. Fifteen horse and rider combinations must be chosen by June 17, and the final five named on July 6.” In other news, William has 5 million horses that are Olympic hopefuls.
Read more of Pippa’s article: [Telegraph, Ballindenisk Entries]
Thank you for your continued support of Eventing Nation. Go eventing.
I couldn’t bring myself to publish this on Valentine’s day, but here’s a great tribute video published by Buzzterbrown yesterday. The video is dedicated to Woodburn, Phillip’s tremendous horse who passed away last August. Buzzterbrown says it best:
I thought this monster athlete was the equine Mr. T when I first saw him at Rolex in 2009. Tossing his head and rolling his eyes as he approached a jump, as if he considered its size an insult to his abilities. “I pity the fool who thinks that’s gonna stop me”.
He became my instant favorite and I was always very excited to get him on camera.
Go Woodburn.
Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife, it’s Valentine’s Day at the USET training sessions in Ocala, Florida. Our official Florida training session round two correspondents, Julie and Nora, have sent in their report from today including video. As an aside, get ready Aiken, the sessions return next week with Lauren Hough Feb 20-21. The USEF High Performance Eventing Facebook page reports that “Katie Prudent’s schedule was too tight for a March session, so in order to provide some consistency, we have enlisted Lauren who will do a February and March dates in Aiken.” Have a great rest of your Valentine’s Day. I’ll be your valentine if you like Horse Nation on Facebook (and even if you don’t), and go eventing.
From Julie & Nora:
From Meg:
The weather to some was cold Saturday, but to me it was perfect. Sun is shining. Wind is breezy. And temperatures did not reach past 70. My farmers tan will have to wait for another day. If I’m not wearing short sleeves, you know it’s not warm.
I think it is funny the weather channel freaks out when temperatures reach below freezing down here.
Ocala news reporting temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s:
