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Grocery Bagging’s Wednesday Reader form Horse Quencher

By John on Feb 16, 2011 12:59 am -

Earlier this week, a Vermont woman named Krystal Smith became the national champion of grocery bagging. Krystal beat 21 competitors by filling three grocery bags in 38 seconds. Best of all the event had a $10,000 prize–that’s right, a grocery bagging contest has more prize money than 98% of the events on the planet. [Video] Nothing against grocery baggers–they provide a valuable service to everyone on earth who is too lazy to place their own produce into plastic bags themselves–but we seriously need to find a way to get more prize money in eventing. Now for your eventing news and notes:

—France has released a revised 2011 training list. In November they listed over 40 riders divided by junior and senior status. This week the French Federation has refined that list to 30 pairs by naming specific horses and dividing the riders between 9 pairs who are top selection material and 21 pairs who show potential to be selected in the future. The list contains familiar names such as Stanislas de Zuchowicz and Quirinal de la Bastide, Gwendolen Fer, Pascal Leroy, Jean TeulÃ¨re, and Nicolas Touzaint. [French training list]

–Galway Downs has sent out a press release talking about the stability created when the property was purchased last October by Ken Smith. Galway’s organizer, Robert Kellerhouse, explains in the press release that he can now focus on developing the venue for events rather than worrying about development plans by the previous owners: “It was tough to make plans when the owners wanted to put houses on portions of the cross-country course or where we park the trailers.” The Smith’s are the third property owner in the 13 year history of Galway and despite all of the transitions the event just keeps getting better and better. [Press Release]

–Show jumper Eric Lamaze of Canada has gotten his first ever non-horsey sponsor–Rolex. And that’s for someone who has already won Olympic gold. I mentioned prize money in the intro to this post, and getting more ‘non-horsey’ companies with huge marketing budgets involved in eventing is a big step in the right direction. [The Globe and Mail via JER]

–Jimmy Wofford’s top 5 cross-country book recommendations on 3D3W surprisingly don’t include one of Jimmy’s books. As we have been saying, look for a new book from Jimmy to hit the shelves around Rolex time, and until then we look forward to more of his recommendations. [3D3W]

—Volunteers are needed for Pine Top Feb. 25-27. A call is going out through the interweb asking for volunteers for Friday and Sunday in particular. If you are available, I highly suggest at least volunteering Friday because the entire Pine Top advanced is running all three phases on Friday and you will get to see most of the top 30 horses in the US run in that division. Plus, volunteering give you major EN Karma. If you are available, I’m told to have you email Janet at [email protected]. [via LD]

–Congratulations to Kim H. for winning our Ecogold contest on EN. Kim wins $330 in Ecogold pads and graciously wrote to us a bit about herself and her horse:

“Wow! I am thrilled, and my horse Elsie will be, too! She is very fussy about saddle pads! Thank you so much for having this contest- I looked at Ecogold pads at the Plantation event this fall, and I was very impressed. I couldn’t afford to get one at the time! I am an old eventer, now competing at unrecognized levels on a home-bred mare. I hope to step up our dressage this year so I ordered dressage pads. Thanks again for your great site- I visit several times a day, sometimes even at work (I am a veterinarian).“

—Now we know where that one IT Chinchilla who disappeared last month went [TOTD] Note: this link will only make sense until noon ET.

—Body clipping 101 [SmartPak blog]

—Courtney Cooper’s brief Pine Top recap [C Square Farm]. As a quick note on Courtney, she was part of a recent sale of one of my horses and I was nothing but impressed. Courtney has a huge sales business and now I know why. Courtney was also one of the first US riders to start wearing helmets in the dressage at FEI competitions.

—“SmartPaks ship free, customers rejoice” [USEA]

—Best of the Blogs: Everyone walked away fine from the Ocala Horse Trials

–If you like Eventing Nation, please move your mouse 3 inches to the right and 5 inches down and click ‘like’ in the sidebar Facebook like box–it makes the remaining IT Chinchillas happy.

Remember, no matter how bad your day is at work, it can’t be this bad…can it?

USEF Training List Schedules for Wednesday and Thursday

By John on Feb 15, 2011 7:52 pm -

Tuesday was all about schedules. We released the 2012 Olympic equestrian schedule this morning and now we have the Wednesday and Thursday Ocala training session schedules. Most of the riders are the same from the first Ocala sessions in early February, although Mark Phillips will get a first look at Developing B list rider Clark Montgomery on Wednesday. Clark is normally based out of Carl Bouckaert’s Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia, but he is spending a few weeks down in Ocala for the better weather.

As another note, Katie Prudent will be at the Three Runs Plantation training sessions on March 29th and 30th. There were questions as late as a few weeks ago about whether Katie would be doing any work with the eventers this year, and it’s good news that she will be part of the program at least a little bit in 2011. [via USEF HP Fanpage and Alighieri, training session calendar]

Wednesday Feb. 16 at Meredyth South in Ocala, FL
8:00am Hannah Burnett
8:45 Karen O’Connor
9:30 Clark Montgomery
10:15 Karen O’Connor
11:00 Clark Montgomery
11:45 Elinor MacPhail
12:30pm Jessica Pye

Thursday Feb 17
8:00am Jessica Pye
8:45 Karen O’Connor
9:30 Clark Montgomery
10:15 Karen O’Connor
11:00 Clark Montgomery
11:45 Lunch
12:15pm Sinead Halpin
12:45 Elinor MacPhail
1:30 Andrea Leatherman
2:15 Hannah Burnett

Go eventing.

Would sports agent help or harm the equestrian community?

By John on Feb 15, 2011 5:00 pm -

The last time EN’s legal correspondent, law student Kate Shearer, wrote for Eventing Nation, her post was met with a healthy amount of criticism by the comment army of EN. Kate wrote a piece about malpractice that came across as too friendly to lawyers, and that was my mistake for not seeing how the post would be received. The negative reaction was a welcome response to present the other side of the issue, which the article should have done in the first place. Since I think it is important for equine legal issues to be discussed, I asked Kate to write a ‘let’s discuss’ post raising the question of sports agents in eventing. Thanks for writing this Kate and thank you for reading.
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From Kate:

Sports Agent: n. A person who procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for a player

While the majority of us might not like sports agents because of all the movies and news stories that we have watched where they are money hungry bullies, maybe a sports agent or an equivalent of one could help some riders overcome important hurdles like contracts, sponsorship, or just plain making a living. By no means am I trying to say that riders can’t do it successfully themselves, but perhaps there might be a niche out there for an “equine” sports agent.

The idea of sponsorship for riders is what provides the economic support to continue to compete at the upper most levels. Maybe a sports agent could help them get that extra inch, or maybe they would just slow the process down. I do not have any experience at the level or sponsorship, but my question is, could it hurt? The Henny and Sam situations have taught us the dangers of not having contracts properly sorted out in advance. Why not talk to someone, and see if they might have some ideas to better enhance your career. If nothing else, you are out an hour of your time.

And before anyone jumps on me saying that lawyers are greedy and just out to screw people over, while true for some, this is not the case in sports agencies–the majority of sports agents are NOT lawyers. There is a different regulation for each state, ranging from just a $20 fee in Arizona plus a little paperwork to a $200 fee in Alabama. I’m sure most people remember the time that “Master P” decided to become an agent, and still to this day is most notorious for signing Ricky Williams to the worst contract in NFL history.

I just thought that it would be a good idea to bring to the forefront of our discussions the idea of sports agency in the equestrian community. Maybe instead of floundering around unsure of how to approach a sponsor, there could be someone out there willing to do it for you. It could be worth looking into. What is your opinion EN?

Working Student Diaries, Part 11

By John on Feb 15, 2011 1:11 pm -

This is part 11 of Jenny’s adventure as a working student and EN guest blogger. Jenny has ambitiously decided to spend the next year as a working student in Lexington, Kentucky. Recently, Jenny’s horse has been injured and she has been riding other horses for her coach Megan. Thanks for writing this Jenny and thank you for reading.
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From the photo shoot

Link:

Olympic Eventing Timetable Released

By John on Feb 15, 2011 9:45 am -

The schedules for the equestrian events at the London Olympics has been made public. Eventing will be the first of the equestrian events and is held from Saturday, July 28th to Tuesday July 31st at Greenwich Park, assuming Greenwich isn’t designated an Indian burial ground and banned from all horse activity before then. Dressage and show jumping follow eventing and overlap each other. The full schedule is at the Horse and Hound and tickets can be purchased at the Olympic website starting soon.

Individual & Team Eventing for London 2012 Olympics:

Saturday 28 July 10.00-16.15 — dressage, day 1
Sunday 29 July 10.00-16.15 — dressage, day 2
Monday 30 July 12.30-17.30 — cross-country
Tuesday 31 July 10.30-16.00 — Jumping and medal ceremonies

Go eventing.

Cambodia’s Tuesday Morning Reader from Pennfield

By John on Feb 15, 2011 12:45 am -

The Cambodian show jumping’s championship wrapped up over the weekend when Meong Sochea and his pony Benjimen won a four-rider jump-off in the ‘Grand Prix’ division. The event was held at the Cambodian Country Club horse park and FEI President and HRH Princess Haya was on hand for the competition, as was Prince Norodom Sirivudh, brother of Cambodia’s legendary King Sihanouk. My favorite sentence from the Cambodian newspaper article is: “Tep Mona was the lone female contestant in the pack, but after some good initial jumps she was eliminated as her mount Unique was in less than competitive mood.” No worries Tep, we have all had those days. The runner up sentence is: “Much was expected from last year’s runner-up John You, but the Australian astride Radical had to retire with a saddle slip.” The only thing better than local US newspapers writing about horses is local Cambodian newspapers writing about horses. [The Phnom Penh Post via JER]

We have had some long news and notes posts lately, so let’s enjoy a few short notes today:

–Mercifully, the voting has closed on our Ecogold contest…540 email notifications later. Gmail sent me an email congratulating me for being the most popular email account on Valentine’s Day–so I have that going for me…which is nice. Just so everyone knows there is a method to our madness, we will use a random number generator (from 1 to 540) to pick which of the entries wins. We’ll contact the winner and then announce it on EN, probably tomorrow.

–The top US and Canadian horses will get their first chance to compete at the advanced level this coming weekend at Rocking Horse in Ocala, FL. St. Barths, Madison Park, Ballynoecastle RM, Special Blend, Slate River, and Lightning Bound are just a few of the names that stand out from the Rocking Horse advanced entry list. The Pine Top spring advanced in two weekends will host most of the other big-name east coast horses.

–For our USEA member readers, entries for Rocking Horse Winter III, Twin Rivers, Texas Rose, and Sporting Days all close today. The Rocking Horse Spring HT, Feather Creek, FENCE, Morven Park, and the Galway CIC3* all open today so get your entries in.

—Dressage horses are the stress bunnies of the equestrian world, according to highly paid and well trained scientists with nothing better to do with their time. It’s like a police officer pulling you over for expired license plates–you desperately want to say something like ‘must be a slow day at the office, eh sir?‘ The study, led by Martine Hauberger from the University of Rennes in France, studied horses at the Ecole Nationale d’Equitation at Saumur.

The horses were all kept under similar conditions and researchers attempted to control for all other variables than work type. Dressage horses showed “the highest excitation components”, and vaulting horses were most quiet. The study claimed:

“dressage horses, trained to obey to precise orders – that is, to suppress any kind of emotional expression – presented stereotypic behaviours more frequently and ‘stronger’ forms of stereotypies than did horses from other disciplines.”

I’m not sure that dressage horses are asked to suppress any kind of emptional expression, but the results are interesting and, for what it’s worth, I would probably be pretty stressed out if I had to be a dressage horse. That kind of in-depth analysis is why they pay us the big bucks. [Horsetalk]

–‘Photo Shoots 101’ with Lauren Sprieser includes advice such as wear pastels, no fundies, and smile. Fortunately for me, I never have to worry about people asking to take my photo. [COTH]

–Sad stories keep coming from Newbury, where an underground shock is suspected to have electrocuted two horses over the weekend [BBC Sport]

–Jack and Jill say what happens in the pasture stays in the pasture [Jack and Jill’s blog]

–You can win a free year’s supple of Omega Alpha Sinew-X by sharing your success stories [Barnmice]

–Pennfield has four new dealers to introduce: Luznar Feed Mills in New Symrna Beach, FL, Dan’s Discount in Umatilla, FL, Suwannee Hardware in White Springs, FL, and Higby’s Country Feed in Dixon, CA. See the Pennfield dealer directory for the dealer closest to you.

–Let’s say ‘goodbye’ to Valentine’s Day as only talking dogs on Youtube can:

That’s all for now. We have lot’s of fun lined up today on Eventing Nation including hopefully another Samantha article and of course all your eventing news and ridiculous commentary. See you soon.

Point Two ‘blows up’ the Horse Radio Network

By John on Feb 14, 2011 6:08 pm -

I’m not sure how we missed this last week, but our good friends Glenn and Jamie from the Horse Radio Network were ‘blown up’ by the Lee and Craig from Point Two at the recent AETA (American Equestrian Trade Associations) trade show. If you haven’t had a demo of the airjackets before, find Craig, Sharn, or Lee at a Point Two booth this year and check out the airjackets–I’m sure if you tell them you read Eventing Nation they will let you try getting ‘blown up.’ The airjackets obviously inflate quickly and, as Jamie says, they are intentionally very tight to provide maximum support.

Clyde wants a few afternoon notes

By John on Feb 14, 2011 2:31 pm -

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Happy Valentine’s day from Clyde [via SD]

Me posting an article after JER is the literary equivalent of Kobe passing the basketball to Ron Artest, but the show must go on here at EN I suppose. Mondays are always busy, if not always significant, around the eventing news scene because everyone in the media gets back to work and starts publishing stuff from the weekend. So, here are a few story lines we are keeping our eyes on at the EN corporate headquarters this afternoon:

—The 2013 European Eventing Championships have been awarded to Malmo, Sweden.

–Something I forgot to mention this morning is that the Grand Prix show jumper turned eventer, Udonna, placed 3rd in the prelim rider division at Ocala. Marilyn Little-Meredith and Udonna were 14th after the dressage with a 39 but unsurprisingly finished on that score to move into 3rd. Annie had a fantastic post last week about Marilyn and Udonna, which is one of the coolest stories in all of eventing this year.

–Our good friend Monty White has posted a video interview with Logan Rawlings, who is a Caliornia eventer now based in England and writing a blog for Sidelines. I don’t know Logan personally, but she writes well and I’ll enjoy following her blog. [Talking Horse blog]

—Eric Smiley says Team Belgium punches above their weight [Horse and Hound]

–We mentioned this as an update to the morning post, but the COTH has republished online their Feb 7th magazine article about Boyd winning COTH Eventing Horseman of the Year. [COTH]

—Poplar Place Ponies [3D3W]

–I get an email every time a comment is posted on Eventing Nation. So, you can imagine what my inbox looks like with just over 360 entries to our Ecogold contest as of the time I am writing this. We are getting entries at an average rate of 1 per minute and as many as 10 per minute in bursts. My blackberry froze this morning, our Facebook widgets have crashed, and we have gotten an angry email from our web host. But, the contest is great and there’s nothing more fun for us at EN than giving away cool free stuff. As a quick note, Ecogold ships worldwide so our international readers are more than welcome to enter.

—British Eventing needs fence judges [BE smart]

—VIDEO: Oliver Townend’s Eventers Challenge [H&C via COTH forums]

—BE’s JAS report from South View [BE]

—Best of the Blogs: A day of love and blood

Somehow, nothing quite says ‘happy Valentine’s Day’ like a psychotic Frenchman riding 8 horses at once:

That’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with more if our servers don’t crash. Stay tuned EN and go eventing.

JER — Danny Meets a Mule

By John on Feb 14, 2011 11:45 am -

From JER:

I wasn’t looking for a horse, not for myself anyway. I’d seen a listing online for ‘Danny’, a 2008-model TB at a local rescue, and clicked on the link thinking he might be suitable for a friend who was searching for her next eventer. The video showed a woolly youngster perambulating about in a round pen on horrendous footing. I couldn’t tell much about his actual movement but I was struck by his unusually good balance and surefootedness. He’d also raced as a two year-old and retired sound. I sent his link to my friend who quickly pronounced him ‘unspectacular.’ She wasn’t interested.

But I was. I have no idea why. I don’t buy horses, I breed them. The easy answer was that recent life events had rendered me vulnerable to the siren call of a furry creature in need of a home. Just days before, my beloved, ancient, unbelievably demanding dog had died in his sleep, and now that I was no longer being ordered about (mercilessly and 24/7, I should add) by a tyrant the size of a squirrel, I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands. I also missed my dog terribly. While I knew I didn’t have the strength to cope with another Chihuahua mix, a three year-old OTTB sounded comparatively fun and relaxing.

In the late-afternoon twilight on Christmas Eve, I made my first visit to the rescue’s barn. That’s got to be the height of loneliness and dejection, seeking kinship at an animal rescue when everyone else is celebrating the biggest holiday of the year, but for me it was an occasion of cautious optimism marking the end of a very sad week. Cheer up! You’re going to look at a horse! A friend and I drove there in an appropriately Biblical downpour which only became worse when we got out of the car. Danny greeted us at the gate; he’d apparently appointed himself maitre d’ because he greeted everyone who came on the property the same way and then hovered around to see what was going on. We’d planned to turn the horse out, trot him on pavement, check out his canter, do everything you do when you’re responsibly sizing up your future eventer. We did none of those things. We led him around in the wind and rain and looked over him as best we could. His legs were immaculate, he had good bone, his feet were a little small, he never put a foot wrong. He had the tail of a weanling.

I didn’t decide to take him right then. My mind was firmly set against it by the time I got back in the car. I didn’t need another horse and besides, I prefer super-hot, lightning-fast, small mares. What did I want with a laid-back gelding who was already well over 16hh and liked to lope along at the back of the pack? Nonetheless, when the rescue director called to ask if I liked the horse, I just couldn’t say no. I returned to the barn two more times, mostly out of courtesy, planning to see Danny trot an unspectacular series of steps so I could give the director a smart-sounding reason for passing on him. But on both visits, the weather was even worse than before and I was resigned to standing in the run-in shed, watching Danny eat hay.

At some point, as I was huddled under that roof shivering in the cold and wet, I realized I liked this horse. I enjoyed spending time with him. He was kind and curious. He’d stayed sound on the track as a two year-old. His groom and trainer from the track adored him. The rescue adored him. He knew where to put his feet. What more did I need to know for $500?

He arrived at my farm yesterday. He’d systematically and methodically inspected the ramp before strolling into the trailer and he walked out just as calmly. All good signs, because nothing in Danny’s young life could have prepared him for what was about to happen next.

Danny was moments away from meeting his first mule.

Let me put this in perspective: No matter how many times Danny had gazed into the trackside crystal ball, no matter how many times he’d thrown the alfalfa-cube I Ching or shared the secrets of his soul with a horse psychic, you can bet the future he envisioned for himself never included a mule. But the universe works in strange ways and so we went down to the pasture to bring Casper up to the barn to watch over the newcomer.

In addition to his other talents like posing for photos and engineering Ninja-like escapes, Casper is an excellent babysitter. We put the young ones with him and he takes it upon himself to make sure they don’t do anything too stupid or embarrassing. Does he like doing this? You saw the photo. But he’s a good sport about it and we appreciate his efforts. For the rest of the afternoon, Casper grazed quietly around Danny’s paddock and even touched noses with him a couple of times. Touching the mule is a privilege, not a right, so Danny must have shown the requisite signs of respect for a hybrid equine of vastly superior intelligence.

At night, I head down to the barn armed with a bag of black licorice. I love real black licorice, the strong European kind as opposed to its sugary American false equivalent. My horses all acquire a fondness for it (they like Salt Herrings most of all) but not everyone loves it right away. Sometimes it takes a while to get beyond the snorting, sniffing, spitting-it-out, you’re-trying-to-poison-me phase. With this in mind, I offer Danny a piece. He inhales once and eats it without hesitation. Then he tries to take the bag out of my hand. He wants more. Now.

“Danny,” I say. “You’re my kind of horse.”

Link: Previous entries by JER

Monday News and Notes from Ecogold (with Prizes)

By John on Feb 13, 2011 11:35 pm -

Valentine’s Day school boxes for one EN reader’s two lucky kids [via RB]

Happy Valentine’s Day Eventing Nation! This may come as little surprise to anyone who knows me, but I don’t have a valentine this year. Hopefully you will enjoy frolicking through meadows of golden flowers with your valentine today, but no worries, I’m not bitter or anything. At all. What better way to celebrate this day of love than winning $300 in beautiful Ecogold pads, which you have a chance to do at the bottom of this post. But first your news and notes:

–The overnight leaders fared well at Pine Top. Boyd Martin with Remington, Peter Barry with Kilrodan Abbott, and Kerry Torrey all held onto their leads through the XC on Sunday. Other notable intermediate finished included Kim Severson and Tipperary Liadhnan 3rd, Holly Hudspeth’s Last Monarch 6th with Boyd, and Cambalda 8th. Jan Byyny continued her return to eventing in top form with an 11th place finish in the open prelim. [Pine Top Results]

–In Ocala, there were massive withdraws from the intermediate as many of the top horses including Mandiba, Port Authority, and Loughan Glen elected to make the weekend a combined test. I can’t speak for all of the riders, but from what I have heard, many of the intermediate riders were planning to do a combined test well before the weekend started and horses like Mandiba and Port Authoriy will probably bump up to advanced at the next competition. Most of the other riders took their time around the Florida Horse Park course, and Ellen Doughty with Sir Oberon, Caroline Martin and Classic Touch, Susannah Lansdale and Buck Naked, Leslie Law with Rehy Lux, and Kate Brown with Mojito all won intermediate divisions. There were a staggering 27 divisions at Ocala, compared to just 12 at Pine Top. [Ocala Results]

–Speaking of Leslie Law, the US coaching search continues to grind on with phone interviews of the applicants behind the closed doors and hermetically sealed windows at the USEF. As I have been saying, there are at least three or four applicants in addition to the ones who are public, and I expect we will hear about a short list within a few months, maybe as soon as a few weeks.

–In a strange and sad story, several horses mysteriously and suddenly died in the pre-race parade at the UK Newbury Races. Initial reports suggest the horses might have been electrocuted, but no one seems to know exactly what happened and officials are waiting for a necropsy. Apparently the two horses just started behaving strangely and kicking out and then they passed away. [SKY News via EM]

—Morning Update: Boyd’s COTH HOTY award from the Feb 7th issue is online today

—Emily Beshear and Coren had a good day at Pine Top [Emily’s blog]

—Jack and Jill snuck out after curfew [Jack and Jill’s blog]

—An Indiana man was caught for a horse shooting after two years [Horsetalk]

—Today’s TOTD items are bridles half off–only available until noon [TOTD]

—Speaking of contests, don’t forget to enter our Point Two contest [Contest Page]

Ok, I hear you ‘stop blabbing and tell us how we can win free Ecogold stuff John!‘

Here’s how the Ecogold contest it works. First, watch the video below of M&M’s getting murdered. Then, answer the following question in the comment section of this post: What color are the M&M’s in ECOGOLD’s test (#4) in the video? After 24 hours, The EN Chinchilla’s will randomly select one lucky winner. As always, be sure to include your email address in the comment submission form because this is what we will use to contact the winner.

The Prize: 1 Ecogold half pad + 1 Ecogold saddle pad of your choice = $330 value

Fair enough? What are you doing still reading this, get watching:

Tuesday 12:45am Update: The entries have officially closed, good luck to all the entrants, a winner will be announced soon!

That’s all for now. I want to give a major thanks to Ecogold for giving away fantastic prizes to our readers on Eventing Nation. I’ll be around throughout the day bringing you all of your eventing news, commentary, and ridiculousness. JER is also writing something for us, so there’s at least one post to look forward to today. Wherever you may be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your Valentine’s Day. Go eventing.

Tiana Coudray: Recap of the California Training Sessions

By John on Feb 13, 2011 12:06 pm -

The USEF training sessions wrapped up in California on Saturday. Tiana has once again generously written for Eventing Nation about the sessions. In 2010, Tiana Coudray won the Jersey Fresh 3* and placed 6th at the Boekelo 3* with Ringwood Magister. This year, Tiana is a High Performance B-List rider and we will hopefully see her at Rolex. Visit Tiana’s website to learn more about her program. Thanks for writing this Tiana and thank you for reading.
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From Tiana:

I guess I was a little optimistic about my first lesson with Ringwood Magister “Finian” setting us on the right track and taking care of all our problems. When I came out Friday looking to show Mark all our improvement, I was immediately brought back down to reality. Things were just not getting good enough fast enough for my satisfaction. When we tried to go counter canter, Finn began changing leads every two strides, and after that didn’t get us anywhere, he started doing one times changes. All I wanted was to hold a single lead, and I was ready to cry as the little wind-up toy wouldn’t stop! Eventually Mark got on him to try to understand why we were short circuiting and things started to improve. We finished up alright but I was not going to get over the frustration for a while.

Fortunately for me, Master Hill “McCool” came out and had a perfect jumping lesson. He has not always been the strongest show jumper, but we’ve been working hard at it, and Friday he was jumping out of his skin. I couldn’t be happier with him. Max had a dressage lesson on Beacon Hill “Taylor” and made the mistake of asking if he was too low in the poll. After that, Mark kept asking her “is this too low”, “is that too low” as every horse went around for the next two days. By now, she’s learned that, when it comes to Mark, he likes them stretching and really through. After that she came out on her super cute pinto Project Runway “Devon” for a jumping lesson. At one point, the film crew from the Jeep commercial all stopped working and stood around watching him. I think they were trying to figure a way to work into the script a scene that involved Devon. I didn’t get to watch anyone else’s lessons, but from what I heard, every one was happy and Friday went smoothly.

Saturday was a little crazy as we only had half hour lessons so I got to watch even fewer lessons than Friday. Allie started off with a dressage lesson and then jumped a bit during Max’s jumping lesson. Both said their lessons went well. I had a jumping lesson on Finian that went really well and lets me go home feeling a little less like such a looser. He was really well behaved and jumping well, and Mark gave me a good exercise to take home a keep working to make him looser though his hind end over the jumps.

Amy jumped Coal Creek but I didn’t see that at all. After being so perfect yesterday, I decided to do dressage with McCool today, and it was a really fun lesson. He went super well, and he kept getting bigger and more expressive the more we worked. It is very exciting to see how he is developing and improving. After that Amy had a dressage lesson on Leyland and then Marris finished things up with a jumping lesson. I want to give a big thanks to El Campeon for hosting us once again and juggling the chaos of the Jeep commercial and our training session along with the daily goings on of their barn. We are always lucky to be there. Thank you too to Sara and Mark for all they do. I for one am very appreciative of the chance to make myself and my horses better.

Horse Quencher’s Sunday Morning Links

By John on Feb 13, 2011 12:39 am -

Valerie Vizcarrondo, and Groom Lara Chance scope out the Pine Top Intermediate course

Good morning Eventing Nation! If you are not eventing today, hopefully you are enjoying those Sunday Cheerios and cartoons. If you are eventing today and your name is either Ellen Doughty, Victoria Frey, Karen O’Connor and Mandiba, Hannah Burnett, or Leslie Law, then the pressure is on because you are leading an intermediate division in Ocala going into the XC. Our very own Samantha Clark has a great report from Saturday at Ocala posted on her blog (see below). [FHP Live Scores]

Several hundred miles north, Julie Wolfert, Kerry Torrey, Boyd Martin with Remington, and Peter Barry with Kilrodan Abbott lead the four Pine Top intermediate divisions going into the XC. Tipperary Liadhnan, Cambalda, Fernhill Eagle, Gryffindor, Vaunted, and UN are all also competing in the Pine Top open intermediate divisions. For many horses, today is the first XC run of the year so the idea will be to just get in a solid round. [Pine Top Live Scores]

One other note from Saturday is that the USEA’s blog was apparently hacked [Screenshot via SM] The website was rerouting people to other sites and strange messages appeared on the blog. The good folks at the USEA appear to have sorted it out, and, as someone who deals with technological challenges on EN all the time, I sympathize with them for having their Saturday ruined by some idiot hacker. As always, I am left wondering ‘why can’t people just find something better to do with their Saturday than sitting in their basement eating Cheetos and hacking websites?‘

Now for your Sunday morning Lynx:

*Samantha’s Ocala HT Saturday report

Morning Update: UK competition entries decline as fuel prices rise

Horse Sport Ireland thinks the plight of Irish horses has been overstated

The Eventing Radio Show talks New Zealand

If eventing doesn’t work out, you could always start a beauty clinic in Ireland

Jack and Jill were on Horses in the Morning

Happy Birthday to longtime EN reader and friend of a friend Cindy Wood

Eventing A Gogo got a new horse

If you are bored today, try this, or not:

That’s all for now, I’ll be around throughout the day including a report from Tiana at the California training sessions. Until then, check out the Horse Quencher website for info on how to get free stuff.

Holly Hudspeth: The Expecting Life

By John on Feb 11, 2011 5:25 pm -

EN’s good friend Holly Hudspeth has generously agreed to keep us posted on her journey through taking a break from advanced riding to have a baby. Holly’s advanced horse, Last Monarch aka “Stewie,” had a breakout year in 2010 with a 17th place finish at Rolex and superb performances throughout the year. Boyd is taking the ride on Stewie this spring as Holly prepares to give birth to Hailey Charles Hudspeth in June. Be sure to check out Holly’s new website and fun blog. Thanks for writing this Holly and thank you for reading.
—-

From Holly:

24 weeks and counting. I thought that taking a break from competing and training would be a snap. You know, teach for a while, cheer your horse on, have a little less stress, etc. It has been a bit tougher than I thought! Being such a dedicated and self driven competitor, sitting on the sidelines has been a challenge. To begin with, I have had to change the way I teach and train. What I mean by that is, since I no longer can jump in the saddle to fix a problem or demonstrate an example, I need to be much more creative in getting the message across. It has been great for me as an instructor to come up with new ways in order to achieve the result I am looking for. I have had to work a bit harder to come up with new exercises and training techniques for my students, without the option to simply jump on and show them. And in return, it has been good for my students to know they must find the answers themselves. As each day goes on I am becoming more relaxed in this new method of training.

On a positive side, it has been a pleasure to watch my two upper level horses go. Watching Stewie and Cold Harbor “Bo” train has enabled me to step back and really see what is solid in their training, and what is lacking. When you are forced to stand on the ground and pay attention like I have been lately, you become more aware in the details of the training process, and not so focused on when you are riding or competing next. I watched Boyd jump both horses today in Aiken, and it was neat to see where they both are at in their training. I was also lucky enough to watch Jennie, Ryan, Caitlin, Boyd, and Phillip jump multiple horses. I brought my friend Pooh and working student Maxine over as well. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to learn from watching others who are so good. All the riders and horses were superb, and each rider tried harder than the next. I think it is that subconscious internal driving force that pushes people to really strive for greatness.

While I will miss the thrill of competing this weekend at Pine Top, I am, in a weird way, excited to watch my two horses go. Hopefully I will learn more about each one, but from a different angle! One thing is for sure, I am so glad competition season has started. My only hope is that it makes this pregnancy move along a little quicker! Good luck to everyone this spring season, and don’t forget to take time to watch, learn, and absorb everything you can. As I have learned recently, thinking outside the box when training horses is a good thing!

The other side of the Prue Barrett story

By John on Feb 11, 2011 1:53 pm -

On Sunday, almost three months to the day after Wayne Roycroft resigned, we learned that Prue Barrett had been named Australian eventing’s new performance director. Eventing Nation’s ESJ interviewed Prue and wrote a very positive review on Tuesday, and I think that she sounds like a good fit for Australia. But, as is always the case, this view is not shared by all of the members of the Australian program.

I spoke with a former Australian team rider this week, and they explained to me that a group of riders had sent Equestrian Australia a list of thoughts about the coaching application process that included such recommendations as widely publicizing the coaching search, taking a suitable time to make the decision, hiring a cross-country specialist, hiring someone who would be able to attend all of the major international competitions, hiring a veteran rider, and not necessarily hiring someone based in Australia. This was of course just a list of suggestions, but the person I spoke with did not feel that the hiring process reflected that Eventing Australia payed a great deal of attention to the recommendations.

Only time will tell if Prue is a good hire, and obviously any candidate would be met with skepticism by the riders after Australia’s tremendous performance under Wayne’s 20 year leadership. But, these first few months will be critical for Prue to show the abroad Australian riders that she will be an international leader for Australian High Performance. Go eventing.

Update: I should clarify that by “former Australian team rider” I mean a non-US based Australian who has ridden for Australia before and likely will again.

Eric Smiley Named Belgian Coach

By John on Feb 11, 2011 10:45 am -

As a quick news item, according to Eventing Ireland and an EN tipster, Eric Smiley of Ireland has been named the Belgian eventing coach. A source told me that there were 9 applicants for the Belgian job, including Andrew Nicholson, who withdrew when he learned that the Belgian coach wouldn’t be allowed to ride at the Olympics. Congratulations to Eric and Eventing Ireland on the hire.

Eric Smiley spent 10 years in the Irish Cavalry and then took up a professional riding career. In 1982, Eric was named the Irish event rider of the year, and since then has represented Ireland at two European Championships, three WEGs, and 4 Olympics–including Atlanta. Eric is also an FEI judge and is regularly a member of Ground Juries. [Eventing Ireland, Eric’s website]

Tiana Coudray: Day 1 at the California Training Sessions

By John on Feb 11, 2011 10:15 am -

Fresh off her 7 minute domination of the USOC plank test on Wednesday, Tiana Coudray rode in the Training Sessions with Mark Phillips on Thursday and has written about it for Eventing Nation. In 2010, Tiana won the Jersey Fresh 3* and placed 6th at the Boekelo 3* with Ringwood Magister. This year, Tiana is a High Performance B-List rider and we will hopefully see her at Rolex. Visit Tiana’s website to learn more about her program. Thanks for writing this Tiana and thank you for reading.
—-

From Tiana:

Today the first west coast training session started for the High Performance and Developing List riders. We’re at the amazing El Campeon Farm in Hidden Hills, California and we are truly lucky to be at such an amazing facility. While lessons with Mark would draw people most anywhere, we’ve also got amazing footing, lots of hacking, and beautiful scenery to sweeten the deal. Oh yeah, and it’s 75 degrees and sunny. This is why I live in California! Ringwood Magister aka “Finian” and I started the day off with the first lesson at 8:00. Although Mark arrived at 2:30 AM without any luggage, he walked into the indoor on time and with a smile, coveting an extra strong Venti something or other from Starbucks. I had one of Mark’s famously simple lessons on the 20 meter circle, but this time I actually came asking for it! I haven’t done much dressage work since Finn’s winter vacation, and I felt we needed to start from the beginning and get him properly connected and relaxed. It’s not like we had an option though, as with Mark, you’re never allowed to go on if the basics aren’t in place. As is usually the case, by the end of my 45 minutes, my horse was forward, relaxed, and stretching into the contact when those very things have been eluding me for the last month. Somehow with mark standing there, saying “push him through”, and “yield him” like a mantra, telling me to do all the things I’ve been trying to do at home, it just works better. It never fails to amaze me just how good he can get my tense, high stepping, hollow backed horse to go, with such simplicity.

After me, Amy rode Leyland and I missed the whole lesson but I heard it was good. Then I was back on Master Hill, “McCool”. He’s a brother to Finian and shares many of his traits although slightly greener. It was the first time I’ve had a lesson with him, and I’m happy with how it went. He was quicker to settle than Finian, and so we moved on to half passes and flying changes, both of which seemed to be up to Mark’s standards. Allie Slusher rode next and again I missed her ride since I was putting McCool away. I heard she and her mare Fergie were perfect and I am sorry to have missed it. Maris Burns rode next and had a lot of improvement with her horse Max. She had a similar lesson to Finian’s, working on getting the horse’s neck to fall down and push into the contact. On a side note, Max is super cute and won me over with his workmanlike attitude. Amy rode Coal Creek next and I only saw the very end but he looked great working on shoulder-in and half pass. He’s another one that seems to go along like a good soldier. It’s obvious the relationship Amy has with him, as you never see a question or an argument and they just does the movements seamlessly. Maxance McManamy rode Beacon Hill “Taylor” next and had a wonderful lesson. I know she was nervous about riding with Mark for the first time, but she got on the same page with him quickly, and did really well. She too found the value of yielding on a circle and getting the horse “pushed through”, and Taylor was looking really good by the end.

Today they’re filming a Jeep commercial at El Campeon so we’re told we will have to be moving around staying out of the way of the camera’s. For the life of me I don’t know why they don’t want us in the back of their shots! It could be interesting though, as they’re already telling us we’ll have to park off in a field with the catering trucks, and we will be directed all day by cones telling us where we can and can’t go.

More news tomorrow,

~Tiana

Horse and Hound is excited for Thursday afternoon notes

By John on Feb 10, 2011 3:49 pm -

Here are a few quick afternoon notes on a busy day around Eventing Nation:

1) Sven Homberg has resigned his FEI positions of Bureau Member and Chair of the Jumping Committee. Mr. Holmberg was one of two opponents to Princess Haya in last November’s FEI elections. Princess Haya won in a landslide, and Sven has continued to be critical of Princess Haya since the elections. John Madden, a renowned figure in US show jumping, takes over Sven’s position as Acting Chair of the Jumping Committee. We wish Mr. Holberg the best moving forward and I hope that we start hearing about more changes from the FEI than critics of Princess Haya resigning. [FEI Press Release, Eurodressage, COTH]

2) The Horse and Hound made my day by writing about Eventing Nation in their Prue Barrett story. They linked to John Lechner’s (ESJ) fantastic post about Prue from Tuesday. To my knowledge, this is the first link to EN from our friends at Horse and Hound, who arguably operate the number one sport horse media outlet in the world. Here’s what they said:

“American eventing website Eventing Nation ran an interview with Prue on Tuesday, where she stated her commitment to keeping the Australian eventing programme based in the Southern Hemisphere, a different strategy to that recently announced by the New Zealanders, who will be based in Britain in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.” [Horse and Hound]

3) The past few days have been all about reining. Yesterday we found out that reining would be held at Rolex and today the USEF announced that the American Junior Reining Championship will become part of the North American Young Riders championship. Two weeks ago endurance was added to the NAYRC. Will we see vaulting, combined driving, and para-equestrian added soon? Hopefully, although adding all of these disciplines is really narrowing the number of venues that will be able to host Young Riders. I have advocated for a while to make the Kentucky Horse Park the permanent home of Young Riders and that appears to be almost necessary now. [USEF]

4) Eventing dogs are staying warm this winter [3D3W]

5) The local Aiken newspaper wrote about Boyd at the training sessions. [Aiken Standard]

6) Canadian Pan Am hopeful and EN guest writer Chelan Kozak has written a post for her blog about the west coast training sessions with David. Here is a quick excerpt with Chelan’s video below:

“Dressage on Tuesday was hard work (loved it). I had the 8 AM time slot, and got the day off to a ‘typical DOC day’ as my 45 minute session slipped into an hour and a half lesson. he got on Cal then I got back on. I have been struggling with keeping his connection exactly where it needs to stay when I change direction. Forward and back I am okay, but changing direction is challenging. I told David that I can ROCK the 20 m circle in one direction… Apparently that is not quite enough. We did endless exercises to get him more flexible in his hips, particularly haunches in. I have tried that plenty myself, but David was concentrating more on getting the bend behind than in front. At first, even if he had not enough flexion up front, it was not a concern. He wanted me to get him flexing behind. Then he got on and Cal was like, ‘who IS this guy… there is no way out’ Cal is a genuine horse who tries his best at all times, so eventually he got what DOC was asking, and it made an enormous change.” [Chelan’s blog]

6) Lastly, PRO has announced a scholarship for training level junior members of PRO. Junior members will be scored by PRO riders at various competitions during the year. The top two point earning riders from the eastern half of the country will each earn a scholarship award with Marcia Kulak and Jan Byyny respectively. The two top point earning riders from the western half of the country will earn a scholarship week with Hawley Bennett-Awad and Amy Tryon respectively. [USEA]

Go eventing.

Update: FLAIR Caption Contest with Jimmy Wofford

By John on Feb 10, 2011 2:41 pm -

[Your favorite caption here]

Thursday Update: The EN Chinchillas have read through all 60 of the caption cubmissions that we received, and they have narrowed it down to 11 finalists. Remember that the winning caption, as chosen by mob rule, will receive two of FLAIR’s fantastic nasal strips that help horses to breath easier when exercising. If your caption did not make the finals, blame the Chinchillas. Good luck!

—-

From Feb 3rd: Our last photo caption contest featured Boyd, and we are bringing the contest back by popular demand. This time, US coaching candidate and general superstar of eventing, Jimmy Wofford provides the inspiration. By now, we all know how these contests work. This time, FLAIR has generously donated two nasal strips for the winning caption. Today’s photo is courtesy of Allie Conrad.

Winning is simple: leave your caption as a comment on this post. The EN Chinchillas will select their 10 favorite captions and then we’ll add a poll to the post with the 10 finalists so Eventing Nation can pick the winner by ~~democracy~~ mob rule. Be sure to include your email in the comment submission form, not in the caption itself. The EN writers are welcome to write captions, but they are not eligible to win, sadly.

I considered putting the photo on Hahahorses.com, but it’s probably only truly entertaining to eventers who know about Jimmy. The photo shows Jimmy, the governor of Kentucky, Mr. Steve Beshear, and his grandson.

Team Canada is going to Badminton

By John on Feb 10, 2011 11:23 am -

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that the Canadian Team will be giving grants to several riders to compete at Badminton this year. The selectors have mad their picks, and I just spoke with Canadian Chef Graeme Thom who told me the selections are:

Steph Rhodes-Bosch and Port Authority
Hawley Bennett and Gin N’ Juice
Selena O’Hanlon and Colombo

These riders will receive funding for the trip to Badminton. There might be one or two more Canadian riders who end up going to Badminton as well, and I expect a couple of US riders will also go to Badminton, although it is still unclear if the USEF will provide any funding for their trip. Steph, Hawley, and Selena were Canada’s three highest placed team riders at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and led Canada to a team silver medal. It’s now a question of keeping the horses fit, and, most importantly, sound throughout the first few events here in the States. Go eventing.

Wenlock’s Thursday News and Notes from Pennfield

By John on Feb 10, 2011 12:37 am -

If you don’t already know, let me introduce you to the gender-neutral abomination of a mascot for the London Olympics named Wenlock. Wenlock was introduced to much public shame and embarrassment in May of 2010, and since then the London organizers seem to have employed the time-tested marketing strategy ‘if at first people hate something, make it creepier and dress it up as a national icon.’ An EN reader recently sent us this picture of Wenlock’s newest costume, and all I can say is that I hope that thing isn’t planning on going anywhere near horses. There have been some terrible Olympic mascots over the years, but Wenlock and his (its?) twin Mandeville just keep looking worse and worse as the Olympic Games draw nearer. Now for your news and notes:

—Mid-morning update: Reining added to Young Riders, Horse and Hound writes about Prue Barrett, Ben Hobday’s entry is ready to go for Badminton.

–In the Full Gallop one-day scores that took a while to get posted on Wednesday, Sarah Cousins won gold, silver, and bronze in the intermediate division. Doug Payne and Running Order, who I would look at as top contenders to go to the Pan Ams, were 4th. Two of the intermediate riders, including Ashley Adams and her Rolex horse Vaunted elected to make Full Gallop a combined test. WIll Faudree and Kim Severson took the top two places in the prelim A division and Matt Flynn won the prelim B with Cheval Z. [Full Gallop Results]

—Tiana Coudray scored an impressive 7 minutes on the plank exercise at the USOC fitness evaluations in California. This sets the plank record for US High Performance riders. I believe Doug and Jennie retain their mutual squat title at 360, and Boyd holds the sprint title. The exercises will be repeated at a later date (around Rolex) to test the fitness development of the riders. Mark will be joining the riders today for the start of the California training sessions.

–A CRI5* and the first-ever Reining World Championship Freestyle will be held at Rolex this spring. The main reining events will take place Friday and Saturday nights. Personally, I think the idea is a great chance to provide some cross-discipline fun, although I wonder how many eventing fans will want to stay at the Kentucky Horse Park each night after watching Rolex all day. As a sport, reining has been much better about marketing and promoting itself so hopefully eventing can learn a thing or two during Rolex. Samantha Clark attended the press conference and has complete and awesome coverage with videos on her blog, so we will just link to that for all the details: [Samantha’s blog]

—Survey: There are 81,000 horses in Maryland [TheHorse.com]

–In the second of the High Performance Blogs, Hannah Burnett reports on life in Ocala. Hannah will be busy writing this spring; she is as EN guest blogger and she will also be doing an alternating piece in the Eventing USA magazine with Boyd. [HP Eventers Blog]

–The US Equestrian Team has added Jenny Sutton, Chester Weber and Jack Wetzel to their list of Trustees. Chester Weber, of Campbell’s Soup fame, is a combined driver who won silver at the WEGs and is an all around good guy. I don’t know much about the other two names, but the USET press release has more info. [Press Release]

–Fifteen-year-old Beth O’Driscoll dominated the latest BE winter jump training series [British Eventing]

–Dressage: Rider and Groom Wanted at Prestigious Hof Kasselmann [EuroDressage]

—Jack and Jill get new show names [Adventures of Jack and Jill]

–The first USEA Gold Cup event is a month away at Red Hills [USEA]

–Ecogold’s textile engineer shares his knowledge in a post on the Ecogold blog. Speaking of Ecogold, we have an exciting Ecogold contest scheduled for next Monday. We will be giving away some crazy cool Ecogold stuff. More on that soon.

–Today’s TOTD item are Tredstep half chaps 50% off–only available until noon. [TOTD]

–Fences #19-20 on Monty White’s fictional London cross-country course [Talking Horse blog]

–A 16 year old Australian eventer might become the next Miss Universe. [Tweed Daily News]

–Horse Agility–It’s like dog agility, but with the added excitement of potentially getting trampled:

That’s all for now. We have lot’s of fun lined up today on Eventing Nation, including the next step in the FLAIR Jimmy Wofford photo contest if the EN Chinchillas can take a break from dust baths long enough to get us a list of 10 finalists. Until then, check out the Pennfield Facebook page, Jennifer Wooten-Dafoe just posted on it. See you soon.

VIDEO: Local Media Covers Training Sessions

By John on Feb 9, 2011 2:08 pm -

Channel 12, the local CBS affiliate from Augusta, GA sent a camera crew out to the Aiken training sessions at Three Runs Plantation this week. The video shows Mark Phillips, Running Order, Tipperary Liadhnan, Lainey Ashker, and, as the graphic says, ‘Elite A Squad Rider’ Kim Severson. Here is the scintillating video where you can watch reporters tackle the age-old question of how to describe eventing in 30 seconds or less:

Link: Channel 12 video and article

—-—-

The Aiken training sessions finish up on Wednesday and Mark will head to California for the west coast sessions starting on Thursday. Go eventing.

Full Gallop’s Wednesday Links

By John on Feb 9, 2011 1:02 am -

It’s late and I have an early morning, and frankly not a lot is going on in the eventing world as of when I am writing this. So, I will abbreviate our traditional news and notes post with something that more closely resembles our weekend morning links posts.

–The one big note for US eventing is that there is eventing today in Aiken. Full Gallop Farm is hosting its second one-day horse trials of the year. The entry list doesn’t contain a ton of big-name horses because most of the top horses in the Aiken area are waiting to get going at Pine Top. Nonetheless, it should be fun to follow along with the live scores if you are stuck at work today. Last Wednesday the live scores were slow to be updated, so we will post the link with that caveat. [Full Gallop Live Scores, Homepage]

—Morning Update: William Micklem’s report from the International Eventing Forum

—A CIC1* is coming to Fox River Valley Pony Club Horse Trials

—Boyd misses his cats

—Jack and Jill need show names

—Photography tips from an amateur photographer and professional rider

—Bacteria is evenly distributed across horses’ bodies

—VIDEO: A look at BLM roundups

—What to do if your trailer is hit on the interstate

—Be sure to enter EN’s Point Two contest

Helmet cam video of Hamish from Hamish & Dave fame riding at Wallaby Hill Farm:

[via GR]

That’s all for now. We have a busy day scheduled for Eventing Nation and I will be around throughout the day bringing you the latest eventing news, commentary, and ridiculousness. See you soon…

Pan American Selection Procedures

By John on Feb 8, 2011 5:50 pm -

The Pan American Games will take place this year in Guadalajara, Mexico from October 21st to 23rd. As we all know, the Pan Ams have gone back to being CCI2*. The main idea of downgrading them from a CCI3* was to give more countries in Central and South America the chance to field teams. But, you say ‘tell me something I don’t know.’ The USEF recently sent out an email to long listed riders explaining the selection procedures with some important details about the application process.

The email explained that we have not yet been notified of formal entry requirements or deadlines, which matches with several instances I have heard about regarding a general disorganization by the Pan Am organizers this year. The USEF’s application requirements include some pretty straightforward things like US citizenship, USEF membership, qualifying results at a CCI2* and CIC2*, and athletes need to fill out an application. A Mandatory Outing will be named for sometime after June, and the maximum number of US horses that will compete at the event is 5.

The one key of the USEF’s selection procedure is that athlete/horse combination who have competed at a CCI4* will not be permitted to apply for the Pan American Games. This effectively means that no pair hoping to go to the 2012 Olympics will be sent to the Pan American games because anyone with hopes for London probably needs to do a 4* by this spring or autumn. We already knew that it would be unlikely that Olympic horses would be worrying about the Pan Ams, and this entry requirement wisely prevents anyone from even thinking about that possibility.

My guess is that the USEF will send top High Performance riders on their developing horses, such as Boyd on his new horse from France, as well as maybe a few developing pairs that they think have a good shot at 2014. We’ll of course keep Eventing Nation updated throughout the selection trials and process.

Go eventing.

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The other side of the Prue Barrett story

Eric Smiley Named Belgian Coach

Tiana Coudray: Day 1 at the California Training Sessions

Horse and Hound is excited for Thursday afternoon notes

Update: FLAIR Caption Contest with Jimmy Wofford

Team Canada is going to Badminton

Wenlock’s Thursday News and Notes from Pennfield

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