A very graceful unintentional dismount by Sarah Ann. Photo by JJ Sillman.
I have never in my life done a dismount with such grace and aplomb as the photo above. I literally have nerve damage in my neck because the majority of my teens and early twenties were spent becoming a human lawn dart off a variety of feral horses. I can count the number of times I’ve fallen on my feet on one hand, but the number of times I’ve fallen head first is an unattractively high number. This is why hospitals roll their eyes when they hear riding accident, and why we truly need to invest in better helmets. Also, I should probably learn to fall off differently.
U.S. Weekend Preview
Bucks County Horse Park H.T. (Revere, Pa.): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring]
Full Gallop Farm June H.T. (Aiken, Sc.): [Website] [Entries] [Volunteer]
Honey Run H.T. (Ann Arbor, Mi.): [Website] [Scoring]
Kent School H.T. (Kent, Ct.): [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]
Seneca Valley Pony Club H.T. (Poolesville, Md.): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Shepherd Ranch H.T. (Santa Ynex, Ca.): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [Volunteer]
Silverwood Farm Spring H.T. (Camp Lake, Wi.): [Website] [Scoring]
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If you can believe it, it’s been since 2018 that EN has held its famous Blogger Contest, in which we cast a net to the corners of the horse internet, looking for the most desperate creative, eventing-rabid souls who wish to join the insanity and become a part of Team EN. This year marks the ninth year of the Blogger Contest, which first began in 2011 and has yielded several EN team members, including former Managing Editor Jenni Autry, current Managing Editor Sally Spickard, Leslie Wylie, Tilly Berendt, Maggie Deatrick, and many others. [Join Team EN]
For a very long time, management of the sport of eventing in Canada has been criticized for being disorganized, incohesive and even secretive. In late January, the Canadian Eventing High Performance Advisory Group was formed. The group’s co-chair, Emily Gilbert, explains that the impetus for forming the new group (after a previous one had failed) was led by rider reps Mike Winter and Shandiss McDonald, who wanted to form a new body that is truly representative of the riders. In collaboration with Eventing Manager Fleur Tipton and James Hood, Director of High Performance, they put a call out for people who the riders felt would be “motivated, keen, and have the energy and expertise to basically restructure and reinvigorate the high performance program.” [Canadian High Performance Advisory Group Formed]
Dressage Tip of the Day: Equestrian biomechanics expert Susanne von Dietze explains how to understand and feel the connection of sitting deeper. [Connecting the Seat in the Canter]
Sitting the trot has long been a stumbling block for aspiring Dressage riders. Some horses are easier to sit than others, of course, but the medium and extended trot often results in bouncing around or pulling on the reins as your horse develops more power. So do the usual tricks work for helping to sit the mediums? Unfortunately, there’s no short cut to a great sitting trot. But understanding the way the horse moves and changing how you think about sitting trot can sometimes make a huge difference to how well you go with the motion. [Sitting a Bouncy Medium Trot]
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