I was hoping to be able to post this much earlier today as Peter and both his horses, HJ Hampton of Run Henny Run fame, and his younger, but Peter believes equally talented, stablemate Firedrake were somewhere high over the Atlantic Ocean, finally on their way to England after a frustrating series of delays and accidents. Peter and his team were due to take off this morning.  However, I could hardly believe it when I received a text from him at lunchtime telling me that his plane had been delayed in yet another setback. Truth be told I should have been posting this weeks ago, but I am happy to say that after all of the delays I have just received word now, at nearly 10pm Thursday night, that Henny, Drake and their long-time and faithful groom Amanda are at JFK  loading onto the plane.  Amanda and the horses will fly to England via Amsterdam, and Bettina Hoy is going to train Henny until Peter is well enough from his broken leg to ride again.  Peter will meet them in England on Saturday, but will return to the US to teach a few clinics he’s already committed to. If the picture above is anything to go on, it won’t be long now until Peter’s riding again–he told me he’s been using the horse laser on his broken leg and swallowing bottlefuls of calciums supplements and doing everything within in his power to heal ASAP.  Wishing Peter, the horses and Amanda safe travels and looking forward to lots of updates from England.  Go Eventing!

William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk

After the British combinations had all safely passed the First Horse Inspection at the 2012 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, GB Team Trainer Yogi Breisner kindly stopped for a few minutes to chat to Eventing Nation. We discussed his fondness for the Lexington event, and the British history here. We also talked about the horses and riders he has running this year, and how their performance may have a bearing on Olympic selection for London later this summer.

As always, many thanks to Yogi for his time, and we’re always happy to welcome him to the Bluegrass! Thank you for reading, and Go Eventing!

James Alliston on Parker

This was what caught my eye – Killian O’Connor giving owner Tracy a lift up the hill on the way back from passing the first Vet Inspection, so I was thrilled when Tracy later admired my friend Jill’s border terriers and I had an excuse to talk to her, and rider Jolie Wentworth who also rides Tracy’s other horse Good Knight.

Many thanks to Tracy and Jolie for their time, and wishing them the best of luck this weekend – Go Eventing!

Diana Burnett and Shigatzi win my personal prize for Best Dressed at Trot up today, but my house guests and I had some heated debate on the issue, including what exactly is appropriate attire for a vets inspection, and they suggested I put the question to the Eventing Nation: please let us know who you liked best today, and if you’re so inclined, who you didn’t.

Barb Crabo and Eveready

Emily Beshear and Here’s to You

Holly Payne

Karen O’Connor

Laine Ashker

Click below for much more…

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It would be interesting if William Fox-Pitt’s head groom Jackie had strapped a pedometer on at the beginning of the week to see how many London Marathons she would have completed by now, as I never cease to bump into her doing seemingly endless laps of the Park. As she pointed out when she stopped once, very briefly for a rare moment, at home Parklane Hawk would go on the walker so she’s trying to make sure he stays as much to his routine as posssible, and gets as much walking in as he’s used to, and I’d hazard a guess she’s making a pretty good job of it.  Since I’ve mentioned the Virgin London Marathon which took place on Sunday, please spare a thought for Claire Lomas, who is still walking the course in her robotic suit, her “wrong trousers”, and if you haven’t done so already, or want to again, it’s definitely not too late to donate to Spinal Research to help her cause.

Kadi Eykamp and Double Rivers Dillon.

The Dressage Arenas were busy this morning with riders wanting to get a work in before the briefing at 10am. At one magical moment I took stock and realised I was practically surrounded by OTTBs, it was pretty special watching Santa’s Playboy, Titanium, Double Rivers Dillon,  Calico Joe, (below), Parker and  Anthony Patch all working on the flat, and then Becky Holder walked past with her two greys just to put the icing on the cake – wowza!

Pepper Anne was the exception, a german bred, very girly and petite she was showing off some serious moves, flashing across the diagonal in an extended trot to die for!

It definitely seems like the riders stepped up the workload a bit today, there was a bit more pressure being put on the horses in the warm-up arenas.  I bumped into Holly Hudspeth again, and again too late, she’d just finished her dressage lesson with David O’Connor, her first in a year due to concentrating on jumping whenever she gets the chance to squeeze in a lesson, usually with Phillip Dutton, but she told me they were both really happy with Last Monarch/Stewie, and hopefully she’ll have another lesson tomorrow, and then David will help her before she goes in the ring,  to “keep a lid on everything”.

Becky and her groom hacked her horses, and ever the consummate professional hand-walked them both along the jog lane before Becky gave Comet a brief work on the flat.

Rutherglen, Andrew Hoy’s nine year old, had a pretty intense jump school. He jumped some big fences,  a double of verticals and an oxer a fair number of times, and looked very nice over all of them. I kept thinking he’d finished, and then he’d put them up again, they did end up quite a bit higher than in these photos.

James Alliston works Parker on the flat, while out of shot, Yogi watches!  I spoke to James before he got on about coming back to Kentucky as a seasoned competitor, “It feels good. Last year I learnt a lot about what it takes, and this year based on that I think I hopefully have Jake a bit fitter, and Parker hopefully the dressage is much improved because I’ve been practicing hard so hopefully we’ll do a better test. They know the lay of the land a little bit now so I’d like to try and improve a bit on last year’s results.”  With both of them finishing in the top 20 here  last year, and having swept the boards in the three West Coast CIC*** he’s entered on the West Coast since then, it’s a much different scenario for James as he comes to Rolex this year. Instead of the unknown rookie, there’s been British Team buzz about him back home in England and I asked him if that extra pressure made him nervous, “It’s really flattering! I got a text from my best mate in England who doesn’t really know much about horses and apparently my name was in The Telegraph, so that was kind of cool! I think it’s nice, but realistically I still think I’m an outsider, there are people who have done much more than I have in front of me. I’ll just try and do the best I can. ”  Some things stay the same though – just as last year, James’ Mum, Dad and brother Mike have flown in to not only groom for him but hopefully to act as lucky mascots, “My dad was at Galway a few weeks ago where I won. There’s something about having them here that helps me out, they keep me relaxcd, I’m very happy they’re here.”

I also managed to talk to James’ brother  Mike, groom in every sense of the word, and James’ owner Chuck Moore, (apologies again to Chuck for having a brain fart on his last name!) Chuck and Peggy own Gracelands Equestrian Center where James is based in California, and Chuck is bracing himself in case he has to return to England this summer and drink more warm beer!

Many thanks to everyone who talks to me, and lets me take pictures, and many thanks to you for visiting Eventing Nation, these are exciting times! Spare a thought for the grooms right now at the stables making the horses look fabulous for the trot-up while the riders are out getting a first look at Derek and Mick’s four star course – there’s a ton more to come on Eventing Nation. Go Rolex Kentucky and Go Eventing!

Who is Nat V-C so happy to see?  Answers in the comments section please!

Tentative times have now been posted on the Rolex website, but to make your life easier, you can also click on them here – you’re welcome!

I had the pleasure of finally meeting Holly Hudspeth in person today, after loving her blogs on EN for so long, although annoyingly I’d just missed her ride.  Last Monarch, though, according to Holly, is being surprisingly calm and taking everything in his stride and handling it all like a champ, long may that continue!

In the middle of the day I went  with Buck Davidson, Clark and Jess Montgomery and Michael Pollard, on a visit organised by PRO and the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event to the Kentucky Children’s Hospital, one of the largest beneficiaries of all the charities of the Rolex event.

The riders chatted to several children, showed them the Pan Am gold medal, signed some posters and gave them Rolex pins.  The Kentucky Children’s Hospital is the highest level of pediatric care in Central and Eastern Kentucky, taking care of critically ill and injured patients.  Nick, above, is six years old and has never ridden; he has a dog though, and asked the riders to sign his poster  while Gage, meanwhile, below, 8 years old, had been riding recently, and told us he was much faster than his mother, and preferred his poster unmarked!

I’m not sure who got more out of it, the kids or the riders – it certainly put things in perspective for me, and talking to Buck later at the Horse Park he told me he’d found it very moving.  The kids might have looked a bit dubious at the time, but hopefully if they watch the event online, or on tv on sunday which their parents said they would, and recognise one of the riders from today, maybe that will brighten their spirits. The riders, and Jess, were fabulous. Granted, it’s the kids and their parents and the nurses who are the real heroes, troopers, grafters, and yes we just swooped in for an hour, but  to give them their due Jess, Clark, Buck and Michael were terrific. When we first waited in the hospital Buck looked slightly queasy and said hospitals always made him uncomfortable, especially this close to a big four star, but he rallied well and by the time we saw the kids he was asking them questions, joking with them, teasing the other riders, and they followed his lead.

Back at the Horse Park, life goes on. Belmont and Kate Hicks take a dressage lesson with Silva Martin.

Always stylish, Silva told me she only brought hand luggage and she was forced to choose between an extra pair of shoes for herself or Boyd’s tails, so she of course packed…shoes. Someone else is bringing Boyd’s tails!

Speaking of stylish, Jess Montgomery was doing a splendid job modelling her new Fashion label!

Look out, Barbour!

However, the beauty prize for today goes to Sea Lion. I caught up with him and his groom Don earlier this morning, and promised you my brief chat with him, and I’m glad to see that he’s even more beautiful on video. I can’t wait to see him go tomorrow.

You’ll be relieved to know that I did see Don and Sea Lion make it safely back to the barn a little while later – many thanks again to both of them for stopping to chat.

Jolie Wentworth’s Good Knight posing!

Kate Brown and Mojito at The Fork: I was pleased to be able to apprehend Kate while she was grazing Mojito, or Mango as he’s known, and get to know them a little better.

and here are the marks on his bum

To give you an idea of how big he is, that’s an 81′ rug he’s wearing that’s barely covering that bum! Kate said he’s often described as the most Irish non-Irish Sport Horse! I thought Argentinian horses were supposed to be nippy little polo pony types! Wishing them best of luck regardless, and many thanks for stopping to chat.  Another busy day tomorrow, with the cross country  course officially open for walking, the riders briefing, and of course the First Horse Inspection at 3pm.   Lots more on Eventing Nation from the Kentucky Horse Park to come  of course, thank you as always for visiting, and Go Eventing!

Jane Sleeper brings UN out to stretch her legs

Who’s making a reality show? Or Big Camera, Little ….Horse?

Go all these wonderful horses and riders, and all the hard-working grooms, volunteers and organisers – it’s Rolex Kentucky time! Go Eventing!

This week’s quiz question was Kristin Schmolze and Cavaldi. Unfortunately EN Karma did not come through this time and the pair has withdrawn from Badminton this morning according to the Badminton official Twitter account.  Hopefully they can re-route to another event this spring.

  Congratulations to everyone who guessed them correctly, I know we have a lot of Kristin and Cavaldi fans on EN, but an even bigger congratulations to the person who suggested it might be ‘Will Coleman’, cracked me up!

Wishing them both the very best of luck. Go Eventing!

Update: Kristin emailed the following information in a newsletter Wednesday afternoon as part of her thanks to her supporters.  The good news is that Joey will be fine.

“…The day that Joey, (Cavaldi), was meant to fly to England. We had done our last gallop the day before and he was iced and wrapped in our usual manner, but Sunday morning there was swelling in a front leg. We already had an appointment with Dr. Staller bright and early to do our final check before leaving and to run IV fluids to keep Joey hydrated for his trip.

Unfortunately, the swelling is a strain to his suspensory ligament that became painful overnight. In the long run, Joey should recover just fine, but right now, there is nothing anyone could do to quickly turn this around and make him better in such a short time. It is in Joey’s best interest to rest his leg right now for a short period and come up with Plan B!

This breaks my heart, as you can imagine, not only for Joey, and our quest to fulfill this dream, but because of the support of everyone behind me. I’m so very sorry on the timing of this, I know we all are. But, there will be another day, another event – and Joey, most importantly, will be okay!…”

Anthony Patch and Laine Ashker get a feel of the Bluegrass beneath their feet once again; Laine told me she’s spent the last couple of days in Georgia, at Chattahoochee Hills, finessing her dressage with Bettina Hoy, and it’s been a sultry 90 degrees there, so the blustery wind and temperatures barely reaching the fifties here in Lexington must have come as quite a shock!

Also making the trip up from Georgia, Becky Holder and her two lovely grey Thorougbreds, Courageous Comet and Can’t Fire Me, going for a wander around the Park.

I bumped into Boyd grazing both his horses, Remington and Otis, and we watched the Kiwis for a little while. We both agreed that getting to watch all the best riders in the world, and observe their different methods of doing things is one of the best things about an international competition, and endlessly fascinating.

Otis agrees! Checking out the competition! Fair warning, the kiwis could well be in the reckoning. I was sorry to miss Jock Paget working Clifton Promise, I just saw the very tail end of his session but the horse is outstanding form, if anything Erik, and I, think he’s wintered fantastically and looks even better again now than he did at Burghley last autumn.

I was lucky enough to be able to chat to Lucy Jackson, above ,who rides Kilcoltrim Ambassador, after she finished riding him. I had already fallen in love with him, he’s very athletic, very quiet on his feet, and then when I stood up to him to talk to Lucy, surprisingly small! Lucy told me he’s only just 16hands, and he’s by an American Thoroughbred called Porter Rhodes who stands in Ireland, “and probably out of a pony mare because he’s so hairy!”  Lucy and ‘Sprout’, as he’s known, were supposed to do the Test Event in Greenwich last year but Lucy broke her leg falling off a youngster, “but I was really lucky, they pinned it and plated it and I had six weeks doing nothing and then I hopped back on and he went to Blenheim and did the CIC***, and then he went to Pau CCI**** and he was really unlucky, he tipped up three from home, through no fault of his own, he just had so much engine and jumped HUGE into a double, where everyone else was tired! He was going beautifully.”

The Kiwis: Jock Paget and Lucy Jackson watching Andrew Nicholson

Lucy is deceptively tall – she’s 6’1”! English by birth, and kiwi by marriage she couldn’t sing the praises of the New Zealand programme high enough, describing how she gets to train with legends like Mark Todd and Andrew Nicholson, and the support of the whole system she said, is just incredible, going on course walks with Erik and the rest of the team, it would be hard to match the advice they can give you based on the experience they have amassed between them.

Lucy and Sprout worked first for a while with placing poles to a very low vertical, four or five strides both before and after. Sprout is quite keen, but Lucy still makes him look very soft and adjustable, and even when they added the oxer, the jumps never got much over 3″, they just worked on calmness and relaxation, with Lucy talking lots of mini-breaks and lots of pats and reassurance in between. Jock had finished riding and came straight back up to watch, and stayed to watch Andrew on both his horses, despite the wind which was pretty cold, and getting stronger. The Kiwis are a great tight-knit bunch, always very friendly to everyone else, and super supportive of each other.

Just ten years old, Lucy adores Sprout, and I can see why. “It would be so much fun if they were all like this, he’s just so cool”. She told me his dressage is still a bit of a work in progress, “he’s quite hot on the flat, he still finds that really hard, I think the discipline doesn’t come easily to him, he’s such a natural extrovert that doing what he’s told at all times can be tricky!” As proof of Lucy’s beautiful, tactful riding, she has also been tasked with hacking out Parklane Hawk a couple of times before William arrives later tonight, and although she said everything went very smoothly, she also laughed and said she was extremely relieved to be able to hand the reins back to Jackie in one piece!

Kiwi Team High Performance Team Leader Erik Duvander has a word with Lucy. During all the rides, Erik spoke quietly, sometimes cracked a joke, sometimes made comments or suggestions, listened and watched carefully.  All the riders rode separately, none for very long, maybe about fifteen or twenty minutes, and each had a very different exercise for their horse. Andrew Nicholson brought Calico Joe out before I had to leave and jumped him. Compared to Lucy, he got the jumps up a bit bigger a bit quicker and the horse seemed to improve as they got higher, but the jumps still never got much bigger than about 3’6″.

Erik and Jock watch Andrew pop Calico Joe over a few fences. Lucy thinks this is in Irish horse off the track from former eventer Ramon Beca, and Andrew rode him forward and strong in the blustery wind.

After about ten jumps Andrew called it a day and went to swap Calico Joe for his lovely mare Qwanza, who I told him I’d admired grazing on her arrival here, and he agreed with me, and said that she’s a hard worker too, never stops trying. I wish I could have stayed to watch but will be out at the Park all day tomorrow to bring you lots more.  Erik and Jock put lots of poles on the ground for her, spread out almost evenly on the points of a large circle, and Lucy shared that that was another perk, all the great exercises they get from their Team Show Jumping Coach Luis Alvares Cervera . I will share that I was very happy to see James Alliston pulling in with his big Graceland rig just as I was driving out, what a marathon journey that has been, more power to him, and give that man a Yorkie bar or two!  I’ll leave you with a few more photos from this afternoon to whet your appetite for what’s going to be an amazing week! At this point, Rolex is wide open, anyone could win, the field really is that good! Go Rolex, Go Kentucky, Go Eventing!

Boyd, Remington and Otis head back to the stables.

Andrew and Calico Joe

Erik watches

Which Four Star Rider is this?

Answers in the comments section please, and we’ll reveal the identity on Monday. Enjoy your weekend, and Go Eventing!

Can Burghley CCI**** 2011  winner Parklane Hawk, seen here grazing at the Kentucky Horse Park earlier today, deliver rider William Fox-Pitt the second leg of the elusive eventing Triple Crown? Worth $350,000 to the winner, Pippa Funnell remains the sole rider ever to achieve the Rolex Grand Slam, but William, who has won the Kentucky CCI**** before in 2010 on Cool Mountain has brought last year’s Burghley winner, Parklane Hawk to Kentucky this year to increase his odds.

Parklane Hawk, shown above with William’s experienced head groom, Jackie Potts, looked fresh as a daisy this morning, despite an early arrival in the gloomy rain.  Team GB vet Liz Brown said all 8 horses from England travelled well, and that, perhaps surprisingly the flight is the easiest part of the whole journey – it’s the waiting around before and after, and then the trucking to the quarantine (a couple of hours), and then from New York to Lexington (about 15 hours) that is the most tiring.  Normally, Liz and the GB crew will slum it in the back of the horse van with the horses, but this time with 8 horses and 7 people, they had to hire a car and drive themselves, which she said was something of an adventure in itself, especially driving through the mountains on the ‘wrong’ side of the road!

Despite the decidedly chilly welcome, a very English drizzle and hovering in the 50 degree range, the horses all seemed very happy to settle in and graze on the bluegrass. New Zealand rider Jock Paget travelled with his horse Clifton Promise, but most of the riders arrive on Monday. Frasier, who looks after Pepper Anne for Oliver Townend told me she’ll just get lunged and hand walked until then, and probably enjoy the easy couple of days after all the travel.

Pepper Anne – already a CIC*** winner this Spring

I’m looking forward to getting a look at all these horses without their rugs on; I haven’t seen Pepper Anne before, and I understand she’s German, but she looks very  ‘Thoroughbred-y’, and pretty, and she’s petite, very different to Oliver’s ride last year, the plain bay, rather workmanlike ODT Sonas Rovatio.

Once again, I’m incredibly impressed by the efficiency of the grooms – the horses are grazing outside their stalls with full sets of boots and overreach boots on, and every single inch of the ‘yard’ outside their boxes is constantly swept clean. There’s a lovely camaraderie between them all, and Frasier told me that they all got to go into New York City for a brief visit while the horses were in quarantine.

Rutherglen, another lovely looking young horse, ridden by 2006 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** winner Andrew Hoy

I asked Liz (Brown, the team vet) if it was difficult for her and the grooms to hand the horses over and completely relinquish control of your charges when you’re so used to micro-managing every single second of their day? Liz explained that although it’s not easy, the quarantine is temperature controlled (you aren’t even allowed to send blankets in with your horse) and by now, Liz said, they know the people who run it pretty well, and know how well they do their job, and they have established something of a relationship. If they’re ever in the slightest bit worried about any of the  horses, they will call Liz to ask her opinion. Besides, Liz explained to me, with a hint of a smile, as many times as they’ve made the trip from England to the Rolex Kentucky, they do have a pretty good track record!

Qwanza, the second of Andrew Nicholson’s rides.

Calico Joe was snug as a bug in his stable. The stalls in the quarantine barn have been knocked two into one so all the horses have nice big roomy stables, but I don’t think they have the rubber matting that they have over in the other barns, although I might be mistaken.  The gentle, but definitely cool rain is supposed to clear out tonight and will have done nothing but improve the going, and from hereon in the weather just gets better, and it all just gets more and more exciting. Thanks for visiting Eventing Nation, and please come back soon and often – Go the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, and Go Eventing!

They say that one good deed deserves another, (did I get that right?) and not that you needed any more reasons to Walk the Rolex XC Course with one of our riders for a Just World, but I have one! I just got off the phone with Nunn Finer, and they are generously going to give out goody bags to the first 25 walkers who show up for  Sharon White and Doug Payne’s course walk – ten minutes after the last dressage ride of the morning during the Friday lunch break, meeting at the Start Box

Who knows, we may well have more surprises to announce before we’re done, but at this rate you’re going to need backpacks, or sherpa mules to accompany you around the course! Thanks again to our riders and their sponsors for coming on board –  and to you, we can’t wait to meet you and walk together for a just world. The weather forecast is fabulous, see you next week, go eventing!

I’m happy to be able to confirm the times for our Walk the Rolex XC for A Just World next week, yes, it’s only a week away! Once again, let me preface this post with a massive thank you to all four of our riders who so generously agreed to do this for a wonderful cause, despite being under incredible pressure and time constraints.  Please join us on one or all of the walks, for  a donation to Just World International that you feel comfortable with.  We are also grateful to Course Walk App who are going to donate ten coupons for a free App to the first ten arrivals at each walk!

              Doug and Sharon will double up and walk the course during the Friday Lunch Break – meet them at the Start Box, ten minutes after the last dressage test of the morning session. Sharon’s sponsor Kerrits will also be giving out free caps to the first 25 people who show up on this walk.

Buck will do the final walk on Friday Evening – meet him at the Start Box ten minutes after the last dressage test of the day.

Boyd will be walking the course for our viewing pleasure along with Allison Springer courtesy of SmartPak during the SmartPak course walk.  Meet us at the start box on Thursday afternoon, probably after the last horse has completed dressage but the time will be confirmed.

The Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event Order of Go has been posted, and the Horse Park is being transformed, changing daily. A quick shout-out to Mick Costello and his crew who work tirelessly and are friendly, so knowledgeable, and each and every one of them just lovely. Eventing Nation will bring you everything you need to know,we are all getting so excited – thank you being a part of this adventure with us. Let us know what you want more, or less of, and we’ll try our hardest to deliver next week! Go the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event and Go Eventing!

Course Walk Summary:

Thursday afternoon (time TBA):  Boyd Martin / Allison Springer (SmartPak)

Friday midday (dressage lunch break):  Sharon White / Doug Payne  (free Kerrits hats to first 25!)

Friday evening (after dressage):  Buck Davidson

I’m happy to be able to confirm the times for our Walk the Rolex XC for A Just World next week, yes, it’s only a week away! Once again, let me preface this post with a massive thank you to all four of our riders who so generously agreed to do this for a wonderful cause, despite being under incredible pressure and time constraints.  Please join us on one or all of the walks, for  a donation to Just World International that you feel comfortable with.  We are also grateful to Course Walk App who are going to donate ten coupons for a free App to the first ten arrivals at each walk!

Doug and Sharon will double up and walk the course during the Friday Lunch Break – meet them at the Start Box, ten minutes after the last dressage test of the morning session. Sharon’s sponsor Kerrits will also be giving out free caps to the first 25 people who show up on this walk.

Buck will do the final walk on Friday Evening – meet him at the Start Box ten minutes after the last dressage test of the day.

Boyd will be walking the course for our viewing pleasure along with Allison Springer courtesy of SmartPak during the SmartPak course walk.  Meet us at the start box on Thursday afternoon, probably after the last horse has completed dressage but the time will be confirmed.

The Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event Order of Go has been posted, and the Horse Park is being transformed, changing daily. A quick shout-out to Mick Costello and his crew who work tirelessly and are friendly, so knowledgeable, and each and every one of them just lovely. Eventing Nation will bring you everything you need to know,we are all getting so excited – thank you being a part of this adventure with us. Let us know what you want more, or less of, and we’ll try our hardest to deliver next week! Go the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event and Go Eventing!

What will be about the fourth fence

With just less than a fortnight until cross country day of the 2012 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, the official order of go has been posted, and work continues on the grounds almost around the clock.  I can’t resist walking around the course whenever I’m at the Park, which recently has been quite often, and I’m always surprised by how much it changes, even in 24 hours, at this time of year.

Just the day before – no mulch, no squirrel! The mulch crew were hard at work on Saturday, and I don’t think Course Builder Mick Costello or Commentator Nigel Casserley and his lovely wife Allie will stop now until it’s all over. Nigel and his team are also responsible for wiring the park for sound so their job is enormous, and well under way.

Where it all begins – the first fence.

The 2nd and 3rd fences, old friends, albeit in slightly different places!

The fences all look very different without flags, brush, or water.

The second water, in the infield, followed immediately by

The coffin, which last year was overflowing with water, even on the very morning of cross country! This year, the footing is super – even, with  a great cover, perhaps verging on the firm side, and  Mick Costello confirmed he’s irrigating as you read this to make sure it will be perfect.

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With Rolex creeping steadily upon us, and with Dorothy Crowell, nee Trapp, a staunch supporter of the Off The Track Thoroughbred (OTTB), who better than to re-introduce our quiz after a brief hiatus. Dorothy’s best known horse Molokai was the quintessential OTTB turned eventer, winning, amongst many other prizes, a silver medal at the World Equestrian Games at The Hague in 1994, the national title at the  inaugural CCI**** at Rolex in 1998, and capturing the hearts and imaginations of so many during his illustrious career.  As OTTBs continue to increase in  popularity and exposure in this new era of three day eventing, with a record number competing at Rolex this year, Molokai will also be making a comeback of sorts – he’ll be holding court at the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center from Wednesday through Sunday. Dorothy told me that as long as he can be out in a field, ‘Mo’ will absolutely love the attention, pats and treats, and anything that she can do to help the OTTB cause she’s game for. To that end, Dorothy added, that provided Mo feels good, he and Dorothy’s MMSC graduate Hennison, (a four year old by Henny Hughes, by Hennesy, I think there may be a distant link to Mo there somewhere?) will also be attending the New Vocations gala at West Wind farm on Saturday night, alongside such luminaries as Bruce Davidson and Chris McCarron – you can still get tickets, hurry!

Dorothy described her two favourite memories of riding Molokai at the Kentucky Horse Park – her first, and “for sure top of the list” was her National title winning cross country ride in 1998, her last Rolex on Molokai, and the first year it was a CCI****.  “There are so few times out on cross country when you feel like you didn’t do anything wrong at all, it was just a dream trip, which is so unusual and even more rare to have it happen at four star level. Being from Lexington Mo had a well-deserved fan club, and there were cheers and applause every single step of the way, sometimes it may only have been two or three people, and at the water and the bigger fences it may have been hundreds, but I could hear the applause for him on every single step of the galloping lane, it was so uplifting. Normally you tune it all out, but I heard it all on full volume.”

Dorothy and Mo’s victory lap at 1998 Rolex (photo by Visionaire)

Dorothy’s second memory was Radio Flyer’s first cross country school at the Horse Park, shortly after Molokai’s retirement. ‘Red’ was a 4 year old, recently claimed off the track, so Dorothy rode him, and put a lucky student up on Mo to be a schoolmaster. Laughing, Dorothy explained that after all of three jumps they had to switch horses “as Mo was never that horse, and that was the last time we used him for that job!” Dorothy said it made her smile then, and still makes her smile to this day to remember that.  Molokai, she tells me, is an absolute pleasure to be around, that the young horses just LOVE him, “we have to be careful if we put more than one other horse out in the field with him because they all want to be around him, they know he’s the man, which is as it should be.”

Many, many thanks to Dorothy for sharing her memories of Molokai and the Kentucky Horse Park with us, we look forward to visiting with him soon.

One of Dorothy’s students, Lara Borson Knight is becoming something of a regular on Eventing Nation – head trainer at the Makers Mark Secretariat Center we first spoke to her back in January at the Mary King Area 8 AGM, then again at Red Hills where she won the Jockey Club TIP Award with her MMSC graduate Shooby Doo, finishing 2nd in the Prelim division. I was sorry not to catch up with last weekend at the All Thoroughbred Show at the Horse Park, but that’s probably because she was so busy amassing more rosettes, and TWO more TIP awards – one for the best scoring in any First Level Dressage Test, and the second for winning her jumper division, and the Jumper Stakes Class for good measure!  The MMSC was well-represented – they sent out 8 horses,three previously adopted, below from left to right Lara and Shooby Doo, Ann Dottore (2nd) on Marked for Action and  Rachel Finlin (1st) on Noble Cause, with “Grandma”, MMSC Director Susanna Thomas on foot!

Five others that showed are babies that are available and they all placed in their divisions, and two more found homes during the weekend – Result! Please try and find time to visit the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center while you’re at the Horse Park, or attend the function if you can, I’m sure you won’t regret it. Thank you again to Dorothy, Lara and of course the OTTB! Go Rolex, and Go Eventing!

Peter post-surgery Monday night — Eventing Nation raises a glass to you Peter and we look forward to hopefully many German beers raised in celebration at the Luhmuhlen CCI****.  If you’d like to support Run Henny Run and Peter, you can continue to do so via his Badminton fund-raiser page, it will just roll forward to Luhmuhlen, and Peter I’m sure would much prefer carrots for Henny than flowers in his hospital room!  Peter has an appointment with his doctor this morning, but in his words, “I’m not giving up the fight!”  Maybe it has something to do with being raised on Vegemite, but Peter might be waiting in vain if he’s expecting any sympathy from his fellow ex-pats from down under;  I happened to notice a comment on the previous Peter update from a certain ‘BoydMartin007’, “Toughen Up Pete!!  Bill Roycroft rode with a broken wing, harden up and ride with one stirrup!” Rest up and heal quickly, Peter!

[Henny’s Luhmuhlen fundraiser]

Cheers, Mate and Go Eventing!

Peter post-surgery – Eventing Nation raises a glass to you and looks forward to hopefully many German beers raised in celebration at the Luhmuhlen CCI****.  If you’d like to support Run Henny Run and Peter, you can continue to do so via his Badminton fund-raiser page, it will just roll forward to Luhmuhlen, and Peter I’m sure would much prefer carrots for Henny than flowers in his hospital room!  Peter has an appointment with his doctor first thing in the morning, but in his words, “I’m not giving up the fight!”  Maybe it has something to do with being raised on Vegemite, but Peter might be waiting in vain if he’s expecting any sympathy from his fellow ex-pats from down under;  I happened to notice a comment on the previous Peter update from a certain ‘BoydMartin007’, “Toughen Up Pete!!  Bill Roycroft rode with a broken wing, harden up and ride with one stirrup!” Rest up and heal quickly, Peter!

[Henny’s Luhmuhlen fundraiser]

Cheers, Mate and Go Eventing!

With Rolex creeping steadily upon us, and with Dorothy Crowell, nee Trapp, a staunch supporter of the Off The Track Thoroughbred (OTTB), who better than to re-introduce our quiz after a brief hiatus. Dorothy’s best known horse Molokai was the quintessential OTTB turned eventer, winning, amongst many other prizes, a silver medal at the World Equestrian Games at The Hague in 1994, the national title at the  inaugural CCI**** at Rolex in 1998, and capturing the hearts and imaginations of so many during his illustrious career.  As OTTBs continue to increase in  popularity and exposure in this new era of three day eventing, with a record number competing at Rolex this year, Molokai will also be making a comeback of sorts – he’ll be holding court at the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center from Wednesday through Sunday. Dorothy told me that as long as he can be out in a field, ‘Mo’ will absolutely love the attention, pats and treats, and anything that she can do to help the OTTB cause she’s game for. To that end, Dorothy added, that provided Mo feels good, he and Dorothy’s MMSC graduate Hennison, (a four year old by Henny Hughes, by Hennesy, I think there may be a distant link to Mo there somewhere?) will also be attending the New Vocations gala at West Wind farm on Saturday night, alongside such luminaries as Bruce Davidson and Chris McCarron – you can still get tickets, hurry!

Dorothy described her two favourite memories of riding Molokai at the Kentucky Horse Park – her first, and “for sure top of the list” was her National title winning cross country ride in 1998, her last Rolex on Molokai, and the first year it was a CCI****.  “There are so few times out on cross country when you feel like you didn’t do anything wrong at all, it was just a dream trip, which is so unusual and even more rare to have it happen at four star level. Being from Lexington Mo had a well-deserved fan club, and there were cheers and applause every single step of the way, sometimes it may only have been two or three people, and at the water and the bigger fences it may have been hundreds, but I could hear the applause for him on every single step of the galloping lane, it was so uplifting. Normally you tune it all out, but I heard it all on full volume.”

Dorothy’s second memory was Radio Flyer’s first cross country school at the Horse Park, shortly after Molokai’s retirement. ‘Red’ was a 4 year old, recently claimed off the track, so Dorothy rode him, and put a lucky student up on Mo to be a schoolmaster. Laughing, Dorothy explained that after all of three jumps they had to switch horses “as Mo was never that horse, and that was the last time we used him for that job!” Dorothy said it made her smile then, and still makes her smile to this day to remember that.  Molokai, she tells me, is an absolute pleasure to be around, that the young horses just LOVE him, “we have to be careful if we put more than one other horse out in the field with him because they all want to be around him, they know he’s the man, which is as it should be.”

Many, many thanks to Dorothy for sharing her memories of Molokai and the Kentucky Horse Park with us, we look forward to visiting with him soon.

One of Dorothy’s students, Lara Borson Knight is becoming something of a regular on Eventing Nation – head trainer at the Makers Mark Secretariat Center we first spoke to her back in January at the Mary King Area 8 AGM, then again at Red Hills where she won the Jockey Club TIP Award with her MMSC graduate Shooby Doo, finishing 2nd in the Prelim division. I was sorry not to catch up with last weekend at the All Thoroughbred Show at the Horse Park, but that’s probably because she was so busy amassing more rosettes, and TWO more TIP awards – one for the best scoring in any First Level Dressage Test, and the second for winning her jumper division, and the Jumper Stakes Class for good measure!  The MMSC was well-represented – they sent out 8 horses,three previously adopted, below from left to right Lara and Shooby Doo, Ann Dottore (2nd) on Marked for Action and  Rachel Finlin (1st) on Noble Cause, with “Grandma”, MMSC Director Susanna Thomas on foot!

Five others that showed are babies that are available and they all placed in their divisions, and two more found homes during the weekend – Result! Please try and find time to visit the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center while you’re at the Horse Park, or attend the function if you can, I’m sure you won’t regret it. Thank you again to Dorothy, Lara and of course the OTTB! Go Rolex, and Go Eventing!

Eventing Nation just spoke to Peter Atkins from a hospital in Westchester County in New York where he awaits surgery on his broken leg, “I broke the bottom off the tibia and the fibia, so they have to pin and plate it to get it all back together”. In a cruel twist of appalling timing, a delayed, and then cancelled flight meant that had Peter, Henny and Firedrake, his Badminton entry, and his exciting young horse, all left for England on their originally scheduled flight on 2am monday morning, they would have been safely en route to London at the time of the accident, and be settling in to English digs as I write this.

In another almost unbelievable case of terrible timing, this is first instance that Peter has ever broken a bone in his life. In his third attempt to make it to Badminton, the two previous times something went wrong with his horses, and now having come so close this time, he told me he’s heartbroken, and incredulous, but keeps telling himself that thank God it’s him and not Henry,

“Henny’s good, he’s fine. He was looking at me laying on the ground, and wondering what the hell had happened and what he could do to help. I’ve never fallen off him, and this was just a stupid, stupid accident. I’m still not sure what he shied at, and how he hooked a back foot in the rock wall and got tangled up, and the next thing I knew he was on top of me.”

Peter said the doctors and nurses were well impressed with his home made cast, and it sounds like he’s bearing up stoically, in fact it sounds like he’s being a true Aussie-stye hero!

“It got a little shaky there for a while, and they put a temporary cast on. The inflammation caused some pain so they gave me some morphine and we’ll see how that goes. I work with horses, I’m used to it. Your feet get trodden on, I get kicked and knocked around all the time so it doesn’t bother me.”

With classic Peter Atkins understatement, he explains that he can’t make any major decisions or go anywhere for the next couple of days, “At some stage a bit of bone poked out and it became compound, so I have to be here for 48 hours for the antibiotics and to make sure there’s no infection”.

The plan going forward depends a lot on how the surgery goes this afternoon, “Of course I’d like to say I’ll be back riding in three or four weeks – the doctors say six weeks but I don’t believe them, and I’d like to go to Luhmuhlen, but I can’t plan on that yet until I know how I’m feeling in the next few days.”

Luckily, Henny and Firedrake are at a lovely facility in New York, “it’s a wonderful place, it’s got a really good feeling, really good management so he’s happy there.” Having just shipped to New York from Ocala on Friday Peter is reluctant to move Henny yet. Peter’s first choice to ride Henny while he himself is out of commission would be Dressage rider (and one time eventer) Jim Koford, based in Wellington, Florida, who’s been helping Peter a lot this winter, “He’s not that easy to ride, so that’s my biggest concern”.

Both Peter and Henny are already qualified to ride at the London 2012 Olympics, now they face a race against time for Peter to heal in time to compete at Luhmuhlen and sufficiently impress the selectors to make the team, “the only chance I have is Luhmuhlen, presuming I can actually get there. If I can keep him in training, get there and have a good run at Luhmuhlen then that’s my only hope, but it’s still not Badminton. Not a very happy day.”

Eventing nation would like to send Peter, and all his connections very best wishes for a fast recovery and the very best of luck going forward. We will continue to keep you updated on all the Run Henny Run news, and hope the surgery goes well. When I asked Peter if there was anything at all we could do to help, I could practically hear him shrugging in his hospital bed, “Get me a new leg?!? ” Go and get better as fast as you can, and Go Eventing!