If a pretty, dappled coat makes your heart go aflutter, this week’s batch of ready-for-a-new-career OTTBs is for you. All three are available through CANTER today — come and get ’em!
Cute war horse! Trainer states that “Gene” just ran his last race with 41 starts and earnings of over $87,000, and he deserves a good home. This guy has dapples for days and a forelock and tail that are seriously to die for. Nice feet and seemed super level headed, too – absolutely no fuss when CANTER took him out for photos. Nicely bred with one of the track volunteer’s favorite sires, Cozzene.” Seems like a lovely prospect that could probably go any direction! This horse would make a great all around horse, Pony Clubber or pocket pony. Located at Golden Gate Fields.
What a gorgeous boy, all legs and a coat full of dapples. War horse right here with 52 career starts. CANTER Southern California couldn’t find anything wrong with him upon inspection and his owner reports he is sound and ready to move on to a new career.
This little girl is solid as a rock! Just look at her build-wide chest and wide hind end. She has a very nice trot to go along with it. She is shiny, dappled and has a pretty white face. Located at Fairmount Park Race Track in Collinsville, Illinois.
What’s in Your Arena? is an EN series sponsored by Attwood Equestrian Surfaces in which riders show what training exercises are set up in their ring. This week, however, let’s do something a little different and take a tour around Wollman Rink, venue for the Central Park Horse Show!
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
From late October to early April, Central Park’s Wollman Rink is open to the public for ice skating in addition to hosting hockey and figure skating events. But for one week in September it is transformed into a horse show venue, this year including the inaugural U.S. Open $50,000 Relay Arena Eventing competition.
The logistics that must go into pulling this thing off boggle the mind — I’d love to see a time-lapse video. In addition to laying footing and setting up grandstands, a great deal of energy goes into the jumps themselves, which are beautifully designed and creatively decorated.
The centerpiece of the Arena Eventing course was of course this keyhole fence:
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
A few more of our favorite New York themed obstacles from the Grand Prix and Arena Eventing courses:
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
If you’ve been out on the cross country course at Tryon International Equestrian Center, you might recognize a few of these jumps, which arrived at Wollman Rink at around midnight the night before.
“We brought all of the jumps in last night, after they were driven up from Tryon,” explained Michael Stone, President of International Equestrian Group, after the class. “We then had to set the hunter jumps up, and when the hunter competition was done today, we had to set these jumps back up. We had no space to do that because we are pretty limited, so it is all like a rubix cube of sorts.”
Ryan Wood and Dom Schramm took the win in the $50,000 inaugural U.S. Open Team Arena Eventing Competition at Central Park Horse Show. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Saturday evening at the Central Park Horse Show felt like a world-on-its-head sort of night.
For one, I was wearing a skirt. I even brushed my hair and left my ratty ball cap back at the hotel room. That’s how posh this show was, and as a journalist representing our sport, I didn’t want to bring shame upon my family. We eventers clean up alright when we have to.
Exhibit A: ice trophy. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
And then there was the competition itself, a never-before-seen “relay arena eventing” showcase. CPHS mastermind Mark Bellissimo and his team pulled this thing out of thin air about three weeks ago. On paper the course map for the Capt. Mark Phillips designed track, featuring a combination of showjumps and cross country obstacles to be jumped in both directions in a much-too-small arena, looked like a ball of string. Riders walked it repeatedly, their brows furrowed like Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting trying to work out an impossible mathematical equation.
Meanwhile up in the media center, my girl Mollie Bailey from the Chronicle of the Horse was busy organizing a betting pool for the journalists. Smart money was on the British imports of Team Chelsea (William Fox-Pitt and Oliver Townend), or maybe a team anchored by a proven superstar pair like Jennie Brannigan/Cambalda or riders who moonlight in Grand Prix show jumping like Marilyn Little or Doug Payne.
The world being a bit on its head, I put my imaginary money on the down-under duo of Ryan Wood and Dom Schramm — Australia being opposite us on the globe, or something … I don’t know … it just made sense to my brain at the time. Ryan, mounted on a two-star horse he rode in the premier arena eventing competition at Devon, seemed like a solid bet; Dom, on the other hand, was a wild card. I knew he’d been scrambling for a horse and found one in a No Objection, a 20-year-old retired three-star horse. The most he’s been up to lately is some Novice level dabbling, and Dom jumped him all of twice before bringing him to Central Park. Good to go, I guess!
The course may have been confusing but the rules, at least, were simple: jump the jumps in order, with the second rider setting off as soon as his or her partner finished. Speed was everything and rails carried a four-second penalty. After a brief intermission the top six teams would come back for a second round.
Team Wall Street (Buck Davidson/Lynn Symansky) trailblazed and it became immediately clear that this was no ordinary eventing spectacle — the sold-out crowd was going completely bananas, egged on by announcer John Kyle’s riotous running commentary. The jumps were one-star height, and thank God for that, because the riders were slice-‘n’-dicing them every which way to shave seconds off the clock. Between that and the derring-do of their inside turns, my head was spinning. This was hands-down one of the most thrilling equestrian spectacles I’d ever witnessed.
Simultaneously, some eventing safety patrol alarms were sounding in my brain. Is a jump-off over fixed obstacles really that super an idea? There’s a fine line between excitement and danger, and in the wrong hands I could see a format like this crossing the line. Individual responsibility was paramount, and the onus was on the riders, nearly all of them four-star competitors, to make smart decisions out there. There was a moment when, with the announcer goading him on to go faster, I swear I think William Fox-Pitt sat up and actually slowed down, like, “Newp, not taking the bait.” Class act, that guy.
In the end, implausibly, it was the Aussies for the win! Ryan and Dom took it easy the first go-round then went for broke in the jump-off.
“Our first round we wanted to chance it but not be reckless,” Dom explained. “We didn’t want to dance with the devil in the first round. After we went back to the stables, we decided to switch up the order. Mine was a bit quicker. He was a slow starter, like a diesel, once we got started he gets quicker.”
A video is worth 10,000 words, so I’ll let these second-round videos do the talking:
1st: Team East Village (Ryan Wood & Dom Shramm)
Way to hang on over that cabin, Dom! And mad props to his outta nowhere horse.
“I felt kind of bad for him as we were turning and burning,” Dom said of his unlikely partner. “Halfway around I was thinking ‘Sorry mate, I wouldn’t normally ride you like this,’ but he was a champion. He was just unbelievable, just picked himself back up.”
Ryan recounted his own starstruck moment on course.
“There was a moment in the second round when the crowd was amping us up and then I looked up at the lights from the sky rise buildings and I thought, ‘Bloody hell. We are in the middle of New York City!'” he said. “It’s pretty awesome. It’s a long way from home!”
2nd: Team Time Square (Holly Payne-Caravella & Boyd Martin)
Boyd: “I was over the moon when I saw that I was partnered with Holly, as Holly always has a crack at these things whenever she’s riding. I knew that it’d either go really well or we’d bomb out,” Boyd said. “We just decided to cruise around the first round and we came back and just really decided to have a crack. We had a bit of luck on our side in the second round, and it went very well.”
Holly: “I got a little aggressive in the first round, but I think in the first round we wanted to make sure that we got through. In the second round we knew that we had to be way riskier in our inside turns and it went over really good.”
3rd: Team Chelsea (Oliver Townend & William Fox-Pitt)
William: “This was great fun. I’m not a star at this Arena Eventing thing, but this was really well executed. I was very happy to remember the course, as I thought that jumping the same jump twice in a different direction was pushing it. But it all worked out and I’m glad that we had some nice horses.”
Oliver: “For William and I both, the biggest setback was remembering our way! We went over it again and again and again. This is just an unbelievable setting and a privilege to be here. I’m very grateful to Mark and the whole team for having us here because we’ve enjoyed this experience tremendously.”
Watch the full press conference:
So what’s next for the brand new frontier of “relay arena eventing”?
Mark Bellissimo weighed in after the class. “I walked around during the competition and the crowd was just really excited and engaged in this format,” he said. “Again, this is not to replace eventing, but it’s an opportunity to take passionate athletes who are very courageous and gutsy at all three disciplines and put them in the spotlight here in New York, which is one of the largest media markets in the United States.
“At the very least we want to turn this into a three-event series, like a Triple Crown of this event. I am confident that this will become the biggest money in this country for the sport, especially with our sponsors. This is something we’re very excited about.”
Equestrian sport, and eventing in particular, is something most of us associate with wide-open, rural spaces. So there’s some cognitive dissonance to see it transplanted into a polar opposite context — like the heart of Manhattan, as is the case with this evening’s U.S. Open $50,000 Arena Eventing Team Competition at Central Park Horse Show.
The venue is a glowing orb of light encircled by bushy green trees, white VIP tents and grandstands at the foot of the New York skyline. Beyond it skyscrapers loom large, a snaggle-toothed grin of glass and steel. Altogether, it’s quite the sight to behold. Yesterday evening I watched the sunset from a rocky outcrop overlooking the arena, the sky blooming like a still-wet watercolor painting, champagne pink into lavender into cobalt blue.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
And then the house lights went down and the city’s twinkling lights came up. As the evening’s headline Grand Prix class began, the arena’s incandescence attracted the attention of park passers-by, who clamored up the hillside or peered through gaps in the fence for a glimpse of the action. Curious onlookers collected along the bridle path, gawking and snapping photos of the big, gleaming horses with their phones as they passed.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
This isn’t, of course, the first time we’ve held our sport up against an urban backdrop. Images from the 2012 Olympic Games, which ran cross country through Greenwich Park, come immediately to mind. And it’s nothing new for show jumping, whose Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) has set up shop in in the heart-center of metropolises around the world: Paris, Mexico City, Miami Beach, Shanghai, Madrid, Hamburg, Cannes, Monaco, Berlin, Rome, Doha, among others.
A few stunning images from the series, which bring equestrian sport to the people while creatively celebrating context with place-inspired jumps:
Paris
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Miami Beach
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Monaco
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Rome
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Vienna
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Photo by Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
Where does LGCT, with its opulent prize-giving and plush social texture, fit into the sport of show jumping? It’s endured friction with the FEI over the years over this question, although recently they seem to have recently settled into a more amicable coexistence.
Where does this evening’s arena eventing competition fit into our sport? It’s a distinctly strange experiment, impulsively set into motion earlier this month when Central Park Horse Show’s originally scheduled dressage CDI competition fell through. When it was announced there was plenty of enthusiasm but also some faint “ruining our sport” grumbling in the eventing community, denouncing the format’s lack of tradition and overly-shiny presentation.
I guess to eventers for whom the short format still feels like a punch in the gut, arena eventing is the ultimate low blow. It’s not even arena eventing in its truest sense in comparison to the European model, wherein the cross country portion of the course usually takes a pass outside the arena. (Which would be a cool idea for the future, if we can wrangle a v2.0 out of tonight’s competition.) But rest assured, tonight is not going to ruin our sport. William Fox-Pitt and Boyd Martin are not going to swear off flatwork. Kentucky is not going to become a watered-down two-phase event. This isn’t supposed to be an accurate replication of the sport but a best-foot-forward showcase.
I can also see how it might be unsettling to watch an “eventing” competition encircled by VIP tents full of uptown New York socialites dolled up in suits and cocktail dresses, who might not know a crossrail from an oxer. But if that’s your way of thinking, maybe it’s time to reconsider which party is sporting the too-snug tie. Eventing has always been the wildchild of Olympic equestrian disciplines; we pride ourselves on being a little bit more up-for-anything and versatile than our stuffed-shirt dressage and show jumping brethren. So we should be able to roll with this, right?
Who cares if it’s all a bit seat-o-the-pants and last-minute. We’re keeping an open mind. It’s an adventure! Let’s take eventing where it’s never gone before — the big apple.
Photo by Leslie Wylie.
The brilliant thing about CPHS visionary Mark Bellissimo, even if it also makes him a bit of a wildcard, is that he makes stuff happen. “Team relay arena eventing” wasn’t even a sport that existed before tonight. Bellissimo doesn’t waste time batting ideas around a table or seeking permission from curmudgeonly committees; he just sees an opportunity and advances on it. He seems to have taken a liking to the eventing crowd (and I mean what is not to like, really?), and the riders who are coming out to play tonight were game enough to scrape up a horse last-minute and show up to play.
Our sport is too cool to hide away out in a cornfield somewhere. If even just a few folks, whether park passers-by or Wall Street businessmen who paid thousands for a VIP table, have added the word “eventing” to their vocabularies by the end of the night, success. Let’s show ’em what we’ve got.
Once every September, Wollman Rink is transformed into the venue of the Rolex Central Park Horse Show. What’s it like to take a turn around this one-of-a-kind arena?
Let’s #FlashbackFriday to 2015, when Louise Serio guided Temptation around the course of the $50,000 U.S. Open Duchossois Cup. What gorgeous jumps, and could this horse just rock you to sleep with its canter or what? As seen on the Chronicle of the Horse‘s ChronicleTV YouTube channel.
We are looking forward to the U.S. Open $50,000 Arena Eventing Team Competition, taking place at this year’s Central Park Horse Show on Saturday night at 8 p.m. I’m in NYC and will be bringing you reports from the action, so keep it locked here. Thinking about attending yourself? Check out our Gotta-Be-There-Guide for ticketing info and logistical info.
Ingrid Klimke and Horseware Hale Bob. Photo by Libby Law Photography.
Nominees have been announced for 2017 FEI awards, and for the first time since the creation of the awards in 2009 the public is being given a vote! Choose your favorites from the final shortlist of candidates for Best Athlete, Longines Rising Star, Best Groom, Against All Odds and FEI Solidarity from now until Oct. 1.
The public vote will count 50% of the total vote, with the other 50% being decided upon by this judging panel. We kinda think they ought to just let the people decide, ‘Murican democracy stylez, but whatever. You do you, FEI! You always do, anyway!
As patriotic citizens of Eventing Nation, we know which party you’re going to be voting for. Here are the eventing nominees:
Nominee: Ingrid Klimke (GER), up for Best Athlete
Why she deserves to win: Ingrid crushes it pretty much every year, but she had an especially stellar 2017, winning her first individual European title in Strzegom, Poland, in August. Plus, as reader Lida McAllister pointed out, how about this incredible moment of showjump-in-a-dressage-saddle showboating last December during the Nuremberg Burg Pokal Final? Just goes to show you can take an event rider out of their jump saddle, but you can’t take the jump saddle out of the eventer.
Nominee: Imogen Mercer (GBR), up for Best Groom
Why she deserves to win: An EN-certified “supergroom,” Imogen has worked with Sam Griffiths’ team for five years, and Sam is quick to credit her with much of his recent success. When EN asked what are her “couldn’t live without” items, Imogen says her favourite quarter marker brush and black grooming trolley box are strictly off limits to anyone else. “They all know not to go in there,” she said, poker faced. #dontmesswithImogen
Sam Griffiths’ team bronze medal from Rio 2016. Photo courtesy of Imogen Mercer.
Nominee: Emma Booth (AUS), up for Against All Odds
Why she deserves to win: In 2013, 21-year-old Emma Booth was returning home after competing in Albury Horse Trials when a truck smashed into her lorry, instantly killing both horses and leaving Emma paralyzed. She looked up para-equestrianism while still in the hospital and was back on a horse within six months of the accident. Exactly three years after her accident she qualified for the Rio Paralympic Games, where she finished fifth. She continues to inspire those around her giving talks to schools, equestrian teams, community groups and businesses. How incredible is that?!
Why It Deserves to Win: This charity is left behind by beloved young rider Hannah Francis, who lost her fight to cancer in 2016 at age 18 but never lost her spirit. Her legacy charity, based on one of her favorite toys, supports research into Osteosarcoma and grants equestrian wishes to seriously ill people and their families. Her memory continues to live on through her charity and in the hearts of all who knew and loved her. Hannah Francis was nominated for the Against All Odds award last year but did not win, and with the public vote in place we hope she gets the recognition she deserves this go round.
Hannah Francis after performing the test ride at Tattersalls in 2016. Photo courtesy of Jack Lyons Media.
The winners will be announced at the FEI Awards gala in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Nov. 17, and will be live broadcast here.
Well over a hundred #EventerProblems later I still don’t know who has more screws loose, event horses or the people who ride them. In this edition and the next, we’ll let the two parties face off.
Today, let’s start by letting our horses make a case for themselves:
Copper Meadows held its September event two weekends ago and Ride On Video has been busy posting footage. Here are the cross country rides from the winners of the Advanced, CIC2* and CIC1* divisions!
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In August 2017 writer/rider Leslie Wylie conquered her most fearsome feat of #YOLO yet: a 620-mile race across Mongolia. Riding 27 semi-wild native horses. Carrying only 11 pounds of gear. Relying on nomads for food, water and shelter. On a mission to help stop deforestation.
Held Aug. 9-19, the Mongol Derby is widely regarded as the toughest horse race in the world. Inspired by the Genghis Khan’s original “pony express,” there’s no trail or set route, just 25 GPS checkpoints/horse exchange stations to hit over the course of 7-10 days. Now that Leslie is home she is recapping her ride of a lifetime! Click here to read previous stories in the series.
The 2017 Mongol Derby Die-Another-Day Club: Lucy, Amanda, Taylor, me, Cy, Paul and (not pictured) James. Please take a moment to appreciate my horse’s amazing mullet, an apt metaphor for my Derby journey from “business in the front” to “party in the back.”
“Only the wild ones give you something and never want it back.” – Dispatch, by way of my Derby forever friend Amanda Charlton Herbert
Day 5
Day 5 was when things started getting a little … blurry. Not because I was concussed (knock on wood) or tipsy on fermented mare’s milk (it’s not as gross as you think!) but because of the repetition: Ride. Rinse. Repeat. Except for the rinsing part, of course. We just kept getting filthier and filthier.
By mid-race I smelled like a cross between a rancid watermelon and a homeless man. The eau de rotten fruit was from electrolyte powder I used to cut the goat taste of the water, but since my hydration pack started leaking I was getting more of it down my shirt than down my throat. The subway-bum-who-peed-himself scent was from, well, actually peeing myself. It was a sad moment in my life — I went to pop a squat and my legs were so stiff they literally wouldn’t bend — but, as any Derby rider who has been dealt the nightmare hand of diarrhea can surely attest, it could have been much worse.
The North American contingent was having a tough go of it, with about half our riders knocked out by the midpoint. Julia from South Carolina broke a rib on day 1. Rick from Wyoming succumbed to hypothermia on day 2. Marianne from North Carolina shattered her collarbone on day 4. Liv, my teflon-coated Canadian training buddy, valiantly rode on with a badly sprained ankle only to injure her back in another crushing fall on day 5. Pierre from Maryland was hard-headed enough to take a hoof to the head on day 1 but met his match in a concussion on day 6.
Pierre getting stitched up on day 1. Photo courtesy of the Mongol Derby.
The growing pileup of accidents had me rattled. Who knew when any of our numbers were up? Things could go south no matter how carefully you played your cards, and it always seemed to happen when you least expected it.
For example: It was the third leg of the day, and I was tagging along with South Carolina endurance riders Clare and Rachel. We were ascending another epic, green velvet covered ridge that seemed to go up and up forever. It felt like we were on a roller coaster, chugging toward the summit and wondering what lie on the other side.
Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Finally we crested the top. But before we could gasp at the breathtaking panoramic vista, something else took our breath away: a massive golden eagle rising up out of the grass directly in front of us.
It was majestic and terrifying and the most ridiculously Mongolian thing I’d seen in my life.
You guys, this wasn’t just a bird. It had a wingspan the length of a horse, talons that could snatch up a toddler, and a look on its face like Vladimir Putin losing a golf match to Donald Trump. (Derby fun fact: At one point during the race we were only about 100 kilometers from the Russian border.)
To our horses, of course, it was mostly just plain terrifying. All three made their own personal “fight or flight” choices, the flightiest being Clare’s horse who promptly dumped her and took off galloping.
Clare’s horse was the goat in this scene from “Game of Thrones,” basically.
Fortunately, it was a best case scenario sort of fall. Clare was fine, the horse soon realized it had no real game plan and stopped to graze, and we all continued on, enjoying a good belly laugh about the incident later. I mean, could it get any more Mongol Derby than that?
Days 6-8
After my solo sojourns during the first few days, I recommitted to honoring the promise I made my husband before the race but had already broken by the second leg: that I wouldn’t ride alone.
To be fair, cruising through the race by oneself has its perks, in that you maintain sole jurisdiction about decisions like direction/speed and you’re not beholden to waiting up for anyone should they draw a slow horse or find themselves in a jam. The caveat: When things go wrong for you, and they will, there’ll be no one around to scrape you up off the dirt. And also, when singing “99 Bottles of Airag on the Wall” on repeat to stave off boredom quits working, you might lose your mind.
Tiny human, big world. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Both in weird horse race situations and life in general, the company you keep can make all the difference. As a rule I’m not a person who needs people around me all the time. I can be the life of the party but I also value solitude; I have wonderful close relationships but I also pride myself on independence — to the point where it’s sometimes hard to admit that I can’t do something alone.
By halfway through the Derby, though, I knew that I couldn’t do it alone. The back row of the strugglebus is a lonely place to be.
Especially when it’s doing this.
The physical part was easy to understand. Go ride a horse at speed for 13 hours straight and tell me how you feel. The answer, I don’t care how fit or skilled you are, is: You feel like crap. And then you’ve to get up the next day and do it again. And again. And again and again and again and again and again and again. At night the gers resembled opium dens as riders swapped painkillers, winced at one another’s battle wounds, and shared stranger-than-fiction war stories from the day.
The psychological wear and tear was the piece I hadn’t anticipated.
The Mongol Derby has a funny way of dredging up whatever your weaknesses are and throwing you in the ring with them, boxer style, to duke it out. It’s literally you-vs.-you out there. And like some tour de kryptonite, I went head-to-head with every last one of my demons on the steppe.
Don’t get me wrong: When it comes to navigating life, I have a pretty decent skill-set. I’m good with people. Animals like me. I make a mean jell-o shot. I have a large vocabulary. I have a history of accomplishing whatever I set my mind to, not because I’m a particularly gifted human being but because I’m just really freaking stubborn.
Things that I am NOT good at:
Feeling vulnerable.
Admitting that I’m not OK.
Asking for help.
Failing.
In almost every one of the Derby photos, I am smiling. Here’s a secret, though: They weren’t all equal. Sometimes I was smiling because the world was, literally and metaphorically, blowing my hair back. The generosity of the herding families, the spirit of the horses, the otherworldliness of the landscapes … my life had never felt so vast, so technicolor, so intense.
Other times, I was smiling because I felt like my world was spinning off its axis. Even if it was just my facial expression, at least I could be in control of something.
I started having panic attacks each morning upon waking. Not recognizing where I was, or why I was there, or who was the person sleeping beside me. Chest tight, body deflated, all the air sucked out. I couldn’t breath or move. And then, like a picture slowly coming back into focus, remembering what lie ahead of me. Another day of feeling more vulnerable than I’d ever felt in my life. At the end of it would I find myself in a ger? A medevac? I focused on moving the air in and out of my lungs while the riders around me rustled in their sleeping bags, forging their own reentries into the strange dream that had become our waking life.
Horse herders head out at daybreak to round up our horses. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
A gang of seven of us were running at about the same speed and had been ending up at the same horse stations at the end of each day. There was Cy and Paul from Britain, James and Lucy from Australia/Britain, and fellow Americans Taylor and Amanda. I was inspired by all of them, not only because of their physical toughness — Cy had been riding with a broken rib since day 3, and Lucy’s arm looked like a swollen black-and-blue balloon animal from a fall on day 5 — but because of their attitudes.
Someone was always laughing about something and that little spark of joy kept cycling from one person to the next, as though we were passing it around in a flask. We shared our stories and talked about what we missed most about home. We kept one another motivated — “I think I see a glass of wine on that mountaintop!” — and entertained ourselves with cowboys-and-Indians sneak attacks. We chased rainbows across landscapes so beautiful it made you want to cry. We paused at ancient shamanic sites, took scenic detours and made sure to never lose our sense of wonder. It felt like we were pulling one another along toward the finish, sometimes literally, like when Paul drew a slowpoke and James had to pony it off his own horse for half a leg.
Seriously, there were so many rainbows. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Some neat drone footage from chief bloodwagon bartender Erik Cooper:
In particular I hit it off with Taylor and Amanda. I liked the determined yet steady and safe way they were riding the race, in contrast to my own erratic track record of fits and starts, hits and misses, feats of bravado interspersed with anxiety attacks. Left to my own devices, I knew I’d end up toast. It wasn’t until I teamed up with Taylor and Amanda that I could imagine myself, with clarity, playing the long game and making it to the finish.
You can do anything for nine days, I constantly reminded myself, except hold your breath underwater.
I also appreciated the way they handled crisis situations, which just kept coming. Someone’s horse was always falling down, or we were dodging cloud-to-ground lightning, or finding ourselves belly-deep in a bog.
Like when Taylor’s horse fell in a marmot hole and, by some fluke of hill slope and saddle bag, got stuck upside down like a turtle on its back. It was a rigor mortis-esque pose: four legs in the air, neck twisted around at an unnatural angle, and mouth gaping wide open as the reins were caught beneath him. Unable to move, his eyes were wide and glazing over in shock. Taylor scrambled out from beneath him and went to work trying to get the horse free, which she somehow managed.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Panic is a perfectly natural physiological responses to stress, but it’s not necessarily productive when it comes to getting you out of a bad spot. Moments like these now felt like out-of-body experiences. You could feel your mind stepping outside your body, calmly evaluating the situation, collecting information and formulating a plan of action. And then stepping back into your skin and executing the plan.
It’s amazing what humans can adapt to. How quickly our definitions of normal can shift. The Mongol Derby doesn’t follow a template, and neither does life. You just figure it out. You find a way to survive.
Day 9
The homestretch.
At 6:05 p.m. local time, after one last day of physical and mental assault, I crossed the finish line alongside four of the toughest, most inspiring horsemen and women I’ve ever met.
Couldn’t have done it without these guys. Photo courtesy of the Mongol Derby.
A funny thing about the Derby is the fact that, whatever your competitive intentions may be when you start the race, almost nobody finishes alone. This year we saw another joint winner in Ed Fernon, the Olympic pentathlete from Australia, and Barry Armitage, for whom 2017 was his third crack at the Derby and first win. I rode up top with both these cool but fiercely in-it-to-win-it guys at the beginning of my race (the “business up front” portion, if you will), and I never would have pegged them for the types who would team up and, on a gentleman’s handshake, share the victory.
The Derby changes everyone.
Ed Fernon and Barry Armitage, joint winners, approaching the finish line. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Clare Salmon and Rachel Land. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Roberta Friend, Emma Manthorpe, Charlotte Wills. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Ceri Putman and Sally Toye. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Marie Palzer, Rebecca Hewitt, Greg Chant, Brooke Warton, Jodie Ward. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Paul Richards and Cy Lloyd-Jones. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Warren Sutton and William Comiskey. Photo by Julian Herbert/Mongol Derby.
Crossing the finish line I felt … excited that I could finally take a shower. And never have to ride a horse 13 hours a day for nine days straight ever again. And really proud of my penalty-free vet card. But I didn’t feel finished. Because the finish line wasn’t the important part of the race for me, any more than walking across a stage was the defining moment of my college education. It was just the exclamation point at the end of a profound and completely insane run-on sentence, and the beginning of a new chapter.
Since I’ve been home people have been treating me like I’m some sort of warrior princess just returned from battle. I hear the adjectives they use to describe me — “brave,” “inspiring,” “fearless” — but it feels like they’re talking about a different person. Not me. Because deep down, I promise you, I struggle to keep it together just as much as anyone else. And the Mongol Derby brought it all to the surface.
Photo by Julian Hebert/Mongol Derby.
I may not have won the battle against my weaknesses, but I certainly saw them up close. They put up a good fight, but they didn’t stop me. Not because I’m some brave, inspiring, fearless warrior princess, but because I kept putting one foot in front of the other. I think sometimes that’s the bravest thing that any of us can do.
Whatever it was I originally thought I needed to survive the Derby, I was wrong. It was just stuff. Even my sock saddlebag was a placebo by the end of the race. All I really needed was myself and some good people around me.
BTW, they never did find my runaway horse. This is how I like to imagine him now, galloping free on a beach to a Jimmy Buffet soundtrack.
In the western world, we try to avoid discomfort and suffering at all costs. We have that luxury. But maybe we’re doing ourselves a disservice. What are you protecting yourself from? What potentially transformative experiences are you avoiding because you’re worried they might not be comfortable or have a happy ending?
Well, in life you’re not always going to be comfortable. There are no guaranteed happy endings. And the more you practice embracing the suck, the better you’re going to be able to deal when the genuine hard stuff comes your way and there is no SOS button. When things go belly up, what do you have to work with? What’s down there at the bottom of yourself? What can you endure? Who’s with you, and will you let them help?
Go find your Mongol Derby. Find a challenge that has magical potential but is likely to test you to your core. Do something that makes you feel vulnerable. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Give yourself both the opportunity to succeed and permission to fail.
I went to Mongolia in search of a good story, and I got what I came for. What’s the story you want to tell? How far, physically or emotionally, are you willing to go to get it? What’s the worst that could happen?What if?
Many thanks to all my sponsors and supporters throughout this journey. Your belief in me helped me believe in myself.
Eventing is coming to the heart of New York City this Saturday evening, Sept. 23, when the Rolex Central Park Horse Show hosts the U.S. Open $50,000 Arena Eventing Team Competition. We can’t wait to see our sport showcased in such a unique and accessible setting, against the backdrop of a glittering New York City skyline.
A star-studded lineup of 24 riders representing four countries, split into 12 teams, will contest a NYC-themed Capt. Mark Phillips course that incorporates both show jumping and cross country elements.
Each team, named after a famous New York City neighborhood, will race against the clock with faults converted into time with their score being based on the cumulative time of both riders’ rounds. The top six teams will return for the second and final round of competition, which will crown the first-ever U.S. Open $50,000 Arena Eventing champions.
Here’s the updated entry list:
Team Wall Street Ryan Wood (AUS) / Kate Chadderton (AUS)
Team Upper West Side Clayton Fredericks (AUS) / Domm Schramm (AUS)
Team West Village Jessica Phoenix (CAN) / Lisa Marie Fergusson (CAN)
Team Upper East Side Waylon Roberts (CAN) / Selena O’Hanlon (CAN)
Team Times Square Oliver Townend (GBR) / William Fox-Pitt (GBR)
Team Midtown Phillip Dutton (USA) / Julie Richards (USA)
Team Soho Hannah Sue Burnett (USA) / Holly Payne-Caravella (USA)
Team Chelsea Boyd Martin (USA) / Caroline Martin (USA)
Team Tribeca Marilyn Little (USA) / Matt Brown (USA)
Team Hell’s Kitchen Jennie Brannigan (USA) / Lynn Symansky (USA)
Team Greenwich Village Will Coleman (USA) / Erin Sylvester (USA)
Team East Village Buck Davidson (USA) / Doug Payne (USA)
It’s sure to be a special moment in time, and the more we come out to support it the better the chances that it will become an annual fixture as opposed to a one-off event. We applaud The Fite Group, a market-leading luxury real estate firm serving the South Florida region, for signing on as the class’s title sponsor, a leap of faith in its inaugural year.
Eventers, it’s time to rally! Who’s up for a weekend in city? We know you’re busy people, so allow us to assist with logistics:
VIP Seating is still available and can be purchased by contacting [email protected]. Tables seat six and have an impressive view of Wollman Rink. VIP Seating will include premier open bar and dinner. Individual VIP Seats are also available.
Gates open at 7:30 p.m. and the event will begin at 8 p.m. Dress is cocktail/evening casual.
You spend 99% of your life in muddy boots and slobber-stained shirts with random strands of hay in your hair. How much fun would it be to dress up and pretend you’re a fancy city person for one night? Photo courtesy of Rolex Central Park Horse Show.
Getting there: It can be done on the cheap, guys! Look into budget airlines: I got a $108 round-trip plane ticket from Knoxville to Newark through Allegiant Air.
Once you’re in the city, here’s how to get to Wollman Rink:
Best Park Entrance:
Central Park South (59th Street) and 6th Avenue. Wollman Rink is a two minute walk into Central Park from this entrance. Follow the footpath directly into the park and stay to the right.
By Subway:
Take the A, B, C, D, 1 to 59th St.- Columbus Circle
Take the N, Q, R to 5th Ave/59th St.
Take the F to 57th Street
By Bus:
Take the M1, M2, M3, M4 to 64th Street
Take the M5, M7, M10, M104 to Columbus Circle
Here’s the site map:
Where to stay: The official horse show hotel, JW Marriott Essex House (160 Central Park South), is a conveniently located about 0.3 mile from the venue but will set you back about $1,000 a night. Let’s leave those rooms to the hunter/jumper folks and look into some more affordable options, shall we?
If you can spring for $200-400 night — another reason to drag your barn buddies along and split the cost! — the world is your oyster. A friend of mine who has attended the Central Park show before recommends the Salisbury Hotel (123 W. 57th Street), which she describes as “kinda old and crappy but super easy walking distance and not as expensive as some other places.” For the price (about $220/night), the Ameritania (230 W 54th Street) looks boutique chic and is about half a mile away.
Even if you have zero travel budget to work with, like me, you can make this thing happen. Crashing on a park bench hobo-style in Central Park seems really convenient to the horse show and would make EN’s accountant happy, except I’d worry my laptop and camera would get stolen. So I booked a shoebox size “pod” in the Chelsea Cabins (370 8th Avenue) for $82/night, also about half a mile away. That’s which is about as cheap as it gets in Manhattan.
You can always venture a bit further afield tho, and check out alternative lodging like Airbnb and hostels. I’ve also been known to crash on dodgy friends’ friends couches in the meatpacking district, etc. Do what you gotta do, just be there!
That time I camped out on jump #19 at Rebecca Farm. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Bouncy horse races are the best inflatable thing to happen to the sport of eventing since the invention of air vests. We spotted them at the Tryon International Equestrian Center during Saturday Night Lights at the AECs:
I know. Will Faudree’s somersaults blew our minds, too.
And then reader Jackie Smith sent us this great video: “While everyone’s eye was on Blenheim and Plantation this weekend people missed the fun filled Saturday Night at the Races at the Stone Gate Farm Horse Trials. Here’s a link of one of the races handily won by Cassidy Wozniak.”
How great was it to see Lynn Symansky and American-bred OTTB posterhorse Donner right up there at the top of the Burghley leaderboard earlier this month? The pair placed 6th, yet another feather in the cap of this epic partnership.
Foaled on April 18, 2003 in New York, Donner raced under the name Smart Gorky (Gorky Park (FR) – Smart Jane, by Smarten) before finding his calling in the sport of eventing. Back in 2014, we published the story of his racing career — check it out here.
OTTBs are alive and well in the sport, and the next generation of superstars are out there, maybe coming off the track as we speak. In tribute to Donner, here are three New York bred bay geldings that caught our eye this week!
This handsome hunk is described by his connections as an “in your pocket” type. He has had a strong race career, earning over $196,000 in 27 starts, but his owner/trainer is ready to let him retire while he is still sound, capable and content.
In his time with his current connections, he has become the barn mascot — his charming demeanor, solid bone, excellent conformation and athleticism make him a shining example of the care he has received. Harm does wear bar shoes to support an injury from 2014, but as his race record proves, he has returned to prime condition without incident. X-rays are available to serious inquiries.
His sire Hook and Ladder is known for his propensity to throw babies with good brains and athleticism and jumping ability. We know several that have gone on to successful sporting careers. This talented, classy gelding will not last long. Bring him home and make him your next sport horse!
This classy, handsomely built gelding has clearly been impressive from a young age. He sold as a yearling for $100,000 at Keeneland, and he proved a worthy investment, earning over $224,000 on the racetrack! Here is your chance to own a six-figure horse!
He is clearly well loved by his caretakers — a gleaming coat with good flesh and bone. This horse is athletic, handsome and reported as sound with no vices. He has wintered at the farm with his owner: He turns out well with others and is well behaved in turn-out. With his excellent demeanor and athletic, uphill build, this one has unlimited potential for many disciplines. Big geldings in this price range tend to go quickly, so we would suggest calling fast if he checks all the boxes for you.
We think he is 100 percent gorgeous, and full of potential for so many new disciplines! This handsome gelding was such a chill guy for his photo session, soaking up the sun and posing perfectly without a chain over his nose. His trainer says he is a very good boy who does everything right, is sound, and while he has won a race this year, in his last couple of races he seems to have lost his zest for racing so it is time to let him find a new calling.
With his balanced correct build, clean legs and amazing strong sloping shoulder, we can see jumping in his future. He is also a very nice mover, showing off a light trot with a good toe pointing reach. Show hunter, eventer, fun on hunter paces, dressage? Take your pick — this one can go in any direction. He is by One Nice Cat out of a mare by Smokin Mel (we know there are many fans of Smokin Mel offspring out there). Fappiano, In Reality, Graustark, Ribot, Black Tie Affair, and Regal Classic are just a few of the “sport friendly” sires in his pedigree.
Chinch getting measured for a Charles Owen helmet at Rolex 2017. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Here at Eventing Nation, we need every brain cell we can get. And we salute Riders4Helmets International Helmet Awareness Day’s efforts to keep our neurons as safe as possible by reminding us each year to keep a lid on it.
In its eighth year running, International Helmet Awareness Day has been expanded to a two-day event for 2017. International Helmet Awareness Weekend, we suppose you could call it, will be held this Saturday, Sept. 16 through Sunday, Sept. 17.
Riders4Helmets.com has teamed up with leading helmet manufacturers and retailers all over the world to offer discounts on helmets on these dates. Participating helmet brands include EN sponsors Charles Owne Caldene, Champion, Charles Owen, Gatehouse, GPA, Harry Hall Hats, International Riding Helmets (IRH), Kask, KEP Italia, LAS helmets (Leslie Sutcliffe UK), One K, Ovation, Samshield, Tipperary, Troxel and Uvex. And shout-out to our favorite participating retailer SmartPak, which is offering up to 20% off of your favorite helmet brands.
“Last year, retailers had so many people wanting to be fitted for helmets that they asked us to expand the event to two days this year, so everyone could be properly fitted,” says Lyndsey White of Riders4Helmets.
As someone who has been pile driven into planet Earth on many an occasion, I would never dream of leaving the barn without my helmet. Many thanks to Riders4Helmets International Helmet Awareness Day for continuing education on the benefits of wearing a properly fitting, secured and certified helmet.
The 2017 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium is fast approaching! The event, to take place at the Kentucky Horse Park Oct. 5-8, will be contested by hundreds of trainers who have spent a maximum of 10 months taking a Thoroughbred from the track to their debut in one of 10 equestrian disciplines. Fun fact: Eventers have the largest representation among the entry list!
In addition to the competition, the week includes seminars, a sponsor fair, a horse sale and the Thoroughbred Makeover finale, featuring the top three horses in each discipline and America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred. For more information, visit its page on the Retired Racehorse Program website here.
If you’re at Plantation Field this weekend, join RPP on Saturday in the show jumping arena at noon for a showcase of local Makeover horses for sale. And be sure to stop by their tent to pick up a free copy of Off-Track Thoroughbred Magazine, sit in an up-for-raffle Rolls Royce named Idle Dice, buy some logowear, become a member and learn more about RPP programs. If you time it right you might even meet Rosie Napravnik, Rodney Jenkins, and other racing celebrities participating in Sunday’s Real Riders Cup.
If there was a fail Olympics you guys would all be gold medalists. Wear those medals loud and proud! And always, ALWAYS know that you’re not alone. It’s a team sport, for sure, and EN is your biggest cheerleader.
A post shared by Juliana Kaup (@p.rincess.sparkle) on
And they aren’t especially renowned for having great poker faces. You probably can guess what these horses are thinking, if not assess whether or not they are guilty of said crime, just by looking at their mugshots.
And the jury finds the defendant … guilty, innocent or just plain adorable? You decide.
Where there are horse people, there are dogs … and we love to show them off! Here are a few of the best pup pics you’ve posted on Instagram lately. Don’t forget to tag yours #DogsOfEN for inclusion in a future edition!
What’s in Your Arena? is an EN series sponsored by Attwood Equestrian Surfaces in which riders share their favorite jumping exercises. It’s easy to get stuck in a training rut, and we hope this will inspire you with fresh ideas that you can take home and incorporate into your own programs. Have an exercise to share? Email it to [email protected]!
The scenario: You get to the barn after work, your brain is in tatters and you have zero energy left in your body to set a course, but you really need to squeeze in a jump school. (Sorry to map the story of my own everyday life onto yours, but stay with me here, people.)
Two questions:
Do you have at least six jumps to work with?
Do you have approximately a 20-meter circle’s worth of decent footing?
If you answered yes to both questions, there is hope for you yet!
I believe in you, and so does Michael Bolton.
As you know, I am all about jump exercises that require minimal physical effort and mental exertion to set up yet are challenging and versatile for horses of any level (see also: “Wylie’s Short-on-Time Shamrock“). Here’s another good one for those days when life has reduced you to a human lump and/or you’re just plain feeling lazy:
Graphic by Leslie Wylie.
Yep, it’s six jumps in a circle. That’s it. That’s all you have to set up unless you want to set up more, in which case knock yourself out. Feel free to squish them together or spread them apart depending on how much space you have to work with.
Here’s a little spin-around of the exercise with eight jumps as set up in my arena by Erika Adams:
As for how to jump them, I stuck some arrows on the graphic above to get you started, but the possibilities are endless: straight-across, bending lines, serpentines, angles, rollbacks … go crazy with it. It improves rideability in all horses but is especially great for know-it-all types with a tendency to jump into a line and take charge. The jumps can be poles on the ground or 4′ verticals. Take it one line at a time or keep threading your energizer bunny through the exercise for 45 minute straight. If you’re an instructor, a fun exercise (for you at least, if not your student) is to call the jump-out as they’re jumping in. So, lots of options. Whatever you want. You do you, EN.
We’re exactly one year out from the 2018 World Equestrian Games, to be held Sept. 11-23 at Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC). Event organizers are expecting a turnout of more than 500,000 people with tickets going on sale to the public on Monday, Oct. 16.
A variety of ticketing types and prices will be offered, including an All Games Pass for each week of competition or both weeks, an All Session Day Pass, All Session Discipline Pass, as well as individual event tickets, and opening and closing ceremonies. An inexpensive Day Pass will also be available to give attendees access to event grounds and expo only. A complete list of ticketing options will be available online at www.tryon2018.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
The eventing competition takes place Thursday, Sept. 13 through Sunday, Sept. 16. Click here to view the WEG schedule.
In addition to announcing ticket sales, TIEC today released a “Destination Tryon” video showcasing the region where the Games will take place. And if you need help feeling pumped, there’s always this:
For all things WEG, visit the website here, and of course we here at EN will be keeping our ears to the ground for all the latest!
The U.S. Open $50,000 Arena Eventing Team Competition will take place in Wollman Rink during the 2017 Rolex Central Park Horse Show on Saturday, September 23, beginning at 8 p.m. Photo courtesy of Central Park Horse Show.
A stacked entry list has been announced for the U.S. Open $50,000 Arena Eventing Team Competition to be held Saturday, Sept. 23 at the 2017 Rolex Central Park Horse Show. The class was a brilliant seat-of-the-pants (read: eventer approved!) move from the show’s organizers, who found themselves in a pinch after the dressage CDI component of the event was canceled due to unexpected horse and rider withdrawals.
Twenty-four riders representing four countries, split into 12 teams, will contest a Capt. Mark Phillips course that incorporates both show jumping and cross country elements.
The following rider teams are scheduled to compete in the class:
Australia
Dominic Schramm (AUS)/ Clayton Fredericks (AUS)
Ryan Wood (AUS)/ Kate Chadderton (AUS)
Great Britain
William Fox-Pitt (GBR)/Oliver Townend (GBR)
USA
Phillip Dutton (USA)/Julie Richards (USA)
Hannah Sue Burnett (USA)/Holly Payne-Caravella (USA)
Boyd Martin (USA)/ Sharon White (USA)
Marilyn Little (USA)/ Sara Kozumplik-Murphy (USA)
Jennie Brannigan (USA)/Caroline Martin (USA)
Will Coleman (USA)/Matt Brown (USA)
Buck Davidson (USA)/Lynn Symansky (USA)
Doug Payne (USA)/Erin Sylvester (USA)
The rules of play:
The teams will be named after significant New York City locales and compete against each other in a speed competition against the clock. Each team will position themselves in the ring at the same time and participate in a relay-based speed competition, where riders will move through a course themed after iconic New York City fixtures, and what will include a soon-to-be-iconic “Big Apple” jump.
The top six teams, based on cumulative time from round one, will then compete in the final “money” round for the overall $50,000 in prize money, which they will split based on final rankings in the second round speed competition. The competition will run with a faults-converted format, adding two-seconds to a team’s overall score per jumping fault. The winners of the competition will earn the title of U.S. Open Arena Eventing Champions.
“As an organization, we always try to inspire new and creative ideas to engage and introduce equestrian sport to a broader audience. The competition, which we have termed Arena Eventing Pairs, is a derivative of Arena Eventing and will be new to both equestrian sport and the Rolex Central Park Horse Show,” says Mark Bellissimo, CEO of International Equestrian Group. “Eventers bring a new dimension to the show and it is a great opportunity for the riders to shine against the incredible New York City skyline. We anticipate a fun-filled, action-packed evening for both our competitors and spectators.”
This “soon-to-be-iconic ‘Big Apple’ jump” sounds like something EN is going to need to check out in person, and you better believe I’ve already got my plane ticket!
The Rolex Central Park Horse Show (Sept. 20-24) is in its fourth year of operation at Wollman Rink in the heart of New York City’s Central Park. In addition to arena eventing, the week will feature U.S. Open competition for the Arabian, show jumping and hunter disciplines, as well as host its popular Family Day on Sunday, Sept. 24. For more information visit www.centralparkhorseshow.com.
This commercial aired only once, during the 2002 Superbowl, as the company’s objective was not to benefit from it financially but simply to acknowledge the tragic event.
