The winning outfit, photo by Lesley Ward
Good Morning Eventing Nation! I don’t know about you, but today marks the start of my favorite weekend of the spring season. The horses have spent the past two days or more settling in at the Horse Park, but as of this morning, the bathing will ensue, the braiding kits will come out, the quarter marks will be brushed into place, and hooves will be polished; all in preparation for the First Horse Inspection taking place today. Due to the severe weather predicted at the Horse Park Wednesday afternoon, the Horse Inspection has been moved to 10 am EST, rather than the afternoon as is traditional of past years. If the rest of the current schedule for tomorrow remains intact, the main stadium will open for schooling at 4:30 pm, and the cross country course will open to the competitors at 1 pm.
Speaking of the weather, here is a summary of the forecast for the next few days:
Wednesday: 76° high, severe thunderstorm warnings
Thursday: 59° high, continued thunderstorms throughout the day
Friday: 62° high, ‘brilliant sunshine’
With any luck, the sun on Friday will continue on throughout the weekend, allowing for a great weekend of Eventing. Check out the full weather forecast
here.
Today is a fun day as the Best Dressed Awards are given to the male and female riders who present themselves the best at the jog. The prize for the award is a pair of the highly coveted Dubarry boots.
The nice thing about the Best Dressed competition, much like a dressage test, is that its really comes down to what you pull out on the day. I wouldn’t exactly compare last year’s winner, Lauren Kieffer, with fashion icons like Audrey or CoCo; but she made it to the jog strip on that day looking pretty good. In all honesty, my fashion sense isn’t all that iconic either; so if you are looking for advice on what to wear, I’d consult
this article from our friends at
Three Days Three Ways.
Smartpak, along with Boyd Martin and Allison Springer, is hosting a course walk either Thursday or Friday afternoon. It’s free and everyone is welcome, but you must pre-register. Click
here for details and sign-up.
Always the annual favorite,
Jimmy Wofford’s course walk will be held this year on Friday, thirty minutes after the last dressage ride. The course walk is free of charge, and generously sponsored by Practical Horseman. Click
here for details.
We are working on getting the ‘Quick Links’ sidebar updated with this weekend’s info, but here are some links for you to peruse until then.
[Rolex Homepage] [Entry Status] And now for the news:
Coren may have relayed this story once or twice before to her EN followers; but evidently William Fox-Pitt’s sister, Alicia, is very close friends with Kate Middleton, and is rumored to have been one of the lucky 100 invited to The Wedding.
William Fox-Pitt, quite unlike Coren, doesn’t seem like much of a star struck individual, so I’d bet he’ll be able to concentrate on his weekend without giddily jumping up and down at the mere thought of William and Kate walking down the aisle. Read up on this tidbit, along with the many other ways Kentucky is
not related to the Royal Wedding
here.Speaking of Fairy Tale stories, one of the horses that will parade in the Royal Wedding later this week, Digger, had a less-than-royal start to life. According to
this article from the Jurga Report, “Digger was rescued by World Horse Welfare, rehabilitated, and adopted by the royal military unit.”
In some very sad news, eight horses died in a barn fire last Sunday in Ohio.
The cause of the fire, as determined by Fire Marshalls, was arson. Apparently, hate messages of homophobic nature were scrolled across the walls of the barn before it was lit in the attack.
[Horsetalk]The great Totilas recently developed a hoof abscess, which unfortunately will prevent him from participating in the seasonal debut at the Hagen show next week. In a press statement, Matthias commented, “We very much regret not being able to compete in Hagen, but the health and welfare of Totilas is always the top priority,”
[Horse and Hound]
In some exciting news on the scene of International Show Jumping,
Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum has announced that she will be competing the veteran Shutterfly, now eighteen years of age, Rolex FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final in Leipzig, Germany. Meredith was originally entered in the competition on a different horse, but recently confirmed that Shutterfly is her ride of choice. The World Cup Finals begin on Thursday and continue on through Monday, featuring the disciplines of Dressage, Driving, Vaulting, along with the Show Jumping competition of course.
[COTH]I will conclude what is quite possibly my longest post ever by wishing each and every one of the competitors ‘good luck’. John will be blogging throughout the course of the weekend, but all the rest of us will be cheering!
Go Eventing.
