It’s almost the weekend, Eventing Nation: Have you packed your canteens? This little Stansport number’s less than $10, and a fitting complement to both Visionaire’s recent hydration and post-cross-country care post, and Horse Nation columnist Dr. Jen Johnson’s article on the mechanics of equine heating and cooling. If you haven’t already, take a look at both pieces, which are best enjoyed with a glass of water.
This weekend’s events:
Virginia CCI*/HT [Website] [Times]
The Spring Event at Woodside [Website] [Times]
May-Daze at the Park [Website] [Times]
Flora Lee Spring HT [Website] [Times]
Corona Del Sol [Website] [Entry Status]
Mystic Valley Hunt Club HT [Website/Times]
Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia has “consistently resisted calls to send a female delegation” to the Olympics, the IOC closed their recent meeting–their final chance to sanction Saudi Arabia on the issue–without an official reproach. London would’ve otherwise been the first Olympic Games in which women were represented in every national delegation. [Telegraph]
Making better history: Hannah Zeitlhofer, a 2012 graduate of Vienna’s Spanish Riding School, will become the first female assistant rider in the establishment’s 440-year history. In the process, she also became an accomplished planker. [Jurga Report]
It’s Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, and she loves horses. “The Queen bred Doublet out of one of Prince Philip’s polo players and then watched her daughter, the Princess Royal, win the European Eventing Championships on him in 1971.” [Photos of the Queen’s Favorites]
Oh, yes. I’ve been that poor unfortunate: “If a student persists in making the same mistake, I tell them, ‘Even white rats learn from experience.’ This aphorism is terse, gets my point across and is certainly memorable, if you are the poor unfortunate on the receiving end.” [Jim Wofford for Practical Horseman]
It was 1923, and the Bolton Wanderers were set to take on West Ham United in Wembley Stadium’s first FA Cup Final—but the pitch was flooded, overrun by an obstreperous crowd of some 250,000. Who could possibly save the day? [Enter the White Horse]
This year marks the Chronicle’s 75th anniversary, and to celebrate, the staffers are raiding the attic to bring us weekly installments from the magazine’s past. This week we revisit the 1930s and 40s, and I know I’m not alone in wishing In The Country still read like this: “Mr. Jock McLean was omnipresent and conspicuous at the Baker-Emerson long lasting Long Island party wearing a beautiful mink cape under his dinner jacket. It was so cold you had to keep Big Appleing to stay warm. He outfitted himself with his fiancée’s cape, and the effect was amazing, like a fur lapelled jacket.” [Much more from COTH] [“Big Appleing”—is this the meaning?]
Lucky puppies: Young Rider Charlotte Jacobs won over $17,000 in prize money at the Saratoga Springs Horse Shows this month, and she’s donating it all to Danny and Ron’s Rescue, a no-kill shelter that has placed over 4,000 dogs. “It makes me feel really good and gives me an extra reason to go out there each week and do my best. My family loves dogs and we really want to support their mission.” [Horsetalk]
Best of the Blogs: McKenna Oxenden spent a long weekend with Emily Beshear and the Brickland Eventing crew, getting a little taste of how awesome her working-student-summer’s about to be: “I was able to ride one of Jaclyn’s horses again, and let me tell you: I think I have fallen in love. No not with the horse (although she was awesome too!) but with Emily. I’m not sure I have ever accomplished so much in ONE lesson.” [Horse Nation]
Zara Phillips and Toytown carrying the Olympic Torch at Cheltenham:
