Tik and Sinead, January 2014. Just look at those smiles!
Photo from Sinead's Facebook page.
Our congratulations to Tik Maynard and Sinead Halpin who were married in Mexico this week. Not that I’m a Facebook stalker or anything, but all of the pictures are beautiful. You should pop on over to Sinead’s Facebook page and check them out. The smiles say it all. Does it get any cuter than a couple who events together? I think not! EN wishes Tik and Sinead the best in their future together.
It’s been a busy few days in the chinchilla compound, as everyone adjusts to the new format of Eventing Nation. This isn’t our first change– our last one included a change of servers, which presented a whole host of problems, but the look and feel of the site was pretty familiar to the original 1995/2010 version. With today’s new format, we left 1995 behind…and we want to know what you think.
Of course, overwhelming initial response to change is usually an emphatic NO! But some changes have been requested for years; we’ve always had complaints that important posts slip too quickly off the main page, and not everyone liked the idea of scrolling past thousands of words and photos to catch up every few days. This new look will hopefully suit a wide variety of readers and become clear and easy to use. We still have some exciting new features to unveil in the next week or two, so stay tuned.
For regular visitors who miss reading all posts in their entirety on one page– don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Look up to the top toolbar and you’ll see a link for “Classic EN,” which will have all our latest content published like it used to be, no clicking required unless you wish to comment.
There could still be a few bugs and kinks to work out– if you find one, please let us know, and send us your suggestions to improve the site. If you hate it, tell us why! Email [email protected], we welcome your feedback!
Photo by Samantha Clark from Rolex 2011
Our sport lost a great one on Friday when Jessica Phoenix’s long time partner, Exploring “Digby,” passed away in Florida. Jessica posted the following on her Facebook:
It’s with extreme sadness that I’m writing to let you know that Exploring, more affectionately known as Digby, suddenly passed away this morning. Words cannot convey the grief that I’m feeling right now. I have lost a true partner and beloved part of our family. Arriving at our farm in Florida, Digby was frisky and excited to be in warm weather where he could gallop and play in his paddock. He was his spunky self, prancing around and full of attitude. When I went to him this morning, he was uncharacteristically lying down and I immediately knew something was wrong. I quickly called our vet and as we waited for her to arrive, Digby closed his eyes for the last time. The suspected cause is internal hemorrhaging and I take solace in knowing that he wasn’t in pain when he passed. We did everything we could, but unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done to save him.
I have peace in knowing that I was with him as he took his last breaths. He meant more to me than I can express and as you can imagine, we are devastated. Digby and I had an unbreakable bond. He is forever in my heart; my partner that brought me to the international level of competition and always gave his all. We trusted each other completely, travelling around the world together and accomplishing so much. Digby, we celebrate your incredible life and all your accomplishments as we say good-bye.
Sincerely,
Jessie
Every top rider has that horse who carries them to the top of the sport for the first time. Those horses inevitably save the day for their riders more times than we can count. And they inevitably don’t receive as much recognition as they deserve from the rest of us. But behind every great rider is the horse that got them there. Exploring was that horse for Jessie.
“Digby” took Jessie around her first 3*, and to 15 advanced level FEI competitions after that. Perhaps most importantly, Digby carried Jessie around her first team competition for Canada, finishing 12th individually at the 2007 Pan Ams and part of the silver medal Canadian team. When I remember Digby, I’ll remember a model of the consummate professional and a horse that got the absolute most out of his ability. Digby made the 2008 Olympic team for Canada, but was unable to compete due to a tendon injury. Not to be deterred, he came back and competed at the advanced level with Jessie for three more years. You can read more about the awesome horse in this great article that Samantha wrote about Digby’s comeback. Exploring spent the final years of his career mentoring talented junior rider Alyssa Phillips up through the young rider ranks.
Eventing Nation’s thoughts and prayers reach out to Jessie, Alyssa, and the entire Phoenix Equestrian Team. Go Exploring.
Snow, snow go away. Photo via Jules Vogel.
With the weather getting up to a balmy 40 degrees yesterday, I am hopeful that a reprieve from the cold temperatures is approaching. For most of you, I’m sure that means plenty of barn time is in store. How do your horses handle a break in the cold temperatures? They usually seem as relieved as I do when the sun pokes out and the thermometer climbs into the positive reading again. Perhaps it’s just because they are thankful to shed at least one of the blanket layers that we impose during this time of year. The good news is that the 2014 season is officially showing signs of life as the Ocala Horse Properties Winter Horse Trials kick off today. I am not sure that I have ever been more thankful to see live scores as I am now.
Events This Weekend:
Ocala Horse Properties Winter HT: [Website] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
Saturday Links:
Be sure to brush up on the current USEA membership guidelines before you renew.
Want to win a year’s worth of supplements from SmartPak?
Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum has sold her 2012 Olympic mount, Bella Donna 66.
Over 80 neglected horses have been seized in Indiana.
Catch up on the 2014 USEF Annual Meeting coverage here.
Sports psychologist Daniel Stewart came up with a list of tips for equestrians.
Best of the Blogs:
Wallace Eventing: A Mustang Winter Wonderland
Saturday Video:
Check out the USEF’s 2013 Year in Review video, premiered at last night’s Pegasus Awards.
EN loves photos shot between the ears! If you happen to be out for a hack, are riding in some obscure place or just take some cool photos aboard your mount, send them to [email protected] with a quick blurb about the photo’s story. This week’s View comes to us from Josie Hoffman in Virginia.
From Josie: “Ever have that feeling like you are being watched? Yeah, that was me the other morning. This beauty was in the tree for a good 10 minutes before I noticed him, and he continued to sit there for another half hour. Totally chill enjoying the morning sun, cleaning his feathers.”
Up close and personal!
Lynn Symansky and Donner at Richland, is one of many OTTBs now competing at the upper levels. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Yesterday the Retired Racehorse Training Project (RRTP) released the results of a study — the first of its kind — exploring the pipeline that connects Thoroughbred ex-racers with new careers. Owners of 4,200 OTTBs in 47 states and Canada responded to a survey that yielded some interesting statistics.
We eventers have long counted ourselves as some of the OTTB’s biggest cheerleaders — a big Thoroughbred heart just can’t be beat. So it was affirming to see that when the numbers got crunched, we were putting our money where our mouth is. Among survey respondents, eventing was the most reported discipline.
Graphic from RRTP website
The study gathered a variety of data describing the typical OTTB owner (80% amateur, 78% competitive riders, 95% female, all age groups represented), as well as information about the horses they own. Among the things they looked at were the specifics of how they came into their current situation.
“The public believes that racing owners dump their retiring horses into auctions and that a lucky few get rescued and adopted,” RRTP president Steuart Pittman said in a press release. “Our survey tells a different story. Most of these horses were not rescued. They were sold or donated through networks of people both inside and outside of racing who work very hard to transition these animals.”
Graphic from RRTP website
Even though the track-to-second-career transition process has become more streamlined in recent years, thanks in large part to the hard work of nonprofit placement organizations and support programs like RRTP, it still faces a myriad of challenges.
One is the question of how to motivate trainers to retire racehorses while they’re still sound enough to be useful riding horses. The report explains, “The prices paid for sound horses coming directly from the track is far less than the lowest claiming price and less than a month of training. The first step in placing more horses into productive second careers is to offer incentives to owners to retire horses from racing when they are still sound. Higher demand, higher prices, and better access to the riding market give racing owners both a financial and a moral incentive to retire horses sound.”
The report also notes that prices and adoption fees are so low it puts those providing transition services in a difficult financial position. According to the report, “Subsidizing the transition process is an important part of the solution. Increasing demand through public education and promotion, however, has the potential to raise prices to a level that covers those costs, allowing more of the farms that have space for these horses to do this important work.”
A full copy of the report, Exploring the Bridge to Second Careers, is available through RRTP and can be read online at retiredracehorsetraining.org.
Author’s Note: OTTBs! I’m the biggest fan. This is my former horse Rowdy, who found his calling in a second career as an event horse. Mind, heart, athleticism … he was the total package. Go OTTBs, and Go Eventing!
Andrea Waldo and Serendipity Traveller in the Open intermediate at GMHA last year. Used with permission from Flatlandsfoto.
Forget the wind, ice and freezing temps — let’s have a look at what Area 1 has in store for all of us diehard event riders! Have you heard? GMHA (Green Mountain Horse Association) in South Woodtock, Vt., has exciting news for 2014. The association is offering — now brace yourself — a CIC* as part of the annual Festival of Eventing. Last summer, this event was so exciting because an Intermediate division was held for a second year in a row.
The 2014 Festival of Eventing will be held over a very long weekend, starting with the much anticipated Novice/Training Classic Three-Day on July 28-31. Then, the Festival of Eventing clinics starts Aug. 4-6, featuring clinicians such as Bobby Costello and Bonnie Mosser, in addition to several others.
To top it all off, the actual horse trials run Aug. 8-10 and will be offering levels Beginner Novice through Intermediate, as well a CIC*. Plus, the GMHA Festival will award $10,000 in prize money for the Intermediate division. There will also be trade fairs, competitors parties — oh, and did I mention there’s a CIC*?! Come join the fun, volunteer, compete or be a spectator at the gorgeous Green Mountain facility. I am already starting to count down the days!
To get you excited for the Area I season, here’s Andrea Waldo and Serendipity Traveller competing in Open Intermediate at the GMHA Festival last year (video by The Horse Pesterer):
Jump a coffin? No big deal.
Courtney Due of the JustJump3Day blog recently posted her own list of signs that you may suffer from the eventing bug. Courtney graciously agreed to let us reprint her post here on EN, so we want to know what you would add to the list. To follow Courtney’s blog adventures, click here.
10 Signs You Might Be an Eventer
1. Someone mentions jumping their horse over a coffin, and this doesn’t sound strange at all to you.
2. The most expensive pair of pants you own are breeches.
3. You don’t blink at spending $300 on a winter turnout blanket for your horse, but you think $100 is a fortune to spend on your own winter coat.
4. When you see stacks of railroad timber on the side of the road, you wonder if anyone would notice if you hauled it away. You could build an awesome XC jump with all that!
5. You think golf courses are a terrible waste of perfect terrain.
6. You wear breeches, tall boots, and rock helmet hair without shame in public places.
7. When you mention going to Florida for the winter, your friends know you’re not talking about spending time on the beach.
8. You haven’t seen that new YouTube video everyone’s talking about, but you’ve watched Andrew Nicholson’s Burghley “Oh Crap!” moment 100 times.
9. You shell out $250 for a $0.95 ribbon and don’t think it’s crazy.
10. The combined worth of your tack is worth more than your car.
Have anything to add? Comment below!
Our favorite filmmakers are back with a new episode of Evention. I don’t know about you, but I’ve become rather addicted to this series. Keep it up, Dom and Jimmie! We here at EN greatly appreciate the work you have put into Evention. My personal favorite part of this edition of Evention has to do with car cleanliness standards of regular people versus horse people. I’m sure you can guess the rest. Enjoy!
Caroline Martin, shown here with Titanium at Plantation Field, was one of the riders participating in the Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes training sessions. Photo by Jenni Autry.
The inaugural Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes training sessions wrapped up earlier this month, with 12 riders studying under Coach David O’Connor’s tutelage in Ocala. The five riders hailing from the West Coast — one from Washington State and four from California — were loaned horses for the training sessions so they didn’t have to incur the expensive of transporting their mounts across the country.
David indicated during his High Performance meetings at the USEA Convention that he hopes the program will grow enough this year to demand holding training sessions on both sides of the country. “We have to tweak how these riders are recognized and how they’re found,” David said. “We need to be better at that (in 2014) — determining how they’re identified.”
The riders participating in the inaugural training sessions were Brynn Littlehale, Saratoga, Calif.; David Pawlak, Boyce, Va.; Patience O’Neal, Spokane, Wash.; Adrian Jones, Schamong, N.J.; Madison Temkin, Sonoma, Calif.; Mia Farley, San Clemente, Calif.; Jamie Doolittle, Reddick, Fla.; Nicole Doolittle, Reddick, Fla.; Caroline Martin, Miami Beach, Fla.; Savannah Fulton, Finksburg, Md.; Reagan LaFleur, Lafayette, La.; and Maddy Mazzola, Oakland, Calif.
Founded last March, the Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes program seeks to provide a solid training foundation for the next generation of professional riders who will ideally one day represent the U.S. in team competitions. Similar to other successful programs in European countries — like the longstanding U18 program in Great Britain — the idea is to identify young riders who have both the talent and drive to succeed and give them the tools and resources they need.
As more riders are talent spotted into the Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes program, more time will be needed to see the riders receive the instruction and face time they need. While David said at the USEA Convention he would like to keep directing the Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes program for the next few years — as well as the Under 25 program — his vision is to ultimately hire an assistant coach who would be responsible for guiding these programs.
“I believe there needs to be a separate coach at some point that we could fundraise for, and we’ve already started talking about fundraising for a coach who could give a 10-year commitment to handle the Under 25 and Under 18 programs,” David said. “We’re still several steps from that point, but that’s something I think would be useful in order to make sure whoever the head coach is has more time to deal with just the High Performance riders and not be spread too thin.”
Until then, the Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes program is off to a very strong start, with the riders who participated in the inaugural training sessions praising the experience. “It’s a great program just to start to give younger people the knowledge that they need to do well. I had a wonderful experience. It was great to get to know new people since I don’t know the riders on the East Coast, especially in Young Riders,” West Coast rider Maddy Mazzola said in a USEF press release.
“One thing [O’Connor] really stressed was to be aware and pay attention to all the details, train yourself to pay attention, because if you miss small things now they will become bigger problems later on. He also pointed out that it is important to have supporters in this sport and to thank them for all they do,” Maddy said.
Nicole Doolittle agreed with Maddy’s assessment of the sessions: “It was an amazing opportunity. He stressed establishing a core foundation for riders to advance in equestrian sport, because when you have good basics things more advanced questions become easier. It was great to meet other riders and make connections that will hopefully last a really long time,” she said in the same USEF press release.
David also found the week-long training sessions very valuable, for both the riders and himself as the coach: “For me, it was very rewarding. We had 12 kids basically talented-spotted from around the country who have a lot of potential. The California riders were on borrowed horses that we were lucky enough to use,” O’Connor said in the USEF press release. “I was extremely pleased with their progress all week. They took a lot in and showed great improvement.”
Establishing a program to groom young riders to one day represent the U.S. is a critical aspect of any national program, and the successful launch of Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes puts us on par with other countries currently dominating the sport. It’s just one more sign U.S. eventing is heading in the right direction.
The application deadline for the next Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes training sessions is March 7, 2014, and the form and more information will be available by mid-January to members through their My USEF accounts. Click here to read the full USEF press release on the Eventing 18/Advancing Athletes training sessions.
