Classic Eventing Nation

Apparently Baseball Players Are Tougher Than Football Players

By on Sep 30, 2013 10:30 am -

Forget the Gold Watch, Rockies Star Gets Horse as Retirement Gift

 

Unlike fellow pro athlete Eric Berry, (captured quaking in his cleats, muttering “I don’t fool with no horses, boy,” as his equine team mascot trotted by) Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton’s not scared of horses at all.

Which is good, as the team gave him one as a retirement present in a ceremony at his last home game in Denver this week. (VIDEO)

After his daughter threw Helton the ceremonial first pitch of the game, officials walked champion American paint horse A Tru Bustamove down the third based line. Helton, his wife and daughters (who seemed far more excited about the horse than the baseball player) have a ranch.

“We all know that you need more than one horse,” said the announcer, as the gelding approached the Heltons.

And with career earnings of approximately $161,490,00 over 17 seasons, Helton can afford it.

Helton patted the horse with his baseball glove and high-fived teammates.

Then he hit a home run.

Who’s the fool?

Maybe Berry should find a 12-step program for equiphobia.

Brooke Schafer: Jump Start HT

By on Sep 30, 2013 8:59 am -

Brooke Schafer has sent a few submissions to us before — A Clinic with Karen O’Connor, An Event Report from Holly Hill, and From Race Tracks to Galloping Lanes— and today she kindly shared with us an account of her weekend at Jump Start Horse Trials at the Kentucky Horse Park.  The weather was beautiful in Lexington (sorry Texas!) and many full divisions ran at every level from starter through preliminary.  [Results]  Thanks to Brooke for writing and thank you for reading.

 

From Brooke:

 

With the excitement of the American Eventing Championships this past weekend I wanted to take a chance to highlight another event that happened this weekend in Lexington, KY. Jump Start Horse Trials kicked off Friday at the Kentucky Horse Park. Having just moved from Area V to Area VIII it was hard for me to miss the familiar fun going on in Tyler, Texas but I was still quite happy to event 800 miles away in Kentucky (even if it wasn’t AECs!). The weather was beautiful and there were several hundred horses competing from Starter to Prelim. My mount, Paint By Numbers (10 year old APHA gelding), competed in his first event at BN finishing 8th with double clear cross country and stadium rounds. I was very proud of him and met a lot of great eventers eager to welcome me. Many smiles were had by riders this weekend as each phase progressed and the weather was picturesque. I took a minute this morning to snap some photos before my rides. Although we all wish we could have been in Texas this week, it was a beautiful weekend in Kentucky!

Paint By Numbers (author horse)

(All photos by Author)

 

Monday News and Notes from Success Equestrian

By on Sep 30, 2013 12:01 am -

Smarty Pants with Stacy handling, Ashley in the irons.

Good Morning, EN!  Meet Smarty Pants (“Marty”), Stacy and Ashley.  With the Breaking-Bad-is-really-over blues setting in, I figured you could use a dose of cute to start off your week.  Marty is 30 years old and will always hold a very special place in my heart as he packed me around the Jumper ring in the 90’s. In addition to the AECs this weekend was Ashley’s first show! Marty and Ashley took home a blue in Lead Line at the Clear Round Hunter/Jumper Show, hosted by Spokane Sport Horse Farm. It makes me warm and fuzzy to know that Marty has touched so many lives and is well loved in his retirement.  It is very apparent that I need to go find an itty-bitty purple cross-country vest and ship it north!

2013 American Eventing Championships

This weekend was full of excitement at the AEC’s.  Thunderstorms rolled in late Saturday evening as the Advanced Stadium was about to get underway.  Due to the weather, organizers were forced to postpone Stadium until 7:45am Sunday morning.  Ultimately, Lainey Ashker and Anthony Patch were victorious in the Advanced division.  After seeing how sloppy the ring looked, I’m thinking it’s Lainey’s secret passion for the Tough Mudder runs that gave her the extra edge in Stadium!  Kristi Nunnink and R-Star finished second, Ellen Doughty finished third on Sir Oberon.

[AEC Homepage] [Results] [AEC Saturday Recap] [AEC Advanced Stadium Recap]

Weekend Results

Jump Start H.T.  [Results]

University of New Hampshire [Results]

The Middleburg H.T. [Results]

Flora Lea Fall H.T. [Results]

Events Opening this Week

Full Moon Farms H.T. (Maryland, A-2) Fresno County Horse Park Horse Trials (California, A-6) Ocala Horse Properties Fall Event (Florida, A-3) River Glen Fall H.T. (Tennessee, A-3) The Fork Horse Trials (North Carolina, A-2) Las Cruces H.T. (New Mexico, A-10)

Monday News 

Amy Barrington Update: Over the weekend Rachel Barrington reported that Amy was quite feisty when she was awake and spent some time trying to convince Ben and Rachel to let her do things that she isn’t allowed to just yet, such as stand up!  Kick on, Amy!  You’ve got this!  [Amy Barrington Recovery on Facebook]

Equestrian Culture Magazine is looking to move from the digital space in to print.  Founded by Danielle Demers and published quarterly, Equestrian Culture showcases style, art and small businesses representing the equestrian lifestyle.  Rachel Hunt of Cricket&Blue serves as the magazine’s copy editor while Leah Anderson, friend of EN and owner of Dapplebay Inc is involved as the creative director.  They’ve launched a Kickstarter to help them get to print and could use your help. [EquestrianCulture Kickstarter]

Wild Horse auction goes off without a hitch.  Horse auctions are often a touchy topic, especially when it comes to mustangs.  This past weekend’s wild horse sale in Wishek, ND was instrumental to getting 103 wild horses from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in to new homes.  The top selling horse went for $2800.  After Elisa Wallace’s win at the Extreme Mustang Makeover maybe we’ll see more Eventers interested in Mustangs.  [Bismark Tribune]

Sometimes the long shot rises to the occasion.  Ron the Greek went off at 21-1 odds in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational at Belmont Park this weekend.  Jose Lezcano piloted Ron the Greek thru a huge opening on the rail at the top of the stretch to leave Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice in the dust.  Ron the Greek won decisively by 6 and 3/4 lengths. [Miami Herald]

Harold Megahey is chasing the dream. After winning gold at the FEI European Eventing Championships for Juniors, Harold has his sights on making the Irish Olympic team. Harold will spend the next year in Germany with Dirk Schrage, Germany’s gold team medal winner at the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 European Championships.  [Antrim Times]

From Horse Nation: 11 Memes That Show How You Really Feel About Dressage Some day, when my DQ friend Kali lets me do the music for her Freestyle, I’m totally going to make the music for the entrance super dramatic.  Then as she halts, Stephen Colbert’s voice will come over the music asking “What are the origins of Dressage?”  Then he’ll deliver the now famous line and it’ll turn in to a dance party.  Fierce!  [Horse Nation]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnrVqae46z4
We’re just 10 days out from Boekelo! 

Clinic Raises $7,000 to Benefit Amy Barrington

By on Sep 29, 2013 6:30 pm -

The eventing community has rallied around Amy Barrington and her family since her accident last month. Tamie Smith sent in this wonderful report on a benefit clinic and silent auction that members of Area IX held for Amy. Many thanks to Tamie for writing, and go Amy. 

Tamie Smith teaches at the clinic. Photo courtesy of Hillary Whitt.

From Tamie Smith:

Last weekend, a group of amazing people all came together to help Amy Barrington and her family get through this terrible tragedy. It all started when Niki Clarke, my dressage trainer and one of my very good friends, called me up after days of crying about Amy and asked what we could do. She wanted to make a difference in Amy’s recovery. We brainstormed and started organizing a fundraiser clinic at Galway Downs.

It was that phone call that inspired my thought of also donating the proceeds of a clinic I was heading to Utah to teach at Lynnleigh Farm. Erin Hofmann, Area IX chair, fellow two-star competitor, and queen of organizing an amazing clinic and silent auction really outdid herself. She organized the clinic at Lynnleigh, and everyone involved was outstanding.

Some of my sponsors offered to donate items to the cause, and then a lot of people started donating items and services, and then we had a full-fledged silent auction. What a wonderful world we live in. The weekend ran smoothly. The weather was immaculate. I was able to teach Beginner Novice through Intermediate riders and horses and had a very rewarding time doing it watching them all improve.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to be surrounded by such wonderful people. We went home to look at what everyone raised and it was $7,000 in just two days. I’m so excited that we could help contribute to helping a fellow competitor, and we did it by doing what she would have loved doing.

Horses are dangerous; this is a fact. Some people ask me why and how I can compete in my sport when I have children. I say to them that my horses love what they do as much as I do and sometimes more, and if you go through life worried about every bad thing that could happen, that’s not a very fun way to live.

Living is dangerous! I am an example to my children to strive to be the very best, to have passion, determination and to never give up. I’m living my life to give back to the sport that saved me as a kid and to the people who I have been lucky enough to have in my life since I was 8 years old.

This weekend reminded me of how blessed I am to have so many excellent people in my life. Amy Barrington will recover! With all of the people who have pulled together to bring out the power of healing, she has every chance to make a full recovery. I just wanted to thank you ALL for your contribution. Big or small, the wonderful gift of coming together is beautiful.

Michael Pollard Recaps His Weekend at the AECs

By on Sep 29, 2013 5:00 pm -

Leslie, of Sport Horse Nation and USEA fame, and I caught up with Michael Pollard back in the barns during the massive rain delay on Saturday evening to catch up on his busy weekend. Michael has thus far had a pretty successful weekend here in Texas, most recently taking 2nd in a competitive Intermediate division on Schoensgreen Hanni and took 5th overall in the Advanced on Mensa G. Enjoy the interview!

 

Elisa Wallace and Rune at the AECs

By on Sep 29, 2013 4:00 pm -

Elisa Wallace rose to EN fame for her work with mustangs when she won the Extreme Mustang Makeover competition with her horse Fledge. She now has a new mustang, Rune, who she only acquired a few months ago and has made whirlwind progress with. I stopped by to visit with Elisa (and Rick – or Mick, as we decided was his new name since apparently I couldn’t speak coherently!) and Rune on Saturday and Elisa was kind enough to show off some of Rune’s new moves. Elisa hopes to event Rune at some point, and said that he seems to have plenty of scope as he has had no trouble clearing 5 foot pasture fences at home! Big thank you to Elisa and Rune for spending some time with me!

Tamra Smith Recaps Her Weekend at the AECs

By on Sep 29, 2013 2:30 pm -

Tamra Smith and Sunsprite Syrius led wire to wire this weekend in the Training Horse division at the AECs. Tamra had a busy weekend here with several rides in different divisions. I was able to watch her show jumping round in the Intermediate on Fleur de Lis, on whom she ended up 8th. Tamra was nice enough to chat with me for a few moments on her win with Syrius as well as the rest of her weekend. Many thanks to Tamra for taking a few moments out of her day!

 

Mallory Striver: A Great Weekend at the AECs

By on Sep 29, 2013 12:45 pm -

Mallory is competing at the AECs for the first time this year at novice level. After qualifying with a second-place finish at the Area IV Championships, Mallory was heartbroken to learn her horse was starting to develop degenerative joint disease. The AECs will be their last event together before he retires from jumping. They are sitting in eighth place heading in show jumping today.  [AECs Live Scores]

Mallory and Phoenix heading to cross country.

From Mallory:

Hello again, Eventing Nation! It has been a pretty busy past couple of days here at Texas Rose Horse Park, and the weather is humid and hot. Volunteers have been busy making sure everyone is staying hydrated, and they have a large cooling out station out by cross country, which has been beneficial. I’ve got to hand it to the event volunteers; they are really working hard to make this a great and smooth event. It has been a pretty successful weekend so far for Julie Wolfert Eventing. Including Julie and her nine students, seven of us are in the ribbons. That is pretty exciting to have that many students qualify, but then to actually do well is an accomplishment in its own.

Friday was a hectic day of constant running around. I braided early and then lightly lunged my horse to help him stretch out his old man back. He was definitely feeling himself that morning, bucking and exploding into his canter transitions, which reassured me that he was feeling good. I wasn’t feeling too nervous for dressage because since I haven’t been able to jump my horse leading up to this, I really hammered the dressage work in.

All of my hard work paid off because Phoenix was great from the get-go in warmup and carried it right over into his test, earning us a 28 to start the weekend off in eighth place — and my new personal best dressage score. I set it my goal to score in the 20s this weekend, so I was pretty ecstatic to accomplish that. After that I filmed some dressage of the girls from our group, and watched some upper-level cross country. Julie and Aires made easy work of the Intermediate course to move them into third, and then we all headed back to the barns to tuck our horses in for another day. Needless to say, our whole group was pretty satisfied after dressage day.

Cross country day was another exciting day. The weather was absolutely perfect the first half of the day, with temps in the 80s and a breeze. It’s amazing how much cooler it feels with a little cloud coverage. There was a lot of action going on at the park. Upper levels were stadium jumping from 8 a.m. up until the storms rolled in at 5 p.m., while lower levels stormed around cross country all day.

Phoenix and I went early in the afternoon and went clean and inside the time to stay in eighth. The course rode great — definitely a championship course for the level, and the terrain really decided where the jumps were placed. Later in the day, we watched (and drooled over) some nice horses in the Intermediate. Julie jumped a beautiful stadium round, but unfortunately had the last rail down to finish in fourth place, which is still exciting! After the Advanced division got rained out due to that crazy downpour, I skipped out on the competitors party to braid and prepare Phoenix for show jumping.

I’m really excited for stadium today. The course looks fun, and I feel more than ready to finish the weekend strong. I’m sad to see the weekend coming to an end. I’ve literally counted down to this week for the past year, and just like that it has come and gone in the blink of an eye. It has been a great first experience at the AECs, and I know as Texas Rose starts to add its flavor to the event that the next two years will be just as awesome. Go eventing.

Anthony Patch’s Advanced AEC Show Jumping Recap

By on Sep 29, 2013 11:25 am -

Laine Ashker and Anthony Patch on their way to the win. Photo courtesy of Liz Hall.

In true butterfly form, Laine Ashker and Anthony Patch skipped over the mud and came home double clear to hold onto their lead in the Advanced division at the AECs. Unfortunately, my camera seems to have suffered a stroke this morning, so I must send a big thank you to Liz Hall who sent me her photos as soon as she got to the airport. Laine looked absolutely elated to win the blue this weekend, as she should. This is one pair that has worked extremely hard to get where they are today, and their consistent placings this season are making them a true force to be reckoned with.

Kristi Nunnink and R-Star. Photo courtesy of Liz Hall.

R-Star looked sharp for Kristi Nunnink, storming around the course cleanly to come up for 2nd place after Ellen Doughty had a couple of rails down. I definitely found a huge soft spot for this striking mare over the weekend, since this is the first time I have gotten to see her in person. Kristi is a true class act and we are looking forward to a successful showing at Pau from these two next.

Ellen Doughty, who I was incredibly impressed to find out is virtually self-taught, had a couple of unfortunate rails down to fall down a place to 3rd. This is an extremely poised and impressive pair to keep an eye on, and the fingers crossed plan is to aim for Rolex next year.

Richard Jeffrey’s course, true to form, took many victims in the form of rails, and only 3 pairs finished with no rails down and no time. Jonathan Holling and DHI Zatopek B had one rail down to move from 6th to 4th. This horse looks like quite a handful, and Jon does an excellent job keeping him contained.

Michael Pollard and Mensa G. Photo courtesy of Liz Hall.

Michael Pollard took it relatively easy on Mensa G today, coming home with a rail down and a handful of time penalties. Michael was looking for a solid run in preparation for Pau and he should be pleased with Mensa’s performance this weekend. They head to France in just a couple of weeks.

Barb Crabo rode a steady rode on Eveready to leave the rails up and pick up one time fault.

Kyle Carter and Madison Park continued their comeback tour with a couple of rails down to end up in 7th overall. Parker looked fantastic all weekend and I am really excited that he looks to be on the right track for his comeback.

Hawley Bennett and Gin & Juice. Photo courtesy of Liz Hall.

Hawley Bennett-Awad and Gin & Juice had 2 rails down to wind up in 8th overall. Hawley’s goal, like Michael and Kristi, was to get around this weekend with solid runs, and Ginny looks to be in top form for Pau.

Jon Holling and Proper Timing had 2 rails down and a few time to drop a place to 9th on the weekend. I could flip a coin to say which of Jon’s two Advanced rides this weekend was my favorite, but I think Proper Timing might get the slight edge for me.

Katy Groesbeck and Oz the Tin Man. Photo courtesy of Liz Hall.

Katy Groesbeck and Oz the Tin Man had a stellar show jumping round, completing one of only three double clear rounds all day. “Wort,” as he is known around the barn, looked polished and professional all the way around and they attacked this course with a vengeance. Katy wrote on Facebook that she was absolutely thrilled with her course and her weekend overall. Katy, who has been a student of Hawley’s, will hitch a ride back East with Laine and Al and will be staying there to train with Buck.

Alexandra Green and Fernhill Cubalawn had 5 rails down to take 11th place on the weekend. Alex said on her Facebook that Cuba “felt his way around” the course today, so I would imagine the mud may have been a factor.

Avery Klunick and In It To Win It held their 12th place position with 2 rails down and 10 time. Avery was the youngest competitor in the Advanced this weekend, a 20 year old college junior. Avery did a great interview with the USEA before AECs and seems like a great young lady to keep an eye on. You can find the interview here.

After having a couple of stops on cross country, Barb Crabo and Over Easy had 2 rails down this morning. Over Easy is still relatively new to the Advanced level, having completed 2 Advanced runs and 1 3 star run prior to this. This mare is fun to watch and should be a true talent for Barb in the near future.

Kim Keeton and Accolade Win the Senior Prelim Amateur AEC

By on Sep 29, 2013 11:09 am -

Kim Keeton and Accolade

It was certainly Kim’s weekend here at the AECs, as she and her homebred stallion, Accolade, took the top honors in the Senior Prelim Amateur division. I spoke with Kim last night after her cross country and she told me that Accolade was not the most reliable in show jumping yet, but that she felt a bit better having a rail in hand. Turns out the rail in hand was all she needed to clinch the win.

Darlenne McInnes, from Colorado, moved up from 6th to take 2nd place on Warlord, and Janet Marden, from Texas, secured 3rd on Flagmount’s Amazing Grace.

I was able to catch up with Kim back at the barns to talk about her winning weekend. She also mentioned that she dedicated her rides this weekend to Christine Brown, who passed away earlier this year. A portion of Kim’s winnings will be donated to Christine’s fundraising efforts. Enjoy the video below!