Good morning Eventing Nation and welcome to dressage day 1 at Rolex! Let’s jump right in to what you care about most–the best ways to keep track of Rolex all weekend. The answer is pretty simple; watch the free live feed on the USEF Network in one browser window and the collaborative live blog from Eventing Nation, the Chronicle, and the USEA in another browser window. If you live outside of North America, you can watch Rolex on FEI TV for a subscription fee, but it is not available in North America. Regarding Horses has an explanation of the FEI TV broadcast, but the easy solution is to just watch on the USEF Network. The live blog will be posted here on EN, on the Chronicle’s website, and on the USEA homepage before the start of dressage at 10am ET.
–Our friends at the Horse Radio Network will also be broadcasting live from the horse park throughout the weekend from 4 to 5:30pm ET each day. Click here for the online radio player.
–The competitors’ party was a great time last night but if one person had a better time than me it would have to be Allison Springer. Allison won both the best dressed award and then the drawing for the Rolex watch. A new pair of Dubarry’s and a new Rolex isn’t a bad way to get the weekend started. Clayton Fredericks won the best dressed male award and a pair of Dubarry’s as well. As I told Clayton, he has a great shot at winning the watch the hard way this weekend.
–Speaking of Dubarry’s, the boots came to the rescue for Sidelines. [Lauren Gallops]
–Other than Rolex, it’s a pretty quiet morning around the eventing world. Aachen is preparing to present plans for a one time European Equestrian Games in 2015. The games would be for 5 disciplines–the big three, vaulting and driving. [Horse and Hound]
–We may have gotten lucky with not having tornadoes here in Lexington, but our friends in Alabama were not so fortunate. We wish them the best in recovering from the disasters and hope that the eventing community in Alabama avoided the damage.
—Best of the Blogs: Doesn’t the USEF know we have other events this weekend?
–Today’s TOTD item is Airowear vest for $100 off, only available until noon. [TOTD]
–There’s still time to buy Rolex XC tickets on Groupon half off for $15 [Groupon]
That’s all for now. We’ll see everyone in a few minutes for the live blog. A big Eventing Nation good luck to all of the Rolex competitors this weekend. As always, wherever you might be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your day. Go eventing.
