Good morning Eventing Nation!
Success Equestrian, makers of non-slip saddle pads and wonderful eventing supporters, is proud of their continued support of the Equestrian Aid Foundation (EAF). A portion of every sale is contributed to this great organization helping those in our community who need it. The purchase of these saddle pads will directly affect the lives of Equestrians and Horse Enthusiasts supported by the Equestrian Aid Foundation. The EAF’s mission is to build a membership based organization to assist anyone in the equestrian world suffering from life threatening illness, catastrophic accidents or injuries by providing direct financial support for their medical or other basic needs. It is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization that provides grant recipients funding for medical, healthcare, rehabilitation and essential expenses, such as housing and food throughout their time of need. To learn more about the EAF visit www.equestrianaidfoundation.org.
Several events wrapped up around all the country.
Morven Park: Emily Beshear, Stephen Bradley, and Will Coleman each won a preliminary division. [Scores]
Galway Downs: Jeanine Allred and Snap Decision II won the Advanced with a double clear sj round. Super thank you to Kate Erickson again for all her great coverage. [Scores] [COTH]
Spring HT at the Ark: Quick shout out to Makenna Rold for winning the BNR-A on her dressage score of 26.2. [Scores]
Rocking Horse: Buck took the top two spots in the OI on Titanium and Absolute Liberty, respectively. KOC claimed the third spot on RF Amber Eyes, and picked up a couple stops on Mandiba, but completed. Alden Leavitt won the JYOP and Bruce Davidson, Sr took top honors in OP-B. If your name is Lauren, you probably won one of the other divisions at Rocking Horse. Lauren Kieffer won the OT, TH-A and TH-B. Lauren Clarke won the TR and Lauren DeNeve won Novice Horse. Go Lauren. [Scores]
Texas Rose: Heather Morris pulled off the win in the OI with Sportsfield Maisie Grey and the OT with Picture This. Mike Huber took the blue in the OP-A with On Eagle’s Wings, while Meighan Ferguson and Capataggle Clover ran double clear to clinch the OP-B. Joan Hamilton and Manhattan Skyline won the TR-A. [Scores]
The Talking Horse has brought us great coverage of Belton HT over the weekend. With Advanced sections and a CIC3* section with over 100 entries, there was quite a bit of talent riding around on Sunday. Andrew Nicholson piloted Avebury into first place in an Advanced section. Caroline Powell and Lenamore finished third in the same section. Mark Kyle and Coolio won the other Advanced section after Mary King and Chilli Morning “suffered at the hands of the course”. More coverage and fabulous photos:[The Talking Horse] [Belton Results]
War Horse comes out no DVD tomorrow. There are several packages you can buy DVD/Blueray combo packs or a plain DVD. There are some bonus features that sound interesting. For those of you waiting to cry watch it in the comfort of your own home, pick it up and let us know what you think. [Get your copy]
Beezie Madden bests Margie Engle in the Tampa Bay Grand Prix by 0.65 seconds. The only to clear in the first round, the each pulled a rail in the jump off. Madden completed in 42.01 while Engle finished in 42.66. They’re both headed to the World Cup in the Netherlands later this month as well as both having an eye on London. We wish our Show Jumping counterparts best of luck. [Tampa Bay Times]
For those of you Connemara owners in New Zealand, there’s currently a study you may want to take a part of. A graduate student is researching skin color at birth in greys to determine if there’s a link to melanoma. They chose the New Zealand Connemara due to its “small, closely related population”. [Cancer study]
Lots of “Oh $h!t” moments going on over at Horse Nation. Personally, I like it in slow motion. [HN]
An animal rights group in the UK urges the BBC to report on Grand National horse deaths. Animal Aid has written a letter to the BBC asking them to fully cover any deaths that may occur during the three days of the Grand National meeting. “Horses routinely break necks, backs and legs, while the BBC commentary team invariably pretends that all is well,” it reads. [Horsetalk]
Eight horses have survived, but nine horses have perished in a barn fire in Florida yesterday. The cause is unknown, but we send our thoughts to James and Jocelyn McKathan of McKathan Farm and Training Center in Reddick, FL. [Horsetalk]
Your video for the day: How all the top riders get fit.
Go Eventing.
