A very happy Jen McFall with homebred Hallelujah DF, Champion 2-year-old FEH. Photo courtesy of Jen.
Packing rules: try not to wait until the last minute, wait until the last minute anyway, don’t forget to pack underwear that won’t be pink polka dots under your white competition britches, bring a cooler, don’t forget to put saddle pads in the trailer, make sure your horse has not lost a shoe the night before in the field, don’t forget your sunglasses, pack outfits for every possible weather condition, and definitely don’t forget to bring a bottle of wine and a baked good to share. In my life, I have broken EVERY one of these rules at some point. Except for the last one, I’m a southern girl after all and I know about hospitality.
National Holiday: Elephant Appreciation Day
U.S. Weekend Preview:
Flora Lea Fall H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Live Results]
Surefire Farm Fall H.T. [Website]
Sundance Farm H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]
Twin Rivers Fall H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]
Equestrians Institute H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]
News From Around the Globe:
Are you all ready for Jessica Phoenix’s story, in a book?? Well it’s happening. Her sister wrote a book about Jessie’s life and her rise to the top of the sport. “This is a story about trial and triumph. It’s about a small-town girl with big dreams and the faith to realize them. It’s about fighting through life-threatening injuries and injustice to achieve a greater goal — and doing so with a level of determination, confidence, and grace that shines bright. As Jessica Phoenix’s sister, I’ve been privy to the backstory of how a Canadian Olympian is made… It’s a powerful blueprint that we can all use to overcome the inevitable curveballs life throws at us.” Pre order your copy now! [RISE]
You did see that Fair Hill International entries went live yesterday, right? Ok, just checking. Making sure you’re on the up and up, you know. [FHI Entries]
Just because a horse is a “schoolmaster” doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to be a school horse. It’s common to think that a highly trained horse should be suitable for lessons or beginners after he’s reached a certain age and isn’t competing at the top levels anymore. While this may work for some horses, it’s not a hard and fast rule, and lots of highly trained horses find the practices for lesson horses very stressful. [Schoolmasters as School Horses]
Hot on Horse Nation: The Debt Free Equestrian: Balancing Your Checkbook, Balancing Your Life
100% Best Blog of the Week: How To Be A Better Boarder: AKA The Worst People At The Barn
KER ClockIt™ Session of the Week
The KER ClockIt Sport mobile app tracks an individual horse’s intensity and duration of exercise through speed, heart rate, and GPS, so that horse owners and trainers can condition and feed each horse appropriately for the work they’re actually performing.
The ClockIt Sport session featured this week belongs to an eventer who is taking her horse for a hack. Some hill work was worked into the session and, as you can see in the segment of the session below, the horse’s heart rate (purple line) increases while ascending the hill (blue line).
Multiple KER treadmill studies have shown that exercising horses on an incline greatly increases work intensity as measured by oxygen consumption, heart rate, and lactate production. These studies have shown that at a canter, a 1% increase in grade increases a horse’s heart rate 6 bpm—the same effect on heart rate as increasing speed 35 m/min on a level treadmill. Therefore, equal heart rates can be obtained by cantering horses on a 6% grade at 490 m/min as from galloping on the flat at 700 m/min.
By logging into your account on the KER ClockIt website, you will be able to see detailed reports of each session, like the one above. Once you are signed in, you can view your detailed sessions under the “Sessions” tab.
