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How cool is this fence at France’s Le Pouget? I love the French commitment to making cross-country courses a work of art, rather than just function. Pierre le Goupil, Le Pouget’s designer, is also the course designer for the 2024 Paris Olympics, so I’m particularly excited to follow along with the competition this week from afar.
US Weekend Preview:
Ram Tap H.T. (Fresno, CA): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring]
SAzEA Fall H.T. (Tucson, AZ): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times]
Major International Events:
Le Pouget CCI4*-S (Montpellier, France): [Website] [Timetable] [Entry Lists] [Scoring] [Volunteer]
Taupo CCI4*-S (New Zealand): [Website] [Schedule]
News From Around the Globe:
Do you insure your horses? While insurance policies are common practice over here in the UK, they’re not as prevalent in the US — but they can really save your bacon if your horse suffers an expensive injury or becomes ill. That’s what Helen Alliston discovered when her four-star horse, Ebay, sustained some hidden injuries in a rotational fall, but with the help of her insurance brokers, she’s been able to give him everything he needs to come right again. [And then he went on to win the Advanced Final at the AEC!]
Goodbye to Westwood Mariner, who finished fourteenth at Burghley with Piggy March and went on to become a young rider’s dream horse. Throughout his career, ‘Rooney’ had a number of star riders on his back, including Polly Stockton, Izzy Taylor, and Ruth Edge, but it’s his last rider, Ella Woodhead, who is sharing her memories of the horse who changed her life. [We all need a Rooney]
Just in case you were starting to miss PCR testing, it’s back! But not quite in the way you’re used to. Instead, the tests will be used at Thermal and Wellington’s showgrounds to prevent outbreaks of EHV-1, which has swept through winter show circuits over the last two seasons and can have a devastating effect on the equine community. [Here’s how it works]
If you attended Kentucky this spring, you might have been inspired by the extraordinary para-showjumping demo that took place. One of the riders involved was Lily Rhodes, who lost an arm in an ATV accident as a teenager but hasn’t let it slow her down one bit. [Read her story here]
Watch this:
20-year-old Alice Casburn is one of our favourite riders here at EN, because her story is so pony novel: this year, she completed her third CCI5*, taking fifth at Burghley (and become the Young Rider European bronze medallist a few weeks prior!) with Topspin, a horse her mother bred after competing his dam and granddam at the upper levels. He still lives in the stable he was born in, and the pair began eventing together just a few years ago. She’s also just a gem of a person, and you can get to know her a bit more in this video from the FEI, who crowned her the Longines Rising Star of 2022 last week.
