Fall days in Virgina can hardly be beat. Photo by Kate Samuels.
The weather in Virginia has ben absolutely out of this wold nice. High forties at night, low seventies during the day, perfect lighting that makes everything look magical, and I’m honestly living my best life on horseback. My neighbors who have a few thousand acres under conservation easement and love preserving land for horseback use, they make it possible for me to enjoy parts of Virginia that otherwise nobody gets to see. I’m so lucky to have access to that, and I wish more riders had the ability to truly hack their horses out the way that I do.
U.S. Weekend Preview
Morven Park International & Fall Horse Trials (Leesburg, VA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times][Volunteer] [Scoring]
Pine Hill Fall H.T. (Bellville, TX) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Poplar Place Farm October H.T. (Hamilton, GA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]
Radnor Hunt H.T. (Malvern, PA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Redefined Equestrian Horse Trials (Fort Collins, CO) [Website] [Entries] [Volunteer]
Coming up next week: Maryland 5 Star! We’ve go SO MUCH content coming your way, so eyes on EN 👀 and go eventing!
Maryland 5 Star: [Website] [Entries] [Live Stream] [Volunteer] [EN’s Coverage]
News From Around the Globe:
What’s it like to win a day with a five-star rider? Amateur rider Tiffany Morey and nine of her closest friends got to spend the day cross country schooling and soaking up knowledge this summer from Buck Davidson. From ponies at Beginner Novice to partners at Training level, this group got to soak up all the top tips from this rider. [12 Training Tips from Buck Davidson]
Olympic show-jumper Rich Fellers has pled guilty to felony sexual abuse and has been sentenced to 50 months in prison. Rich was initially arrested in June 2021 on four counts of felony sexual abuse of his then 17-year-old student Maggie Kehring. Maggie chose to come forward in 2021 to discuss her experience, and since then her family has become a driving force behind #WeRideTogether, an organization dedicated to stopping sexual abuse within horse sports. He changed his plea from not guilty to guilty in July as part of a deal that will allow Fellers to serve time in federal prison, which he wanted to do instead of going to state prison. [Rich Fellers Sentenced]
Alison O’Dwyer has had a remarkable string of successes in her four trips to the Thoroughbred Makeover, winning the dressage division three times. But this year, she found what she really wanted in a Makeover mount, in two very different horses. With a chestnut “mare” (more on that later) who is pushing 18 hands and was a stakes winner on the track, and a small, plain bay gelding who unexpectedly turned into a heart horse, she has quite the pair this weekend. [One to Watch: Alison O’Dwyer]
If you’re looking to prevent devastating coffin bone rotation or sinking in a horse with laminitis, researchers have reported the best option might be heart-bar shoes, based on a new study examining biomechanics of common shoeing approaches in these animals. Researchers studying cadaver forelimbs recently found that heart-bar shoes stabilize the coffin bones in laminitic horses’ feet so well that they don’t move any more than they do in healthy hooves wearing the same shoes. [Therapeutic Farrier Practices Compared]
A day in the life of Will Rawlin & company!
