Classic. Photo courtesy of Paige Ervin.
Ah winter, the season of lost shoes! With mud, frozen footing, and horses on vacation, the recipe is perfect for a farrier’s nightmare. In fact, have you thanked your farrier today? I know my farrier’s birthday, and make sure to get him cool gifts for that day as well as Christmas every year for the past ten years, and hopefully that will buy me good humor for maintaining my barn full of crummy-footed thoroughbreds. That’s the plan, anyway.
U.S. Weekend Preview:
Rocking Horse Winter I H.T. (Altoona, Fl.): [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times]
Full Gallop Farm January H.T. (Aiken, Sc.): [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times]
News From Around the Globe:
US Eventing performance on a global level is a topic we’ve mulled over time and time again. The fall of 2021 featured some of the best results from American riders ever, but was it luck or the result of many years’ work? After years competing at the top levels of eventing and, more recently, traveling to the Olympic Games in Tokyo as the traveling reserve, Tamie Smith reflects on what it will take for the U.S. to see a shift in global performance. [What’s Missing in the US Training System?]
Oliver Townend has confirmed a new partnership with Caunton Stud. The three-day eventer, who is based in Dudleston Heath, near Ellesmere, has teamed up with Caunton Stud as their official rider. It’s a collaboration that is unprecedented in equestrian sport, but a regular occurrence in Formula 1 and Premiership football. The Nottinghamshire stud, home to stallions from top bloodlines and young competition horses, is the brainchild of Victoria Wright and her father, Sir John Peace. [Oliver Townend Teams Up With Breeding Farm]
Why is breaking up with a barn so hard? Of course, it doesn’t have to be, but changing trainers or even barns can be rife with emotions from all sides. We’ve all been there, and some of us have been on both sides, so we can all agree that it can be better in the future. [Why is Having “The Talk” With Your Trainer So Hard?]
Best of Blogs: Thoroughbred Logic: Earning the Walk
Video: Cathy Wieschhoff talks groundlines in this new video. “Be sure when you are jumping by yourselves that your ground lines are on the correct side,” she explains. “It can be unsafe to jump fences with the ground lines on the wrong side because the horse will look underneath the fence and see the ground line and miss judge his take off. You’re better off with no ground lines than a false ground line.”
