Mark coaching Clark Montgomery on Thursday–another caption contest anyone?Good Morning Eventing Nation! Here your top 3 reasons to be happy this morning:
1. There are three great events going on this weekend, along with three great weather forecasts. They go as follows:
Rocking Horse Winter II HT (FL) [Ride Times, Live Scores, Weather]
Paradise Farm HT (SC) [Ride Times/Live Scores, Weather]
Ram Tap HT (CA) [Live Scores, Weather]
John has arrived in Florida this weekend, and, barring any run-ins with the Rainbow people that inhabit the Ocala National Forest, he will be in full reporting force at Rocking Horse. The advanced at Rocking Horse rides dressage and show jumping today, and cross country Saturday.
2. Karen O’Connor’s birthday…was yesterday. For as much as John stays on top of the breaking news, its hard to believe he could forget it was KOC’s birthday. I guess the saving grace was that he made it to her party last night, but I think it’ll be a little while before he lives this one down at camp OCET.
3. As John mentioned yesterday, John Nunn has generously offered 30,000 dollars as prize to the winner(s) of the newly created “Bit of Britain Challenge,” awarded to the rider who wins both the CCI*** at Jersey Fresh and the CCI*** at Fair Hill this year. If any horse and rider combination win the CCI2* at Jersey and the CCI3* at Fair Hill, they will get $15,000, and if a pair wins both CCI2*’s, they will receive $10,000 in prize money. John Nunn has to be one of the biggest supporters in the sport of Eventing. He almost always sponsors a division or cross-country fence at the events he attends, and it’s worth mentioning that he was one of Eventing Nation’s first sponsors. There’s nothing new in saying that a lagging economy has taken it’s toll on entry numbers, but the news of this new challenge will bode especially well for Jersey Fresh. Although Jersey is a great event, entry numbers have been steadily decreasing over the past few years, especially as Bromont’s CCI*** is competing for the spring CCI3* spotlight.
And on to the rest of the news:
–Probably the saddest news of this week
is that George Morris will be retiring in 2013, relinquishing his title as the Show Jumping Chef D’Equipe. Turnover in leadership is an inevitable process, and certainly one that has good and bad aspects. Go ask five-or-so typical ‘armchair quarterbacks’ about George Morris. I guarantee you will get vibrant feedback from either side of the spectrum. Some
really like him, others
really dislike him. George has a sharp personality, he’s never been one to ‘go with the grain’ so-to-speak. He’s a stickler for correctness, correct horsemanship, correct riding, correct everything. Also, he’s brave enough to say what everyone else is thinking. A few weeks ago, I was watching the broadcast of the high-performance training session George was conducting. At one point he said, “This session is about horsemanship, not just a pretty girl and her hobby.” It made me smile as that is such a classic line of his.
—
The Gay Polo Club is hosting its first West Coast match on Sunday. Evidently, Gay Polo has been taking place since its inaugural match in Wellington, Florida last April.
[Horsetalk]–Earlier this week, Lainey Ashker won the western switchover competition at a recent Make A Wish Foundation Benefit in Florida. Several high profile eventers were in attendance and from what I hear it was a great night, and (cowboy) hats off to Lainey on the win. The event was sold out and raised over $35,000 for the Make A Wish Foundation.
–As the photo on this post indicates, the US held the second edition of winter training sessions at Meredyth South in Ocala on Wednesday and Thursday. The Canadians also held training sessions earlier in the week at Meredyth South.
–Elly Schobel wrote a synopsis of her experience at last weekend’s Pine Top [
COTH].—
Last week, it was announced that the Kentucky Horse Park will be holding a championship Reining competition this year during the weekend of Rolex. There are mixed feelings about the decision, but since it’s a decision already made, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to link to a Sidelines article titled,
“An Appreciation For Reining.” —
Best of the Blogs:
Vintage Rolex
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. I’m turning it back over to John for what should be a very busy and exciting day. Stay tuned.
