Thursday News & Notes from SmartPak
I can’t WAIT to get to Carolina International today, even though I’m only running the Intermediate with Nyls this weekend. It truly is one of the best events of the year, and I mean that
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I can’t WAIT to get to Carolina International today, even though I’m only running the Intermediate with Nyls this weekend. It truly is one of the best events of the year, and I mean that
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John Kelly, father of Mattie Kelly, who is the barn manager/head groom at Kim Severson Eventing, sent EN a big hello from the other side of the world. He also sent the above feature photo
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One of the things that I didn’t get to do as a kid was Pony Club. To my knowledge we didn’t really have one in the area and my mother was terrified of the prospect
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I’ve been late to the competition game this season, as I didn’t go south at all, but stayed in Virginia to keep working and doing long slow fitness and flatwork hours with my horses. I
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What’s that? You still think all thoroughbreds are crazy? Here is example one of a million that they aren’t: the above photo is EN reader Mari Heybroek with her 19 month old son, Oscar, riding
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It’s just so cool to me that we’ve graduated from constantly refreshing live scores to being able to tune right in to the action at an event via an audio feed like PRO Tour Radio
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OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG SO MUCH SUNLIGHT! As much as I hate getting up earlier, it’s all worth it. Sunlight at the barn until 7 p.m. I can hardly stand it. Seriously, I am freaking out over here.
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My husband recently quit his job in the tech sector and has been on this kick of buying power tools and lumber. I’m strangely more okay with this than one might expect. I recently borrowed
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First FEI event of the year this weekend at Red Hills!! This is very exciting stuff, and I’m buried in fresh snow watching from afar as my friends and fellow competitors enjoy warmer but classically
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I’ll admit, I’m pretty jealous of Jenni Autry right now, who is down in Florida enjoying the 80 degrees and horse activities. Meanwhile, I’m back in VA and we have more snow predicted for today,
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Boyd Martin hung up his helmet and donned a suit to attend the Buckaroo Ball to benefit the Saratoga WarHorse Foundation this weekend in Aiken. The ball raised more than $60,000 for the nonprofit organization
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Ever have one of those days where it feels like nothing is going your way? I’ve been fighting through a string of those for a while and decided I needed some retail therapy. Frustratingly, when I
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I normally don’t get too flustered when celebrities die but the news of Leonard Nimoy’s passing hit in just the right way and has had me quite sad. You see, even though Nimoy never rode a
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If that picture doesn’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will. Indiana eventer Lee Ann Zobbe sent us this photo of her youngest student, Addie, riding her fantastic horse Blaze. Addie
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It’s official, folks — America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred, AKA Icabad Crane, is now officially a Prelim horse! He made his debut at the level yesterday at Full Gallop Horse Trials, finishing in third place on his dressage score
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Pine Top holds a special place in my heart. It was the second event I ever did when I was 12 years old, and the Wilsons has always been good to me. This weekend we
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In case you missed it yesterday, there’s been some big news out of Plantation Field! Plantation Field Equestrian Events will be offering a Thoroughbred recognition series during the 2015 competition year. This is super exciting! Points will
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There is something about a horse that brings out the best in all of us. Whether it’s happily spending way too much time out in the cold to ensure that they are toasty in the middle
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Area I eventer and winter riding enthusiast Kimberly DiCostanzo sent us the above picture, and it definitely gave me a giggle. Her 2 1/2 year-old daughter, Lyra, is an aspiring eventer as well! Lyra’s partner is
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There is a good portion of the eventing crowd that stayed in Virginia for the winter, as we figure it’s mostly south enough to avoid the worst of the worst winter weather, but sometimes, we
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There were an awful lot of mornings last winter when I woke up to zero degrees, high winds and horses waiting to be fed. I thanked goodness for heated automatic waterers, a balaclava, good snow
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Don’t you just love those photographs that evoke primal reactions? Just looking at all that hay fills my mind with memories of the most delicious and comforting smells. Then about half a second after that my arms
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If I wasn’t so shamelessly in love with California, I’d be packing my bags and heading for Kentucky. If you do not follow the USEF High Performance Eventing Facebook page, you may have missed some
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