The off-season for both eventing competitions and eventing news is coming to an end. On the news front, further developments have been made in both the La Biosthetique Sam situation and the Henny situation, and recently the news has broken that Phillip Dutton and Bobby Costello will be running jointly for leadership of Team USA. In terms of competitions, this weekend marks the official beginning of the 2011 season, with the Ocala Winter I Horse Trials taking place.
–Morning update: The COTH writes about Mike Rowe’s visit to KER in November
–Probably the most exciting news of today is that the Parasailing Donkey gets a new home. Back in July, a donkey named “Anapka” was the object of a stunt where she was fastened to a parasail and flown 150 feet in the air. The incident was made public because the area in which the donkey was launched was directly over a beach resort in Russia. The outrage that followed from animal rights activists and the community has landed Anapka in a new, and hopefully kinder home at the Strely Yarily stables, near Moscow.
–I’ve recently been pondering the idea of becoming a steeplechase jockey, and with the news that the Grand National has gotten substantially more funding increase the prize money £25,000 to a total £950,000 ($1,470,220) I think I’m sold. I better start practicing my hurdles, or hurdling, whatever the correct terminology is. Read more here.
–The Jurga Report is calling the 2010 Breeder’s Cup race “The Best Part of the Old Year.” Remember the Breeder’s Cup was the race that our beloved Zenyatta lost by the slightest of margins to the almost equally brilliant Blame. The article sums it up best by saying, “Yes, it was this Breeders Cup that will never be forgotten; who would ever want to forget the huge crowd that cheered for the horse that came in second? She’ll be first in their hearts and memories long after they forget the name of the horse who won.”
–Denny Emerson’s latest contribution to his COTH column is titled “This Is A Guess. It Is Only A Guess.” Denny gives his predictions on what our sport will look like ten years down the road, with the main focus being on the types of horses that will be needed and requirements placed on breeders to produce those horses. Even though he states “Its only a guess”, Denny’s a pretty wise guy, I’d venture to guess that any predictions he makes will prove to pretty correct.
–A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a friend about dating riders–how instead of talking about what kind of car they drive or where they go to school, we’re impressed by what level they ride at and who they ride for. This week, there was an article in the Area I newsletter [PDF] that gives advice, from the male perspective, on dating us. Thanks to Meghan T for the heads-up. What is your eventing dating advice?
–JER sent us this article about a racehorse in Australia named Spinney, who, at age 8 has just won his eighth race at the Tattersalls Cup. As eight is quite old for a racehorse, the article also talks about how Spinney may have a potential future as an event horse.
–It appears that John spent his evening adding little flames to the EN homepage. It looks like the flames turn red when posts have more than 10 comments, but, either way, that’s probably 4 hours of John’s life that he will never get back.
Best of the Blogs: New Year’s with the Davidsons
Best of the best of the blogs: An EN shoutout from Pura Vida Eventing
Have a great Tuesday, Eventing Nation! See you soon and go Eventing.
