More evidence that EN has the coolest readers ever. Photo taken at a bar by DL
We are entering what will probably be the two quietest weeks of eventing news for the entire year. That being said, we have a full assortment of fun and ridiculousness lined up for the Holidays on Eventing Nation. Sometimes I think we do our best work here at EN when there is not much news to write about and we are free to pick our own topics. But, not all of it will be ridiculousness–we will look back at a great year of eventing and ahead to a spring season that begins in just a few weeks. We have our first ‘elfing’ video to look forward to later today, and until then here are a few news and notes…
—Riders in the UK are using a riding simulator at the PlayBarn Riding Centre, in Poringland, Norfolk. The simulator is a fake horse with saddle and reins and a TV screen in front of it. I would think that riding is one of the hardest things on earth to simulate, but people seem to like the device. [Horse and Hound]
–Chelan Kozak, EN’s good friend and occasional guest writer has been dealing with one of my least favorite things recently–a mystery lameness. After several trips to the vet clinic with one of her top horses, it looks like they diagnosed bone pain on the medial aspect of the stifle. The more I deal with vets the more I understand that medicine is very much an art, not a science. [Chelan’s blog]
–As a general rule of thumb, if your barn makes a cross country jump out of a door, you need to find a different barn. Cherie Chauvin from Golightly Sport Horses has written a pretty funny blog post about the ridiculously makeshift XC jumps. One of the best paragraphs from the article is:
One of my favorite local XC schooling places has a special note on their website… Note: the refrigerator wedged in a tree fork is NOT a jump. Katchi is glad they clarified that. I’m scared that they needed to. How many people do you think have actually jumped the fridge in a tree – or tried to?! [Golightly Sport Horses]
–Speaking of safety, our very own EventingSafety John raised some excellent points about safety in his Sunday afternoon post. The USEA, USEF, and BE are doing a lot to improve safety, including the USEA’s cardiovascular study and the USEF frangible pin funding program. But, I was disturbed to hear how little the FEI’s website is doing to promote safety information. The FEI is also deficient in making helmets mandatory. Such a rule change is at least several years away at the FEI and I have not heard anyone within the Federation making a big push for that rule change.
I appreciate EventingSafety John pushing the dialogue to actual safety issues–that is, after all, one of the big reasons why we have him writing for EN. It does seem that some folks still think that EventingSafety John and I are the same person, so we are taking any ideas for helping to avoid the confusion, including new name proposals, although after more than 1,000 posts on Eventing Nation I’m pretty attached to my name.
–Robert continues to blog about us. But, 4 weeks after he originally bashed eventing for not addressing safety enough, we are still waiting for him to discuss a single eventing safety topic, problem, or potential solution. It’s never a bad thing to talk about eventing safety, and I do appreciate the attention that Robert has stirred up for a subject that is obviously very important to all of us eventers, and I look forward to Robert’s specific ideas for improving eventing safety if and when he presents them. Until then, we are moving on.
–Authorities in LA are seeking a bank robber labeled the “Trojan horse bandit” because he looks like Brad Pitt. Actually, it’s because he keeps wearing University of Southern California themed clothing during his heists. I don’t care what anyone says, Troy was a great movie, and that’s coming from someone who has read the Iliad. [LA Times]
—Best of the Blogs: ‘Tis the season for abscesses
Go eventing.
