A photo shoot outtake. Ketchen Place Farm's Kosmo K stops to smell the flowers. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
I believe it’s really important to try to find something positive to say about every ride, no matter what, even if it’s as simple as “I stayed on today.” Especially for active competitors, it can be really easy to get bogged down fretting about what went wrong instead of giving yourself a bit of praise for what went right. Make that a habit and you’re in real trouble because riding will start to lose its appeal. You also have to be okay with not being proficient at everything all at once. That’s one of the hardest parts about riding is being able to see where the work you’re doing now will benefit you in the future. So soon simply bending around the leg will become lateral work and picking up the correct lead will become a flying changes and cantering over ground poles will become technical gymnastics. Brick by brick we lay the foundation and eventually you’re on the road to wherever it is you want to go.
U.S. Weekend Action:
Rocking Horse Winter I H.T. [Website] [Results]
Full Gallop Farm January H.T. [Website] [Results]
Fresno County Horse Park Combined Test [Website] [Results]
1/31 Stable View Winter H.T. [Website] [Live Scores]
Monday News and Notes:
Dressage Under the Stars Cancer Challenge will be in Wellington, Fla. February 1st. Top Grand Prix dressage riders and their horses will perform a dressage freestyle in costume to the music of their choice. Competitors will be judged on technical elements as well as creativity and flare (Bent Jensen won in 2012 riding a freestyle to LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It. Watch the test here). The event is hosted by Partners For A Cure, a non-profit organization that gives to families in need. All proceeds from the event will be donated to cancer-related charities for research. Join in on a fun evening and support this important cause. General admission tickets at $25 will be on sale online starting on January 14th. VIP tables to include a cocktail reception and four course meal are available. For information please visit www.dressageunderthestars.com.
Tryon International Equestrian Center is hosting schooling days every Saturday from now until the end of February. Five rings will be open for riding: one hunter course, a jumper course, a dressage court, an open flat ring and a mini obstacles/combined driving arena. The cost is $75 for the day, but practice a couple of dressage tests and a few jumping rounds and its just as good as a schooling show, except you can jump the jumps in any order, do that line again if you mess it up, and practice a dressage test until you’re blue in the face. I was there this weekend with a young horse who benefited from seeing the atmosphere at TIEC alone and also did a bit of jumping, and we were surprised there were not more people taking advantage of the opportunity. [Click for more info on Tryon Schooling Days]
The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event has increased prize money yet again from $350,000 to $400,000 with $130,000 going to the winner. That makes Rolex the richest CCI4* in the world and if you haven’t already booked your tickets to attend you need to remedy that ASAP at www.rk3de.org. [RK3DE Prize Money Gets Another $50,000 Boost]
Rider, Horse, Open. What’s the difference between these divisions and who is eligible for each one? It doesn’t only depend on the level you or your horse are entering but also you recent competition history, and it only gets trickier when you start competing at the FEI level. But the USEA is here to help and they have all the details to help ensure you are entering the right division. Getting it right on your entry will help the event secretary and organizer out as well! [Rule Refresher: Are you entered in the correct division?]
Here at EN we’re huge fans of the off-the-track Thoroughbred. In fact, several of the staff own one (or two) themselves. We love hearing success stories about ex-racehorses turned sport horses. One of the most striking differences, however, becomes obvious in photographs when the horse’s muscle tone changes from a lean galloping machine to something totally different depending on the discipline of their second career. [29 Retrained Racehorse Transformations You Need to See]
Monday Video:
