Success Equestrian sponsored rider Kristen Bond. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
So what’s up with Egg Nog? I can get behind the seasonal Pumpkin-Spice trend, the omni-present Bacon trend and even the burgeoning Sriracha trend, but I’ve never been able to get in to Egg Nog. I give it an honest try every Christmas and no matter how many different Egg Nogs I try or make, I just can’t enjoy it. In theory I should LOVE IT as fresh made Egg Nog is essentially a combination of the components from ice cream and meringue with a dash of booze. It sounds awesome, but I guess that in the long run we all like what we like. I’ll stick to the white chocolate and Kaluha mocha. Yum.
Events Opening This Week:
Full Gallop Farm H.T (South Carolina, A-3) Rocking Horse Winter I H.T. (Florida, A-3) Fresno County Horse Park Combined Test (California, A-6)
Monday News and Notes:
Did you miss any of the USEA Convention Coverage? Don’t worry, we sent Jenni out to the convention. She took copious notes for you. There’s a lot of great information, so if you’re at work today you might want to unplug the phone and set some sort of perimeter alarm. That way if your boss is coming, you’ll have plenty of time to tab back to that boring Excel spreadsheet and your TPS reports before he gets to your desk. Here are some of the highlights: [Helmet Safety Seminar][High Performance – DOC: Raising The Bar Across All Three Phases] [High Performance – DOC: Plan for the 2014 US Eventing Team] [Max Corcoran: Care And Management of Equine Athletes]
Success Equestrian sponsored riders are looking forward to 2014! Kristen Bond, pictured above, is one of Success Equestrian’s sponsored riders, and she plans to start her season in Aiken this winter. Lillian Heard, another of Success Equestrian’s riders, made the national training list aboard Share Option. Both riders have had great things to say about the new Deluxe Cross Country No-Slip Saddle Pad. Kristen noted that this pad has really changed the game, saying “Success Equestrian pads in general put great emphasis on every detail of their products, but the Cross Country pad in particular proves that ideal and shatters the bar that’s been set by others.” [More From Success Equestrian]
As the New Year approaches it’s time to start thinking about a new calendar. What will it be this year? Hello Kitty? Hunky Cowboy Dudes? Weird landmarks from around the world? I’ve got a better idea. How about a Cross Country calendar from Beth Collier Equestrian Photography? It’s filled with some familiar faces and fantastic places. [Beth Collier Equestrian Photography]
After a 41 year history. Shadybrook Stables in McLean, VA, has closed. Owner Jim Moss passed away in 2006 and his wife Helen had kept Shadybrook running after his passing. Over the weekend, hundreds of fans of Shadybrook and of Jim Moss came to the property to bid farewell to the historic location. Shadybrook’s closure is another reminder of the loss of space we have not just for eventing, but for equestrian use in general. [More From Washington Post]
Virginia Equestrians, take note Bridgewater College’s yearly “Horse’s Christmas” will be rescheduled due to bad weather. This year’s theme will be “Superhero Christmas”. Admission is a donation of canned goods for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Last year’s event collected more than 600lbs of canned food for the Food Bank. Santa and Mrs. Claus are expected to make a special appearance on horseback. Bridgewater College has yet to announce the new date. [More from Newsleader]
While eventing has been mulling over the need for a transitional division between Training and Preliminary the hunter/jumper crowd is debating some changes of their own. For those of us that pop out to the occasional hunter/jumper show to get some extra mileage in show jumping there are a few interesting things to note. A few of the proposed rule changes working in concert relate to creating a Young Rider jumper division. Another proposed change seeks to bring the USEF scoring in line with FEI scoring in relation to time faults. [More from Chronicle of The Horse]
The Coloradoan recently ran a piece on Colorado State University Equine Surgeon Wayne McIlwraith. McIlwraith is a pioneer when it comes to equine surgery and performs about 400 surgeries a year. His work primarily takes him to Southern California but he’s also worked on horses in Seattle as well as France, Ireland and England. [More from The Coloradoan]
Monday Video:
It’s the time of year that I can pull out this classic and not feel guilty.
