Eventing is in full swing in Italy, and we had the first 4*-L of the European season at Montelibretti over the weekend. This early season competition was won by Great Britain’s Harry Meade, who has taken over the ride on former William Fox-Pitt mount and 5* podium finisher Grafennacht, owned by Amanda Gould.
Harry and “Lillie” bested the field of 14 starters with a finishing score of 39.1 to start their season off with a bang on a wire-to-wire victory.
You can view the full results from Montelibretti here.
U.S. Weekend Results
Setters Run Farm Carolina International (NC): [Website] [H&C+ Live Stream Replays] [Scores] [EN’s Coverage]
Ocala Winter II (FL): [Website] [Scores]
Ram Tap National H.T. (CA): [Website] [Scores]
Pine Top Spring H.T. (GA): [Website] [Scores]
News & Reading
Proper conditioning is a very important factor in getting the most out of a competition horse. There are two elements to fitness—cardiovascular and musculoskeletal. They are equally important. Both are ideally developed through long slow distance work (LSD). Such is the advice from Shelley Onderdonk, DVM, in a new excerpt from her book, Winning with Horses. Click here to read the full excerpt.
Read more on Caroline Pamukcu’s victory in the Bouckaert Equestrian International 4*-S earlier this month, a little more about he winning horse, HSH Double Sixteen, what it’s been like to return to competition post-baby, and more in this write-up.
With modern veterinary technology, there are several ways to breed your treasured mare should she have trouble getting pregnant or carrying a foal. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI, an alternative to traditional embryo transfer, is becoming a popular option for the sport horse mare. Read up on this method and its growth in use here.
Did you watch the combined driving demo at the Stirling Venture Capital Grand-Prix Eventing earlier in the month (or see what we call “eventing’s sister sport” elsewhere?) and catch a bit of the bug? Learn all about this incredible sport and its athletes in this primer.
Video Break
Sentinel Horse Feed makes a great refresher ingredient for long hauls!
